Users Guide

Pre-deployment requirements
Management host
The deployment of VMware Cloud Foundation is executed by a Cloud Builder VM that is deployed using an Open Virtualization Appliance
(OVA). The virtual machine must be deployed on an ESXi host or cluster that is not a part of the Cloud Foundation cluster. If the
management network is a private network ensure that the Cloud Builder VM and the Cloud Foundation management hosts have access to
the same DNS and NTP services.
In this example, a host in an existing vSphere environment is used to run the services that are required to install Cloud Foundation. The
management VLAN and VXLAN VLAN are extended to this management host. An NTP time server is installed on the management VLAN
and a DHCP server on the VXLAN VLAN.
Figure 2. Management host in an existing vSphere environment
Connectivity
The Cloud Builder VM must be able to communicate with the hosts that become the Cloud Foundation management cluster. In this
example, the new cluster hosts were given IP addresses on the 172.16.11.0/24 subnet and placed on the management VLAN (1611). A port
group on the management host that was tagged with VLAN 1611 was created and connected to a port on a switch that accepted
(ingress) traffic. The switchports between that initial ingress port and the new hosts were tagged with VLAN 1611.
Network services
There are three network services that are essential for Cloud Foundation deployment.
NOTE: Misconfiguration or lack of one of these services causes the validation portion of the installation to fail.
The information pertaining to the network services are inserted into the Cloud Builder Deployment Parameter Sheet. The parameter sheet
is a spreadsheet that contains the details of the deployment and information specific to these prerequisites.
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Pre-deployment requirements 9