This section lists pre-requisites for a VI workload domain.

NSX-T VI workload domains have additional pre-requisites. See Additional Prerequisites for an NSX-T Based Workload Domain.

  • Do one of the following.
    • For NSX-V workload domains, a DHCP server scope must be configured for every NSX-V VXLAN Tunnel End Point (VTEP) VLAN within the VI workload domain. When NSX-V creates VXLAN VTEPs for the VI workload domain, they are assigned IP addresses from the DHCP server.
    • For NSX-T workload domains, a DHCP server scope must be configured for every NSX-T Tunnel End Point (TEP) VLAN within the VI workload domain. NSX-T uses the Geneve encapsulation protocol and each TEP interfaces requires an IP address assigned from a reliable DHCP server.
  • A minimum of three hosts marked with the appropriate storage must be available in your VMware Cloud Foundation inventory. To create a VI workload domain with NFS storage, the hosts must be commissioned with NFS as the storage type and must be associated with an NFS network pool. To create a VI workload domain with vSAN storage, the hosts must be commissioned with vSAN as the storage type and must be associated with an vSAN network pool. To create a VI workload domain with VMFS on FC storage, the hosts must be commissioned with VMFS on FC as the storage type and must be associated with a vMotion only or vMotion and NFS network pool. For information on adding hosts to your inventory, see Host Management.
  • There must be a free uplink on each host to be used for the workload domain.
  • If the management domain in your environment has been upgraded to a version different from the original installed version, you must download a VI workload domain install bundle before you can create a VI workload domain. See Downloading an Install Bundle.
  • Decide on a name for your VI workload domain. Each VI workload domain must have a unique name. It is good practice to include region and site information in the name because resource object names (such as host and vCenter names) are generated based on the VI workload domain name. The name can be three to 20 characters long and can contain any combination of the following:
    • Lowercase alphabetic characters
    • Uppercase alphabetic characters
    • Numbers
    Note: Spaces are not allowed in any of the names you specify when creating a VI workload domain.
  • Decide on the following passwords - refer to the appropriate table for the VMware Cloud Foundation version in your environment.
    • vCenter root password
    • NSX Manager admin password
    • NSX Manager password to enable administrator privileges for NSX Manager (only for NSX-V)
    Table 1. Passwords for VMware Cloud Foundation
    Account Password Requirements
    vCenter root
    1. Length 8-20 characters
    2. Must include:
      • mix of upper-case and lower-case letters
      • a number
      • a special character
    NSX-V Manager admin and
    1. Length 8-12 characters
    2. Must include:
      • mix of upper-case and lower-case letters
      • a number
      • a special character
      • exclude_char such as { } [ ] ( ) / \ ' " ` ~ , ; : . < >
    NSX-T Manager
    1. Minimum length 12 characters
    2. Must include:
      • at least one lowercase and one uppercase letter
      • a number
      • a special character
      • exclude_char such as { } [ ] ( ) / \ ' " ` ~ , ; : . < >
      • at least five different characters
    3. Must not include:
      • a dictionary word
      • a palindrome
      • more than four monotonic character sequences
  • Based on the VMware Cloud Foundation version in your environment, gather the information that you need for the workload domain creation workflow.
    Table 2. Information Required
    vCenter IP address, DNS name, subnet mask, and default gateway
    Three NSX Managers IP address, DNS name, subnet mask, and default gateway
    NSX Manager Virtual IP (VIP) address
  • The IP addresses and Fully Qualified Domain Names (FQDN) for the vCenter and NSX Manager instances to be deployed for the VI Workload domain must be resolvable by DNS.
  • If you are using NFS storage for the workload domain, you need the following information:
    • Datastore name
    • Path to the NFS share
    • IP address of the NFS server
    The NFS share and server must be accessible from the VMware Cloud Foundation network. You must have read/write permission to the NFS share because NSX controllers will be deployed there.
  • If you are using VMFS on FC storage for the workload domain, you need the datastore name.
  • You must have valid license keys for the following products:
    • vCenter Server
    • NSX for vSphere or NSX-T
    • vSAN (No license required for NFS or VMFS on FC)
    • vSphere

      Because vSphere and vSAN licenses are per CPU, ensure that you have sufficient licenses for the ESXi hosts to be used for the workload domain. See License Management.

  • (Optional) Enable vRealize Log Insight logging for workload domains. See Enable vRealize Log Insight Logging for Workload Domains.
  • If you have upgraded the management domain in your environment to a later release, download the VI workload domain install bundle to deploy later versions of the software components instead of the versions in your original VMware Cloud Foundation installation. See "Download Bundles" in the VMware Cloud Foundation Upgrade Guide.