The vSphere infrastructure section of the Deploy Parameters Worksheet details how you want to configure the vCenter Server and its related objects.

This section of the deployment parameter workbook contains sample configuration information, but you can update them with names that meet your naming standards.
Note: All host names entries within the deployment parameter workbook expect the short name. VMware Cloud Builder takes the host name and the DNS zone provided to calculate the FQDN value and performs validation prior to starting the deployment. The specified host names and IP addresses must be resolvable using the DNS servers provided, both forward (hostname to IP) and reverse (IP to hostname), otherwise the bring-up process will fail.
Table 1. Management Cluster
Parameter Host Name IP Address
vCenter Server Enter a host name for the vCenter Server. Enter the IP address for the vCenter Server that is part of the management VLAN.
Note: This is the same VLAN and IP address space where the ESXi management VMKernels reside.
vCenter Server Appliance Size (Default Small) This parameter defines the size of the vCenter Server to be deployed. Default size is Small. Additional options are: Tiny, Medium, Large, and X-large. See Hardware Requirements for the vCenter Server Appliance.
vCenter Server Appliance Storage Size The amount of storage depends on the vCenter Server appliance size. See Storage Requirements for the vCenter Server Appliance.
Table 2. vCenter Datacenter and Cluster
Parameter Value
Datacenter Name Enter a name for the management datacenter.
Cluster Name Enter a name for the management cluster.
Cluster EVC Setting To enable EVC on the management cluster, select the CPU chipset that should be applied to enhance vMotion compatability.
Note: If you don't want to enable EVC, enter n/a in this cell.

Select the architecture model you plan to use. If you choose Consolidated, specify the names for the vSphere resource pools. You do not need to specify resource pool names if you are using the standard architecture model. See Introducing VMware Cloud Foundation for more information about these architecture models.

Table 3. vSphere Resource Pools
Parameter Value
Resource Pool SDDC Management Specify the vSphere resource pool name for management VMs.
Resource Pool SDDC Edge Specify the vSphere resource pool name for NSX-T VMs.
Resource Pool User Edge Specify the vSphere resource pool name for user deployed NSX-T VMs in a consolidated architecture.
Resource Pool User VM Specify the vSphere resource pool name for user deployed workload VMs.
Table 4. vSphere Datastore
Parameter Value
vSAN Datastore Name Enter vSAN datastore name for your management components.
Enable vSAN Deduplication and Compression Select Yes to turn on Dedupe and Compression capabilities of vSAN.
VMware Cloud Foundation allows you to connect multiple instances to a single vSphere Single Sign-On domain. Joining one instance of VMware Cloud Foundation to another at the vSphere level enables vCenter Enhanced Link Mode which lets you view and search across all linked vCenter Server systems and replicate roles, permissions, licenses, policies, and tags.
Note: When connecting multiple instances of VMware Cloud Foundation to the same vSphere Single Sign-On domain, make sure you consider any future scalability requirements as this process will reduce the total number of workload domains you can deploy across the connected instances.
Table 5. Existing Single Sign-On Domain Configuration Details
Parameter Value
Join Existing Single-Sign-On Domain
  • Select No if you are deploying the first VMware Cloud Foundation instance.
  • Select Yes if you are deploying the second VMware Cloud Foundation instance. Then complete the remaining values in this section.
    Note: If you select Yes, you must take steps to ensure that certificates are installed correctly. See Configure Certificates for a Shared Single Sign-On Domain.
vCenter Server FQDN Enter the FQDN of the vCenter Server of the first instance.
vCenter Server SSO Username Enter the user name for the vCenter Server of the first instance.
vCenter Server SSO Password Enter the password for the vCenter Server of the first instance.
vCenter Server SSL Thumbprint Enter the SSL thumbprint for the vCenter Server you want to perform a connection with.