You deploy an SDDC Manager appliance in the management domain for creating VI workload domains, provisioning additional virtual infrastructure, and life cycle management of the SDDC management components.

Figure 1. Logical Design of SDDC Manager

SDDC Manager provides life cycle management for NSX-T, vCente Server, ESXi, and vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager. It provisions management workloads by using vCenter Server. SDDC Managers are connected in one Single Sign-on domain.

You use SDDC Manager to perform the following operations:

  • Commissioning or decommissioning ESXi hosts

  • Deployment of VI workload domains

  • Extension of clusters in the management and VI workload domains with ESXi hosts

  • Adding clusters to the management domain and VI workload domains

  • Support for network pools for host configuration in a VI workload domain

  • Product licenses storage

  • Deployment of vRealize Suite components.

  • Life cycle management of the virtual infrastructure components in all workload domains, and of vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager components.

  • Certificate management

  • Password management and rotation

  • NSX Edge cluster deployment in the management domain and VI workload domains

  • Backup configuration

Table 1. SDDC Manager Logical Components

Single VMware Cloud Foundation Instance

Single VMware Cloud Foundation Instance with Multiple Availability Zones

Multiple VMware Cloud Foundation Instances

  • A single SDDC Manager appliance deployed on the management network.

  • vSphere HA protects the SDDC Manager appliance.

  • A single SDDC Manager appliance deployed on the region-specific management network.

  • vSphere HA protects the SDDC Manager appliance.

  • A vSphere DRS rule specifies that the SDDC Manager appliance runs on an ESXi host in the first availability zone.
Note: In VMware Cloud Foundation 4.5, the ability to join multiple VMware Cloud Foundation instances to the same vCenter Single Sign-On domain is deprecated.

  • A single SDDC Manager appliance deployed on the management network of each instance.

  • vSphere HA protects the SDDC Manager appliance.

  • In the case of multiple availability zones, a vSphere DRS rule specifies that the SDDC Manager appliance runs on an ESXi host in the first availability.

  • To support potential use of a single vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager instance for life cycle management in multiple VMware Cloud Foundation Instances, the integration between the SDDC Manager instance and vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager is used only in the first instance.