Review the prerequisites before you deploy a VI workload domain.

  • If you plan to use DHCP for the NSX host overlay network, a DHCP server must be configured on the NSX host overlay VLAN for the VI workload domain. When VMware NSX creates NSX Edge tunnel endpoints (TEPs) for the VI workload domain, they are assigned IP addresses from the DHCP server.
    Note:

    If you do not plan to use DHCP, you can use a static IP pool for the NSX host overlay network. The static IP pool is created or selected as part of VI workload domain creation.

  • A minimum of three hosts marked with the appropriate storage must be available in your SDDC Manager inventory.
    Note: If you are using NFS, VMFS on FC, or vVols as principal storage, and the VI workload domain is using vSphere Lifecycle Manager images as the update method, then only two hosts are required. Workload Management requires a vSphere cluster with a minimum of three ESXi hosts.
    • 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 a 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.
    • To create a VI workload domain with vVols on FC, the hosts must be commissioned with vVols on FC as the storage protocol type and must be associated with vMotion only or vMotion and NFS.
    • To create a VI workload domain with vVols on iSCSI, the hosts must be commissioned with vVols on iSCSI as the storage protocol type and must be associated with vMotion and iSCSI.
    • To create a VI workload domain with vVols on NFS, the hosts must be commissioned with vVols on NFS as the storage protocol type and must be associated with vMotion and NFS.
      Note:

      vVols requires that a VASA provider must be added to the SDDC Manager inventory to create a VI workload domain with vVols storage. See vVols Storage with VMware Cloud Foundation.

    For information on adding hosts to your inventory, see Managing ESXi Hosts in VMware Cloud Foundation.

  • There must be a free pNIC on each host to be used for the VI workload domain.
  • To create a VI workload domain that uses vSphere Lifecycle Manager to apply cluster images to all hosts in the cluster, you must have a cluster image available. See Managing vSphere Lifecycle Manager Images in VMware Cloud Foundation.
  • 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 for the current version before you can create a VI workload domain. See Download an Install Bundle from SDDC Manager.
  • Decide on a name for your VI workload domain. Each VI workload domain must have a unique name. It is good practice to include the 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:
    • vCenter Server root password
    • NSX Manager admin password
    Although the individual VMware Cloud Foundation components support different password requirements, you must set passwords following a common set of requirements across all components:
    • Minimum length: 12
    • Maximum length: 16
    • At least one lowercase letter, one uppercase letter, a number, and one of the following special characters: ! @ # $ ^ *
    • Must NOT include:
      • A dictionary word
      • A palindrome
      • More than four monotonic character sequences
      • Three of the same consecutive characters
  • Verify that you have the completed Planning and Preparation Workbook with the VI workload domain deployment option included.
  • The IP addresses and Fully Qualified Domain Names (FQDNs) for the vCenter Server and NSX Manager instances must be resolvable by DNS.
  • If you are using NFS storage for the VI 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 management network. You must have read/write permission to the NFS share.
  • If you are using VMFS on FC storage for the VI workload domain, you must configure zoning, mount the associated volumes and create the datastore on the hosts.
  • You must have valid license keys for the following products:
    • VMware NSX
    • 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 VI workload domain. See Managing License Keys in VMware Cloud Foundation.