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. vCenter Server
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.
Enable vLCM Cluster Image Select Yes to use vSphere Lifecycle Manager images for managing the lifecycle of ESXi hosts in the primary cluster of management domain. VMware Cloud Builder extracts a vSphere Lifecycle Manager image from the first ESXi host and applies that image to all the hosts in the cluster. The vSphere Lifecycle Manager image is also imported into SDDC Manager (available at Lifecycle Management > Image Management.
Note: vSAN Express Storage Architecture (ESA) requires vSphere Lifecycle Manager images.

Select No to use vSphere Lifecycle Manager baselines for managing the lifecycle of ESXi hosts in the primary cluster of management domain.
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 VMs.
Resource Pool User Edge Specify the vSphere resource pool name for user deployed NSX VMs in a consolidated architecture.
Resource Pool User VM Specify the vSphere resource pool name for user deployed workload VMs.
Note: Resource pools are created with Normal CPU and memory shares.
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.
Note: This option is only available with vSAN OSA. If you enable vSAN ESA, deduplication and compression settings can be specified in the vSAN storage policies using the vSphere Client.
Enable vSAN-ESA Select Yes to use vSAN Express Storage Architecture (ESA) for the first cluster in the management domain. After bringup, you can create additional clusters (vSAN ESA or vSAN OSA) in the management domain.
Note: vSAN ESA requires the use of vLCM images and is not supported with vLCM baselines.
Important: You cannot stretch clusters that use vSAN ESA.

vSAN ESA is designed for high-performance NVMe based TLC flash devices and high performance networks. Each host that contributes storage contains a single storage pool of four or more flash devices. Each flash device provides caching and capacity to the cluster.

Select No to use vSAN Original Storage Architecture (OSA) for the first cluster in the management domain. After bringup, you can create additional clusters (vSAN ESA or vSAN OSA) in the management domain, but you can create vSAN ESA clusters only if the management domain is using vLCM images.

For an overview of the differences between vSAN OSA and vSAN ESA, see Building a vSAN Cluster in the vSphere documentation..
Path to HCL JSON File vSAN ESA requires a current version of the vSAN HCL JSON file to ensure that your ESXi hosts are ESA-compatible.

If the VMware Cloud Builder appliance is not able to connect to the internet (either directly or through a proxy server), download the latest vSAN HCL JSON file from https://partnerweb.vmware.com/service/vsan/all.json and copy it to the VMware Cloud Builder appliance.

Enter to path to the vSAN HCL JSON file on the VMware Cloud Builder appliance. For example: /opt/vmware/bringup/tmp/all.json

If the VMware Cloud Builder appliance does not have direct internet access, you can configure a proxy server to download the vSAN HCL JSON. A recent version of the HCL JSON file is required for vSAN ESA.

Table 5. Proxy Server Configuration
Parameter Value
Proxy Server Configuration Select Yes to configure a proxy server.
Proxy Server Enter the proxy server FQDN or IP address.
Proxy Port Enter the proxy server port.