Use this list of requirements and recommendations for reference related to SDDC Manager in an environment with a single or multiple VMware Cloud Foundation instances.

For full design details, see SDDC Manager Design for VMware Cloud Foundation.

Table 1. SDDC Manager Design Requirements for VMware Cloud Foundation

Requirement ID

Design Requirement

Justification

Implication

VCF-SDDCMGR-REQD-CFG-001

Deploy an SDDC Manager system in the first availability zone of the management domain.

SDDC Manager is required to perform VMware Cloud Foundation capabilities, such as provisioning VI workload domains, deploying solutions, patching, upgrading, and others.

None.

VCF-SDDCMGR-REQD-CFG-002

Deploy SDDC Manager with its default configuration.

The configuration of SDDC Manager is not configurable and should not be changed from its defaults.

None.

VCF-SDDCMGR-REQD-CFG-003

Place the SDDC Manager appliance on the VM management network.

  • Simplifies IP addressing for management VMs by using the same VLAN and subnet.

  • Provides simplified secure access to management VMs in the same VLAN network.

None.
Table 2. SDDC Manager Design Recommendations for VMware Cloud Foundation

Recommendation ID

Design Recommendation

Justification

Implication

VCF-SDDCMGR-RCMD-CFG-001

Connect SDDC Manager to the Internet for downloading software bundles.

SDDC Manager must be able to download install and upgrade software bundles for deployment of VI workload domains and solutions, and for upgrade from a repository.

The rules of your organization might not permit direct access to the Internet. In this case, you must download software bundles for SDDC Manager manually.

VCF-SDDCMGR-RCMD-CFG-002

Configure a network proxy to connect SDDC Manager to the Internet.

To protect SDDC Manager against external attacks from the Internet.

The proxy must not use authentication because SDDC Manager does not support proxy with authentication.

VCF-SDDCMGR-RCMD-CFG-003

Configure SDDC Manager with a VMware Customer Connect account with VMware Cloud Foundation entitlement to check for and download software bundles.

Software bundles for VMware Cloud Foundation are stored in a repository that is secured with access controls.

Requires the use of a VMware Customer Connect user account with access to VMware Cloud Foundation licensing.

Sites without an internet connection can use local upload option instead.

VCF-SDDCMGR-RCMD-CFG-004
Configure SDDC Manager with an external certificate authority that is responsible for providing signed certificates.

Provides increased security by implementing signed certificate generation and replacement across the management components.

An external certificate authority, such as Microsoft CA, must be locally available.