This section describes the supported and unsupported configurations for converting an existing vSphere environment into a VMware Cloud Foundation management domain, or importing an existing vSphere environment as a VI workload domain.
Considerations by Domain Type
Category |
Management Domain Considerations |
VI Workload Domain Considerations |
Recommendation |
|---|---|---|---|
VMware Cloud Foundation Software BOM Alignment |
|
|
Upgrade the domain to the minimum bill of materials.
Caution:
vCenter Servers originally deployed at a version below 6.5 may encounter an issue upgrading to 8.0U3. See KB370882 for more details. |
Ports & Protocols |
Must align with https://ports.esp.vmware.com/home/VMware-Cloud-Foundation
Caution:
vCenter Server must be using port 443. |
Custom ports for vCenter Server are not currently supported for import. Please wait for a future version of VCF that will support importing vCenter Server using custom ports. |
|
vCenter Server VM Location |
Must be co-located |
Must be located in the management domain, or co-located |
Move the vCenter Server VM to a supported location. See this for more information on cross vCenter vMotion. |
Single Sign-On |
SSO domain names for imported environments do not need to be unique within a VMware Cloud Foundation instance |
||
Each SSO domain should contain only a single vCenter Server. ELM is not supported |
Break the ELM ring creating multiple SSO domains |
||
Cluster - Storage |
|
Select a cluster with primary storage from the supported list |
|
Clusters cannot be stretched vSAN |
vSAN stretched clusters are not currently supported. Please wait for a future version of VCF that will support importing vSAN stretched clusters. |
||
|
|
Expand the cluster to the minimum number of nodes for the relevant storage type |
|
When using vSAN, compression only is not supported. |
Dedupe and compression are supported together. Either enable dedupe, or disable compression. |
||
Cluster - Network |
vCenter Server must not have an existing NSX instance registered |
vCenter Servers with existing NSX registrations are not currently supported for import |
|
LACP not supported |
Use teaming options available with vSphere Distributed Switch and N-VDS to provide load balancing and failover |
||
Use vSphere Distributed Switches only. Standard or Cisco virtual switches are not supported |
Move to vSphere Distributed Switch. See this procedure. |
||
VMkernel IP addresses must be statically assigned |
Move to statically assigned IP addresses |
||
Multiple VMkernels for a single traffic type (vSAN , vMotion) are not supported |
Reconfigure to a single VMkernel per traffic type |
||
ESXi hosts must have the same number of physical uplinks (minimum 2) assigned to a vSphere distributed switch. Each uplink must be a minimum of 10Gb |
Reconfigure uplinks accordingly |
||
vSphere distributed switch teaming policies must match VMware Cloud Foundation standards |
See here for VMware Cloud Foundation teaming policies |
||
Dedicated vMotion network must be configured |
Configure a dedicated vMotion network |
||
Cluster - Compute |
Cluster must not be VxRail managed |
VxRail is not currently supported. Please wait for a future version of VCF that will support importing VxRail |
|
All clusters must be running vSphere 8.0U3 |
ESXi build number must be consistent within a cluster |
Upgrade hosts to align build numbers |
|
DRS must be fully automated |
Enable DRS and set to fully automated |
||
Standalone hosts are not supported |
Remove the standalone host from the vCenter Server inventory. |
||
Configuration Support by Domain Type
Configuration |
Converted Management Domain |
Imported VI Workload Domain |
VCF Deployed Management Domain |
VCF Deployed VI Workload Domain |
Additional Information |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Management Cluster of 3 nodes or greater |
Yes |
N/A |
No |
N/A |
|
Deployment with NSX VLAN Only (no overlay networking) |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No* |
* No native UI/API support but can be achieved using the workload domain import scripts |
vSphere networking only (No NSX) |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes* |
* VCF 5.2 minimum |
NSX Edge deployment |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
AVN |
No |
No |
Yes |
N/A |
Requires NSX edge cluster |
Aria Lifecycle deployment in VCF aware mode |
No |
No |
Yes |
N/A |
Requires NSX Overlay networking |
Fibre channel storage as primary storage |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
|
NFS storage as primary storage |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
|
vCenter Appliances co-located in a workload domain cluster |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
|
Non standard VCF networking, such as link aggregation to the hosts (LACP) |
No |
No |
No |
No |
|
Enhanced Link Mode (ELM) |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
NSX Overlay networking |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Requires NSX Overlay networking |
AVI Load Balancer |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Requires NSX Overlay networking |
vSAN Stretched Cluster |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Requires NSX Overlay networking |
WCP Enabled clusters |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Requires NSX Overlay networking |
L3 vSphere Cluster create/Add Host |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
Requires NSX Overlay networking |
vVOL enabled storage |
No |
No (New clusters can be added post import that utilize vVOL enabled storage) |
No (Supplemental only) |
Yes |
|
Multi-Region/DR |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Requires NSX Overlay networking |
VMware Validated Solutions |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
ESXi Host Password management |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Add host to a cluster |
Yes* |
Yes* |
Yes |
Yes |
* Must be done in vCenter and then perform a sync operation |
Yes* |
Yes* |
Yes |
Yes |
* Must be done in vCenter and then perform a sync operation |
