VMware Data Services Manager requires access to a vCenter Server system and one or more clusters or ESXi hosts. Each host running VMware Data Services Manager must meet certain hardware and software requirements.
Supported Platforms
Refer to the Release Notes for information about the server platforms, browsers, and data services supported by this release of VMware Data Services Manager.
Supported Versions of vSphere Components
VMware Data Services Manager is supported on VMware vSphere 6.7 and later. The following table lists information about the components of vSphere required and the versions supported.
| Component | Supported Versions |
|---|---|
| vCenter | 6.7 and 7.0 |
| ESXi | 6.7 and 7.0 |
| VMFS | 5 and 6 |
| PostgreSQL | 10.18.0, 10.19.0, 11.13.0, 11.14.0, 12.8.0, and 12.9.0 |
| MySQL | 8.0.26 |
| MinIO/AWS S3 | Not Applicable |
| VMC | SDDC Version 1.14v6 |
Disk Space, Memory, and CPU Requirements
The type of environment in which it will run, and the volume of services that it will manage, will determine the amount of resources that are configured for a Provider VM or an Agent VM. The default configuration for the VMs follows:
| VM | Environment | Memory | CPU | Storage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Provider VM | Default configuration | 16 GB | 8 vCPU | 736 GB (thin provisioning) |
| Agent VM | Default configuration | 16 GB | 8 vCPU | 668 GB (thin provisioning) |
The provisioning user specifies the amount of memory and CPU resources for any database that they deploy. These amounts may be bounded by the VM Configuration Mode in place for the organization to which the user belongs.
vSphere Storage Requirements
VMware Data Services Manager has no specific storage requirement for its deployments. The environment admininstrator can choose to configure the number and types of datastores. A VMware Data Services Manager deployment uses the datastores available.
Object Storage Requirements
VMware Data Services Manager requires an S3-compatible local and a cloud object storage solution (for example, AWS or MinIO).
If all of the six repositories - Provider Repo, Provider Log Repo, Provider Backup Repo, and Agent Local Storage and Cloud Storage - are on the same server, a minimum of 100GB capacity of S3-compatible local and a cloud object storage is required. The recommended size of the S3-compatible local and a cloud object storage depends on the size of data backups and retention policy.
Before you deploy VMware Data Services Manager, configure and deploy S3-compatible local and a cloud object storage and create the following buckets:
- A bucket for Provider Repo
- A bucket for Provider logs
- A bucket for Provider backups
- A bucket for Agent local storage
- A bucket for Agent cloud storage
- A bucket for Agent's Template storage
These endpoints must be resolvable by the DNS server specified at the time of Provider VM deployment.
Network Configuration Requirements
You can deploy a basic configuration of one Provider and one VMware Data Services Manager Agent in a single vCenter cluster. One VMware Data Services Manager Agent can manage one vSphere entity, such as a vCenter cluster or Resource pool. Neither can multiple VMware Data Services Manager Agents manage the same vSphere entity nor can a single VMware Data Services Manager Agent manage multiple vSphere entities.
Secure, reliable operation of VMware Data Services Manager depends on a secure, reliable network that supports DHCP, a network time service, and other services.
VMware Data Services Manager requires a minimum of two dedicated subnets that have access to DHCP, DNS, and NTP services. DNS resolution is required for application network of database VMs. DNS resolution is mandatory only for database clusters. If not already available, ensure that you have installed a DHCP server on a VM in the vSphere cluster or VMC cluster. Configure the two subnets so that IP addresses are assigned by DHCP for each provisioned database.
If you are deploying in an environment with internet connectivity, ensure that your network is able to access VMware Tanzu Network and cloudfront.net. Tanzu net uses Cloudfront.net for storage purposes. Your environment must meet the following network requirements before you begin installing VMware Data Services Manager.
VDS and N-VDS port groups that should be available to host components of VMware Data Services Manager are:
- Management network connected to:
- S3-compatible object storage (optional)
- Provider VM (through NIC 1 and eth0) for management and data access purposes
- Control Plane network connected to:
- Provider VM (through NIC 2 and eth1) for internal communication
- Agent VM (through NIC 1 and eth0) for management and data access purposes
- Databases (through NIC 1 and eth0) for data access purposes
- Application network connected to databases (through NIC 2 and eth1) for database access purposes
The choice of port group type depends on the appliance to which it is connected:
- A Provider VM's Management and Control plane networks can connect to a Standard, DVS, or N-VDS port group.
- An Agent VM's Control Plane network can be connected to a Standard,DVS,or N-VDS port group.
- A Database VM's Control Plane and Application networks can be connected to DVS or N-VDS port group.
Though the Control Plane network and the Application network for databases get their IP addresses from the DHCP server, the IP addresses for Management network and the Control Plane network for Provider and Agent VMs are static and configured manually.
Network Time Service
You must use the NTP network time service to synchronize the clocks of all VMware Data Services Manager deployed VMs.
Provider
The Provider VM requires two networks, one for UI or management traffic and one for control plane traffic. Route both the networks.
- NIC 1 (eth0): VMware Data Services Manager refers to the network that this NIC connects to as the Management Network. This network is used for VMware Data Services Manager user interface and API calls. The network must have access to the internet so that it can access the S3-compatible object store. The VMware Data Services Manager console runs on this network, and it requires a static IP address.
- NIC 2 (eth1) VMware Data Services Manager refers to the network that this NIC connects to as the Control Plane Network. This network is used for the internal communication between the Provider and Agents, and it should be a routed network to support DNS queries to the Agents.
The Management Network and the Control Plane Network are configured when you deploy the Provider VM, and cannot be changed after deployment.
Agent
An Agent VM requires:
- A single NIC (eth0) and network for management traffic. VMware Data Services Manager refers to this network as the Control Plane Network. The Control Plane Network must have connectivity to both the Management Network (eth0) and the Control Plane Network (eth1) of the Provider VM. The Control Plane Network requires a static IP address for Agent recovery to work.
- Access to vCenter.
- Access to an external network for cloud object storage.
The Control Plane Network is configured when you deploy an Agent VM, and cannot be changed after deployment.
Database
A database requires:
Two networks, one for management traffic, and one for access by client applications:
- NIC 1 (eth0): This NIC is used for communication between the Agent and the database. VMware Data Services Manager refers to the network that this NIC connects to as the Control Plane Network. If the database VM is in a different subnet than the Agent VM; to access NTP servers, agents, DNS servers, and local storage; the Control Plane Network must be routable.
- NIC 2 (eth1): This NIC is used for client application access to the database. VMware Data Services Manager refers to the network that this NIC connects to as the Application Network. To access databases using database client applications from different subnets, the application network must be routable.
Access to an external network for cloud object storage.
Each NIC in a database must be configured to obtain its IP address from DHCP.
The Control Plane Network and the Application Network for a specific Onboarded Cluster are configured when you onboard the Agent with VMware Data Services Manager. When a user provisions a database that specifies the associated cluster Environment, the deployed database utilizes those networks.
Database Network Addressing
VMware Data Services Manager expects that databases that it deploys reside in their own subdomain under a corporate domain. For example: dms.myco.com.
VMware Data Services Manager hosts a DNS server on every Provider VM. The Provider VM acts as a DNS for all databases provisioned in the associated Onboarded Cluster.
You can use your existing corporate DNS server to resolve database addresses by configuring the server to forward all DNS requests in the subdomain to the Provider VM DNS server.
If there is another DNS configured in your vCenter for VMware Data Services Manager, this DNS must have Forward Lookup Zone and Conditional forwarding set for each DB FQDN Suffix so that an Provider VM handles all DNS resolution for its databases.
VMware Data Services Manager assigns the IP address of a database that is provisioned by an Organization using DHCP. Agent VM generates and creates a DNS entry for a database FQDN based on the DB FQDN Suffix specified when a Provider creates the Organization.
The following diagram provides a representation of a sample network topology where:
- A represents N-VDS and VDS Port Groups for Management Network
- B represents N-VDS and VDS Port Groups for Control Plane Network
- C represents N-VDS and VDS Port Groups for Application Network
Network Security Requirements
The following ports are opened for incoming/outgoing traffic during Provider VM deployment:
| Protocol | Port Number | NIC |
|---|---|---|
| ICMP | ||
| TCP (SSH) | 22 | eth0 |
| UDP (DNS) | 53 | eth0 |
| TCP (DNS) | 53 | eth0 |
| TCP (https) | 443 | eth0 |
| TCP (RabbitMQ) | 443 | eth1 |
| TCP (Postgres) | 5432 | eth0 |
| TCP (RabbitMQ Cluster) | 4369 | eth1 |
| TCP (RabbitMQ Cluster) | 25672 | eth1 |
The following ports are opened for incoming and outgoing traffic during Agent VM deployment:
| Protocol | Port Number | NIC |
|---|---|---|
| ICMP | ||
| TCP (SSH) | 22 | eth0 |
| TCP (https) | 443 | eth0 |
The following ports are opened for incoming and outgoing traffic during database deployment:
| Protocol | Port Number | NIC |
|---|---|---|
| ICMP | ||
| TCP (SSH) | 22 | eth1 |
| TCP (https) | 443 | eth1 |
| TCP (MySQL) | 3368 | eth1 |
| TCP (PostgreSQL) | 5432 | eth0 and eth1 |
Network Requirements Summary
External Network Requirements:
| Connection From | Connection To | Type | Protocol | Port Number | NIC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Provider VM | S3-compatible Provider storage | http/https | TCP | eth0 | |
| Provider VM | VMware Tanzu Network | https | TCP | 443 | eth0 |
| Provider VM | cloudfront.net | https | TCP | 443 | eth0 |
| Corporate DNS | Provider VM | DNS | TCP/UDP | 53 | eth0 |
| Agent VM | S3-compatible Agent storage (local) | http/https | TCP | eth0 | |
| Agent VM | S3-compatible Agent storage (cloud) (external) | http/https | TCP | eth0 | |
| Agent VM | vCenter | https | TCP | 443 | eth0 |
| Database | S3-compatible Agent storage | http/https | TCP | eth0 or eth1 | |
| Agent Onboarding UI Client | Agent VM | https | TCP | 443 | eth0 |
| VMware Data Services Manager Console Client | Provider VM | https | TCP | 443 | eth0 |
| End User (Terminal) | Provider VM | SSH | TCP | 22 | eth0 |
| End User (Terminal) | Agent VM | SSH | TCP | 22 | eth0 |
| End User (Terminal) | Database | SSH | TCP | 22 | eth1 |
| End User | Database | https | TCP | 443 | eth1 |
| Database Client | Database | PostgreSQL | TCP | 5432 | eth1 |
| Database Client | Database | MySQL | TCP | 3368 | eth1 |
Internal Network Requirements:
| Connection From | Connection To | Type | Protocol | Port Number | (From/To) NIC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Provider VM | Provider VM | RabbitMQ | TCP | 443 | eth1 |
| Provider VM | Provider VM | PostgreSQL | TCP | 5432 | eth1 |
| Provider VM | Provider VM | RabbitMQ Cluster | TCP | 4369 | eth1 |
| Provider VM | Agent VM | RabbitMQ Cluster | TCP | 25672 | eth1/eth0 |
| Agent VM | Database | https | TCP | 443 | eth0/eth0 |
