The Deployment of a Virtual Infrastructure Workload Domain in the Second Region documentation provides general guidance on the deployment of the workload domain in Region B based on VMware Validated Design and step-by-step instructions for extending the workload domain to a second region by using NSX-T Federation that spans the software-defined network between the regions.

The Deployment of a Virtual Infrastructure Workload Domain in the Second Region documentation does not contain step-by-step instructions for performing all required post-configuration tasks because their nature often depends on the requirements of your organization.

Intended Audience

The Deployment of a Virtual Infrastructure Workload Domain in the Second Region documentation is intended for cloud architects, infrastructure administrators, and cloud administrators who are familiar with and want to use VMware software to deploy in a short time and manage a dual-region software-defined data center (SDDC) that meets the requirements for capacity, scalability, backup and restore, and extensibility for disaster recovery support.

Supported VMware Cloud Foundation Version

Deployment of a Virtual Infrastructure Workload Domain in the Second Region is compatible with VMware Cloud Foundation 4.2.

Required VMware Software

Deployment of a Virtual Infrastructure Workload Domain in the Second Region is compliant and validated with certain product versions. See VMware Validated Design Release Notes.

Before You Apply This Guidance

The sequence of the documentation of this design follows the stages for implementing and maintaining an SDDC.

To deploy a virtual infrastructure workload domain in Region B by following the prescriptive path of VMware Validated Design, your environment must have a certain configuration. For information on the deployment workflow of the SDDC components, see Deployment of VMware Validated Design in Introducing VMware Validated Design.
Table 1. Required SDDC Components

Workload Domain

Management Component

Deployment Method

Management domain in Region A and Region B

VMware ESXi™ hosts

Manual deployment

VMware vCenter Server®

Automated deployment by using VMware Cloud Builder™

NSX-T Manager and NSX-T Edge nodes with a region-specific and cross-region virtual network segments

Automated deployment by using VMware Cloud Builder

VMware vSAN™ as principal storage

Automated deployment by using VMware Cloud Builder

NFS as supplemental storage

Manual deployment

SDDC Manager

Automated deployment by using VMware Cloud Builder

Region-specific Workspace ONE Access instance connected to VMware NSX-T™ Data Center

Manual deployment
NSX-T Federation Manual deployment

Virtual infrastructure workload domain in Region A

ESXi hosts

Manual deployment

vCenter Server

Automated deployment by using SDDC Manager

NSX-T Manager and NSX-T Edge nodes

Automated deployment by using SDDC Manager

Principal storage

Automated deployment by using SDDC Manager

Supplemental storage

Manual deployment

To apply Deployment of a Virtual Infrastructure Workload Domain in the Second Region, you must:

  • Complete the Planning and Preparation Workbook with your deployment options included.

  • Deploy a dual-region SDDC management domain. See Deployment of the Management Domain in the First Region and Deployment of the Management Domain in the Second Region.

  • Deploy a virtual infrastructure workload domain in Region A. See Deployment of a Virtual Infrastructure Workload Domain in the First Region

  • Optionally, read Architecture and Design for a Virtual Infrastructure Workload Domain.

See Documentation Map for VMware Validated Design.

The same requirement applies if you are following the VMware Cloud Foundation documentation to deploy a virtual infrastructure workload domain. See the VMware Cloud Foundation documentation.

Using VMware Cloud Foundation for Deployment of the Workload Domain in the Second Region

VMware Validated Design uses SDDC Manager in VMware Cloud Foundation for automated deployment and life cycle of the components for the workload domains.

VMware Validated Design follows an example naming convention. The naming provides uniqueness of the objects across the SDDC. You can identify managed objects directly if you use many components that are linked together, for example, multiple vCenter Server systems working in Enhanced Linking Mode. For information on the naming convention, see Planning and Preparation Workbook.

Table 2. Automated and Manual Deployment and Configuration for the Workload Domain
Operation Type By Using SDDC Manager Automation Manual Configuration
Preparation for deployment - Install and configure ESXi on the physical servers.
Deployment
  • Deploy the workload domain.
  • Create an NSX-T Edge cluster.
 Create a network pool and commission ESXi hosts for the workload domain.
Post-deployment configuration Replace certificates for the SDDC components of the workload domain.
  • Join the management domain vCenter Server and ESXi hosts to Active Directory.
  • Configure Active Directory as an identity management provider for the workload domain.
  • Configure the vSAN gateway as vSphere HA isolation address.
  • Group components of the workload domain in folders.
  • Integrate NSX-T Data Center instance for the workload domain with the region-specific Workspace ONE Access instance.
Implementation of NSX-T Federation in both regions -
  • Deploy an NSX-T Global Manager Cluster in the Workload Domain in Region A.
  • Prepare NSX-T Data Center Components and Enable NSX-T Federation for the Workload Domain in Region A.
  • Integrate the NSX-T Global Manager for the Workload Domain with the Region-Specific Workspace ONE Access in Region A.
  • Deploy an NSX-T Global Manager Cluster for the Workload Domain in Region B.
  • Prepare NSX-T Data Center Components and Enable NSX-T Federation for the Workload Domain in Region B.
  • Integrate the NSX-T Global Manager for the Workload Domain with the Region-Specific Workspace ONE Access in Region B.
  • Set the NSX-T Global Manager in Region B as Standby for the NSX-T Global Manager for the Workload Domain in Region A.

Update History

This Deployment of the Virtual Infrastructure Domain in the Second Region is updated when necessary.
Revision Description
24 AUG 2021 Updated the procedures for deploying the NSX-T Global Manager clusters in Region A and Region B.
09 FEB 2021 Initial release.