VCF 9.0 Offline Depot using Synology

There are number of methods to serve up the VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.0 software binaries for hosting an offline depot from running a traditional web server as outlined in the official VCF documentation to running a simple 1-liner Python command to serve up the files directly to the VCF Installer.

If you happen to have a Synology in your lab, you can add the WebStation package and quickly setup a VCF Offline Depot without much hassle.

Note: To download the the required VCF 9.0 software binaries and metadata, you will need to use the new VCF Download Tool (VCFDT) and a valid Broadcom Download Token.

Step 0 - I will assume you have already downloaded all required VCF 9.0 binaries and metadata and the directory will be labeled PROD and the structure should look like the following:

PROD
    ├── COMP
    │   ├── ESX_HOST
    │   ├── NSX_T_MANAGER
    │   │   ├── VMware-NSX-T-9.0.0.0.24733065.vlcp
    │   │   └── nsx-unified-appliance-9.0.0.0.24733065.ova
    │   ├── SDDC_MANAGER_VCF
    │   │   ├── Compatibility
    │   │   │   └── VmwareCompatibilityData.json
    │   │   └── VCF-SDDC-Manager-Appliance-9.0.0.0.24703748.ova
    │   ├── VCENTER
    │   │   └── VMware-VCSA-all-9.0.0.0.24755230.iso
    │   ├── VCF_OPS_CLOUD_PROXY
    │   │   └── Operations-Cloud-Proxy-9.0.0.0.24695833.ova
    │   ├── VRA
    │   │   └── vmsp-vcfa-combined-9.0.0.0.24701403.tar
    │   ├── VROPS
    │   │   └── Operations-Appliance-9.0.0.0.24695812.ova
    │   └── VRSLCM
    │       └── VCF-OPS-Lifecycle-Manager-Appliance-9.0.0.0.24695816.ova
    ├── metadata
    │   ├── manifest
    │   │   └── v1
    │   │       └── vcfManifest.json
    │   └── productVersionCatalog
    │       └── v1
    │           ├── productVersionCatalog.json
    │           └── productVersionCatalog.sig
    └── vsan
        └── hcl
            ├── all.json
            └── lastupdatedtime.json

Step 1 - Install the WebStation package on your Synology DSM, see this blog post HERE for setup instructions

Step 2 - Ensure the HTTP backend is using Apache since basic authentication is a requirement for VCF Installer to connect to the VCF Offline Depot.

Open the Web Station management console, click on Web Service and you should see Default Service, double click to open and make sure its using Apache HTTP Server 2.4

Step 3 - To enable basic authentication for our VCF Offline Depot directory, we need to create two additional configuration files: .htaccess and .htpasswd

Create a file called .htaccess that contains the following:

AuthType Basic
AuthName "Restricted Area"
AuthUserFile /volume1/web/PROD/.htpasswd
Require valid-user
Options +Indexes

The assumes you your File Station path is /volume1/web/PROD or modify it based on your own setup

Create file called .htpasswd that will contain the username/password. You can use htpasswd command if you have that on your local system or you can create encrypted passed using openssl and place the content into the file.

Place both the .htaccess and .htpasswd file into the PROD directory

Step 4 - Upload the PROD directory using the Synology File Station and place it under the "web" directory so that it matches the screenshot below.

Step 5 - To validate that everything is working, open a web browser to your Synology (e.g. http://synology.vcf.lab/PROD) and it should prompt you for authentication, use the username/password you had configure and then you should be authorized to list the contents of the directory. If this does not work, then you made a mistake some where and you will need to troubleshoot further whether it is accessing the web server and/or issues with basic auth setup

Step 6 - Finally, login to your VCF 9.0 Installer and connect to your VCF Offline Depot that is now hosted on your Synology!