The VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) Installer (Day 0) and SDDC Manager (Day N) supports two common methods for downloading VCF software into a users environment.
- Connect to Broadcom's online depot (supports network proxy) and directly download the software into VCF Installer/SDDC Manager, which I will describe as Online Depot with/Automated Transfer
- Mirror Broadcom's online portal and create an offline depot used by VCF Installer/SDDC Manager to download the software, which I will describe as Offline Depot with/Automated Transfer
To help illustrate the two options, I have create the following visual:
Option 1: VCF Installer/SDDC Manager connects directly to Broadcom.com to download VCF software
Option 2: VCF Download Tool (VCFDT) is used to connect to Broadcom.com and download a mirror copy of the online depot and then transfer that to an offline depot (web server) that is then used by VCF Installer/SDDC Manager
Option 2 is the preferred choice by most organizations as it only requires a single online download of the VCF software and then it can be efficiently hosted and replicated within their datacenter(s). Many organizations also have an established process in distributing other IT/Enterprise software (Windows updates/patches, Linux updates/patches, etc), which are typically hosted on an internal web server and Option 2 simply adheres to their existing operating model.
In the off chance, your organization does not have to distribute other IT/Enterprise software or the ability to request or setup a web server, VCF Installer/SDDC Manager actually supports a 3rd option which I will describe as Local Depot w/Manual Transfer
To help illustrate this option, here is a visual:
Simliar to Option 2, VCFDT is used to connect to Broadcom.com and download a mirror copy of the online depot, but since we do not have an offline depot, we need to transfer the VCF Software directly into VCF Installer/SDDC Manager by using the Secure Copy Protocol (SCP), which goes over SSH. Once the VCF Software is on the local filesystem of VCF Installer/SDDC Manager, we then need to install VCFDT on VCF Installer/SDDC Manager and run the "upload" operation, which will index the binaries into the appropriate structure for consumption by VCF Installer/SDDC Manager.
Here is an abbreviated workflow for Option 3 (see official VCF documentation for more details), using the latest VCF 9.0.1 release.
Step 1 - VCFDT has already downloaded VCF 9.0.1 binaries/metadata and it is stored locally on your system called VCF901
Step 2 - SCP the VCF901 directory to VCF Installer/SDDC Manager under /nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount/VCF901/
Step 3 - Install VCFDT on VCF Installer/SDDC Manager
mkdir /opt/vmware/vcf/lcm/vcf-download mv vcf-download-tool-9.0.1.0.24962179.tar.gz /opt/vmware/vcf/lcm/vcf-download cd /opt/vmware/vcf/lcm/vcf-download tar -zxvf vcf-download-tool-9.0.1.0.24962179.tar.gz chown vcf_lcm:vcf -R /opt/vmware/vcf/lcm/vcf-download chmod 750 -R /opt/vmware/vcf/lcm/vcf-download
Optional: I found it useful to include the VCFDT binary path in search path, so you can run VCFDT from any directory by adding it to .bash_profile like the following
echo 'export PATH=$PATH:/opt/vmware/vcf/lcm/vcf-download/bin' >> /root/.bash_profile . /root/.bash_profile
Step 4 - Create a text file that contains the VCF Installer/SDDC Manager admin credentials, which I am calling vcf-installer-admin-password.txt and then run the following command (replace with your environment details) which will begin the upload process
vcf-download-tool binaries upload -d /nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount/VCF901/ -f inst01.williamlam.local -u admin@local --sddc-manager-user-password-file vcf-installer-admin-password.txt --ignoreConsent
The upload operation took ~10-15min and everything has been indexed and mapped. We can verify by logging into the VCF Installer/SDDC Manager UI and refreshing the depot configuration and what you will notice is that BOTH Online and Offline Depot configuration are un-configured but as we can see from the screenshot below, the VCF software is available for use.
With all three options above, there is some form of "network connectivity" that is available to transfer the VCF software into VCF Installer/SDDC Manager, whether that is using an automated transfer option with Online/Offline Depot or a manual transfer option.
What about organizations that have to support air-gapped environments, where there is no network connectivity?
To help illustrate this scenario, here is a visual:
Even within an air-gapped environment, most customers still need to manage other IT/Enterprise software which is typically also distributed using an internal web server, similiar to Option 2. The biggest difference for an air-gapped environment is the method of transport, where the VCF software is physically transported into an air-gapped environment. The type of media used to store the VCF software can range from a laptop, USB device, CD or DVD discs depending on the requirements of the organization.
For this sub-scenario, I will describe it as Offline Depot w/Automated Transfer for Air-Gapped and the VCFDT is still used to download the VCF software from a system that has network connectivity and the VCF software is then stored on a physical device/medium. A user will then physically transport the device/medium that contains the VCF software into the air-gapped environment, where they will upload it onto a system that has connectivity to the internally hosted offline depot, which will then be accessible by VCF Installer/SDDC Manager.
In some restricted or resource constrained air-gapped environments, an internal web server may not exist but we can still address this extreme scenario with a variation of Option 3 which I will describe as Local Depot w/Manual Transfer for Air-Gapped. Similiar to the previous scenario in terms of downloading the VCF software and physically transporting the device/medium into the air-gapped environment, once the air-gapped environment has the VCF software, we need to manually upload it it to VCF Installer/SDDC Manager using the VCFDT, which is exactly how Option 3 works.
In summary, we have the following three supported options (including two Air-Gapped options):
- Online Depot with/Automated Transfer
- Offline Depot with/Automated Transfer (including Air-Gapped)
- Local Depot w/Manual Transfer (including Air-Gapped)
Thanks for the comment!