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Dynamically generate custom vSAN ESA HCL JSON for VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 5.1

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I recently shared on how you can deploy the latest VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 5.1 release with vSAN Express Storage Architecture (ESA) using Nested ESXi and leveraging a custom vSAN ESA HCL JSON file, which I had created to workaround the required vSAN ESA pre-check during the VCF Bringup process.

I will admit, I actually did not the create the custom vSAN ESA HCL JSON file manually, it was auto-generated using automation 😉

My initial goal was to make it easier for anyone to play with VCF 5.1 using both Nested ESXi as well any physical system that is capable but may is not on the official VMware vSAN ESA HCL. After a lot of trial and error testing with Nested ESXi, I finally had a functional PowerCLI script that can then be used to run against a standalone ESXi host to dynamically generate a compatible custom vSAN ESA HCL JSON file that can then be used with both VCF 5.1 with vSAN ESA or even a standalone vCenter Server deployment for vSAN ESA enablement.

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Custom vSAN HCL JSON for VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 5.1 and vSAN ESA using Nested ESXi

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One of the exciting new features in the latest VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 5.1 release is the support for the vSphere 8.0 Update 2 and the new vSAN Express Storage Architecture (ESA), which can be enabled for both the VCF Management and Workload Domain.

As many of you already know, one of the easiest way to explore and play with new VCF releases is by leveraging Nested ESXi, which dramatically reduces the amount of time for setting up the infrastructure before you can start deploying VCF. This is how I initially played with VCF 5.0 and I had assumed the same would also work for the latest VCF 5.1 release.

Shortly after kicking off the VCF Bringup process, I noticed it failed immediately with an error about validating the virtual disks on my Nested ESXi VM against the vSAN HCL!? ?


I thought this was really strange, especially in a non-VCF deployment, enabling vSAN ESA using vCenter Server only gives you a warning about your hardware not being on the vSAN HCL but does not stop you from continuing with the deployment. For testing and homelab purposes, this is completely acceptable and the fact that vCenter Server allows this operation but VCF blocks it, was an interesting UX decision.

If hardware validation against the vSAN HCL is required for VCF 5.1 when enabling vSAN ESA, then this would severely impact who can play with the latest VCF release, at least if you wanted to try out vSAN ESA.

UPDATE (05/28/24) - If you are using Nested ESXi and wish to enable vSAN ESA for a VCF Workload Domain, please take a look at this blog post HERE for more details.

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Quick Tip - Retry VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) deployment with modified bringup spec

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During a VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) bringup, where VMware Cloud Builder is performing deploying the VCF Management Domain, unforeseen issues can occur. Within the Cloud Builder UI or API, if a particular task had failed, you can easily retry the deployment without having to start all over again, which is certainly something I have benefited more than once!

When you retry the bringup workflow, it is using the original bringup specification which from the Cloud Builder UI can either be the VCF Deployment Workbook (XLS) or VCF Deployment Spec (JSON), which is to be expected as you are attempting to retry the exact same deployment.

However, in some cases you might need to adjust the bringup specification or if you made a typo but this is typically not allowed during a retry operation and would require a complete re-deployment. While deploying the newest VCF 5.1 release, I was testing out a new deployment scenario where I needed to append additional entries into the VCF Deployment JSON spec and I came to learn from one of our Engineers that I did not have to blow away the setup, but that I could retry using a modified bringup spec when using the Cloud Builder API!

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