WilliamLam.com

Automated VMware vSphere Foundation (VVF) 9.0 Lab Deployment Script

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After publishing my long awaited Automated VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.0 Lab Deployment Script yesterday, I already had a request for a simliar solution to deploy VMware vSphere Foundation (VVF) environment.

Luckily, with new the VCF 9.0 Installer, it super easy to deploy either VCF or VVF, as VVF is just a subset of a VCF deployment. In fact, I had already incorporated this capability into the initial script, but I just did not get a chance to add the documentation for VVF as I know VCF has been the most popular request for this script.


I have updated my documentation to now include an example for deploying VVF as you can see from the screenshot below. It will automatically pull the required packages for VVF versus a VCF deployment and then proceed with deploying the components.


You can find all the details and documentation at the following Github repo: https://github.com/lamw/vcf-fleet-automated-lab-deployment

Enhancements to VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) & vSphere Automated Lab Deployment Scripts

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Simplicity is something I try to strive for when creating automation, whether that is for myself or for our customers. When I develop a script, I try to keep everything within a single file, so that it is easy to share and consume. As a script increases in functionality, it may be useful to break out some of its functions, typically libraries or modules.

I was recently debugging an issue with my popular automated lab deployment script for VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) and while looking through the script that the user had been using, I found numerous variables that were commented out and replaced with their own values, which looked like they had different configuration and environments where they were using this single script.

It then hit me, why have I not considered externalizing all the variables that the script relied on, such that a user could easily supply different configuration options without needing to edit the primary deployment script!? ?

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Downgrading new VMware vSphere Foundation (VVF) or VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) licenses to 7.x

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When you access your new VMware vSphere Foundation (VVF) or VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) license in the Broadcom Support Portal (BSP), it is delivered using the new solution license key type  which can activate multiple components within a VVF or VCF deployment.

By default, VVF and VCF licenses will come entitled for latest vSphere 8.0 Update 2b and VCF 5.1.1 respectively, because those are the minimum versions that support the new solution license key type. With that said, users can also downgrade their existing VVF and VCF licenses to support earlier vSphere 8.x and 7.x releases using the BSP license management system, which was something I had recently learned about and went through the process myself, so here is what it looks like end-to-end.

Note: License downgrade requires both user downgrade permissions in the BSP license management as well as using non-NFR licenses, which can obtained through the BSP self-service "Trials and Beta" or internally for employees. For NFR licenses, downgrade is not available.

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