By default, VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.0 will use the optimized Enhanced Data Path (EDP) Standard switch mode when configuring NSX, which will require you to have an EDP capable network adaptor. One way to check whether your network adaptor supports EDP is by using the Broadcom Compatibility Guide (BCG) and ensuring "Enhanced Data Path - Interrupt mode" feature
Alternatively, if you already have ESXi running, you can quickly check by running the following command: esxcfg-nics -e
If you are using ESXi hosts that have mixed hardware vendors, the VCF 9.0 Installer will throw the following error as shown in the screenshot below:
ESX Hosts don't have the same vendor. vLCM is not supported on ESX Hosts with different vendor. Found vendors are: [micro computer (hk) tech limited. gmktec]
The reason as outlined is that vSphere Lifecycle Manager (vLCM) does not support heterogeneous hardware vendors when it attempts to construct the vLCM Image Profile for the vSphere Cluster that is for your VCF Management Domain.
With that said, for lab purposes there is a workaround ...
In fact, this was something I had shared a while back which is the ability to simulate custom ESXi SMBIOS strings and I just recalled the solution because I wanted to test something out but unfourntately, my ESXi hosts were from two different hardware vendors.
VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.0 supports two types of deployment mode for the applicable components (e.g. NSX Manager, VCF Operations, VCF Automation, etc), Simple (Single-node) or High Availability (Three-node).
For Lab/Learning Purposes or Proof-of-Concepts, the Simple VCF deployment will allow users to experience the full capabilities of VCF 9.0, while minimizing the resources required when compared to VCF 5.x where you had to have three NSX Managers as an example.
Since the GA of VCF 9.0, I know many folks have started to prepare their lab environments and I wanted to share the minimal resources that you would need to deploy the initial VCF 9.0 stack also referred to as a VCF Fleet for lab purposes: