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VCF 9.1 - Quick Tip: Using the VCF Installer as a Standalone Pre-Check Tool

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The VCF Installer appliance is used to deploy either a VMware vSphere Foundation (VVF) or a VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) deployment. Customers can re-use their existing components (vCenter Server, NSX Manager, VCF Operations or VCF Automation) that have already been deployed or they can start from scratch, deploying all brand new components.

To accommodate the wide range of deployment permutations, the VCF Installer includes a comprehensive set of validations and pre-checks that are performed prior to deploying a new VCF Fleet.

I recently recieved an interesting question on whether the VCF Installer could be deployed just for the purpose of environment validation without deploying anything?

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VCF 9.1 - Additional IP allocation options for VCF Management Services (VCFMS) in VCF Installer and SDDC Manager

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One of the new components introduced in VMware vSphere Foundation (VVF) and VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.1 is the VCF Management Services (VCFMS), which provides a centralized system for unifying both existing and new capabilities for VCF Fleet management and operations.

When deploying a brand new VCF Fleet using the VCF Installer, the required input for the IP address allocation uses an IP range format (minimum of 12 consecutive addresses and up to 30 for additional component deployment and scale out).


When upgrading from an existing environment using the SDDC Manager, the required input for the IP address allocation uses an network CIDR format.


While the minimum IP allocation is the same for both a new installation or an upgrade, the actual IPs required will differ due to different input formats [Read more...]

VCF 9.1 - Interactive Upgrade Planning Tool

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One of the biggest advantages of VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.1 is its flexibility and broad support for existing customer environments, meeting customers where they are at in their Private Cloud journey. From existing standalone vSphere deployments with VCF Operations to environments with different combinations of vSAN, NSX and Aria Automation, all the way to a full stack VCF deployment.

With this added flexibility in VCF 9.1, depending on the components and features deployed within an environment, customers may need to account for specific component upgrade sequences, additional operational workflows and resource requirements, which can make understanding the overall upgrade workflow a real challenge. Historically, customers would have to piece together information from product documentation, KB articles and interoperability matrices before they could confidently plan and perform an upgrade.

This is where I think we can provide an improved upgrade experience for our customers. Instead of having to understand all the different deployment permutations and specific order of operations, why not start with where the customer is currently at based on the products and features they already have deployed? Using that as input, we can then provide the applicable destination scenarios they can upgrade to and, most importantly, generate a custom tailored upgrade plan that is unique to their specific environment.

Today, I am excited to share the release of the VCF Upgrade Planning Tool which provides a custom tailored upgrade planning experience to help customers confidently navigate their VCF upgrade journey.

 

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