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JSON configuration to deploy VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) with secondary VDS

05.18.2021 by William Lam // 4 Comments

I recently spent some time exploring VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) using VMware Cloud Builder, which is a tool that automates the entire VCF deployment and configuration when provided a set of ESXi hosts that meet all the pre-requisites. To begin a VCF deployment, users will typically provide a VCF deployment parameter workbook (XLS) which contains the configuration for your deployment which is then uploaded to Cloud Builder (UI or API).


I personally prefer the JSON option which Cloud Builder also supports, which for me is much easier to read and edit. For those interested, after submitting your XLS document, you can retrieve the generated JSON configuration file in the Cloud Builder filesystem located in /tmp/sddcspec-[UUID].json.

While working on some automation, I needed to separate out the ESXi and NSX-T networking, which by default is configured using a single Distributed Virtual Switch (VDS). This is a common configuration pattern for environments that only have two network adapters. However, if you have up to four network adapters, VCF can also support another deployment configuration where two VDS are used. I came to learn about this while talking to one of the Cloud Builder Tech Leads and shared the required JSON configuration changes to support this model.

Below is the JSON snippet for the required dvsSpecs section that demonstrates the use of a dual VDS configuration where NSX-T networking makes use of the additional vmnics.

[Read more...]

Categories // Automation, VMware Cloud Foundation Tags // VMware Cloud Foundation

Automated vSphere 7 and vSphere with Kubernetes Lab Deployment Script

04.13.2020 by William Lam // 117 Comments

I know many of you have been asking me about my vSphere with Kubernetes automation script which I had been sharing snippets of on Twitter. For the past couple of weeks, I have been hard at work making the required changes between the vSphere 7 Beta and GA workflows, some additional testing and of course documentation. Hopefully the wait was worth it (I think it is) and if you enjoy the script or have benefited, please consider adding 🌟to the Github repo to show your support! Thanks and enjoy

Had to make some updates to one of my vGhetto Automated Lab Deployment Scripts

💥44min to automate all required #vSphere7 infrastructure! 🤛🎤🥳

1 x VCSA 7.0
3 x ESXi + vSAN 7.0
1 x NSX-T 3.0 UA
1 x NSX-T Edge

Need to clean up #ProjectPacific wording but its working great! pic.twitter.com/ZInPgVgbGS

— William Lam (@lamw.bsky.social | @*protected email*) (@lamw) April 4, 2020

The Github repository:

  • https://github.com/lamw/vghetto-vsphere-with-kubernetes-external-nsxt-automated-lab-deployment

Before getting started, please carefully read through the requirements section along with the complete sample end-to-end execution if you are new to vSphere with Kubernetes. You will need to have a VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 4.0 license before you can get started and specifically an NSX-T Advance license which is one of the required parameters within the script. If you do not have access to a VCF 4 license, I strongly recommend taking part in the recent VMUG Advantage Homelab Group Buy effort which I had started to easily get access to the latest VMware releases along with a nice 15% discount!

The script supports deploying both a standard vSphere 7 environment with just VCSA, ESXi and vSAN as well as the complete solution which includes NSX-T to support vSphere with Kubernetes. For more details, please refer to the FAQ.

Categories // Automation, Kubernetes, Nested Virtualization, NSX, VMware Tanzu, VSAN, vSphere, vSphere 7.0 Tags // Kubernetes, NSX-T, Project Pacific, VMware Cloud Foundation, vSphere 7.0, vSphere with Kubernetes

VMware Validated Design (VVD) & VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) Quick References

05.02.2017 by William Lam // 2 Comments

The other day, I had a customer ask about the latest version of the Ports and Protocols document that was put together by the VMware Validated Design (VVD) team which does a fantastic job of outlining all the connectivity between the products used within the VVD SDDC. It actually took me awhile to find after realizing it was posted on the VMTN Community rather than the official documentation page.

I also came across other VVD content that I thought would also be useful for customers and decided to create a VVD "Quick Reference" that organizes all of this content into a single place. In addition, I also created a nice short URL to the quick reference so you only have to remember that. After sharing this on Twitter yesterday, Ryan Johnson (TMM for VVD/VCF) got inspired and also created VMware Cloud Foundation Quick Reference which I also built a short URL for. If there is other content that you would like to see, feel free to drop me or Ryan a comment or better yet, submit a pull request on the Github page!

To access the Quick References, use the following short URLs:

  • https://github.com/lamw/vvd-quick-reference
  • https://github.com/ftwegner/cloudfoundation-quick-reference

Below is a quick screenshot of both the VVD and VCF Quick References:

Categories // VMware Cloud Foundation Tags // VCF, VMware Cloud Foundation, VMware Validated Design, VVD

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William is Distinguished Platform Engineering Architect in the VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) Division at Broadcom. His primary focus is helping customers and partners build, run and operate a modern Private Cloud using the VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) platform.

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Recent

  • Automating the vSAN Data Migration Pre-check using vSAN API 06/04/2025
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