VMware Cloud Foundation 4.0 is now available on VMUG Advantage EVALExperience!
Well well, what do we have here? How about a full SDDC in your lab? Note I didn't say home lab, unless you have a pretty beefy configuration, read onward for details.
Just when I thought I wouldn't find any more surprise wins for the VMUG Advantage team, somebody apparently found a way to pull off convincing the VCF PMs over at VMware to offer all EVALExperience subscribers the very latest VCF 4.0 version already. EVALExperience sure has come a long way! If you haven't subscribed yet, please use discount code TINKERTRY to save 10% when you purchase VMUG Advantage EVALExperience.
Download
VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 4.0
For active subscribers, here's the VMUG Advantage EVALExperience download, add it to your cart, read and agree to the terms, and now you have your downloads. A tiny one, and a huge one:
- File: vcf-ems-deployment-parameter.xlsx
Size: 106 KB - File: VMware-Cloud-Builder-4.0.0.0-16008466_OVF10.ova
Size: 20 GB
Now that you got your download going, you've got plenty of time to see if you meet the Minimum Hardware Requirements, which is 4 qualified servers on the vSAN portion of the VMware Compatibility Guide, a beefy boot device, and at least 192GB of RAM per server! Yes, you'll need quite the home lab to handle this, it's MUCH more likely you'll be trying this on a non-production lab at work. If you do have a homelab that runs this, or even if you don't, I'd still strongly encourage you to document what you have at William Lam's VMware Community Homelab BOM Submission form.
This first video gives an overview of how VCF works.
This next video goes over what's new in this recent 4.0 release that's based on vSphere/vSAN 7.0.
This second video below is a demonstration of the Cloud Foundation "Bring Up" process. Shows how to use the Cloud Builder to instantiate the SDDC and create the Management Domain.
Note that the video overview below mentions that bring up can take up to 3 hours to complete. After filling out the Configuration File Validation file, the cloud builder uses the information provided in the input parameters file to:
- deploy a pair of platform service controllers and instantiate a new SSO Domain
- deploy a vCenter server instance for the management domain (vSphere 7.0 I believe)
- join the management hosts into a vSAN cluster and configure a vSAN datastore
- deploy and configure NSX-T
- deploy and configure vRealize Log Insight
- deploy and configure the SDDC Manager
Closing thoughts
If your lab just isn't quite there yet, I'd recommend you'd consider trying out one of the components needed for any self-respecting home or work lab that has a need for syslog collection. That's right, it's vRealize Log Insight, see also my detailed article about this gem, which is now at version 8.1, and available for download as part of VMware vRealize Suite 2019 at VMUG Advantage EVALExperience here.
Disclosure: VMUG Advantage has purchased ads at TinkerTry within the past 12 months, using 3rd party BuySellAds ad placement services. I created this article and video independently, with VMUG Advantage having no say in its content.
See also at TinkerTry
- All TinkerTry articles about VMUGAdvantage
- All TinkerTry articles about vSphere7
- All TinkerTry videos about vSphere7
See also
- VMware Community Homelab BOM Submission
William Lam at virtuallyGhetto
