The VCF Management WLD VxRail cluster requires a minimum of four hosts on which the infrastructure components used to instantiate and manage the private cloud infrastructure run. The Management WLD is created during initial system install (or bring-up) using the VCF Cloud Builder tool.

In the Management WLD VxRail cluster, vSphere runs with a dedicated vCenter server that is backed by vSAN storage. It hosts the SDDC Manager, VxRail Manager VMs, and NSX-T Managers. vRealize Log Insight for Management domain logging and vRealize Operations and vRealize Automation are optional and must be manually deployed in accordance with VVD guidance. The management VxRail cluster must have a minimum of four hosts to provide vSAN FTT=1 during maintenance operations.

While the deployment and configuration of the management VxRail cluster is fully automated, once it is running, you manage it like you would any other VxRail cluster using the vSphere HTML5 client.

Figure 2.   Management domain components

The management domain vCenter is deployed using the standard VxRail cluster deployment process using internal VCSA deployment. During the SDDC deployment, the vCenter is configured as an external vCenter to the VxRail Manager. This conversion is performed for two reasons: 

• It establishes a common identity management system that can be linked between vCenter instances.
• It allows the SDDC Manager LCM process to life cycle all vCenter components in the solution.

Figure 3.   vCenter design