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Planning Guide—VMware Cloud Foundation 5.1 on VxRail
Executive summary VMware Cloud Foundation on VxRail VMware Cloud Foundation on VxRail Requirements and Use Cases VMware Cloud Foundation on VxRail workload domain planning Data center and network requirements Cloud Foundation on VxRail high-level design decisions Cloud Foundation on VxRail Workload Planning Cloud Foundation on VxRail physical network planning Cloud Foundation on VxRail physical network preparation VxRail Cluster deployment preparation
Introduction
Prepare for VxRail cluster initial build
Select the external management network subnet
Select the VxRail cluster VLANs
Select the network settings for the VxRail cluster
Select the network settings for VxRail stretched cluster
Create forward and reverse DNS entries for VxRail cluster
Select passwords
Prepare for VMware Cloud Foundation Management VI Workload Domain Prepare for Cloud Foundation VI workload domain Prepare for NSX edge gateway services Prepare for Cloud Foundation Application Virtual Network Cloud Foundation on VxRail housekeeping tasks Appendix A: Cloud Foundation on VxRail checklist Appendix B: Cloud Foundation on VxRail footprints for sizing Appendix C: Cloud Foundation on VxRail Networks Appendix D: VxRail network configuration Appendix E: Cloud Builder and management VI workload configuration Appendix F: VI workload domain configuration settings Appendix G: Edge gateway configuration Appendix H: Application virtual network configuration Appendix I: Sample switch configuration settings References

Prepare for VxRail cluster initial build

Home > Integrated Products > VxRail > Guides > Planning Guide—VMware Cloud Foundation 5.1 on VxRail > Prepare for VxRail cluster initial build

Prepare for VxRail cluster initial build

  • The initial build operation of a VxRail cluster transforms the physical nodes into a single, managed vSphere cluster with a single datastore and one or two virtual distributed switches.

    • For the management domain, the underlying VxRail cluster is built first before performing the tasks to deploy the VCF management domain.
    • For any subsequent workload domains deployed on this Cloud Foundation on VxRail instance, the VxRail cluster build operation occurs as part of the overall workload domain deployment process using either SDDC Manager or a scripted process.

    Perform the following tasks to support the VxRail cluster build process before attempting a workload domain deployment:

    1. The adjacent top-of-rack switches are configured per Cloud Foundation on VxRail requirements.
    2. The VxRail nodes are installed in the racks and cabled to power and network sources.
    3. If FC LUNs instead of vSAN will serve as the primary storage resource for a VxRail cluster, perform the pre-requisites to configure the LUNs on the storage array and configure the storage area network to present the LUNs to the VxRail nodes.
    4. The VxRail nodes are powered on. This enables VxRail to perform self-discovery of the powered-on nodes for cluster formation, and enables VxRail Manager to serve as the director of the automated cluster build process.
    5. If FC LUNs (instead of vSAN) will serve as the primary storage resource for a VxRail cluster, verify that the LUN is discovered on each VxRail node, and perform the steps to configure a shared datastore on all the VxRail nodes.