Before moving forward with the initial deployment, decisions must be made on the overall Cloud Foundation architecture based on best practices and use case requirements:

• Resource consumption on the management workload domain depends on decisions made regarding network connectivity for the workload domains. A new workload domain can either leverage existing NSX management virtual appliances deployed in an existing workload domain, or new NSX management virtual appliances can be deployed to support networking requirements. Capacity must be reserved in instances where additional NSX virtual appliances will be deployed.
• The default size of the NSX management virtual appliances deployed during Cloud Foundation initial deployment is adequate for most workloads. An expansion of virtual machine workload or the enablement of additional networking services can impact NSX management resources, and impose constraints on the management workload domain if there is a lack of resource capacity.
• For smaller, less impactful workload requirements, a consolidated architecture can be considered. A consolidated architecture does not support additional domains beyond the management workload domain. This means the resources for Cloud Foundation management and all application workloads are shared in a single management workload domain. This option should be considered only if the sizing exercises show that a consolidated architecture can be supported, including plans for future growth.
• If a requirement is the deployment of the vRealize software suite to support use case and application requirements, Cloud Foundation on VxRail automates the deployment of vRealize Automation, vRealize Operations Manager, and vRealize Log Insight using vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager. Selecting this option will require reserving additional resources in the management domain to support this use case.

In addition to the resource requirements for vRealize, Cloud Foundation on VxRail also requires access to the external network so that SDDC Manager can download vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager from the VMware support site and perform the installation. To support this, the Application Virtual Network (AVN) must be configured from SDDC Manager to enable this connectivity. Dell Technologies delivery resources will capture the network integration requirements as part of the planning and design phase.

Figure 7.        SDDC Manager uses AVN to download and deploy vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager