SDDC Manager automates configuration, provisioning, and life cycle management of the entire SDDC stack. This automation helps administrators build and maintain the SDDC. It also automates the installation and configuration of Aria Suite (formerly vRealize Suite) components die to integration with vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager. SDDC Manager complements well-known VMware management tools such as vCenter Server and vRealize Operations that are available for advanced administration tasks and integration with third-party software tools.

Figure 35.    SDDC Manager main dashboard

The automated deployment of VMware Cloud Foundation is performed with the help of Cloud Builder, which manages the orchestration of the initial deployment and configuration of an SDDC platform ensuring that it adheres to the architecture best practices. Cloud Builder creates the management domain with the VMware SDDC components. Cloud Builder has been uniquely engineered to integrate with VxRail. When Cloud Builder is deployed with the VxRail profile enabled, it deploys and configures only the platform components that VxRail Manager has not already deployed and configured as part of standard VxRail cluster creation (such as deploying and configuration SDDC Manager and NSX, and more).