Lecture Notes: Deploying and Configuring SDDC Manager Appliance in VMware Cloud Foundation

Overview

VMware Cloud Foundation

• Use SDDC Manager for administrative tasks:
  • Adding and managing hosts
  • Creating workload domains
  • Deploying and recycling VMware clusters
  • Tracking and applying software updates
  • Managing passwords and certificates

SDDC Manager UI

• Provides integrated view of physical and virtual infrastructure
• Centralized access for managing resources
• Runs as a single virtual machine in the management domain
• Default deployment specs: 4 CPUs and 16GB memory

Ensuring Availability

• Combination of vSphere HA and file-based backups used

Deployment Requirements

• Bundled with VMware Cloud Builder appliance (download from VMware Customer Connect)
• Requires two files:
  • Cloud Builder OVA
  • Deployment parameter workbook
• Cloud Builder OVA is large; includes software for the full SDDC stack (vSphere, vSAN, NSX, SDDC Manager)

Deployment Process

• Deployed as part of Cloud Builder bringup process
• Cloud Builder UI shows status of deployment tasks
• Steps to deploy and configure SDDC Manager included in bringup process

Configuration Tasks Post-Deployment

Backups

• Configure external SFTP server to store backups
• SFTP server settings include:
  • IP address
  • Port
  • Protocol
  • User credentials
  • Backup directory
• SFTP server is used for both SDDC Manager and NSX Manager backups

SSH Access

• SSH access is needed for certain tasks
• Tasks include retrieving passwords and viewing log files

Retrieving Passwords

• Use lookup-passwords command to query SDDC Manager database
• Passwords for ESXi hosts, vCenter server instances, NSX components
• Valid SSO credentials needed for access

Viewing Log Files

• Logs organized in directories (domain-manager, operations-manager, LCM)
• Logs rotated over time; older logs compressed into zip archives
• Needed for troubleshooting and VMware support

Additional Setup Tasks

Configuring Network Pools

• Network pools manage IP addresses for VMkernel interfaces (vMotion, vSAN)
• Initial pool created during bringup
• Create new pool using UI: provide VLAN, MTU, and IP settings; assign a block of IPs

Registering with Online Depot

• Register SDDC Manager to detect and download software updates
• Use VMware Customer Connect credentials
• Navigate to lifecycle management and select bundle management
• Downloaded bundles listed under download history

Final Steps

• Take a backup of SDDC Manager post-configuration
• Export configuration to external SFTP server (password protected)

Resources

• For more information, visit the Cloud Foundation Resource Center at VMware