VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0, or VCF, is a complete software-defined infrastructure platform that encompasses all the required components to run a private, public, or hybrid cloud. VCF 9.0 focuses specifically on the private cloud experience using VCF Operations as the central control hub. From VCF Operations, the user can control all aspects of the VCF environment, from day-to-day troubleshooting to new workload deployments. The other components of the VCF platform include vSphere for compute, vSAN for storage, NSX for networking, SDDC Manager, and VCF Automation.

VCF uses the concept of domains. There are two: Management and Workload. The management domain is the heart of the VCF implementation and requires NFS, VMFS on FC, or vSAN storage to deploy. It is responsible for hosting the many management plane VMs, but it can also host customer VMs when employing a consolidated architecture without a separate workload domain. A workload domain is designed specifically to run customer workloads. A single vCenter Server instance manages a workload domain and can consist of one or more vSphere clusters. In VCF 9.0, the workload domain can be deployed on all the same storage options as the management domain. The flexibility in storage options in VCF 9.0 permits the use of more robust storage array solutions like the PowerStore without the need for vSAN in the solution.

This paper provides an overview of how to implement a VCF 9.0 environment on a PowerStore platform using both NFS and VMFS on FC for principal storage. It covers deployment of both the management and workload domains, including PowerStore storage provisioning.

This guide provides configuration details for implementing VMware Cloud Foundation on Dell servers andPowerStore storage. It demonstrates the use of NFS as principal storage for the management domain and VMFS on FC for the workload domain, removing the relianceon vSAN.

This document is intended for use by storage administrators, system administrators, and VMware vSphere administrators.

Readers of this document are expected to be familiar with the following topics:

• Dell PowerStore system operation
• Dell software including the following: PowerStoreManager and PowerStoreOS 4.2

• General storage concepts
• VMware Cloud Foundation, including vSphere, NSX, and VCF Operations
• VMware vSphere products and their operations

The following table provides definitions for some of the terms that are used in this document.

PowerStoreOS is the advanced operating system that powers Dell PowerStore storage arrays, delivering a software-defined, performance-optimized platform designed for mission-critical enterprise workloads. It is a modern architecture that is modular, container-based, and tightly integrated with end-to-end NVMe hardware to offer ultra-low latency, high throughput, and automated efficiency.

Through an integrated machine learning engine, PowerStoreOS supports self-optimizing processes. These processes automatically fine-tune the following:

• Operational efficiency
• Power efficiency
• Performance
• Availability

It supports inline compression and de-duplication, ensuring space efficiency. With native encryption, secure snapshots, and multi-tenancy features, PowerStoreOS also offers strong data protection and isolation.

PowerStore local replication includes both snapshots and thin clones, and PowerStore remote replication supports asynchronous, synchronous, and active-active solutions.

PowerStore local and remote replication are integrated so that remote snapshots or thin clones can be easily taken from target devices. One benefit of this integration is that it allows the creation of remote copies of the source application without interrupting remote replication. If the source application data is corrupted, you can restore a snapshot to the remote target and reverse replication to restore the source in parallel to reduce downtime. Both PowerStore local and remote replication send only changed data when applicable, except when an initial full sync is required.

PowerStore Manager is the centralized, HTML-5-based UI management interface for Dell PowerStore appliances that enables administrators to manage, monitor, configure, and upgrade PowerStore clusters and appliances. It is accessible by browser and supports both local and remote configurations.

A Representational State Transfer (REST) API is also built into Unisphere for PowerStore Manager. The REST API allows you to access diagnostic, performance, and configuration data, as well as perform provisioning operations on the storage system through interfaces like the CSI driver. Full documentation for the PowerStore REST API is available at developer.dell.com or from the Help menu within the Unisphere for PowerStore Manager User Interface.

VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) is a complete software-defined management solution that consists of VMware vSphere, VMware NSX Data Center, VMware vSAN, and VCF Automation and Operations. VMware Cloud Foundation Installer drives the installation of VCF. The various components serve the following roles:

• VMware Cloud Foundation Installer: A virtual appliance that the user deploys that automates the building of the management domain of VCF. Subsequent domains are provisioned through the SDDC Manager within VCF Operations.
• SDDC Manager: Automates the life cycle management of VCF. It enables updating and upgrades, firmware application, and the general day-to-day operation of VCF.
• VMware vSphere: Virtualizes the bare-metal servers using the ESXi software and aggregates them in the vCenter Server.
• VMware NSX Data Center: Provides the networking for the VCF solution along with security and automation. NSX is designed for both private and public clouds.
• VMware vSAN: An optional component that aggregates local or direct-attached storage in a single pool that can be shared across all ESXi hosts in the VCF environment.
• VMware Cloud Foundation Automation: Empowers IT to deliver self-service cloud experience for AI, Kubernetes, and VM-based applications. It provides a platform for deploying and managing applications and services, enabling end-users to consume and manage resources in a self-service fashion.
• VMware Cloud Foundation Operations: Provides a unified interface and set of capabilities to help organizations build, operate, and secure their cloud infrastructures built on VCF.

VMware portrays the high-level VCF implementation as depicted in the following figure .

The following sections cover the requirements for implementing VCF on a PowerStore array using NFS as principal storage for the management domain and VMFS on FC as principal storage for the and workload domain.

You must meet the following minimum prerequisites before implementing VCF on PowerStore using NFS and VMFS on FC as principal storage. Storage provisioning is detailed in a later section.

Server requirements for VCF management and workload domains are as follows:

• A minimum of four Dell servers with sufficient networking, memory, CPU, and local storage to satisfy the requirements of the VCF management domain.
• A minimum of two Dell servers with sufficient networking, memory, CPU, and local storage to satisfy the requirements of a VCF workload domain running on VMFS on FC.

Storage requirements for VCF management and workload domains are as follows:

• An installed PowerStore appliance with the following configuration.
  • A unified configuration that permits both block and file.
  • Two network switches configured with LACP for NAS to ensure an active/active configuration
  • At least four (4) front-end ports zoned to each VCF server, preferably in one-to-one zoning to two (2) dual-ported HBAs.
  • A two (2) TB file system for the management domain on a NAS server network available to the four management domain hosts.
  • A two (2) TB volume for the workload domain mapped to a minimum of two workload domain hosts.

Licenses must be obtained for the VCF solution. A default evaluation license is in place for 90 days.

VCF 9.0 includes a Bill of Materials (BOM) which dictates the versions for each component of the solution. VMware offers no ability to substitute. For example, even if there is a newer update for ESXi at the time of installation, VMware requires the version in the BOM. The versions for the primary components used in the solution in this paper are shown in the following table. The complete list is available at Broadcom Tech Docs Portal.

For the environment in this paper the following network exists. At the physical layer, two Top of Rack (TOR) switches are used for redundancy and load-balancing purposes. There are two connections from each Dell host NIC used in the solution, one to TOR A and one to TOR B. VCF requires two NICs (minimum 10 GbE) to form the vSphere Distributed Switch (VDS).

The following table shows the different VLANs that are configured for this solution. This environment is entirely private. Customers would likely use different VLANs for each component in a production configuration, though it is not required.

In addition, a domain controller, DNS, and NTP server exist for the VCF deployment.

The VCF environment detailed in this paper consists of seven servers:

• Four (4) for the management domain.
• Three (3) for the workload domain.

The specifications of all domain servers are the same. Both management and workload are listed below.

A VCF fleet is a concept in version 9.0 that includes all the infrastructure components: VCF Operations, VCF Automation, vCenter, NSX Manager, vSphere Cluster, SDDC Manager, and management and workload domains. A fleet only has a single implementation of VCF Operations and Automation but can be comprised of multiple VCF instances. The following figure is a visual representation of a VCF fleet.

A domain is part of a fleet and is comprised of the vCenter, NSX Manager, vSphere Cluster (hosts and storage), and SDDC Manager. There are two types of domains in VCF: Management and Workload. The management domain is the set of resources that runs VCF and is the control center of the environment, responsible for hosting the management plane VMs. There is one management domain per VCF instance, though there can be multiple per VCF fleet.

Workload domains are deployed from VCF Operations inventory and consist of the same components as the management domains; however, they have no management VMs. They are part of the VCF instance. These workload domains are typically used to run the applications for a business. The number of workload domains in a VCF instance is limited to 24.

The management and workload domains are usually comprised of separate hardware. For customers with fewer server resources or who want a smaller footprint or a POC lab, the management domain can also be a workload domain. This configuration is known as a consolidated architecture and can host customer workloads.

In VCF there are two distinct categories of storage, each serving a separate function in the solution. These categories are designated: Principal and Supplemental. Principal storage is what is required to deploy a management or workload domain or to deploy a new cluster into an existing workload. Supplemental storage, on the other hand, is storage that can be added to any existing management or workload domain post-deployment. Principal storage is restricted to four types: vSAN, VMFS on FC, vVols, or NFS v3. The management domain only supports vSAN, VMFS on FC, or NFS v3. The fourth type, vVols, can be used on workload domains, however. Supplemental storage supports all principal storage types as well as iSCSI and NVMe/TCP. The storage options are shown in the following figure.

It is important to understand that vSAN is the only storage VCF can completely control as part of the life cycle of an instance. If storage is presented using another protocol from an array like Dell PowerStore, the administrator has the responsibility of managing it. For example, if a datastore needs expansion on the PowerStore, the administrator would use PowerStore Manager to expand the device and then expand the datastore in vCenter or the vSphere Client. This function can be accessed through VCF Operations.

VMware does not publish storage support for VCF by vendor, rather they rely on the VMware Compatibility Guide for Storage/SAN. If the vendor is listed as supporting the protocol for the version of ESXi in the BOM, then it is supported with VCF.

VCF has an integrated life cycle management function that facilitates the automation of upgrades to new versions. Because each version of VCF has a specific bill of materials, it is essential to use this function to maintain compliance. The interface is shown in the following figure.

The following sections detail the installation of the VCF management domain using the VMware Cloud Foundation Installer.

VCF Operations is the heart of VCF 9.0, taking the place of SDDC Manager as the primary management tool. The UI login is in the following figure.

Once accessed, the various screens and sub-screens are shown on the left-hand menu in VCF Operations. If you navigate to Infrastructure Operations > VCF Health in the following figure , it provides an overall summary of the VCF instance. All aspects of the environment are available for monitoring, including the collection of metrics. There is an option to deploy a log appliance if desired. Note that vSAN Cluster is shown as Not Configured which is expected for an array deployment as this one.

This completes the management domain deployment. The next chapter will cover adding a workload domain.

The following sections detail the installation of the VCF workload domain from within VCF Operations.

Any node that is part of a VCF deployment requires the user to install the ESXi version as listed on the bill of materials. This includes the workload domain. Therefore, before creation of a workload domain, the user must install ESXi on at least two nodes, the minimum for VMFS on FC (each principal storage type has a minimum number of nodes). The ESXi image must be the 9.0 release referenced in the BOM (build 24755229 for GA release). The workload domain does not require the same root password on each host, unlike the management domain. Once installed, complete these additional tasks.

• VCF requires that there is a single vSwitch on the host (default configuration) on one of the NICs you will use when you deploy. The workload domain requires the other physical NIC is free. The environment in this paper uses two 25 GbE NICs, the minimum required amount and speed.
• Set the IP, network information, and hostname post-installation.
• Log in to the vSphere Host Client and enable SSH. Regenerate the certificates so that they match the hostname. To regenerate the certificates, SSH to the host as root and run /sbin/generate-certificates. Then reboot the host. Technically, only hostd and vpxa require a restart, but in testing that has not always been effective. The VCF installer validates the hostname and certificate during deployment and if regeneration is not done beforehand, validation will fail.
• Finally, set and start the NTP server on each ESXi host. You should use the same NTP server in use with the VCF installer This is an additional check the installer does, though it only produces a warning if it fails, which can then be skipped.

This chapter explains how to present supplemental storage to a workload domain using the NVMe/TCP protocol.

Supplemental storage is any storage that is presented to a management or workload domain after initial deployment. It is still considered supplemental storage even if it is the same principal storage type used during the installation. The PowerStore supports all supplemental storage except vSAN as that is a proprietary VMware solution. To demonstrate the flexibility of the PowerStore, the following sections detail provisioning supplemental storage, using the NVMe/TCP protocol, to the previously created workload domain.

NVMe/TCP is a storage protocol that allows NVMe-based flash storage to be accessed over standard TCP/IP networks, offering high performance without the need for specialized hardware like Fibre Channel or RDMA. When used with SAN storage like the PowerStore, NVMe/TCP provides a scalable, low-latency alternative to traditional protocols like iSCSI, making it well-suited for all-flash environments and software-defined infrastructure. In VCF environments, NVMe/TCP enables ESXi hosts to connect to NVMe-capable PowerStore arrays over standard 10/25/100 GbE networks, combining the performance advantages of NVMe with the simplicity and flexibility of IP networking. It integrates with VMware’s native multipathing and supports VMFS and vVols.

In a customer environment, the NVMe/TCP storage network might be on a separate switch than the management. If that is the case, during the initial network deployment you could create a second distributed switch if desired. In this example, however, the NVMe/TCP network uses the same VDS but on a different VLAN, 1074. Therefore, we need to create a new distributed port group with the proper VLAN on the distributed switch.

For each ESXi host, add an NVMe/TCP adapter. Do this in vCenter by highlighting an ESXi host in the left-hand screen and navigating toConfigure > Storage > Storage Adapters in the right-hand screen. Use the drop-down list under ADD SOFTWARE ADAPTER to select Add NVMe over TCP Adapter. You will be prompted to select a Physical Network Adapter as in the following figure. Use thedropdownn to select the NIC that is associated with the active uplink you set in Modify distributed port group.

Repeat these steps for the other two ESXi hosts using the same NIC.

With connectivity established, we can provision storage. As host creation was previously covered in Host creation, this section will be abbreviated, noting only the differences for NVMe/TCP.

When you add the PowerStore controllers to the NVMe/TCP adapter, the host NQN is automatically provided to PowerStore Manager in much the same way as FC. Therefore, in the first screen, type in a Host Friendly Name and select ESXi as the Operating System. Click Next and use the radio button to select NVMe as the Initiator Type. In the third screen in the following figure the host NQN will display in the list of initiators. Use the checkbox to select it. Click Next and complete the host creation in the final step.

Repeat this process for the other two ESXi hosts. Then create a host group so you can provision storage to all hosts at once. This host group is detailed in the figure below.

As Storage provisioning was covered earlier in the paper, only the detail of the new volume is shown in the following figure. Supplemental storage has no minimum size requirement so this volume is 1 TB in size with a Volume Protection Policy for synchronous replication to the disaster recovery site, and a Volume Protection Policy of High. The Category and Application values are the same as for the workload domain volume.

Map this volume to the host group below so all workload domain hosts discover it.

View the new device in vCenter. NVMe/TCP adapters rarely require rescans for the storage to be visible.

Creating datastores on NVMe/TCP devices does not differ in any way from those created on FC. Using the datastore wizard in the following figure, the NVMe/TCP devices are available for use.

Complete the wizard and the NVMe/TCP datastore will display in vCenter in the following figure vCenter view of supplemental storage and in VCF Operations in the figure VCF Operations view of supplemental storage, alongside the workload domain FC datastore for the cluster.

The supplemental storage is now available for workload domain applications designated for NVMe/TCP.

Dell PowerStore offers several technologies to help protect both the management and workload domains when deployed on FC. The chapter serves as an introduction to them and how they can be used in a VCF environment to provide both backup and recovery. This chapter is not meant to serve as an in-depth implementation guide, rather it lays out the different options a customer may explore.

VMware Cloud Foundation provides a complete, unified platform to build both a private and public cloud, combining compute, storage, networking, and management. VCF offers the flexibility of using various storage options to take advantage of the power and scalability of external arrays like PowerStore.

VCF supports NFS and VMFS on FC for both the management and workload domains, removing the need for vSAN. The PowerStore provides both superior performance and advanced features like local and remote replication for backup and disaster recovery. When using PowerStore it enables the VCF environment to become highly resilient, scalable, and able to handle the most demanding workload domains.

By following the guidelines outlined in this paper, the user can ensure the successful implementation of VCF 9 running on a PowerStore.

The following Dell Technologies documentation provides additional and relevant information. Access to these documents depends on your login credentials. If you do not have access to a document, contact your Dell Technologies representative.

• PowerStoreOS
• Dell PowerStore T and Q Networking Guide for Storage Services
• Dell PowerStore Setting Up PowerStore Manager
• Dell PowerStore: VMware vSphere Best Practices
• Dell PowerStore REST API Reference Guide
• Dell PowerStore: Replication Technologies

The following VMware documentation provides additional and relevant information:

• VMware Cloud Foundation documentation
• NSX documentation
• VCF Operations