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VMware Cloud Foundation 9 – External Requirements for a Greenfield Deployment

  • viquarmca
  • Sep 7
  • 2 min read

When planning a greenfield deployment of VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9, one of the most critical success factors is preparing the external requirements ahead of time. These prerequisites ensure that the deployment runs smoothly, without unnecessary delays or failures due to missing configurations.

In this blog, I’ll walk you through the essential requirements that must be in place before initiating the bring-up process for a VCF 9 environment.


📦 1. Download Deployment Files

Before starting, ensure you have downloaded all the required items from t the Broadcom Support porta  (Broadcom/VMware-provided deployment artifacts, JSONs, and configuration files). These files are necessary for automation and deployment validation.


🌐 2. DNS Configuration

VCF relies heavily on DNS resolution for its management components. Both forward and reverse DNS records must be configured correctly. Every Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) used must resolve to a unique IP address.

The number of required FQDNs depends on whether you are deploying a High-Availability (HA) model or a Single-Node model.

High-Availability Deployment Model

  • 1x FQDN for vCenter

  • 4x FQDNs for NSX (3 Manager nodes + 1 VIP)

  • 5x FQDNs for VCF Operations (Primary, Data, Replica, Fleet Management, Operations Collector nodes)

  • 1x FQDN for the VCF Automation VIP + 4x IPs (Automation nodes)

  • 1x FQDN for SDDC Manager

Single-Node Deployment Model

  • 1x FQDN for vCenter

  • 2x FQDNs for NSX (Manager node + VIP)

  • 3x FQDNs for VCF Operations (Primary, Fleet Management, Operations Collector nodes)

  • 1x FQDN for the VCF Automation VIP + 2x IPs (Automation nodes)

  • 1x FQDN for SDDC Manager

✅ Tip: Double-check DNS resolution before the deployment. Many bring-up failures occur due to incorrect or missing DNS records.

⏰ 3. NTP Configuration

Time synchronization is critical in distributed systems like VCF.

  • Ensure you have an NTP server configured and accessible by all components (ESXi, vCenter, NSX, SDDC Manager, etc.).

  • Any time drift can cause authentication and deployment issues.

🌐 4. Networking Requirements

For a greenfield deployment, you’ll need dedicated VLANs and subnets for management and workload traffic. At a minimum, prepare the following /24 subnets:

  • Management VLAN/Subnet – For core management components.

  • VM Management VLAN/Subnet – For tenant/VM workloads.

  • vMotion VLAN/Subnet – For VM mobility between ESXi hosts.

  • vSAN VLAN/Subnet – For vSAN cluster storage traffic.

  • Host TEPs VLAN/Subnet – For NSX Tunnel Endpoints (can be static or DHCP).

✅ Tip: Plan your IP schema carefully before deployment. Document it well to avoid conflicts.


✅ Final Checklist Before Deployment

Before you run Cloud Builder to kick off the deployment, confirm:

  •  All Box folder artifacts are downloaded and verified

  •  DNS forward & reverse lookups are working for every component

  •  NTP server is reachable and synchronized across all nodes

  •  VLANs and subnets are provisioned and routed as required

  •  IP pools are documented for management, workload, vSAN, and NSX overlays

🔑 Conclusion

Getting external requirements right is half the deployment battle in VMware Cloud Foundation 9. By carefully preparing DNS, NTP, networking, and required artifacts, you ensure a smooth bring-up and avoid costly rework.

Getting these basics right will save you hours of troubleshooting later.


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