VCFPD4_M03_Domain Design-AR.pptx

© 2020 VMware, Inc.
Designing Domains in
VMware Cloud Foundation
Module 3

Importance
When designing and planning for a VMware Cloud Foundation deployment, you must consider the sizing of
your solution. Creating a scalable, resilient solution requires a management domain that is properly sized.
After the management domain is functional, you can deploy the workload domains. During the deployment,
you must balance several design considerations.
VMware Cloud Foundation: Plan and Deploy [v4.0 ]

Module Lessons
1. Designing and Sizing the Management Domain
2. Designing and Sizing Workload Domains

© 2019 VMware Inc. All rights reserved.
Designing and Sizing the Management
Domain

Learner Objectives
• Recognize management domain sizing considerations
• Describe design considerations for ESXi in the management domain
• Describe design considerations for vCenter in the management domain
• Describe design considerations for vSphere networking in the management domain
• Describe design considerations for vSAN in the management domain
• Recognize design choices for a consolidated design or standard design

Management Domain Minimum Hardware Requirements (1)
Component Requirements
Servers
Four vSAN ReadyNodes.
For information about compatible vSAN ReadyNodes, see the VMware Compatibility
Guide at https://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php.
CPU per server
Dual-socket, eight cores per socket minimum requirement for all-flash systems.
Single-socket, eight cores per socket minimum requirement for hybrid (flash and
magnetic) systems.
NOTE: VMware Cloud Foundation also supports quad-socket servers for use with all-
flash or hybrid systems.
Before deploying the management domain, verify that the minimum requirements are met.

Management Domain Minimum Hardware Requirements (2)
Component Requirements
Memory per server 256 GB
Storage per server
16 GB boot device, local media
For information about installing ESXi on a supported USB flash drive or SD flash card, see
VMware knowledge base article 2004784 at https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2004784.
One NVMe or SSD for the caching tier
Class D endurance
Class E performance
Two SSDs or HDDs for the capacity tier
For guidelines about cache sizing, see Designing and Sizing a Virtual SAN Cluster at
https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.5/com.vmware.vsphere.virtualsan.doc/GUID-
1EB40E66-1FBD-48A6-9426-B33F9255B282.html
NICs per server
Minimum of two 10 GbE (or higher) NICs (IOVP certified)
(Optional) One 1 GbE BMC NIC
The new design in VMware Cloud Foundation 4.0 supports four or six NICs per server.

Resource Use in the Management Domain
This resource summary includes the core VM components deployed with VMware Cloud Foundation and the
minimum resources that are required:
• VMware Cloud Foundation deployment components:
– SDDC Manager
– vCenter
– NSX Manager instances
– NSX Edge instances
– Optional: Three-node vRealize Log Insight cluster
– Optional: Any of the vRealize Suite components
• Resource minimums:
– 52 vCPUs
– 256 GB RAM
– 1990GB Storage
vSAN sizing tools: https://vsansizer.vmware.com

Virtual Infrastructure Design: Management Domain Considerations
When deploying the management domain, consider the following design elements:
• ESXi design
• vCenter Server design
• vSphere networking design
• Software-defined networking design
• Shared storage design

ESXi Design for the Management Domain (1)
In the virtual infrastructure (VI) design, you size
the compute resources of the ESXi hosts in the
management domain according to the following
requirements:
• System requirements of the management
components
• Requirements for managing customer
workloads based on the design objectives
ESXi Host
CPU Memory
Non-Local Storage
(SAN/NAS)
Local Storage
(vSAN)
NIC 1 and NIC 2
Uplinks
Out of Band
Mgmt Uplink

ESXi Design for the Management Domain (2)
Installing ESXi 7.0 requires a boot device with at least 8 GB for USB or SD devices, and 32 GB for other
device types.
When considering a virtual machine swap file design for the management domain, you can use the default
configuration. The swap file is stored in the same location as the configuration file of the virtual machine.
When VMware Cloud Foundation is used, the SDDC Manager performs lifecycle management, allowing
additional components to be included as part of the lifecycle management process.

vCenter Server Design for the Management Domain (1)
A vCenter Server deployment consists of one or more vCenter Server instances with embedded Platform
Services Controller (PSC) according to the scale of the environment.
vCenter Server is deployed as a preconfigured virtual appliance running the Photon operating system.
vCenter Server is deployed by VMware Cloud Builder during the bring-up process, and its size is small by
default. Unless you plan to implement a consolidated design, no other size considerations are necessary.
VMware Cloud Foundation does not support vCenter Server High Availability, so the design must include
proper back up of all the management components, including vCenter.

vCenter Server Design for the Management Domain (2)
Appliance Size
Management
Capacity
Default Storage
Size
Large Storage
Size
X-Large Storage
Size
X-Large
environment
Up to 2,000 hosts
or 35,000 VMs
1,805 GB 1,905 GB 3,665 GB
Large environment Up to 1,000 hosts
or 10,000 VMs
1,065 GB 1,765 GB 3,525 GB
Medium
environment
Up to 400 hosts or
4,000 VMs
700 GB 1,700 GB 3,460 GB
Small environment
(deployed by
default)
Up to 100 hosts or
1,000 VMs
480 GB 1,535 GB 3,295 GB
Tiny environment Up to 10 hosts or
100 VMs
415 GB 1,490 GB 3,245 GB
The default deployment size of vCenter in the management domain is small.

vSphere Networking Design for the Management Domain
To achieve greater security and better performance, network services are segmented from one another by
VMware Cloud Foundation.
Network I/O Control and traffic shaping are deployed by default to guarantee bandwidth for critical
infrastructure VMs and for critical types of traffic, such as vSAN VLAN.

Shared Storage Design for the Management Domain (1)
The clusters in the management domain use vSAN for principal storage. Other types of storage are available
for supplemental storage.
Management Cluster
Virtual
Appliance
Virtual
Appliance
Virtual
Appliance
Virtual
Appliance
Virtual
Appliance
Virtual
Appliance
ESXi Host
Datastore(s)
Mgmt
VMs
Backups Templates
and Logs
Sample
Datastore
Software-Defined Storage
Policy-Based Storage Management
Virtualized Data Services
Hypervisor Storage Abstraction
SAN or NAS or DAS
(Third party or VMware vSAN)
1500GB
200GB
VMDK
Swap Files + Logs
SSD
FC15K FC10K SATA
Physical Disks
SSD
FC15K FC10K SATA

Shared Storage Design for the Management Domain (2)
In the management domain, you can design your vSAN cluster in a single availability zone or use multiple
availability zones.

Design Decisions: ESXi Nodes in the Management Domain
Decision ID Design Decision Design Justification Design Implication
HYD-MGMT-VI-ESXi-001 Use vSAN ReadyNodes
with vSAN storage for
each ESXi host in the
management domain.
VMware Cloud
Foundation is fully
compatible with vSAN at
deployment.
Hardware choices follow
the vSAN compatibility
guide
HYD-MGMT-VI-ESXi-002 Allocate hosts with
uniform configuration
across the first cluster of
the management
domain.
A balanced cluster has
these advantages:
• Predictable
performance even
during hardware
failures
• Minimal impact of
resync or rebuild
operations on
performance
You must apply vendor
sourcing, budgeting, and
procurement
considerations for
uniform server nodes, on
a per cluster basis.
When selecting hosts for the management domain, use vSAN ReadyNodes, which should be as
homogenous as possible for the best predictable performance.

Design Decisions: ESXi Memory in the Management Domain
HYD-MGMT-VI-ESXi-
003
Install each ESXi host in
the first, four-node, cluster
of the management
domain with a minimum of
256 GB of RAM.
The management domain
and NSX Edge
appliances in this cluster
require a total of 453 GB
of RAM.
You allocate the
remaining memory to
additional management
components that are
required for new
capabilities, for example,
for new VI workload
domains.
In a four-node cluster,
only 768 GB is available
for use because the host
redundancy that is
configured in vSphere
HA is N+1.
To resize the amount of RAM in each host, consider the types of workloads that run the management
domain.

Design Decisions: vCenter Considerations in the Management Domain
HYD-MGMT-VI-VC-002 Deploy an appliance for
the management domain
vCenter Server of a small
deployment size or larger.
A vCenter Server appliance
of a small-deployment size
is sufficient to manage the
management components
that are required for
achieving the design
objectives.
If the size of the
management environment
increases, you might have
to increase the vCenter
Server appliance size.
HYD-MGMT-VI-VC-003 Deploy an appliance of
the management domain
vCenter Server with the
default storage size.
The default storage capacity
assigned to a small
appliance is sufficient to
manage the management
appliances that are required
for achieving the design
objectives.
None at this point.
For determining the vCenter size, consider whether a consolidated architecture will be used, or
the number of workload domains that you expect to deploy.

Review of Learner Objectives
• Recognize management domain sizing considerations
• Describe design considerations for ESXi in the management domain
• Describe design considerations for vCenter in the management domain
• Describe design considerations for vSphere networking in the management domain
• Describe design considerations for vSAN in the management domain
• Recognize design choices for a consolidated design or standard design

© 2019 VMware Inc. All rights reserved.
Designing and Sizing Workload Domains

Learner Objectives
• Recognize workload domain sizing considerations
• Describe ESXi design considerations for a VI workload domain
• Describe vCenter Server design considerations for a VI workload domain
• Describe vSphere networking design considerations for a VI workload domain
• Describe software-defined networking design considerations for a VI workload domain
• Describe shared storage design considerations for a VI workload domain
• Describe design considerations for workload domains with shared NSX Manager instances
• Describe design considerations for workload domains with dedicated NSX Manager instances

About Workload Domains
A workload domain is a policy-based resource container with specific availability and performance attributes
that combines compute, storage, and networking into a single consumable entity.
The workload domain forms an additional building block of VMWare Cloud Foundation and exists in addition
to the management domain in a standard design.
The virtual infrastructure layer controls the access to the underlying physical infrastructure layer. It controls
and allocates resources to workloads running in the workload domain.
The security and compliance layer provides role-based access controls and integration with the corporate
identity provider.

Workload Domains: Basic Components
The basic components of a workload domain are as follows:
• ESXi nodes are dedicated to the domain.
• The vCenter Server instance for a workload domain is deployed in the management domain.
• NSX Manager instances are deployed in the management domain to support NSX networking in a
workload domain.
• Principal storage choices include vSAN, NFS, or FC.
• Supplemental storage choices include vSAN, vSphere Virtual Volumes, NFS, FC, and iSCSI.

Workload Domain Design Considerations
When deploying a VI workload domain, consider several design elements:
• ESXi design
• vCenter Server design
• vSphere networking design
• Software-defined networking design
• Shared storage design

ESXi Design for Workload Domains (1)
To provide the foundational component of the VI, each ESXi host consists of the following components:
• Out-of-band management interface
• Network interfaces
• Storage devices
ESXi hosts should be deployed with identical configurations across all cluster members, including storage
and networking configurations:
• An average-size virtual machine has two virtual CPUs with 4 GB of RAM.
• A typical spec 2U ESXi host can run 60 average-size virtual machines.

ESXi Design for Workload Domains (2)
When sizing memory for the ESXi hosts in the workload domain, consider the following requirements:
• Requirements for the workloads running in the cluster:
When sizing memory for hosts in a cluster, set the admission control setting to n+1, which reserves the
resources of one host for failover or maintenance.
• Number of vSAN disk groups and disks on an ESXi host:
To support the maximum number of disk groups, you must provide at least 32 GB of RAM.

vCenter Server Design for Workload Domains
The amount of compute and storage resources for the vCenter Server instances that support the workload
domain depends on the scale of the infrastructure required and the number of traditional workloads that will
run in the domain.
A vCenter Server instance is deployed for each workload domain, using Enhanced Linked Mode to connect,
view, and search across all linked vCenter Server systems.
Redundancy Method Protects vCenter Server Appliance
Automated protection using vSphere HA Yes
Manual configuration and manual failover, for
example, using a cold standby
Yes

vSphere Networking: Distributed Port Group Design Example
Distributed port groups define how a connection is made to a network.
Sample ESXi Host for the
VI Workload Domain
nic0 nic1
VLAN ESXi Management
VLAN vMotion
VLAN Host Overlay
VLAN vSAN
VLAN NFS
VLAN Trunk Edge Overlay
VLAN Trunk Uplink 01
VLAN Trunk Uplink 02
sfo01-w01-cl01-vds

Software-Defined Networking Design for Workload Domains (1)
Workload domains can share existing NSX Manager instances.
Management Workload Domain
Workload Domain Blue
vCenter
Cluster 1
Cluster 1
APP
OS
APP
OS
ESXi
Cluster 2
DB
OS
DB
OS
ESXi
ESXi ESXi
Cluster 1 Cluster 2
APP
OS
APP
OS
APP
OS
ESXi ESXi
ESXi ESXi
APP
OS
Workload Domain
Green vCenter Workload Domain Yellow
Workload Domain
Yellow vCenter
VDI VDI VDI VDI
NSX-T Manager Shared Instance
Workload Domain Green Multicluster
APP
OS
APP
OS
APP
OS
APP
OS
NSX
ESG
NSX
Edge
NSX
ESG
NSX
Edge
NSX
ESG
NSX
Edge
NSX
ESG
NSX
Edge
Management Domain
vCenter Server
NSX
ESG
NSX
Edge
SDDC Manager
NSX-T Managers
NSX-T Managers
NSX Manager
NSX-T Managers
NSX-T Managers
NSX Manager

Workload domains can optionally use a set of dedicated NSX Manager instances.
Cluster 1
ESXi ESXi
Cluster 1 Cluster 2
APP
OS
APP
OS
APP
OS
ESXi ESXi
ESXi ESXi
APP
OS
VDI VDI VDI VDI
Workload Domain Green Multicluster
APP
OS
APP
OS
APP
OS
APP
OS
NSX
ESG
NSX
Edge
NSX
ESG
NSX
Edge
Management Workload Domain
vCenter
Workload Domain
Green vCenter
NSX Manager Dedicated to Green
NSX Manager Dedicated to Blue
Management Domain
vCenter Server
NSX
ESG
NSX
Edge
SDDC Manager
NSX-T Managers
NSX-T Managers
NSX Manager
NSX-T Managers
NSX-T Managers
NSX Manager
NSX-T Managers
NSX-T Managers
NSX Manager

You must consider VLANs and subnets or software-defined networking in workload domain clusters.
Important considerations include:
• The type of traffic that is required:
– Fault tolerance
– vSAN
– iSCSI
– NFS
– vMotion
– Replication
– Backup
• Whether network availability zones are implemented:
vSAN stretched clusters are leveraged in the design.
• Whether different workload domain clusters share the same subnets

Shared Storage Design for Workload Domains (1)
When deploying a workload domain in VMware Cloud Foundation, you can select from several types of
storage, both principal and supplemental.
Before deciding, consider the following guidelines:
• Optimize the storage design to meet the diverse needs of applications, services, administrators, and
users.
• Strategically align business applications and the storage infrastructure to reduce costs, boost
performance, improve availability, provide security, and enhance functionality.
• Provide multiple tiers of storage to match application data access to application requirements.
• Design each tier of storage with different performance, capacity, and availability characteristics.
Not every application requires expensive, high-performance, highly available storage. Designing
different storage tiers reduces cost.

Workload Domain
Workloads
APP APP APP
OS OS OS
ESXi Host
Datastore(s)
Payloads
SLA 1
Payloads
SLA 2
Payloads
SLA 3
Sample
Datastore
1500GB
200GB
VMDK
2048
GB
Software-Defined Storage
Policy-Based Storage Management
Virtualized Data Services
Hypervisor Storage Abstraction
SAN or NAS or DAS
(Third party or VMware vSAN)
SSD SSD
FC15K FC10K FC15K FC10K
SATA SATA
Shared Storage Design for Workload Domains (2)
In the workload domain, you can use different solutions for principal and supplemental storage.

Design Decisions: ESXI Nodes in Workload Domains
HYD-WLD-VI-ESXi-001 Use vSAN ReadyNodes
with vSAN storage for
each ESXi host in the
shared edge and
workload cluster.
VMware Cloud
Foundation is fully
compatible with vSAN at
deployment.
Several vendors and
hardware choices.
HYD-WLD-VI-ESXi-002 Ensure that all nodes
have uniform
configuration for the
shared edge and
workload cluster.
A balanced cluster has
these advantages:
• Predictable
performance even
during hardware
failures
• Minimal impact of
resync or rebuild
operations on
performance
You must apply vendor
sourcing, budgeting, and
procurement
considerations for
uniform server nodes, on
a per cluster basis.
When selecting the hosts for workload domains, use vSAN ReadyNodes if vSAN is the principal storage.

Design Decisions: ESXi Node Memory in Workload Domains
HYD-WLD-VI-ESXi-003 Install each ESXi host in
the shared edge and
workload cluster with a
minimum of 256 GB of
RAM.
The medium-sized NSX
Edge appliances in this
vSphere cluster require a
total of 64 GB of RAM.
The remaining RAM is
available for traditional
workloads.
In a four-node cluster,
only 768 GB is available
for use because of the
n+1 vSphere HA setting.
The type of workload domain influences the amount of memory needed. For vSphere with Tanzu, large NSX
Edge nodes are required.

Design Decisions: vCenter Considerations in Workload Domains
HYD-WLD-VI-VC-002 Deploy an appliance for
the workload domain
vCenter Server of a
medium deployment size
or larger.
A vCenter Server
appliance of a medium-
deployment size is
typically sufficient to
manage traditional
workloads that run in a
workload domain.
If the size of the
workload domain grows,
you might need to
increase the vCenter
Server Appliance size.
HYD-WLD-VI-VC-003 Deploy the workload
domain vCenter Server
with the default storage
size.
The default storage
capacity assigned to a
medium-sized appliance
is sufficient.
None at this point.
Consider the number of hosts and clusters to be included in the workload domain. Right-sizing vCenter
reduces the likelihood that you need to increase the vCenter appliance size.

Design Decisions: vSphere Networking in Workload Domains (1)
Design ID Design Decision Design Justification Design Implication
HYD-WLD-VI-NET-003 Network I/O Control on
all distributed switches is
enabled by default by
VMware Cloud
Foundation.
Increases resiliency and
performance of the
network.
If modified incorrectly,
Network I/O Control
might affect network
performance for critical
traffic types.
HYD-WLD-VI-NET-004 Configure the MTU size
of vSphere Distributed
Switch to 9,000 for
jumbo frames.
Supports the MTU size
required by system traffic
types.
Improves traffic
throughput.
When adjusting the MTU
packet size, you must
also configure the entire
network path (VMkernel
ports, virtual switches,
physical switches, and
routers) to support the
same MTU packet size.
Consider whether to modify the default Network I/O control shares and default MTU in the network.

Design Decisions: vSphere Networking in Workload Domains (2)
HYD-WLD-VI-NET-006 Use static port binding for all port
groups in the shared edge and
workload cluster.
With static binding, a VM
connects to the same port on
vSphere Distributed Switch.
This decision provides historical
data and port level monitoring.
None at this point.
HYD-WLD-VI-NET-007 Use a route based on the physical
NIC load teaming algorithm for the
management port group.
Reduces the complexity of the
network design and increases
resiliency and performance.
None at this point.
HYD-WLD-VI-NET-008 Use a route based on the physical
NIC load teaming algorithm for the
vMotion port group.
Reduces the complexity of the
network design and increases
resiliency and performance.
None at this point.
Determine the type of load sharing that you must configure for each type of traffic.

Design Decisions: vSAN Datastore in Workload Domains
HYD-WLD-VI-SDS-1303 Provide the shared edge
and workload cluster with
a minimum of 24 TB of
raw capacity for vSAN.
NSX Edge nodes and
sample tenant workloads
require at least 8 TB of
raw storage (prior to
FTT=1) and 16 TB when
using the default vSAN
storage policy.
If you scale the
environment out with
more workloads,
additional storage is
required in the workload
domain.
HYD-WLD-VI-SDS-1304 On all vSAN datastores,
ensure that at least 30%
of free space is always
available.
When vSAN reaches 80%
usage, a rebalance task is
started that can be
resource-intensive.
Increases the amount of
available storage needed.
If using vSAN as the principal storage in the workload domain, identify the vSAN policies that each
workload requires.

Design Decisions: vSAN Cluster in the Workload Domain
HYD-WLD-VI-SDS-1307 When using a single availability
zone, the shared edge and
workload cluster requires a
minimum of four ESXi hosts to
support vSAN.
Having four ESXi hosts
addresses the availability and
sizing requirements.
An ESXi host can be taken
offline for maintenance or
upgrades without affecting the
overall vSAN cluster health.
The availability requirements
for the shared edge and
workload cluster might cause
underutilization of the
cluster's ESXi hosts.
HYD- WLD-VI-SDS-1308 When using two availability
zones, the shared edge and
workload cluster requires a
minimum of eight ESXi hosts
(four in each availability zone) to
support a stretched vSAN
configuration.
Having eight ESXi hosts
addresses the availability and
sizing requirements.
You can take an availability
zone offline for maintenance
or upgrades without affecting
the overall vSAN cluster
health.
The capacity of the additional
four hosts is not added to the
capacity of the cluster.
The hosts are used only to
provide additional availability.
If using vSAN as the principal storage in the workload domain, determine the level of high availability to
be provided for the workloads in each workload domain cluster.

Lab 2: Design and Project Overview
Review the customer case study and validate the conceptual, logical, and physical designs:
1. Read the Case Study
2. Review the Conceptual Design
3. Review the Business Requirements, Constraints, Assumptions, and Risks
4. Review the Proposed Solution
5. Justify the Design Decisions

Review of Learner Objectives
• Recognize workload domain sizing considerations
• Describe ESXi design considerations for a VI workload domain
• Describe vCenter Server design considerations for a VI workload domain
• Describe vSphere networking design considerations for a VI workload domain
• Describe software-defined networking design considerations for a VI workload domain
• Describe shared storage design considerations for a VI workload domain
• Describe design considerations for workload domains with shared NSX Manager instances
• Describe design considerations for workload domains with dedicated NSX Manager instances

Key Points
• When deploying the management domain in VMware Cloud Foundation, you make design decisions
related to ESXi, vCenter, vSAN, and networking in vSphere.
• When deploying workload domains, you consider the vCenter size, vSAN availability zones, and the
implication of multiple zones in the design.
• Workload domains default to a set of shared NSX Manager instances, but a separate set of dedicated
NSX Manager instances can be deployed per workload domain as an alternative design option.
Questions?

VCFPD4_M03_Domain Design-AR.pptx

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