Provisioning

Use the following click-through demonstration to practice provisioning a VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) for Classic instance.

About the IBM Technology Zone (ITZ) environment

The steps that follow are specific to the provisioning process of VCF for Classic as of August 2024.

These steps can also be used in the IBM Cloud portal. Users can perform these steps to configure the instance in the reserved ITZ environment until the last step (click create).

If using the ITZ cloud account and the Create button is clicked, an error will occur. This is expected as users added to the IBM Cloud for the ITZ environment do NOT have permission to provision or modify existing resources.

If the steps are performed in a different IBM Cloud account where the user has permission to create new resources, the account will be charged for any and all resources provisioned!

Tip

When using the click-through demonstration, if you are not sure where to click or what to do next, simply click anywhere on the screen and the place to click next will be highlighted. Text entry fields are pre-populated in the click-through demonstration.

  1. Open the following link and then click play to begin the demonstration.

    Click-through demonstration: Provision an instance of VCF for Classic

  1. Click the VMware icon in the left menu.
  2. Click the VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) for Classic tile.

  3. Read and then click the Information dialog.

    The message states:

    The VMware licensing model changed. All newly provisioned resources are entitled to the VMware Cloud Foundation bundle with "Enterprise Plus" licenses for VMware components.

    After acquiring VMware, Broadcom made many changes to the licensing of the VMware portfolio. Learn more about the VCF for Classic licensing model here.

    VCF on Classic supports four Resource type options. For this demonstration, only the VMware Cloud Foundation for Classic - Automated resource type is used. Expand the Resource types section and learn the differences between each Resource type. The descriptions are from the About page in the IBM Cloud portal.

    Resource types

    VMware Cloud Foundation for Classic - Automated is a hosted private cloud that delivers the VMware vSphere stack as a service. The VMware environment is built on top of a minimum of three IBM Cloud bare metal servers, shared file-level storage or dedicated VMware vSAN storage, and it includes the automatic deployment and configuration of an easy to manage logical edge firewall that is powered by VMware NSX.

    The entire environment can be provisioned in a matter of hours, and the elastic bare metal infrastructure can scale out the compute capacity rapidly when needed. IBM Cloud provides you with full, native root access to the VMware ESXi hosts, NSX Manager, and the centralized platform for management, vCenter Server.

    You can move your workloads to and from the cloud without changing your apps, tools, scripts, or investing in new skills. Platform instances and expansion nodes are priced per month and they include access to IBM Support and all VMware components that comprise the service.

    Learn more about the Automated option here.

    Formerly VMware vSphere

    VMware Cloud Foundation for Classic - Flexible gives you maximum flexibility to build your own IBM-hosted environment using VMware-compatible hardware and the right set of VMware components that fit your business needs and expertise.

    You can design your hosted VMware environment any way you want: from a single ESXi server to a robust software-defined data center (SDDC) architecture. The VMware Cloud Foundation for Classic - Flexible helps you extend your on-premises VMware environment into IBM Cloud.

    VMware Cloud Foundation for Classic - Flexible lets you start as small as a single ESXi server and scale the instance by rapidly provisioning ESXi on single-tenant bare metal servers. Expand your on-premises data center capacity without sacrificing the enhanced security of dedicated infrastructure. VMware Cloud Foundation for Classic - Flexible also offers the latest native VMware encryption options at the VM-level or at the vSAN datastore-level.

    Access the IBM-hosted VMware environment with the same level of control and visibility that you have on-premises. With full administration permissions to the VMware stack, you have total control and can continue leveraging your investment in tools, scripts, and training to manage the off-premises environment.

    Platform instances and expansion nodes are priced per month and include access to IBM Support and all VMware product licenses that comprise the service.

    Learn more about the Flexible option here.

    The value of data is increasing exponentially. Protecting your organization starts with protecting critical data against threats, including ransomware and other sophisticated cyberthreats. Regardless of the industry, geography, or size, every organization is data-driven today, which makes data the currency of the internet economy and therefore a valuable resource and asset.

    The modern threat of cyberattacks and the importance of maintaining the confidentiality, availability, and integrity of data beyond backup and disaster recovery requires a modern IBM Cloud solution that is coupled with advanced offerings in the VMware environment to protect your vital data and systems.

    The Cyber Recovery offering on IBM Cloud can serve as part of your overall cyber resilience strategy, as the IBM advanced automation enables you to increase business agility, accelerate time to market, improve cloud economics, and reduce business risk.

    Included services

    • Veeam with Linux hardened repository
    • Juniper vSRX
    • FortiGate Virtual Appliance

    Recommended services

    • Caveonix RiskForesight

    Learn more about the Cyber Recovery option here.

    With the ever increasing threat of cybersecurity breaches and the challenges that come up when you navigate a changing complex regulatory landscape, financial services companies need a solution to help them meet their security requirements and compliance readiness more quickly.

    IBM Cloud for VMware Regulated Workload solution is built on IBM's industry-leading experience in financial services industry and also on partnerships with three major global banks. The foundation of the solution starts with IBM's unique policy controls framework that feeds into the solution's secure-by-default reference architecture and a zero-trust security model.

    IBM's advanced automation deploys the standardized architecture with the full VMware Software Defined Data Center (SDDC) stack on single-tenant bare metal servers. It also includes VMware vSphere 7 and NSX-T 3, dedicated vSAN storage, and a perimeter edge cluster for extra protection. All hosts are deployed with private-only ports that are enabled on the physical NICs and the network segmentation enables privileged user separation of duties enforcement. All together, this solution provides a new level of compute, networking, and workload isolation.

    The deployment of additional market-leading services helps financial services companies demonstrate regulatory compliance faster and makes it easier and more efficient to maintain compliance readiness.

    Service prerequisites

    • Hyper Protect Crypto Services
    • KMIP for VMware
      • Direct Link Dedicated

    Included services

    • Veeam 12
    • Caveonix RiskForesight
    • VMware Aria Log Insight
    • Juniper vSRX
    • FortiGate Virtual Appliance

    Optional services

    • VMware HCX
    • F5 BIG-IP

    Learn more about the Regulated Workloads option here.

  4. Click General information in the left menu.

  5. Click the VMware vSphere version drop-down list.

    As of August 2024, VCF for Classic supports both VMware vSphere version 7.0u3 and 8.0u2. Use the VMware version comparison guide to learn about both.

  6. Select vSphere 7.0u3.

    The vSphere 7.0u3 version is selected because currently VCF for Classic does not support VMware Virtual Storage Area Network (vSAN) on vSphere 8.0u2. If vSphere 8.0u2 is selected, the vSAN option is not be visible as a storage type for the Consolidated cluster.

  7. Click the VMware vCenter Server version drop-down list.

    As of August 2024, VCF for Classic supports both VMware vCenter Server version 7.0 and 8.0. Refer to the Release notes for VMware Solutions to learn more.

  8. Select vCenter Server 8.0.

  9. Click the Instance name entry field.

    The Instance name is used to reference this instance post deployment. The instance name is automatically entered in the click-through demonstration.

  10. Click the Resource group drop-down list.

    Resource groups are used to organize cloud resources. The resource group that you select can't be changed after the service instance is created.

  11. Select Default.

    Two additional options are available in the General information section.

    • Instance configuration name

      It is possible to save a configuration in the IBM Cloud portal prior to creating an instance. This will be highlighted later. Users can choose from previously saved instance configurations to fill the configuration settings automatically.

    • Instance type

      VCF for Classic supports both primary and secondary instance types. A primary instance is either a single instance in the environment or the first instance in a multi-site topology. A secondary instance connects to an existing (primary) instance in the environment for high availability.

  12. Click Consolidated cluster in the left menu.

    By default, VCF for Classic - Automated creates a single, consolidated cluster deployment. The consolidated cluster is used for both management components and user workloads. Optionally, separate workload and gateway clusters can be created. These will be explored later.

  13. Click the Geography drop-down list.

    VCF for Classic is available in IBM Cloud data centers that are located around the world. For a list of the latest supported locations, refer to the Region and data center locations for resource deployment page in the documentation. This documentation provides detailed information about IBM Cloud data centers and multizone region architectures.

  14. Select NA East.

  15. Select WDC04 in the Data center drop-down list.

  16. Select pod 05 in the Pod drop-down list.

    Data centers are based on a Point of Deployment (POD) architecture where each data center can have more than one POD, depending on the on-demand build out. Each POD consists of racks, servers, networks, and storage, along with backup power generators. Placing application servers across PODs improves availability.

  17. Select the SAP-certified Cascade Lake central processor unit (CPU) model.

    The SAP-certified option filters the hosts that completed SAP infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) certification for compatibility, supportability, and performance with SAP software applications.

  18. Click the next page icon ().

  19. Select the Cascade Lake CPU model.

  20. Select the Dual Intel Xeon Silver 4210 CPU model name.

    Selecting the best CPU model for a deployment is an important step that needs to be considered based on the workloads that run in the environment. In addition, the model that is selected affects the options available for memory and storage.

  21. Click the RAM drop-down list.

    Rightsizing the memory of the consolidated cluster is an important step, but know that it is possible to add and remove memory later after the instance is provisioned, up to the maximum supported by the CPU model selected. The amount of memory may impact what other services can be deployed during the instance provisioning process.

  22. Select 384 GB.

    The Number of bare metal servers field specifies how many servers are created in the cluster. A minimum of 3 servers are required. All users utilize the same configuration specified. As of August 2024, a maximum of 51 servers can be specified for a cluster. For the most current information on the supported number of bare metal servers, refer to the product documentation here.

  23. Click the vSAN storage option.

    VCF for Classic supports both Network File System (NFS) and VMware Virtual Storage Area Network (vSAN) storage options.

    The NFS option offers customized shared file-level storage for workloads with various options for size and performance. The NFS option uses IBM Cloud File Storage of the selected input and output operations per second per gigabyte (IOPS/GB) performance tier and are mounted across all hosts in the cluster, providing cluster-level shared storage.

    The vSAN option offers customized configurations, with various options for disk type, size, and quantity. VMware vSAN creates resilient, hyper-converged cluster-level shared storage by using the local Flash Storage on the cluster hosts.

    For additional details on the storage options, refer to the documentation here.

  24. Click the vSAN storage requirements dialog.

    When selecting vSAN storage, a minimum of 4 servers are required. This is a VMware vSAN requirement to assure availability when a disk fails. Notice, when the vSAN option is selected, if only 3 bare metal servers are specified, the number is automatically changed to 4.

  25. Click the Size for vSAN capacity disks drop-down list.

  26. Select 1.9TB SSD.

  27. Click the Number of vSAN capacity disks drop-down list.

    The number of capacity disks vary by the chassis that is used by the selected CPU model option.

  28. Select 4.

  29. Click the NFS storage option.

  30. Select Configure shares individually.

    NFS file shares can have different sizes and performance characteristics. The ability to specify different configurations for each file share can be used to rightsize the environment based on the storage performance characteristics of different workloads.

  31. Click Add shared storage.

  32. Click the Performance drop-down list for File share 2.

    VCF for Classic supports 4 storage performance options. Each option specifies a maximum IOPS/GB. Higher performance tiers have greater costs.

  33. Select 4 IOPS/GB.

  34. Click Additional clusters (optional) in the left menu.

  35. Select Deploy separate workload cluster.

    When specifying an extra workload cluster, new specifications for the cluster can be selected including specifying a different location than the consolidated cluster.

    • Cluster name
    • Cluster location (geography, data center, and pod)
    • CPU model
    • RAM
    • Number of servers
    • Storage (NFS or vSAN)
    • Networking type (public and private OR private network only)
    • Uplink speed
    • Virtual local area networks (vLANS) (new, existing, or reuse those of the consolidated cluster)

  36. Deselect Deploy separate workload cluster.

  37. Select Deploy gateway cluster.

    The Deploy gateway cluster option deploys a dedicated cluster for network edge and any custom firewall requirements. The gateway cluster is created in the same location as the consolidated cluster. Specifications for the network cluster are:

    • Cluster name
    • CPU model (limited options)
    • RAM (limited options)
    • Number of servers (as of now, this option is set at 2)
    • Networking type (public and private OR private network only)

  38. Deselect Deploy gateway cluster.

  39. Click Network interface in the left menu.

    Network planning for any VCS deployment is critical. Clients are expected to make informed decisions when provisioning their VCS environment and when specifying network configuration options. More planning information is available in the VCS documentation starting here.

    The Hostname prefix applies to all hosts in the instance.

  40. Click the Domain name entry field.

    The specified Domain name is used for all hosts in the instance and must conform to specific rules that can be found here.

  41. Select Configure host names individually.

    Each host that is provisioned can be uniquely named; otherwise, the names consist of the Hostname prefix field and a unique sequential number.

  42. Deselect Configure host names individually.

  43. Select Two highly available dedicated Windows Server VMs on the consolidated cluster.

    Two options exist for the Domain Name System (DNS) configuration for the instance.

    The Two highly available dedicated Windows Server VMs on the consolidated cluster option deploys two Microsoft Windows virtual machines (VMs), which enhances security and robustness. If this option is selected, the client must provide two Microsoft Windows Server 2019 Standard edition licenses.

  44. Select Single public Windows VSI for Active Directory/DNS

    The Single public Windows VSI for Active Directory/DNS option deploys a single Microsoft Windows Server virtual server instance (VSI) for Microsoft Active Directory (AD). The VSI functions as the DNS for the instance where the hosts and VMs are registered.

  45. Click Add-on services in left menu.

    VCF for Classic supports several Add-on services.

    For this demonstration, only 2 services are selected. Sellers should familiarize themselves with all the additional services available in the IBM Cloud for VMware portfolio.

    Available add-on services as of September 2024

    • Veeam - Veeam on IBM Cloud seamlessly integrates directly VMware hypervisors to help enterprises achieve high availability. This service provides recovery points and time objectives for applications and data. The recovery points and time objectives can be provided in less than 15 minutes after configuration is completed. By using this service, control both the backup and restore of all virtual machines (VMs) directly from the Veeam console. Veeam on IBM Cloud is a non-IBM product that is offered under terms and conditions from Veeam, not IBM.

    • Caveonix RiskForesight - Caveonix RiskForesight on IBM Cloud can help manage cyberrisk and compliance risk with proactive monitoring and automated defense controls to protect against threats and to meet industry or government regulations. Caveonix RiskForesight on IBM Cloud is a non-IBM product that is offered under terms and conditions from Caveonix, not IBM.

    • HCX - VMware HCX on IBM Cloud extends the networks of on-premises data centers into IBM Cloud, and it helps migrate virtual machines (VMs) to and from IBM Cloud without any conversion or change. HCX creates an abstraction layer that enables application mobility and infrastructure hybridity through securely stretched networks. Users can modernize their VMware environment without the need to refactor or modify existing applications, as HCX enables a seamless transformation. With HCX, users can bring IP subnet ranges into IBM Cloud and ensure the IP consistency through a hybrid deployment and by providing high-level security with end-to-end Suite B encryptions. VMware HCX on IBM Cloud is a non-IBM product that is offered under terms and conditions from VMware, not IBM.

    • Zerto - Zerto on IBM Cloud integrates replication and disaster recovery capabilities into the deployment offerings to protect and recover data in VMware virtual environments on IBM Cloud. Zerto on IBM Cloud is a non-IBM product that is offered under terms and conditions from Zerto, not IBM.

    • F5 BIG-IP - F5 BIG-IP® on IBM Cloud® (F5 BIG-IP Virtual Edition) provides:

    • Intelligent L4-L7 load balancing and traffic management services at a local and global scale.

    • Robust network and web application firewall protection.
    • Secure and federated application access.

    F5 BIG-IP on IBM Cloud is a non-IBM product that is offered under terms and conditions from F5 Networks, not IBM.

    • FortiGate Virtual Appliance - FortiGate Virtual Appliance on IBM Cloud deploys a pair of FortiGate Virtual Appliances, which can help reduce risk by implementing critical security controls within a virtual infrastructure. FortiGate Virtual Appliance on IBM Cloud is a non-IBM product that is offered under terms and conditions from Fortinet, not IBM.

    • Juniper vSRX - Juniper vSRX on IBM Cloud is a virtual security appliance that provides security and networking services at the perimeter or edge in virtualized private or public cloud environments. Within a VMware® infrastructure, vSRX runs as a pair of virtual machines (VMs) within the VMware vSphere® environment. Juniper vSRX on IBM Cloud is a non-IBM product that is offered under terms and conditions from Juniper Network, not IBM.

    • Red Hat OpenShift for VMware - The Red Hat OpenShift for VMware service deploys an Red Hat OpenShift cluster by using an automated deployment of the VMware SDDC (Software Defined Data Center) architecture. The Red Hat OpenShift components are deployed as virtual machines (VMs) or appliances by using VMware NSX® software-defined networking.
    • VMware Aria Operations and VMware Aria Operations for Logs Enterprise Edition - These tools help operate and monitor the performance, health, and capacity of IBM-hosted, dedicated VMware environment. VMware Aria Operations for Logs helps troubleshoot issues by using log files more quickly. VMware Aria Operations and VMware Aria Operations for Logs on IBM Cloud are non-IBM products offered under terms and conditions from VMware, not IBM.

    More information for these, and other IBM and non-IBM services can be found in the documentation here.

    Warning

    The steps that follow illustrate how to select, configure, and deselect Add-on services. Details about these services and their value are not included. Refer to the link above for information about each available service.

  46. Click Edit for the Veeam 12.1 add-on service.

    The automation for deploying additional services may allow specific parameters and configuration choices to be set. For Veeam (a third-party backup and disaster recovery product), the client has the ability to specify details about the repository and the number of VM licenses to provision.

  47. Click Save.

  48. Deselect Caveonix RiskForesight 5.0.0.

    While recommended for VCF for Classic deployments, it is possible for clients to deselect add-on services. Caveonix assists clients in managing cyber and compliance risk.

  49. Click Add-on services in the left menu.

    Add-on services are logically grouped by categories like recommended services, business continuity and migration, security and compliance, transformation and modernization, and management tools; however, many of these services could be classified in more than one of these categories.

    Warning

    Instead of simulating scrolling in the IBM Cloud portal, these steps have users click the Add-on services option in the left menu multiple times. In the IBM Cloud portal, users would just scroll down in the browser to view the entire set of available services.

  50. Select VMware Aria Operations and VMware Aria Operations for Logs Enterprise Edition 8.17.

    The new licensing of VMware software was mentioned earlier. Not all of the VMware software products that are licensed as part of VCF for Classic are automatically installed.

    Before proceeding to the agreements and the final step to provision a VCF for Classic instance, notice the information and options available on the right of the IBM Cloud portal.

    a. An itemized summary of the components and options that are selected is presented along with the estimated costs.

    b. A client can enter a promotion code for discounted pricing.

    c. The configuration options that are specified can be saved and reused for future provisioning activity.

    d. The current estimate can be saved for later pricing activities.

  51. Select I understand that the following account will be charged for infrastructure.

  52. Select I have read and agreed to the following third-party service agreements.
  53. Click Create.

At this point, the provisioning process for the VCF for Classic instance begins. If all specified infrastructure components with the requested configurations are available, this process is fully automated. In these cases, provisioning of a VCF for Classic instance can take 12 hours or less. In cases where the infrastructure as specified isn't immediately available, the process can take longer. When the instance created for this demonstration guide was provisioned, not all the infrastructure was available. In this case, the instance took over 48 hours to provision.

The VCS for Classic automation performs hundreds of operations. At a high level, all the infrastructure (compute and storage) is allocated to the user's IBM Cloud account, the required VMware software is installed on each host, networks are defined and configured both in IBM Cloud and within the VMware cluster, and any selected Add-on services are deployed.

During the provisioning process, the status of the instance will be updated in the IBM Cloud portal. In addition, depending on the user's notification preferences in the IBM Cloud portal, emails are sent as major steps in the automation are started and completed. Service tickets are opened if delays in the automation occur.

When all steps in the automation are complete and all systems are operational, the status of the instance will change to Ready. Now, the VCF for Classic instance is ready for use.

In the next chapter, learn how to manage a VCF for Classic instance by using the IBM Cloud portal.