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Building A VCF Multi-Nic Workload Domain Using API | Lab2Prod
Building A VCF Multi-Nic Workload Domain API | LAB2PROD
Using API To Create A VMware Cloud Foundation (Vcf) Multi-Nic Workload Domain.
Configuring Cloud Builder Guide, VCF Multi-Nic Workload Domain, VCF Workload Domain API

Using API To Create A VmwareCloud Foundation (Vcf)Multi-Nic Workload Domain, With Two VsphereDistributed Switches.

In This Article We Will Cover Building A VMware Cloud Foundation (vCF) Workload Domain Using API Calls For Hosts With Multiple Physical Nics (Multi-Nic). Postman Was Used In This Article, However The Same Commands Can Be Used Directly On SDDC Manager Or Any Other Appliance That Can Issue Curl Commands. This Is A Slightly Different Take To Using Powervcf, As Some Environments Do Not Allow Additional Powershell Modules To Be Installed Or Internet Access For Management Workstations.

When Deploying Either A Management Or Workload Domain In VCF 4 And Above With Multiple Physical Nics (More Than Two, Generally 4), Two VsphereDistributed Switches Are Created. The First Is Reserved For Management Traffic, Which Will Be Your Management VM Kernel, Vsan And Vmotion. Attached To This Switch Will Be Two Physical Nics Used For Uplink To The Physical Network. VCF Will Configure Them With The Appropriate Load Balancing Policy.

The Second vSphere Distributed Switch Is Reserved For NSX-T Datacenter, Once Again In A Multiple Physical NIC Scenario, Two Of The Physical Nics Will Be Attached To This Switch And The Teaming Policy Within NSX-T Transport Node Profile Will Be Set To Load Balance Source And Applied Accordingly. All Traffic That Originates From The NSX-T Domain Will Pass Across This Switch And These Uplinks, That Is Your Overlay And Vlan Backed Traffic.

To Begin Make Sure The Hosts That Will Be Used For The Workload Domain Are Prepared, This Involves Having Them Built With An Image From The Hardware Vendor That Has All Supported Drivers For The Build Of VCF That You Are Deploying. In This Article I Will Be Building Them For VCF 4.0.1, The BOM For This Version Can Be Found Here.

For This Article VMware Imaging Appliance (VIA), Which You Will Have Access To After Deploying VmwareCloud Builder, Will Be Utilized.
Configuring Cloud Builder And Imaging Hosts To Prepare For The Workload Domain:
SSH Onto Your Cloud Builder Appliance And Edit The Via.Properties File Using Vi Or Your Preferred Method, The File Can Be Found Here ‘/Opt/Vmware/Evorack-Imaging/Config/Via.Properties’
In Section II Update The Fields Highlighted In The Image Below To Suit Your Environment.
After You Have Completed Editing This File, The ‘Imaging.Service’ Needs To Be Restarted, Issue The Command ‘Systemctl Restart Imaging.Service’, Ensure The Service Restarts And Comes Back Properly
Once The Service Has Come Back Up Log In To VIA Which Can Be Found On Port 8445 Of The Cloudbuilder Appliance, In This Case It Is ‘Https://10.0.0.221:8445/Via/Login.Html’. Use The Admin Credentials That Were Supplied When Deploying The CloudbuilderOVF.
As Soon As You Login You Will Be In The ‘Bundles’ Tab, Here You Can Browse To The ISO You Obtained And Enter In It’sMD5 Checksum. If You Obtained The Image From Vmware Downloads The MD5 Can Be Found With The Download.
Once The Upload Is Complete Ensure You Activate The Image By Selecting The Radial Button As Can Be Seen Below
Now Move Over To The ‘Imaging’ Tab, Fill In The Details As Required, The Name And Description Are Optional, Once All The Details Are Filled Out Click ‘Start Imaging’. Also Note, If You Change The Number From 1 To However Many Hosts You Need To Image In The Top Right Of The Form, You May Image Several Hosts At The Same Time.
After Clicking On ‘Start Imaging’ It Will Move Over To The Imaging Screen And You Will See The Below After A Short Amount Of Time.
Reboot The Hosts To Start The PXE Process. While The Hosts Are Being Imaged You Can Tail The Logs By SSH’ingOnto CloudbuilderAnd Issuing The Command Tail -F /Var/Log/Vmware/Vcf/Evorack-Imaging/*.Log, I Generally Like To Tail All The Logs However You Can Specify Whichever Log You Want To Follow. The Other Way Of Viewing Logs Is Using The VIA UI And Heading Over To The ‘Logs’ Tab. This Is A Great Way To Check The Hosts Are Being Picked Up And If There Are Any Issues During The PXE Process. Also Make Sure There Aren’t Two DHCP Servers On The Subnet Being Used For Imaging, This Can Also Cause Issues. The Appliance And The Hosts Have To Be On The Same Untagged Network As Well.
After The Process Completes You May Need To Enable SSH On The Hosts (Change The Policy To Stop And Start With Host), I Have Also Noticed That If You Go To The Firewall Configuration On The Host (Networking >Firewall Rules And Scroll Down To SSH Server, You May Notice That The Below Is Configured (To Whatever Subnet You Entered In The Via.Properties Settings). If This Is The Case For You, Change It To ‘All Connections From All IP Addresses’
This Concludes The Section For Imaging And Preparing The Hosts.

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