Deploying a Minimal VCF 9.0 Lab – Insights from Explore 2025

I had the pleasure of attending the excellent session “Deploying Minimal VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0 Lab” by Alan Renouf and William Lam at VMware Explore 2025. It was packed with practical advice, hardware insights, and field-tested tips on how to stand up a fully functional VCF environment—even on a tight budget.

Whether you’re a home lab enthusiast, enterprise architect, or just VCF-curious, here’s a recap of the key takeaways.

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Key Changes: VCF 5.x vs VCF 9.x

VCF 5.x:

• Required 4+ ESXi hosts
• Monolithic installer
• vSAN required
• 3-node NSX cluster
• 10GbE NICs mandatory

VCF 9.x:

• More modular design
• Only 2–3 ESXi hosts required
• 1 x 10GbE NIC sufficient
• Support for singleton appliances
• Flexible storage (vSAN ESA, FC, NFS)

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VCF 9.0 Tips & Tricks (with real CLI guidance)

Here’s the juicy part—real-world deployment tips and overrides:

1. Minimum ESXi Host Requirements

• For vSAN/FC: 3 ESXi hosts
• For NFS: 2 ESXi hosts
• ⚠️ You can install VCF Installer + SDDC Manager even on a single ESXi host (great for nested labs!)

> cat /home/vcf/feature.properties

feature.vcf.internal.single.host.domain = true

> echo 'y' | /opt/vmware/vcf/operationsmanager/scripts/cli/sddcmanager_restart_services.sh

2. NIC Validation Bypass

If your ESXi host doesn’t have a 10GbE NIC:

> cat /etc/vmware/vcf/domainmanager/application.properties

enable.speed.of.physical.nics.validation = false

> echo 'y' | /opt/vmware/vcf/operationsmanager/scripts/cli/sddcmanager_restart_services.sh

3. vSAN HCL Override

VCF Installer will fail validation if your SSD or controller is not on the vSAN ESA HCL. Install a “mock” VIB to bypass:

esxcli software vib install -v /tmp/vsan-mock.vib

4. Offline Depot HTTPS Requirement

By default, the VCF installer requires HTTPS:

cat /opt/vmware/vcf/lcm/lcm-app/conf/application-prod.properties

lcm.depot.adapter.httpsEnabled=false

systemctl restart lcm

5. Basic Auth Requirement

You don’t need a full-blown web server:

python http_server_auth.py --bind 192.168.1.100 --user myuser --password mysecurepassword --port 443 --directory /myrepo

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Reference Hardware for Minimal Lab

Here’s an example BOM shared by the presenters:

• MinisForum MS-A2 w/ AMD Ryzen 7945HX (16c/32t)
• 128GB DDR5 (2x64GB SODIMM)
• 3x M.2 NVMe SSDs
• 10GbE SFP+ NIC + 2.5GbE onboard
• MikroTik 5-port 10GbE switch (for under $200)

This setup is small, powerful, and flexible enough for a complete VCF 9.0 deployment.

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Deployment Walkthrough – TL;DR

Here’s the summarized 8-step flow:

1. Install ESXi (kickstart from USB)
2. Deploy VCF Installer VM
3. Connect to Offline Depot
4. Run Installer with JSON
5. Configure vSAN ESA
6. Deploy vCenter
7. Update Storage Policies
8. Deploy SDDC Manager, NSX, Fleet Manager, Automation, etc.

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Summary

This session truly showcased how far VCF has come in terms of flexibility and accessibility. More info: VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.x in a Box.
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