Deploying VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.x is an exciting step toward full-stack automation — but it comes with nuances that can trip up even seasoned admins. Whether you’re setting up a greenfield environment or modernizing your infrastructure, these practical deployment tips can help you avoid frustration and downtime.
- Stick to Lowercase Hostnames
This is one of the most overlooked issues. Uppercase characters in your hostnames can cause validation errors or deployment failures. Avoid surprises: keep your hostnames all lowercase. - Avoid special characters like * ( ) # & especially those on the top row of your keyboard. As this can cause issues during deployment and avoiding them can save you time and frustration.
- Watch Password Complexity. Password validation in VCF 9.x can be stricter than expected. Use at least 15 characters, Avoid non-ASCII or rarely used symbols. Be aware that some tools like SDDC Manager and Fleet Manager enforce different rules, so keeping a consistent, compliant standard avoids later issues.
- Understand Host Count Requirements, as planning your cluster size early avoids unnecessary rework later.
- For production vSAN setup, a minimum of 4 hosts is recommended.
- For labs, you might be able to deploy with 3 hosts using vSAN.
- If you’re using NFS or FC-backed VMFS storage, 2-host setups are sometimes viable — but not officially supported.
- Prepare & Understand Your Network Configuration. Even though VCF automates much of the network configuration, you still need to:
- Set up proper VLANs for vSphere Management, vSAN, vMotion, and NSX-T.
- Ensure your NICs are 10 GbE or even faster (especially for production). Some nested or lab setups can tolerate less, but it’s not ideal.
- Avoid HCL Validation Roadblocks Surprises. vSphere 9.x supported hardware list has been updated and some of your old hardware that was supported with vSphere 8.x might no longer be supported. Make sure to check before hand to avoid unexpected issues during installation. While you never should bypass HCL check in production, there is ways to bypass some of those checks especially vSAN check by mocking VIBs or disabling validation, though this should be limited to lab only. Never bypass validation for production to avoid surprise issues and being denied support by running a non-supported configuration.
- Validate Everything in the Lab First. Test your setup with nested ESXi, simplified topologies, or non-production clusters. Get familiar with:
- The VCF installer wizard
- NSX-T automation
- Licensing and password flows
- Certificate behavior
Lab experience is invaluable and helps you identify gaps in your deployment strategy. I highly recommend to always having a lab/staging setup to test further upgrades and changes in it before applying it in production. It can save you from outages and be better prepare for every step in the process.
Final Thoughts
VCF 9.x is VMware’s most powerful platform yet — with better modularity, integrated LCM, and NSX support. But it’s not immune to human error. Make sure you check your input and follow the instructions carefully for a smooth and stable deployment that will serve you to years to come.