Getting started with VCF as a Service
In this IBM Cloud® for VMware Cloud Foundation as a Service tutorial, we take you through the process of ordering a VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) as a Service instance by using the IBM Cloud for VMware Solutions user interface. Other operations that you can complete are also listed.
The completion time that is listed for this tutorial considers only the time that you spend ordering the artifacts for a VCF as a Service instance on the user interface. It does not consider waiting times for deployments, for example.
Before you begin
Before you start to work with VCF as a Service, review the following information about browser requirements and users accounts.
Browser requirements
For more information, see Browsers.
User accounts
You need an IBM Cloud account, which must meet certain requirements.
| Account | Description |
|---|---|
| IBMid | By using the IBMid, you can have a single login username for all IBM® products and services that you use, including IBM Cloud. VMware Solutions is provided as an infrastructure solution in the IBM Cloud catalog. To access
the VMware Solutions console, you must have an IBMid.
To use your IBMid to log in to the VMware Solutions console, you must associate the IBMid with an IBM Cloud account. When you log in to the console for the first time, you are guided to either associate your existing IBMid with an IBM Cloud account, or to sign up for a new IBM Cloud account. The new IBM Cloud account is automatically associated with your IBMid. You need to go through this process only once. If you have problems when you associate your IBMid with an IBM Cloud account, see Why is my password incorrect? |
| IBM Cloud account | To order and use IBM Cloud services, an IBM Cloud account is required. Billing information is associated with the IBM Cloud account. The price of the physical and virtual infrastructure and the resulting licenses are charged to your IBM Cloud account. |
Accessing the VMware Solutions console
The VMware Solutions console is the user interface where you order and manage your deployments. To access the console:
- Go to https://cloud.ibm.com/vmware.
- Log in to the console with your IBMid.
Planning the deployment
Before you order an instance, consider the required size of the VMware® deployment.
VMware deployments are sized based on the CPU, memory, and storage that are required to run the targeted workload. If you are planning a workload migration from on-premises to the cloud, the on-premises size is a good starting point. VMware deployments are elastic and you can resize them at any time.
After the basic size of the VMware environment is established, consider the VCF as a Service deployment type of multitenant or single-tenant instance as well as the configuration options for the instance.
For more information, see Planning the deployment.
Ordering a VCF as a Service instance
Specify your VCF as a Service instance settings according to your deployment type.
For single-tenant instances, the following configurations are used to order a new VMware cluster for running the target workload:
- Cloud Director site name and resource group
- Cloud Director site location (geography and region)
- Resource pool name and location
- Optional SAP-certified server profiles
- Cluster name
- Attached Network File Storage (NFS) performance tiers and amount of storage in each tier
- Host profile and quantity
- Public-only or private-only network settings
- Add-on services
After the dedicated Cloud Director site is in Available status, you create virtual data centers (VDCs) to deploy on the infrastructure.
For multitenant instances, the following configurations are used to order a new VDC that deploys on an existing IBM owned VMware cluster.
- VDC name and resource group
- Pricing plan for on-demand or reserved resource allocation
- VMware Cloud Director™ site location (region, Cloud Director instance, data center)
- Optional fast provisioning of virtual machines that use linked clones
- Optional network edge types
- vCPU and RAM limits
After you specify all configurations, validate the cost and submit the instance order.
For more information, see Ordering Cloud Director site instances and Ordering virtual data center instances.