---
name: vmwaresolutions-vc_addingclusters
title: Adding clusters to VCF for Classic - Automated instances
description: As of 17 July 2025, new automated installations of Red Hat® OpenShift® for VMware® are no longer available for new or existing deployments of VMware Cloud Foundation for Classic - Automated instances. You can still use or delete your existing Red Hat OpenShift for VMware automated installations until 16 July 2026. The service will no longer be available from 17 July 2026.
last-updated: 2025-10-24
---

> ## Documentation Index
> The table of contents for this documentation set is at https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vmwaresolutions?format=markdown
> The index for all IBM Cloud docs is at: https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use these files to discover more information as needed.

# Adding clusters to VCF for Classic - Automated instances
{: #vc_addingclusters}

As of 17 July 2025, new automated installations of Red Hat® OpenShift® for VMware® are no longer available for new or existing deployments of VMware Cloud Foundation for Classic - Automated instances. You can still use or delete your existing Red Hat OpenShift for VMware automated installations until 16 July 2026. The service will no longer be available from 17 July 2026.
{: deprecated}

You can add clusters to VMware Cloud Foundation for Classic - Automated instances to expand the compute and storage capacity. Within a cluster, you can manage VMware ESXi™ servers for better resource allocation and high availability (HA).

## Before you add clusters to Automated instances
{: #vc_addingclusters-before}

Whenever possible, delete clusters by using the IBM Cloud® for VMware Solutions console and not the VMware vSphere® Web Client. Changes that you make on the vSphere Web Client are not synchronized with the VMware Solutions console. If you want to delete clusters from VMware Cloud Foundation for Classic - Automated instances by using the vSphere Web Client, do so only for on-premises clusters or clusters that you don't manage in the VMware Solutions console.
{: important}

* New clusters are provisioned with mirrored M.2 boot drives.
* The number of clusters, hosts, and virtual machines (VMs) determines the maximum number of clusters that you can add. Remain within the VMware® sizing guidelines and limits for your deployment. For more information, see [VMware configuration maximums](https://configmax.broadcom.com/home){: external}.
* You can add a cluster while another cluster is being created or deleted.
* For clusters that belong to vCenter Server 8 instances, you can select a vSphere version.

## Cluster type
{: #vc_addingclusters-cluster-type}

Select the cluster type: **Workload cluster** or **Gateway cluster**.

## System settings for workload clusters
{: #vc_addingclusters-sys-settings-workload}

When you add a workload cluster to an Automated instance, you must specify the following settings.

### VMware vSphere version (vCenter Server 8 instances only)
{: #vc_addingclusters-vpshere-version}

Select the vSphere version for the cluster.

### Cluster name
{: #vc_addingclusters-cluster-name}

The cluster name is set to **vcs-_xx_** by default, where _xx_ represents two randomly generated alphabetic characters.

CONTENT:

Use resource groups to organize the resources in your account for access control and billing purposes. The default resource group in your account is selected. You can also select another resource group according to your needs. The resource group that you select cannot be changed after the instance is created.

### Licensing settings (BYOL only)
{: #vc_addingclusters-licensing-settings}

Bring Your Own License (BYOL) is no longer supported except for migrations or upgrades of existing BYOL clusters. Add a host to a BYOL cluster only if you are upgrading or migrating an existing BYOL cluster.
{: attention}

If you are a BYOL user, provide your own license key for vSphere:
* Select **I will provide** and enter your own vSphere license key.
* Select **Use existing license** only if you are using a BYOL vSphere license for your instance. When the option is enabled, you can select the existing license only if the instance has enough capacity for the additional hosts.

### Bare metal server settings
{: #vc_addingclusters-bare-metal-settings}

The CPU models differ depending on the version that your instance was initially deployed in. You can choose from **Sapphire Rapids**, **Cascade Lake**, and **SAP-certified Cascade Lake** servers[^1u].

[^1u]: For clusters with NFS storage, where locations with appropriate 1U servers are available, 1U servers (up to 4 drives of storage) are ordered silently rather than 2U servers. For gateway clusters and clusters with vSAN storage, 2U servers are ordered.

#### Data center location
{: #vc_addingclusters-dc-location}

The IBM Cloud data center location of the cluster is set to the IBM Cloud data center of the Automated instance by default. You can deploy the cluster to a different IBM Cloud data center than the deployed instance if you ensure that the network latency between the two IBM Cloud data centers is less than 150 ms.

If you deploy the cluster to a different IBM Cloud data center or IBM Cloud infrastructure pod, three extra VLANs are ordered for use with the ordered IBM Cloud bare metal servers.

#### Sapphire Rapids
{: #vc_addingclusters-sapphire}

| CPU model | Cores | GHz | Storage type | RAM options |
| :--------- | :----- | :--- | :------------ | :----------- |
| Dual Intel Xeon Platinum 6416H | 36 | 2.2 | Up to 16 drives | 256 GB, 512 GB, 1 TB, 2 TB, 4 TB |
| Dual Intel Xeon Platinum 8474C | 96 | 2.1/3.1 | Up to 16 drives | 256 GB, 512 GB, 1 TB, 2 TB, 4 TB |
| Dual Intel Xeon Platinum 6434H | 16 | 3.7/4.1 | Up to 16 drives | 256 GB, 512 GB, 1 TB, 2 TB, 4 TB |
{: caption="Option for Sapphire Rapids bare metal servers" caption-side="bottom"}

The 6434H CPU model has 8 cores per processor. However, VMware Cloud Foundation requires a minimum of 16 cores per processor. As a result, you are billed for 32 cores for this configuration.
{: attention}

Sapphire Rapids servers are not supported for BYOL users.
{: important}

For **Cascade Lake** servers, choose from the following CPU models and supported RAM sizes:



#### Cascade Lake
{: #vc_addingclusters-cascade}

| CPU model | Cores | GHz | Storage type | RAM options |
| :--------- | :----- | :--- | :------------ | :----------- |
| Dual Intel Xeon Silver 4210 | 20 | 2.2 | Up to 12 drives | 128 GB, 192 GB, 384 GB, 768 GB, 1.5 TB |
| Dual Intel Xeon Gold 5218 | 32 | 2.3 | Up to 12 drives | 128 GB, 192 GB, 384 GB, 768 GB, 1.5 TB |
| Dual Intel Xeon Gold 6248 | 40 | 2.5 | Up to 12 drives | 128 GB, 192 GB, 384 GB, 768 GB, 1.5 TB |
| Dual Intel Xeon Platinum 8260 | 48 | 2.4 | Up to 12 drives | 128 GB, 192 GB, 384 GB, 768 GB, 1.5 TB |
| Quad Intel Xeon Gold 6248 | 80 | 2.5 | Up to 24 drives | 384 GB, 768 GB, 1.5 TB, 3 TB |
| Quad Intel Xeon Platinum 8260 | 96 | 2.4 | Up to 24 drives | 384 GB, 768 GB, 1.5 TB, 3 TB |
{: caption="Options for Cascade Lake bare metal servers" caption-side="bottom"}

For **SAP-certified Cascade Lake** servers, choose from the following configurations:

#### SAP-certified Cascade Lake
{: #vc_addingclusters-sap}

| CPU model | Cores | GHz | RAM | Storage type |
| :------------- | :---------- | :-------- | :------------ | :------------ |
| Dual Intel Xeon Gold 5218 (BI.S4.NW192) | 32 | 2.3 | 192 GB | Up to 12 drives |
| Dual Intel Xeon Gold 5218 (BI.S4.NW384) | 32 | 2.3 | 384 GB | Up to 12 drives |
| Dual Intel Xeon Gold 6248 (BI.S4.NW768) | 40 | 2.5 | 768 GB | Up to 12 drives |
| Dual Intel Xeon Platinum 8260 (BI.S4.NW768_v2) | 48 | 2.4 | 768 GB | Up to 12 drives |
| Dual Intel Xeon Platinum 8280M (BI.S4.NW1500) | 56 | 2.7 | 1.5 TB | Up to 12 drives |
| Dual Intel Xeon Platinum 8280M (BI.S4.NW3000) | 56 | 2.7 | 3 TB | Up to 12 drives |
{: caption="Options for SAP-certified Cascade Lake bare metal servers - NetWeaver" caption-side="bottom"}
{: tab-title="NetWeaver"}
{: tab-group="SAP-certified Intel servers"}
{: class="simple-tab-table"}

| CPU model | Cores | GHz | RAM | Storage type |
| :------------- | :---------- | :-------- | :------------ | :------------ |
| Dual Intel Xeon Gold 5218 (BI.S4.H2.192) | 32 | 2.3 | 192 GB | Up to 12 drives |
| Dual Intel Xeon Gold 5218 (BI.S4.H2.384) | 32 | 2.3 | 384 GB | Up to 12 drives |
| Dual Intel Xeon Gold 6248 (BI.S4.H2.768) | 40 | 2.5 | 768 GB | Up to 12 drives |
| Dual Intel Xeon Platinum 8280M (BI.S4.H2.1500) | 56 | 2.7 | 1.5 TB | Up to 12 drives |
| Dual Intel Xeon Platinum 8280M (BI.S4.H2.3000) | 56 | 2.7 | 3 TB | Up to 12 drives |
| Quad Intel Xeon Platinum 8280M (BI.S4.H4.3000) | 112 | 2.7 | 3 TB | Up to 24 drives |
| Quad Intel Xeon Platinum 8280M (BI.S4.H4.6000) | 112 | 2.7 | 6 TB | Up to 24 drives |
{: caption="Options for SAP-certified Cascade Lake bare metal servers - HANA and NetWeaver" caption-side="bottom"}
{: tab-title="HANA and NetWeaver"}
{: tab-group="SAP-certified Intel servers"}
{: class="simple-tab-table"}

CONTENT:

The uplink speed provides two options:
* 10 Gb, which is selected by default.
* 25 Gb, which is available only for specific pods and data center locations. The following table shows the available locations for the 25 Gb uplink speed.

#### Number of bare metal servers
{: #vc_addingclusters-bare-metal-number}

CONTENT:

The time to complete the upgrade is unknown. It is possible that it might take several maintenance windows to completely upgrade an environment. Running up-leveled and down-leveled versions of the SDDC software is supported by VMware® during the upgrade process. However, some functions such as vMotion, might be limited during this process.

### Storage settings
{: #vc_addingclusters-storage-settings}

Storage settings are based on your selection of IBM Cloud bare metal server configuration and the storage type.

You can add NFS storage shares to an existing vSAN or NFS cluster. For more information, see [Adding NFS storage to Automated instances](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vmwaresolutions?topic=vmwaresolutions-vc_addingnfs&format=markdown).
{: note}

#### NFS storage
{: #vc_addingclusters-nfs-storage}

When you select **NFS storage**, you can add file-level shared storage for your instance where all shares use the same settings or you can specify different configuration settings for each file share. The number of file shares must be in the range of 1 to 100.

NFS storage is available for instances with vSphere 7 and vSphere 8.
{: important}

Specify the following NFS options.
* **Configure shares individually** - Toggle this switch on to specify different configuration settings for each file share.
* **Number of shares** - If you want to use the same configuration setting for each file share, specify the number of file shares for the NFS shared storage that you want to add.
* **Size (GB)** - Select the capacity that meets your shared storage needs.
* **Performance** - Select the IOPS (input/output operations per second) per GB based on your workload requirements.
* **Add shared storage** - Select to add individual file shares with different configuration settings.

The following table indicates the performance level details.

| Option | Details |
|:------ |:------- |
| 0.25 IOPS/GB | This option is designed for workloads that are not used often. Example applications include vaulted data, hosting large databases with legacy data, or virtual disk images of virtual memory system as backup. |
| 2 IOPS/GB | This option is designed for most general-purpose workloads. Example applications include hosting small databases, backing up web applications, or VM disk images for a hypervisor. |
| 4 IOPS/GB | This option is designed for higher-intensity workloads that have a high percentage of active data at a time. Example applications include transactional databases. |
| 10 IOPS/GB | This option is designed for the most demanding workload types, such as analytics. Example applications include high-transaction databases and other performance-sensitive databases. This performance level is limited to a maximum capacity of 4 TB per file share. |
{: caption="NFS performance level options" caption-side="bottom"}

#### vSAN storage
{: #vc_addingclusters-vsan-storage}

Review the following vSAN options.

##### Storage architecture
{: #vc_addingclusters-vsan-storage-archi}

Review the following considerations for the vSAN storage architecture:

* For **Sapphire Rapids** servers, both vSAN ESA and vSAN OSA are available. For **Cascade Lake** servers, only vSAN OSA is available.
* vSAN ESA requires a minimum of 3 bare metal servers. vSAN OSA requires a minimum of 4 bare metal servers.
* For both vSAN ESA and vSAN OSA, you can select the size and number of **vSAN capacity disks**. For vSAN OSA, the size and number of **vSAN cache disks** are selected by default.
* For vSAN ESA, the **Enable vSAN compression** option is available. For vSAN OSA, the **Enable vSAN deduplication and compression** option is available.
* vSAN ESA is selected by default with the 25 Gb uplink speed. If you select the 10 Gb uplink speed, the vSAN storage architecture is changed to vSAN OSA, because vSAN ESA is not compatible with the 10 Gb uplink speed.
* For vSAN ESA, the 25 GB network interfaces are configured with LACP.

Key Management Interoperability Protocol (KMIP™) for VMware® offering support will end on 31 December 2026, after which the KMIP for VMware service will no longer work. Migrate to [IBM® Key Protect for IBM Cloud®](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/key-protect?format=markdown).
{: deprecated}

##### Size for vSAN capacity disks
{: #vc_addingclusters-vsan-capacity-size}

Select an option for the capacity disks that you need.

##### Number of vSAN capacity disks
{: #vc_addingclusters-vsan-capacity-number}

Specify the number of capacity disks that you want to add.

##### Size for vSAN cache disks
{: #vc_addingclusters-vsan-cache-size}

Review the **Size for vSAN cache disks** value.

##### Number of vSAN cache disks
{: #vc_addingclusters-vsan-cache-number}

Review the **Number of vSAN cache disks** value.

##### Enable vSAN deduplication and compression
{: #vc_addingclusters-vsan-storage-enable-comp}

vSAN storage depends on the number of servers and your total disk capacity, and the use of deduplication and compression.

The amount of storage reduction from deduplication and compression depends on many factors, including the type of data stored and the number of duplicate blocks. Larger disk groups tend to provide a higher deduplication ratio. For more information, see [Using deduplication and compression](https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/vmware-cis/vsan/vsan/7-0/vsan-adminstration-7-0/increasing-space-efficiency-in-a-vsan-cluster/using-deduplication-and-compression-in-vsan-cluster.html){: external}.
{: note}

##### Enable vSAN compression (vSAN ESA only)
{: #vc_addingclusters-vsan-storage-enable-comp-esa}

vSAN storage depends on the number of servers and your total disk capacity, and the use of deduplication. For Sapphire Rapids servers, both vSAN ESA and vSAN OSA are available. However, the **Enable vSAN compression** option is available only for vSAN ESA. For more information, see [Storage architecture](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vmwaresolutions?topic=vmwaresolutions-vc_addingclusters&format=markdown#vc_addingclusters-vsan-storage-archi).

##### vSAN license (BYOL only)
{: #vc_addingclusters-vsan-storage-lic}

Bring Your Own License (BYOL) is no longer supported except for migrations or upgrades of existing BYOL clusters. Use this feature only if you are upgrading or migrating an existing BYOL cluster.
{: attention}

If you are a BYOL user, provide your own vSAN license key. Select **I will provide** or **Use existing license** and enter your license key.

The **Use existing license** option is available only if you are using a BYOL vSAN license for your instance. When the option is enabled, you can select the existing license only if the instance has enough capacity for the additional hosts.

If your initial cluster is a vSAN cluster, any additional vSAN clusters use the same vSAN license and have the same configuration as the initial one. This statement is also true for any initial or extra clusters in the instance for which you select vSAN. The first time, you must provide the vSAN license and the edition. The next time that you select vSAN for a new cluster, the license you initially chose will be reused.

### Network interface settings
{: #vc_addingclusters-network-interface-settings}

When you add a cluster for an Automated instance, you must specify the following network interface settings.

#### Hostname prefix
{: #vc_addingclusters-host-name}

You can use the default hostname prefix or specify a new one. When you specify a new hostname prefix, the hostname prefix must meet the following requirements:
- Only lowercase alphabetic, numeric, and hyphen (-) characters are allowed.
- The hostname prefix must start with a lowercase alphabetic character.
- The hostname prefix must end with a lowercase alphabetic or numeric character.
- The maximum length of the hostname prefix is 10 characters.

#### Configure hostnames individually
{: #vc_addingclusters-network-diagram}

You can customize the prefix for each hostname by toggling the switch on.

The hostname prefix must meet the following requirements:
* Only lowercase alphabetic, numeric, and hyphen (-) characters are allowed.
* No consecutive hyphens are allowed.
* The hostname prefix must start with a lowercase alphabetic character.
* The hostname prefix must end with a lowercase alphabetic or numeric character.
* The maximum length of the hostname prefix is 13 characters.

#### Networking type
{: #vc_addingclusters-network}

Network interface card (NIC) enablement settings are based on your selection of either **Public and private network** or **Private network only**.

#### Uplink speed
{: #vc_addingclusters-uplink}

The **Uplink speed** option is not available to gateway clusters.
{: note}

| Data center | Pod |
| :----------- | :--- |
| SYD04 | 01 |
| SYD05 | 01 |
| TOK02 | 02 |
| TOK04 | 01 |
| TOK05 | 01 |
{: caption="Available locations for 25 Gb uplink speed - Asia Pacific" caption-side="bottom"}
{: tab-title="Asia Pacific"}
{: tab-group="Data centers"}
{: class="simple-tab-table"}

| Data center | Pod |
| :----------- | :--- |
| AMS03 | 01-02 |
| FRA02 | 02 |
| FRA04 | 01 |
| FRA05 | 01 |
| LON04 | 01 |
| LON06 | 01 |
| MAD02 | 01 |
| MAD04 | 01 |
| MAD05 | 01 |
| PAR04 | 01 |
| PAR05 | 01 |
| PAR06 | 01 |
{: caption="Available locations for 25 Gb uplink speed - Europe" caption-side="bottom"}
{: tab-title="Europe"}
{: tab-group="Data centers"}
{: class="simple-tab-table"}

| Data center | Pod |
| :----------- | :--- |
| TOR04 | 01 |
| TOR05 | 01 |
| WDC04 | 05 |
| WDC06 | 01 |
| WDC07 | 01 |
{: caption="Available locations for 25 Gb uplink speed - NA East" caption-side="bottom"}
{: tab-title="NA East"}
{: tab-group="Data centers"}
{: class="simple-tab-table"}

| Data center | Pod |
| :----------- | :--- |
| DAL10 | 03 |
| DAL13 | 02 |
| DAL14 | 01 |
{: caption="Available locations for 25 Gb uplink speed - NA South" caption-side="bottom"}
{: tab-title="NA South"}
{: tab-group="Data centers"}
{: class="simple-tab-table"}

CONTENT:

You must manage the IBM Cloud for VMware Solutions components that are created in your IBM Cloud account only in the VMware Solutions console, not the IBM Cloud infrastructure customer portal, or any other means outside of the console. If you change these components outside of the VMware Solutions console, the changes are not synchronized with the console.
{: important}

#### VLANs
{: #vc_addingclusters-vlans}

Network settings are based on your selection of either **Order new VLANs** or **Select existing VLANs**.

One public VLAN and two private VLANs are required for your instance order. The two private VLANs are trunked into each IBM Cloud bare metal server.

##### Order new VLANs
{: #vc_addingclusters-new-vlans}

Select to order one new public VLAN and two new private VLANs.

##### Select existing VLANs
{: #vc_addingclusters-existing-vlans}

Depending on the IBM Cloud data center that you selected, existing public and private VLANs might be available.

When you select to reuse existing public and private VLANs, specify the VLANs and subnets:
* **Public VLAN** is for public network access. If you select the **Allocate a new one** option for this field, a new public VLAN is allocated automatically. This field is only available on the **Public and private network** tab.
* **Public primary subnet** is assigned to physical hosts for public network access. If you select the **Auto assigned** option for this field, a new public primary subnet is selected automatically, and a new one is created if necessary. This field is only available on the **Public and private network** tab.
* **Private VLAN** is for connectivity among the data centers and services within the IBM Cloud. If you select the **Allocate a new one** option for this field, a new private VLAN is allocated automatically.
* **Private primary subnet** is assigned to physical hosts for management traffic. If you select the **Auto assigned** option for this field, a new private primary subnet is selected automatically, and a new one is created if necessary.
* **Secondary private VLAN** is for VMware features such as vSAN. You can select an existing secondary private VLAN or select to allocate a new one.

Ensure that the firewall configuration on the selected VLANs does not block the management data traffic. Also, ensure that all the VLANs that you select are in the same pod. ESXi servers cannot be provisioned on mixed-pod VLANs.
{: important}

Optionally, use **Advanced settings** to configure portable subnets for VLANs.

Use the **Public VLAN**, **Private VLAN**, or **Secondary private VLAN** tabs to specify the **Portable subnet** for each applicable purpose. If you select the **Allocate a new one** option for this field, a new portable subnet is allocated automatically.
**Notes**
* Complete the **Public VLAN**, **Private VLAN**, or **Secondary private VLAN** settings before you can configure portable subnets.
* The number of portable subnets is displayed on the **Advanced settings** option after you save the portable subnet settings. Click **Portable subnets settings** to edit the settings.
* The saved portable subnet settings are cleared if you change the **Public VLAN**, **Private VLAN**, or **Secondary private VLAN** settings.

IBM Cloud for VMware Solutions takes control of the entire subnet and you can't use any IP addresses in the subnet.
{: important}

## System settings for gateway clusters
{: #vc_addingclusters-sys-settings-edge}

When you add a gateway cluster to an Automated instance, you must specify the following settings.

### VMware vSphere version (vCenter Server 8 instances only)
{: #vc_addingclusters-vpshere-version-gateway}

Select the vSphere version for the cluster.

### Data center location
{: #vc_orderinginstance-dc-edge}

Select the IBM Cloud® data center settings. For more information, see [IBM Cloud locations for resource deployment](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/overview?topic=overview-locations&format=markdown).

#### Geography
{: #vc_orderinginstance-dc-region-edge}

Select the region where your consolidated cluster or instance is hosted.

#### Data center
{: #vc_orderinginstance-dc-location-edge}

Select the IBM Cloud data center where the consolidated cluster is hosted.

#### Pod
{: #vc_orderinginstance-dc-pod-edge}

Select the IBM Cloud data center pod where you want to deploy your resources. Keep the default pod selection if you do not have reasons to prefer a different pod.

### Cluster name
{: #vc_addingclusters-cluster-name-edge}

By default, the cluster names are set to **<instance_name>-edge**.

You can also specify a new name for your clusters. The names must meet the requirements that are listed in [Cluster name](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vmwaresolutions?topic=vmwaresolutions-vc_orderinginstance-consold-cluster&format=markdown#vc_orderinginstance-consold-cluster-name).

### CPU model
{: #vc_addingclusters-edge-cluster-cpu}

You can choose between the following CPU models:
* Dual Intel Xeon® Silver 4210 processor (Cascade Lake) with 20 cores, 2.20 GHz, and 10 Gb of uplink speed.
* Dual Intel Xeon Gold 5218 processor (Cascade Lake) with 32 cores, 2.30 GHz, and 25 Gb of uplink speed.

### RAM
{: #vc_addingclusters-edge-cluster-ram}

You can select different values of RAM in the range 64 GB - 1.5 TB.

### Number of bare metal servers
{: #vc_addingclusters-edge-cluster-bare-metal}

The number of servers is set to 2 and cannot be changed. Both servers have the same configuration.

### Hostname prefix
{: #vc_addingclusters-edge-host-name-prefix}

The hostname prefix applies to all clusters in the instance. It must meet the following requirements:
* Only lowercase alphabetic, numeric, and hyphen (-) characters are allowed.
* The hostname prefix must start with a lowercase alphabetic character.
* The hostname prefix must end with a lowercase alphabetic or numeric character.
* The maximum length of the hostname prefix is 10 characters.

### Configure hostnames individually
{: #vc_addingclusters-edge-network-diagram}

You can customize the prefix for each hostname by toggling the switch on.

The hostname prefix must meet the following requirements:
* Only lowercase alphabetic, numeric, and hyphen (-) characters are allowed.
* No consecutive hyphens are allowed.
* The hostname prefix must start with a lowercase alphabetic character.
* The hostname prefix must end with a lowercase alphabetic or numeric character.
* The maximum length of the hostname prefix is 13 characters.

### Networking type
{: #vc_addingclusters-edge-cluster-private-nics}

Select either **Public and private network** or **Private network only** for the gateway cluster.

## Summary
{: #vc_addingclusters-order-summary}

Based on your selected configuration for the cluster, the estimated price is instantly generated and displayed in the **Summary** panel. Click **Pricing details** to generate a PDF document with the price summary for the VMware Solutions resources.

You can also add the provisioned resources to the IBM Cloud estimate tool, by clicking **Add to estimate**. The estimate tool is useful if you want to get an approximate price of the selected VMware Solutions resources together with other IBM Cloud resources that you might consider purchasing.

## Procedure to add clusters to Automated instances
{: #vc_addingclusters-procedure}

1. In the VMware Solutions console, click **Licensing and metering > Add-on services** from the left navigation panel.
2. In the **VMware Cloud Foundation for Classic** table, click the instance that you want to add clusters to.

   Ensure that the instance status is **Available**. Otherwise, you cannot add clusters to the instance.
   {: important}

3. Click the **Infrastructure** tab and click **Create** on the upper right of the **Clusters** table.
4. On the **Create cluster** page, select the cluster type. For vSphere 8 instances, also select the VMware vSphere version.
5. For workload clusters, enter the cluster name and complete the following configuration.
   1. Complete the licensing settings if you are a BYOL user. You must provide your own license key for the VMware vSphere component.
      * Bring Your Own License (BYOL) is no longer supported except for migrations or upgrades of existing BYOL clusters. Select **I will provide** or **Use existing license** and enter your own license key only if you are performing an upgrade or migration of an existing BYOL cluster.
      * The **Use existing license** option is available only if you are using a BYOL vSphere or vSAN license for your instance. When the option is enabled, you can select the existing license only if the instance has enough capacity for the additional hosts.

   2. Complete the bare metal server configuration.
      * If you want to host the cluster in a different IBM Cloud data center than the one that the instance is hosted in, toggle the **Select a different location** switch on and choose the IBM Cloud data center to host the cluster.
      * For **Sapphire Rapids** and **Cascade Lake**, select the **CPU model**, **RAM size**, and the **Number of bare metal servers**.
      * For **SAP-certified Cascade Lake**, select one of the preset configurations.

   3. Complete the storage configuration.
      * If you select **NFS storage** and want to add and configure the same settings to all file shares, specify the **Number of shares**, **Size (GB)**, and **Performance**.
      * If you select **NFS storage** and want to add and configure file shares individually, toggle the **Configure shares individually** switch on, then click **Add shared storage** and select the **Size (GB)** and **Performance** for each individual file share. Select at least one file share.
      * If you select **vSAN storage**, specify the following values:
         * The [Storage architecture](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vmwaresolutions?topic=vmwaresolutions-vc_addingclusters&format=markdown#vc_addingclusters-vsan-storage-archi) can be either **vSAN ESA** (Express Storage Architecture) (vSphere 8 only) or **vSAN OSA** (Original Storage Architecture).
         * Size for the vSAN capacity disks
         * Number of vSAN capacity disks
         * Size for vSAN cache disks
         * Number of vSAN cache disks
         * If you are a BYOL user, provide your own vSAN license key.

      If you want to **Enable vSAN deduplication and compression** or **Enable vSAN compression** (vSAN ESA only), toggle its switch on.

6. For gateway clusters, complete the following configuration.
   1. For data center location, click the **Edit** icon ![Edit icon](../../icons/edit-tagging.svg "Edit") and select the geography, data center, and pod to host the cluster.
   2. Specify the cluster name.
   3. Select the CPU model, RAM size, and the number of bare metal servers.
   4. For network interface settings, enter the hostname prefix.
   5. If you want to customize the hostnames prefix individually, toggle the **Configure hostnames individually** switch on.
   6. Select the **Networking type**, either **Public and private network** or **Private network only**.

8. On the **Summary** panel, verify the cluster configuration before you add the cluster.
   1. Review the settings for the cluster.
   2. Review the estimated price of the cluster. Click **Pricing details** to generate a PDF summary. To save or print your order summary, click the **Print** or the **Download** icon ![Download icon](../../icons/download.svg "Download") on the upper right of the PDF window.
   3. Click the link or links of the license agreements that apply to your order and ensure that you agree with them before you add the cluster.
   4. Click **Create**.

## Results after you add clusters to Automated instances
{: #vc_addingclusters-results}

1. The deployment of the cluster starts automatically and the status of the cluster is changed to **Initializing**. You can check the status of the deployment by viewing the deployment history on the instance details page.
2. When the cluster is ready to use, its status changes to **Available**. The newly added cluster is enabled with vSphere HA and vSphere Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS).

You cannot change the cluster name. Changing the cluster name might cause the add or delete ESXi servers operations in the cluster to fail.
{: important}

CONTENT:

IBM Cloud&reg; for VMware Solutions offers promotions for some add-on services. Promotional pricing offers a number of months at no cost for a service license, if the service has license charges. For more information, see [Promotions for services](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vmwaresolutions?topic=vmwaresolutions-vc_addingservices&format=markdown#vc_addingservices-service-promotions).

## Related links
{: #vc_addingclusters-related}

* [Viewing Automated instances](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vmwaresolutions?topic=vmwaresolutions-vc_viewinginstances&format=markdown)
* [Expanding and contracting capacity for Automated instances](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vmwaresolutions?topic=vmwaresolutions-vc_addingservers&format=markdown)