--- name: vmwaresolutions-vs_addingservers title: Adding ESXi servers to Flexible 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 ESXi servers to Flexible instances {: #vs_addingservers} 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 expand the capacity of your VMware Cloud Foundation for Classic - Flexible instance according to your business needs by adding VMware ESXi™ servers. ## Before you add ESXi servers to Flexible instances {: #vs_addingservers-prereq} ### For all Flexible instances {: #vs_addingservers-prereq-all} Review the following information applicable to all Flexible instances: * You can add up to 59 ESXi servers to a Flexible instance. * You can add ESXi servers either with vSphere 7 or vSphere 8. For more information, see [BOM for VCF for Classic - Flexible](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vmwaresolutions?topic=vmwaresolutions-vs_bom&format=markdown). The automated deployment process is not supported for BYOL (Bring Your Own License). You must complete the HCX deployment process manually. {: important} ### For Flexible instances with vSAN storage {: #vs_addingservers-prereq-vsan} Review the following additional information applicable to Flexible instances with vSAN™ storage: * If you are adding ESXi servers to instances provisioned after 24 August 2023, the servers are provisioned with mirrored M.2 boot drives. * If you are adding ESXi servers to instances provisioned before 24 August 2023, the servers are provisioned with mirrored M.2 boot drives only if you select a new bare metal server configuration. ## Procedure to add ESXi servers to Flexible instances {: #vs_addingservers-procedure} {: help} {: support} 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 Flexible instance for which you want to expand capacity. 3. Click the **Infrastructure** tab. 4. In the **ESXi servers** section, click **Add**. 5. On the **Add ESXi server** side pane, enter the number of bare metal servers that you want to add. 6. Complete the bare metal server configuration. * From the list, you can select a bare metal server configuration that is being used by the existing ESXi servers in the cluster. Then, click **Next**. This option is not available under the following conditions: * The bare metal configuration that is used by the existing ESXi servers in the cluster is **Broadwell**. * The storage type of the cluster is **Local disks**. * You can also choose a new bare metal server configuration by selecting the option from the list and clicking **Next**. Select the **CPU model**, the **vSphere version**, the amount of **RAM**, and **vSAN** if you have vSAN storage type. When you select **Sapphire Rapids** bare metal servers, the **Storage architecture** is either **vSAN ESA** (Express Storage Architecture) (vSphere 8 only) or **vSAN OSA** (Original Storage Architecture). For more information, see [Storage architecture (vSphere 8 only)](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vmwaresolutions?topic=vmwaresolutions-vs_orderinginstances-storage-settings&format=markdown#vs_orderinginstances-storage-archi). {: important} 7. Click **Next** and complete the network settings. * You can use the previously selected primary subnets. * You can specify different primary subnets. Then, use the list to select the **Private primary subnet**. * If you want to customize the prefix for each hostname, toggle the **Configure hostnames individually** switch on and enter the hostname prefixes. 8. In the **Details** section, review the estimated pricing, ensure that the account to be charged is correct, and review and accept the terms. Then, click **Add**. When you provision new ESXi servers, new vSphere license keys are assigned to hosts automatically. For existing ESXi servers, you must [retrieve the existing VCF license keys](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vmwaresolutions?topic=vmwaresolutions-licenses_vcf-licenses&format=markdown), replace and assign them to the hosts. For more information, see [Adding license keys to VCF, vCenter Server, vSAN, and ESXi](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vmwaresolutions?topic=vmwaresolutions-licensing_manage&format=markdown#licensing_manage-add-vcf). {: important} ## Results after you add ESXi servers to Flexible instances {: #vs_addingservers-results} 1. You might experience a slight delay on the console while the instance status changes from **Available** to **Modifying**. Allow the operation to complete before you make more changes to the instance. 2. You are notified by email that your request to add ESXi servers is being processed. On the console, the status of the instance is changed to **Modifying**. 3. If you do not see the new ESXi servers added to the instance, check your email or console notifications for more details. CONTENT: IBM Cloud® 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 {: #vs_addingservers-related} * [Procedure to order Flexible instances](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vmwaresolutions?topic=vmwaresolutions-vs_orderinginstances-procedure&format=markdown) * [Viewing Flexible instances](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vmwaresolutions?topic=vmwaresolutions-vs_viewinginstances&format=markdown) * [Requirements for Flexible instances](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vmwaresolutions?topic=vmwaresolutions-vs_orderinginstances-req&format=markdown) * [Getting help and support](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vmwaresolutions?topic=vmwaresolutions-trbl_support&format=markdown)