On January 22nd, 2019, VMware released the VMware Validated Design for Software-Defined Data Center (SDDC) version 5.0. This latest update provides several significant upgrades to the bill of materials along with some minor tweaks to the architecture and offers a vastly improved deployment experience.
New Documentation Map
The VMware Validated Design consist of a set of documentation used to guide you in all stages of implementing, operating and maintaining a modern Software-Defined Data Center (SDDC). With the VVD for SDDC 5.0, we have introduced a new graphical map of the VMware Validated Design Documentation to help with navigating the documentation to help make it easier to consume.
Bill Of Material (BOM)
The most significant change included with this latest release to the VVD for SDDC is the updated Bill-Of-Materials (BOM). With the 5.0 release, the BOM has been updated to incorporate the newest component product versions, to include vSphere/vSAN 6.7 Update 1, NSX for vSphere 6.4.4, vRealize Log Insight 4.7, vRealize Operations 7.0 and vRealize Automation 7.5.
vSphere 6.7 Update 1 with HTML5-Based vSphere Web Client
With the adoption of vSphere 6.7 Update 1, the VVD can benefit from the numerous performance improvements built into the vCenter Server Appliance as well as the new and improved HTML5-based UI. With this, the VVD for SDDC 5.0 documentation has been updated to incorporate the use of the new HTML5-based vSphere Client for all environment preparation, post-deployment configuration, and operational guidance in vSphere, NSX for vSphere, Site Recovery Manager, and vSphere Update Manager.
Support for Latest Operating Systems
Along with the updated BOM, the VVD for SDDC 5.0 also adds support for Microsoft Windows Server 2016 for the Windows virtual machines used for vRealize Automation and Site Recovery Manager. Support for Microsoft SQL Server 2017 for the external database of vRealize Automation. And support for Ubuntu Server 18.04 for the virtual machines of vSphere Update Manager Download Service.
Architecture Improvements
There are also some modest architecture updates aimed at helping to improve and refine the design.
- We’ve added Multi-tenancy support for vRealize Orchestrator. With this feature, multiple vRealize Automation tenants can share the embedded vRealize Orchestrator cluster while still being isolated and allowing for multi-tenancy.
- The VVD for SDDC 5.0 now recommends using 25 GbE NICs. While we still support 10GbE NICs, the VVD for SDDC 5.0 design has been updated to take advantage of the faster NICs as they are gaining popularity in the data center.
Introducing the VMware Cloud Builder
Finally, the VVD for SDDC 5.0 provides a fully automated and vastly simplified SDDC deployment experience with the VMware Cloud Builder. The Cloud Builder replaces the manual deployment guidance used in earlier versions of the validated designs with a time- and effort- saving automated deployment of the SDDC. Leveraging the Cloud Builder you only need to perform a simple set of pre- and post-deployment tasks as you can leverage the advanced automation to streamline your deployments.
For more information, see the VMware Validated Design Documentation page.
