Operationalizing the Edge with VMware Cloud Foundation

As organizations extend operations beyond the data center, the edge has become a vital part of their digital strategy. Whether in retail outlets, manufacturing plants, healthcare facilities, energy plants or remote branch offices, IT teams want infrastructure that delivers cloud like agility, consistency and unified operations in the most resource-constrained environments.

With VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0 for Edge, a single-host edge site deployment powered by VMware vSphere Supervisor enables organizations to run both VMs and container workloads on the same platform, eliminating the need for separate infrastructure and reducing cost and operational complexity in resource-constrained edge environments.

VCF 9.0 also introduces a GitOps model powered by Argo CD Operator, using a centrally managed Git repository as the source of truth, organizations can drive consistent, repeatable and automatically reconciled deployments of VMs and container workloads across multiple distributed edge sites from a single repository simplifying and scaling management across thousands of edge sites.

The journey to modernize the edge, as we’ve explored in our previous posts, has paved the way for robust, simplified infrastructure. We’ve introduced the power of the single-node vSphere Supervisor architecture in our series, starting with the Modernizing Your Edge with Single Node vSphere Supervisor blogs. Following that, we demonstrated how application deployment at scale is achieved using a GitOps approach with Argo CD in VCF 9.0 for Edge – Automating App Deployment at Scale with GitOps Using Argo CD.

Now, it’s time to bring these concepts together and address the crucial next step: accelerating the infrastructure deployment itself. A core challenge for distributed edge sites is the consistent, rapid, and error-free provisioning of the underlying hardware and software stack.

Now Available: A Fully Automated Deployment Script for Edge

A fully automated deployment script is now available, enabling customers to deploy a single-host vSphere Supervisor environment with Argo CD automation. Automating deployment of vSphere Supervisor and Argo CD at scale minimizes setup time, standardizes configurations, and improves consistency across distributed edge locations. This new automation script streamlines everything from initial cluster configuration to continuous application delivery, helping organizations operationalize the edge faster and more reliably. With accelerated rollout capabilities, edge environments can rapidly launch new services, increasing overall business agility. Access the official Knowledge Base article for the detailed steps, automation script, and administrator guide in Broadcom Broadcom KB 416103.

Key Benefits of the Automation Script

Feature	Description	Value Proposition
Automate your Edge	Minimizes manual intervention, reducing the risk of human error across multiple sites.	Enhances consistency and reliability.
Deploy at Scale	Allows the quick and repeatable provisioning of hundreds of edge sites using the same standardized configuration.	Significantly accelerates time-to-value for large-scale distributed deployments.
End-to-End Workflow	Handles tasks from initial host configuration (networking, storage) to VCF/vSphere Supervisor deployment.	Simplifies the entire infrastructure lifecycle.
Configuration-as-Code	All deployment parameters are defined in a simple, standardized configuration file.	Easier management, version control, and scaling across hundreds of sites.
Integration-Ready	Prepares the single host Supervisor cluster for immediate integration with Argo CD, as detailed in our previous blog.	Seamless transition from infrastructure provisioning to application deployment.

What to Expect from the Script

This automation script will cover the following key functions:

Cluster Creation and Host Addition: It will create a new cluster in vCenter and add the specified host to this cluster (assuming an ESX host is already available).
Cluster Configuration:
1. Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) will be set to Automatic.
2. High Availability (HA) admission control will be disabled
Creation of VDS and related portgroups: A vSphere Distributed Switch (VDS) will be created, along with necessary portgroups for edge application and services.
Datastore Configuration:
1. VMFS datastore will be configured based on available disk.
2. Local storage only, no external storage.
Storage Policy for Edge Datastore: A storage policy will be created specifically for the Edge Datastore.
vSphere Supervisor Enablement: The vSphere Supervisor feature will be enabled on the newly configured cluster.
Argo CD Supervisor Service: ArgoCD Operator Service is deployed and enabled on the supervisor.
Argo CD Instance Creation: An instance of Argo CD will be created and configured for use.

Please refer READ ME file in the KB for more detail

Watch Demo: Automated Singe Host Edge Site Deployment

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjquUDblhHQ

A Unified Cloud Operating Model from Core to Edge

VCF removes infrastructure silos and delivers a consistent cloud operating model across data-center and edge environments. By unifying operations, security, and lifecycle management under one standardized architecture, VCF maintains continuous compliance and scales operations with simplicity and confidence. With VCF Edge 9.0, the new single-node vSphere Supervisor combined with GitOps automation through Argo CD enables organizations to run modern containerized workloads and VMs on a minimal footprint at remote sites, delivering cloud-like agility, operational consistency, and strong governance across core data centers and distributed edge locations.