VMware Cloud Foundation 

Review Workload Domain Components

Cloud Foundation workload domains are a logical construct that includes compute (vSphere), storage (vSAN, NFS, or VMFS on Fibre Channel), and networking (NSX-T) resources. Workload domains can be created, expanded, and deleted as part of SDDC lifecycle operations. Each workload domain consists of one or more vSphere clusters(s) with a corresponding vCenter Server and NSX instance.

Here, we will demonstrate the basic components of a Cloud Foundation workload domain. We have navigated to our Workload Domains inventory in SDDC Manager to view available domains.

1. Click [wld01]

In the workload domain summary view, we see basic information regarding utilization of the workload domain's compute and storage. 

1. Click [Services] 

At the Services tab we are able to access links to the vCenter Server and NSX Manager instances associated with our domain.

1. Click  [Hosts]

At the Hosts tab we are able to view details for the vSphere hosts assigned to the domain, including per-host CPU and memory utilization. 

1. Click  [Clusters]  

At the Clusters tab we are able to view details about the vSphere clusters backing the domain. Workload domains require at least a single cluster to be deployed, but may be comprised of multiple clusters.

To observe a summary of which hosts are associated with particular workload domains and clusters,

1. Click [Hosts] under the global Cloud Foundation inventory
2. Click the [scroll bar]

Here, we can view the relationship between hosts, workload domains, and clusters from a single view.

1. Click the [ > ] button at the bottom of the inventory to display remaining hosts
2. Click [Unassigned Hosts]

This limits the view to unassigned hosts that are not associatedw ith any workload domain or cluster, and are available for creation of additional workload domains, creation of new workload domain clusters, or expansion of existing clusters.

Next, we will observe the placement of components related to the new wld01 workload domain within the Management workload domain.

1. Click the [vSphere - mgmt-cluster - Summary] browser tab
2. Click the [Refresh] button
3. Click [ > ] to expand the mgmt-rp resource pool

Note that SDDC components such as the NSX Manager, and vCenter for the new wld01 workload domain have been deployed to this resource pool.

1. Click the [SDDC Manager] browser tab to collapse the mgmt-rp resource pool and return to SDDC Manager

We will now navigate to the vCenter instance managing the wld01 workload domain.

1. Click [Workload Domains] to view managed workload domains
2. Click [wld01]
3. Click [Services]
4. Click [vcenter-wld01.vcf.sddc.lab] to open the wld01 vCenter instance
5. Click the [credentials] field to enter vCenter login credentials
6. Click [Login]

After logging in, note that vCenter instances for the Management workload domain, as well as the new VI workload domain wld01, are visible. expand the Hosts and Clusters inventory:

1. Click [ > ] beside mgmt-datacenter
2. Click [ > ] beside mgmt-cluster
3. Click [ > ] beside wld01-DC
4. Click [ > ] beside wld01-clus01

This demonstrates the logical relationship between the management and VI workload domain. Though the vCenter instance for wld01 is deployed within the mgmt-cluster that resides within the Management workload domain, the wld01 vCenter instance is dedicated to management of the wld01 host and virtual machine resources.

This completes our demonstration of workload domain components.  

For more information on VMware Cloud Foundation, visit our website at vmware.com/go/cloudfoundation.