Single-Node vSphere Supervisor Deployment Automation

Overview

This PowerShell automation script is designed to streamline the deployment of a single-node vSphere Supervisor in VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.x environments. It automates critical steps from initial setup to the creation of the supervisor, including network configuration and content library verification. The script leverages VCF.PowerCLI cmdlets and relies on pre-configured JSON input files (infrastructure.json and supervisor.json) to tailor the deployment to your environment. Additionally, it addresses the prerequisites for integrating Argo CD operator services and ensures the necessary CLI tools are available for a comprehensive, end-to-end automated solution.

Pre-requisites

• VCF 9.x Environment: A VCF 9.x environment running with a vCenter instance must be available
• Supervisor Version: 9.0.0.0100-24845085 or later
• Host Preparation: The host is already prepped with ESX and has appropriate network setup
• Network Connectivity: ESX and vCenter network connectivity is established
• Provisioning Access: Connectivity must be available from the Provisioning host to Supervisor Management Network
• Datacenter Setup: Datacenter defined in infrastructure.json must already be created and ESX image already populated in the vLCM depot
• PowerShell: Version 7.0 or later installed on your system. If not, download and install it from the official Microsoft website
• kubectl: Installed on your system. kubectl can be downloaded from upstream at: https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/tools/

Functions Performed by this Automation

This automation script will cover the following key functions:

1. Cluster Creation and Host Addition: It will create a new cluster in vCenter and add the specified host to this cluster

2. Cluster Configuration:

   • Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) will be set to Automatic
   • High Availability (HA) admission control will be disabled

3. Creation of VDS and related port groups: A vSphere Distributed Switch (VDS) will be created, along with necessary port groups for edge application and services

4. Datastore Configuration:

   • VMFS datastore will be configured based on available disk
   • Local storage only, no external storage

5. Storage Policy for Edge Datastore: A storage policy will be created specifically for the Edge Datastore

6. vSphere Supervisor Enablement: The vSphere Supervisor feature will be enabled on the newly configured cluster

7. Supervisor Services: VM Operator service, VKS Kubernetes Service, Velero backup and restore service, Argo CD Operator Service

8. Argo CD Instance Creation: An instance of Argo CD will be created and configured for use

Execution Steps

1. Install VCF.PowerCLI Module

Install the required PowerCLI module for VCF.

2. Download Script Files

Download the provided zip file. The downloaded file has the following structure:

• OneNodeDeployment.ps1 is the main launcher file
• 1.0.1-24896502.yml is the ArgoCD Operator YAML file supplied by Broadcom
• Neither file requires any modifications for a standard one node deployment
• infrastructure.json, supervisor.json and argocd-deployment.yml are parameter templates that require updating to align with your edge environment
  • infrastructure.json contains vSphere configuration details
  • supervisor.json contains Supervisor networking, availability and sizing parameters
  • argocd-deployment.yml is the ArgoCD instance YAML that defines ArgoCD resource deployment

3. Configure argocd-deployment.yml

Open argocd-deployment.yml and populate the fields with the details required to run ArgoCD instances to manage your edge application. Follow ArgoCD Instance configuration details in the provided documentation as reference.

4. Configure infrastructure.json

Open infrastructure.json and review all the fields, updating as required for your environment using the table below as reference. Accuracy here is crucial for successful deployment.

infrastructure.json Configuration Reference

Element Name	Default Value May Be Used?	Created by Script?	Notes
common.vCenterName	No	No	Must be vCenter 9.0 or higher. Script execution system must have HTTPS access to it.
common.vCenterUser	Yes	No	While [email protected] can be used, it's recommended that one use a less privileged user that can create clusters, port groups, and supervisors. SSO users may be used as well.
common.EsxHost	No	No	The script execution system must have HTTPS access to the ESX host.
common.EsxUser	Yes	No	ESX User must have permission to create a datastore.
common.datacenterName	No	No	The Edge Cluster will be created under this virtual datacenter. It is assumed the vSphere datacenter already existed before running the script.
common.clusterName	Yes	Yes	The script will create an Edge ESX cluster using the cluster name.
common.supervisorName	Yes	Yes	The script will create a vSphere Supervisor using this name.
common.argoCD.argoCdOperatorYamlPath	No	No	Path to the ArgoCD operator YAML file. This file is part of the ZIP file download from step #2 or can be downloaded from the Broadcom support portal. For Windows systems, backslashes must be escaped. For MacOS and Linux, there is no need to escape the forward slash.
common.argoCD.argoCdDeploymentYamlPath	No	No	Path to the modified ArgoCD instance YAML config. Refer to Step #3. For Windows systems, backslashes must be escaped. For MacOS and Linux, there is no need to escape the forward slash. Namespace in this file must match the namespace in common.argoCD.nameSpace in infrastructure.json.
common.argoCD.contextName	Yes	Yes	This is the VCF context name. VCF CLI will configure a new set of VCF contexts to access and configure ArgoCD.
common.argoCD.nameSpace	Yes	Yes	This namespace definition must match the one in the yaml file referenced in common.argoCD.argoCdDeploymentYamlPath.
common.argoCD.vmClass	Yes	No	This is a list of VM classes already available to the Supervisor that you wish to associate with the ArgoCD namespace.
common.datastore.datastoreName	Yes	Yes	The script will prompt the user to select an unformatted disk to format as VMFS using this name.
common.storagePolicy.storagePolicyTagCatalog	Yes	Yes	Any TagCatalog name. Script will search if TagCatalog already exists, if not, create a new one.
common.storagePolicy.storagePolicyName	Yes	Yes	Policy used to map VMFS datastore specified to the Supervisor instance.
common.storagePolicy.storagePolicyType	Yes	No	The only valid value is VMFS. Please do not change otherwise the script will error with a warning to revert the setting to VMFS.
common.storagePolicy.storagePolicyRule	Yes	No	The only valid value is "Fully initialized". Please do not change otherwise the script will error with a warning to revert the setting to "Fully initialized".
common.virtualDistributedSwitch.vdsName	Yes	Yes	The virtual distributed switch created by the script.
common.virtualDistributedSwitch.vdsVersion	Yes	Yes	This must be a valid virtual distributed switch version. The script will create a new VDS if there isn't one already. Leave the value as "9.0.0".
common.virtualDistributedSwitch.numUplinks	Yes	Yes	The number of uplinks used by the virtual distributed switch created by the script.
common.virtualDistributedSwitch.nicList	Yes	Yes	An array of physical NICs on the ESX host that you wish to attach to the virtual distributed switch created by the script. Script will not migrate vmkernel to the newly created VDS.
common.portGroups	Yes	Yes	The names and VLANs of the port groups that you wish to create. Networks referenced for the flbManagementNetwork, flbVirtualServerNetwork, tkgsMgmtNetwork, and tkgsPrimaryWorkloadNetwork in the supervisor.json must exist in this file. The network names must be lower-cased and conform to RFC1123.

5. Configure supervisor.json

Open supervisor.json and review all the fields, updating as required for your environment using the table below as reference.

supervisor.json Configuration Reference

Element Name	Default Value May Be Used?	Created by Script?	Notes
supervisorSpec.controlPlaneVMCount	Yes	No	The value may be either "1" or "3".
supervisorSpec.controlPlaneSize	Yes	No	The value may be "Tiny", "Small", "Medium", or "Large".
tkgsComponentSpec.foundationLoadBalancerComponents.flbName	Yes	Yes	Foundation Load Balancer Name.
tkgsComponentSpec.foundationLoadBalancerComponents.flbSize	Yes	No	The value may be "Small", "Medium", "Large", or "X-LARGE".
tkgsComponentSpec.foundationLoadBalancerComponents.flbAvailability	Yes	No	The value may be "SINGLE_NODE" or "ACTIVE_PASSIVE" (for two-node deployments).
tkgsComponentSpec.foundationLoadBalancerComponents.flbVipStartIP	No	Yes	The starting IP for your Foundation Load Balancer virtual IP range.
tkgsComponentSpec.foundationLoadBalancerComponents.flbVipIPCount	No	Yes	The number of IPs used by the Foundation Load Balancer starting from the flbVipStartIP.
tkgsComponentSpec.foundationLoadBalancerComponents.flbProvider	Yes	Yes	The only valid value is "VSPHERE_FOUNDATION". Please do not change otherwise the script will error.
tkgsComponentSpec.foundationLoadBalancerComponents.flbDnsServers	No	No	The DNS server(s) for the Foundation Load Balancer network.
tkgsComponentSpec.foundationLoadBalancerComponents.flbNtpServers	No	No	The NTP server(s) for the Foundation Load Balancer network.
tkgsComponentSpec.foundationLoadBalancerComponents.flbSearchDomains	No	No	The domain search domain for the Foundation Load Balancer network.
tkgsComponentSpec.foundationLoadBalancerComponents.flbManagementNetwork.flbNetworkIpAssignmentMode	Yes	No	The only valid value is "STATIC". Please do not change otherwise the script will error.
tkgsComponentSpec.foundationLoadBalancerComponents.flbManagementNetwork.flbNetworkName	Yes	Yes	This network name may be changed, but it must also be changed in infrastructure.json. The network name must be lower-cased and conform to RFC1123.
tkgsComponentSpec.foundationLoadBalancerComponents.flbManagementNetwork.flbNetworkType	Yes	No	The only valid value is "DVPG". Please do not change otherwise the script will error.
tkgsComponentSpec.foundationLoadBalancerComponents.flbManagementNetwork.flbNetworkIpAddressStartingIp	No	Yes	The starting IP for your Foundation Load Balancer management IP range.
tkgsComponentSpec.foundationLoadBalancerComponents.flbManagementNetwork.flbNetworkIpAddressCount	No	Yes	The number of IPs used by the Foundation Load Balancer management network, starting from the flbNetworkIpAddressStartingIp.
tkgsComponentSpec.foundationLoadBalancerComponents.flbManagementNetwork.flbNetworkGateway	No	Yes	Default gateway for Foundation Load Balancer management network.
tkgsComponentSpec.foundationLoadBalancerComponents.flbVirtualServerNetwork.flbNetworkIpAssignmentMode	Yes	No	The only valid value is "STATIC". Please do not change otherwise the script will error.
tkgsComponentSpec.foundationLoadBalancerComponents.flbVirtualServerNetwork.flbNetworkName	Yes	Yes	This network name may be changed, but it must also be changed in infrastructure.json common.portGroup.name.
tkgsComponentSpec.foundationLoadBalancerComponents.flbVirtualServerNetwork.flbNetworkType	Yes	Yes	The only valid value is "DVPG". Please do not change otherwise the script will error.
tkgsComponentSpec.foundationLoadBalancerComponents.flbVirtualServerNetwork.flbNetworkIpAddressStartingIp	No	Yes	The starting IP for your Foundation Load Balancer server network IP range.
tkgsComponentSpec.foundationLoadBalancerComponents.flbVirtualServerNetwork.flbNetworkIpAddressCount	Yes	Yes	The number of IPs used by the Foundation Load Balancer virtual server network in the virtual IP range, starting from the flbNetworkIpAddressStartingIp.
tkgsComponentSpec.foundationLoadBalancerComponents.flbVirtualServerNetwork.flbNetworkGateway	No	Yes	Default gateway for Foundation Load Balancer server network.
tkgsComponentSpec.tkgsMgmtNetworkSpec.tkgsMgmtIpAssignmentMode	Yes	No	The only valid value is "STATIC". Please do not change otherwise the script will error.
tkgsComponentSpec.tkgsMgmtNetworkSpec.tkgsMgmtNetworkName	Yes	Yes	This network name may be changed, but it must also be changed in infrastructure.json. The network name must be lower-cased and conform to RFC1123.
tkgsComponentSpec.tkgsMgmtNetworkSpec.tkgsMgmtNetworkGatewayCidr	No	Yes	Default gateway for VKS server network.
tkgsComponentSpec.tkgsMgmtNetworkSpec.tkgsMgmtNetworkStartingIp	No	Yes	The starting IP for your VKS management network IP range.
tkgsComponentSpec.tkgsMgmtNetworkSpec.tkgsMgmtNetworkIPCount	No	Yes	The number of IPs used by the Foundation Load Balancer virtual server network in the virtual IP range, starting from the tkgsMgmtNetworkIPCount.
tkgsComponentSpec.tkgsMgmtNetworkSpec.tkgsMgmtNetworkDnsServers	No	No	The DNS server(s) for the VKS management network.
tkgsComponentSpec.tkgsMgmtNetworkSpec.tkgsMgmtNetworkSearchDomains	No	No	The domain search domain for the VKS management network.
tkgsComponentSpec.tkgsMgmtNetworkSpec.tkgsMgmtNetworkNtpServers	No	No	The NTP server(s) for the VKS management network.
tkgsComponentSpec.tkgsPrimaryWorkloadNetwork.tkgsPrimaryWorkloadIpAssignmentMode	Yes	Yes	The only valid value is "STATIC". Please do not change otherwise the script will error.
tkgsComponentSpec.tkgsPrimaryWorkloadNetwork.tkgsPrimaryWorkloadNetworkName	Yes	Yes	This network name may be changed, but it must also be changed in infrastructure.json. The network name must be lower-cased and conform to RFC1123.
tkgsComponentSpec.tkgsPrimaryWorkloadNetwork.tkgsPrimaryWorkloadNetworkGatewayCidr	No	Yes	Default gateway for VKS workload network.
tkgsComponentSpec.tkgsPrimaryWorkloadNetwork.tkgsPrimaryWorkloadNetworkStartingIp	No	Yes	The starting IP address for the VKS workload network virtual IP range.
tkgsComponentSpec.tkgsPrimaryWorkloadNetwork.tkgsPrimaryWorkloadNetworkIPCount	No	Yes	The starting IP address for the VKS workload network virtual IP range.
tkgsComponentSpec.tkgsPrimaryWorkloadNetwork.tkgsPrimaryWorkloadNetworkSearchDomains	No	No	The DNS search domain for the VKS workload network.
tkgsComponentSpec.tkgsPrimaryWorkloadNetwork.tkgsWorkloadDnsServers	No	No	The DNS server(s) for the VKS workload network.
tkgsComponentSpec.tkgsPrimaryWorkloadNetwork.tkgsWorkloadNtpServers	No	No	The NTP server(s) for the VKS workload network.
tkgsComponentSpec.tkgsPrimaryWorkloadNetwork.tkgsWorkloadServiceStartIp	No	Yes	The starting IP address for the VKS workload network virtual IP range.
tkgsComponentSpec.tkgsPrimaryWorkloadNetwork.tkgsWorkloadServiceCount	Yes	Yes	The maximum IP count, provisioned starting from tkgsWorkloadServiceStartIp IP address, for the VKS workload network virtual IP range. This IP count must fully occupy a CIDR address range, for example, 256 or 512, but not 200 or 500.

6. Argo CD Operator YAML Download (Optional)

Download the necessary YAML file for Argo CD operator creation by following the instructions in the provided documentation.

7. Install vcf-cli Plugin

• Follow the installation guide at the official VMware documentation site
• Important: After installation, rename file vcf.exe on Windows or vcf on MacOS or Linux

8. Run the Automation Script

Execute the automation script to configure the edge cluster:

PS /> OneNodeDeployment.ps1 -infrastructureJson /path/to/infrastructure.json -supervisorJson /path/to/supervisor.json

Important Notes

• Network Configuration: The automation currently creates a supervisor with four networks: one for management, one for workload, and two for load balancer. The infrastructure.json file expects four VLAN IDs for the virtual distributed switch section accordingly. While there are options to reduce network usage by reusing resource pools, this script adheres to the four-network design as per the linked design documents.

• CLI Plugin Availability: For a fully automated end-to-end process, it is required that VCF-CLI and KUBECTL are available on your testbed before running this script. Refer to step 7 for VCF CLI installation. Kubectl can be downloaded from upstream at: https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/tools/

• Supported Environment: This script has been tested and validated on the Mac and Windows platforms. Ensure your execution environment matches this specification for optimal performance and compatibility.