Depot & Binary Management in VCF Operations fleet management appliance or OPS LCM 9.0

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Background

We are accustomed to downloading the binaries and copying them into VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle, followed by binary mapping, allowing us to use these binaries for installing, upgrading, or patching the VMware Aria Products in version 8.x.

In VCF 9.0, there have been changes. VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle is no longer included in VCF 9.0. Instead, the responsibility for VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle now falls under the VCF Operations fleet management appliance, also known as OPS LCM.

OPS LCM allows us to set up a depot for downloading the relevant binaries.

Depot Configuration is a must or a pre-requisite before downloading the binaries.

So let's understand the process thoroughly.

Extending Storage for Binaries

The /data partition is the largest in the VCF Operations Fleet Management appliance. This is where customers upload bundles in the Offline Depot → Local (Dark Site Use Case).

If storage is running low, you can extend the /data partition storage.

1. Browse to VCF Operations → Fleet Management → Lifecycle → VCF Management → Settings.

2. Click on EXTEND.

3. Enter the vCenter Server FQDN.

4. Select the vCenter Server password.

5. Enter the desired size to which you want to extend the partition.

6. Click EXTEND to increase the size.

   
   

This will add additional storage to the /data partition.

Depot Configuration

Starting with VCF 9.0, VCF Operations Fleet Management introduces support for Depot configuration. A Depot serves as a source for downloading installation, upgrade, and patch binaries.

There are two types of Depot configurations:

1. Online – Connects directly to the online VCF Depot.

2. Offline

   • Web Server – Connects to an offline web server hosting OBTU, suitable for air-gapped environments.

   • Local – Requires copying the tar bundle downloaded via OBTU to the /data partition of the VCF Operations Fleet Management appliance, ideal for dark site environments.

Only one Depot connection can be set to ACTIVE at a time. If a connection is already ACTIVE, the option to switch the depot to ONLINE or OFFLINE will be unavailable until the current depot connection is disconnected.

Configure Online Depot

To enable the Online Depot, generate the download token from support.broadcom.com and use it during the setup process.

This ensures entitlement to download the required binaries.

Fetching Download Token 

• Login into support.broadcom.com using your credentials.Post successful login, select VMware Cloud Foundation 

• In the bottom right side of the screen select “Generate Download Token” under "Quick Links"

• Pick the correct Site and click "Generate"

Now that we have the token, let's go ahead and setup the ONLINE depot

• Login into VCF Operations 9.0 console

• Browse to VCF Operations → Fleet Management → Lifecycle → VCF Management → Depot Configuration

• Click on Online Depot → Configure

• Click on the "+" on the Download Token field to add the token to the locker

  • Password Alias

    • Enter an alias to identify the token

  • Password

    • Enter/Paste the token generated from the Broadcom Support Portal

  • Confirm Password

    • Re-Enter the token generated again

  • Password Description

    • Enter a description

  • User Name

    • It's not needed in this scenario. Can be left blank.

• Click on ADD so that the token is added to the locker

• Once done, now click on "Select Download Token", just select the token which we just added to the locker

• Accept the Certificate and then click on "OK"

Online Depot connection is now established.

Offline Depot Configuration

Offline depots simplify artifact distribution for "dark site" or "air-gapped" customers, reducing the steps needed to manage multiple VCF instances.

To set up the depot correctly, customers should follow the procedure outlined below.

Leverage VCF Download Tool and setup an Offline Depot structure where the binaries can be downloaded.

This is not new for VCF Customers. This was called as Offline Bundle Transfer Utility in VCF 5.x days.

To set up the "Offline Depot," a dedicated Virtual Machine (VM) must be prepared. Refer to VCF Download Tool documentation for more information. 

Note:

Both Offline depot methods only expect a bundle from OBTU. This would be a tar bundle with metadata included.

Individual binary mapping as it used to happen in VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle  8.x does not work anymore

Once we have the VCF Download Tool installed and configured, in order to download the binaries, we can leverage following commands.

Explaination of the command

• /vcf-download-tool.bat:

  • Invokes the VCF download tool batch script (for Windows environments).

• binaries download:

  • Action to download binary files.

• -d /Users/Arun/local-depot-config/:

  • Target local directory where binaries and metadata will be stored.

• --depot-download-token-file downloadtoken.txt:

  • File containing the secure token required to authenticate and authorize the download from the Broadcom depot.

• --vcf-version="9.0.0.0":

  • Specifies the exact VCF version to download (in this case, VCF 9.0.0.0).

• --lifecycle-managed-by=VRSLCM:

  • Indicates that the binaries are intended to be managed by VCF Operations fleet management appliance (OPS LCM or VRSLCM).

• --type=INSTALL:

  • Specifies the type of binaries — in this case, for a fresh install (not upgrade or patch).

Downloads all VCF Management Component Binaries of type "INSTALL"	/vcf-download-tool.bat binaries download -d /Users/Arun/local-depot-config/ --depot-download-token-file downloadtoken.txt --vcf-version="9.0.0.0" --lifecycle-managed-by=VRSLCM --type=INSTALL
Downloads all VCF Management Component Binaries of type "UPGRADE"	/vcf-download-tool.bat binaries download -d /Users/Arun/local-depot-config/ --depot-download-token-file downloadtoken.txt --vcf-version="9.0.0.0" --lifecycle-managed-by=VRSLCM --type=UPGRADE
Downloads a specific VCF Management Component Binary of type "INSTALL"	/vcf-download-tool.bat binaries download -d /Users/Arun/local-depot-config/ --depot-download-token-file downloadtoken.txt --vcf-version="9.0.0.0" --lifecycle-managed-by=VRSLCM --type=INSTALL --component=VRLI
Downloads a specific VCF Management Component Binary of type "INSTALL"	/vcf-download-tool.bat binaries download -d /Users/Arun/local-depot-config/ --depot-download-token-file downloadtoken.txt --vcf-version="9.0.0.0" --lifecycle-managed-by=VRSLCM --type=UPGRADE --component=VRNI

When the command execution finishes, it will create a bundle on the location mentioned.

This is the bundle one has to use to leverage in Offline Depot usecases.

Web Server Method

Offline Depot Webserver method is catered to solve air-gapped use cases.

Keep the Web Server URL handy, then navigate to  VCF Operations → Fleet Management → Lifecycle → VCF Management → Depot Configuration → Offline Depot → WebServer should be set to reference the "Offline Depot"

The Offline Depot with a Web Server-based connection has now been set up. The username and password provided here are for Web Server Authentication to download the binaries.

Local Method

The Local Method is used in dark site infrastructures which are secure, isolated network environments with no direct internet access, typically designed for sensitive or high-security operations.

To support these environments, the Offline Depot → Local option can be utilized to map bundles and binaries, enabling upgrades, installations, and patching of components.

Transfer the bundle we recently downloaded with the VCF download tool into the "/data" partition of the VCF Operations fleet management appliance, as this is the largest partition specifically designed to store the binaries.

If there's a need to extend the partition size, steps to extend has been shared above.

Once the bundle has been copied over, as shown in the screenshot below, direct it to the location where it has been copied.

Click on OK to configure the Offline Depot to point to Local path.

We have now completed our understanding of how to configure these Depots.

Regardless of the specific depot configuration, once it is set up correctly, the VCF Operations fleet management appliance will read the metadata and subsequently populate the corresponding binaries under Binary Management for download.

Now select the required binary , then click on "DOWNLOAD" so that the binary can be staged into VCF Operations fleet management content repo and can be used during install , patching or upgrade.

The methods you used in VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle no longer apply to VCF 9.0. Therefore, you should stop copying the ISO, PAK, OVA, and .patch files directly and begin learning the new required methods.

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