VMware Cloud Foundation 9 (VCF 9) introduces a streamlined deployment experience with the VCF Installer appliance, replacing the older Cloud Builder model. One of the core components in that workflow is VCF Operations, which provides unified lifecycle, monitoring, and fleet management across your private cloud environment.

In this guide, we walk through deploying VCF Operations 9 from an OVA, detailing prerequisites, deployment steps, and post-deploy tasks.

1. Prerequisites & Preparation

Before you deploy, make sure these items are in place:

  • DNS entries for all components (Operations primary, replica, data node, collector, etc.).
  • NTP / time sync configured across all hosts and appliances.
  • Network connectivity and routing between your ESXi cluster and the new Operations appliance.
  • Sufficient resources (CPU, RAM, storage) allocated to your VCF Operations cluster.
  • Access to the VCF software depot / repository to download component binaries.
  • Verified password and certificate format compliance (e.g. FQDN matching, certificate CN, etc.).

Many issues during deployment stem from missing DNS records, certificate mismatches, or time sync problems — make sure these are fully validated before proceeding.

2. Deploy the Operations OVA

  1. Download the OVA: Obtain the VCF Operations OVA from the VMware by Broadcom software depot. Direct link can be found here.

VMware Cloud Foundation Operations 9.0.0.0 OVA download page with release info and file details.

Select the OVA

Selecting an OVF template in a deployment wizard, showing local file upload and next step options.

Name your VM and choose its folder/cluster. Click Next

Deploy OVF Template: Name VM, select folder, click Next.

Specify a Resource pool for the deployment

Deploy OVF Template wizard shows selecting a compute resource, with options like Mgmt-ResourcePool and Network-ResourcePool.

Review the details and click Next

Reviewing details for VMware Cloud Foundation Operations Appliance 9.0.0.0.24695812, 2.6 GB download, 274.0 GB on disk. Click Next to proceed.

Accept the EULA and click Next

Wizard step: License agreements. Accept EULA and click Next.

Select a size for the appliance and click Next.

Deploy OVF Template: Select configuration size (Small, Medium, Large, Witness, Extra Small, Extra Large) for deployment.

Select a Datastore and click Next

Select storage for deploying OVA, choose “sfo01-m01-vsan,” then click Next.

Select a network for the deployment and click Next

Select network for deployment, choose destination, click Next.

Fill in the network information and click Next

Customize template step shows network settings, domain name, and search path. Click Next to proceed.

Review the selections and click Finish to start deploying the .ova

Deploy OVF Template wizard: Ready to complete, review settings, click Finish to deploy.

Once the appliance is up we can proceed with a few options: Express installation, New installation, Expand an existing installation. In my case i am using a new installation

VCF Operations Initial Setup offers Express, New, and Expand Installation options.

New installation takes us through a new cluster deployment. Click Next.

New Cluster setup in VCF Operations 9 deployment wizard. Click Next to proceed.

Setup the credentials for the admin user and click Next

Setting up admin credentials for VCF Operations 9 deployment.

Install or use the default certificate and click next

Choose a certificate for secure communication. Select default or upload PEM file.

Give the cluster a name and add an NTP Server. Click Next

Cluster name and NTP server fields are empty. Click Next to proceed.

Part of the new deployment we can configure the availability mode for HA or CA. In my case i will be deploying a single node. Click Next

Configure availability mode for HA or CA in VCF Operations 9 deployment.

Add any additional nodes and click Next

VCF Operations Initial Setup - Nodes step shows add nodes option.

Click Finish to allow operations to deploy its default configuration.

VCF Operations Initial Setup wizard shows next steps for deploying VCF from OVA.

The appliance will redirect to the admin page where we can see the status of the cluster as Not Started. all we have to do is click on Start VCF Operations.

The admin page shows a cluster status of “Not Started” and a “Start VCF Operations” button.

Confirm the Application Startup by clicking Yes

Confirm First Application Startup: Click Yes to start VCF Operations 9.

The system will go through the cluster Initialization. Once completed the product can be used.

In the next blog we will exploring the deployment of Fleet Management appliance in VCF 9.