Download offline bundles and reuse them with SDDC Manager for repeat experiments or air-gapped networks

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Download offline bundles and reuse them with SDDC Manager for repeat experiments or air-gapped networks

Download offline bundles (vRealize Lifecycle manager and others) for reuse or for air-gapped networks using:

1. rsync root@<sddc-manager>:/opt/vmware/vcf/lcm/lcm-tools/ to a machine with Internet access (Ideally jump box.). The tools work in CentOS 8 Stream OS without any modification / extra library requirement.

   You can also download the same from my VMware site from under tools for vCF (particular version)

2. Execute lcm-bundle-transfer-util to get manifest using:

   ./lcm-tools/bin/lcm-bundle-transfer-util --download -manifestDownload --depotUser <my-vmware-Username> -depotUserPassword <my-vmware-password> -outputDirectory output1

   The above should create output1 folder with lvmManifestv1.json file

3. Upload manifest to SDDC manger This machine should resolve SDDC manager via FQDN and also have access to Internet!! - Ideally jump box

   ./lcm-tools/bin/lcm-bundle-transfer-util --update --sourceManifestDirectory output1 --sddcMgrFqdn <FQDN> --sddcMgrUser <administrator@vsphere.local> -download -outputDirectory output2 -depotUser <my-vmware-username> -p <releaseNumber>

   Make sure there is enough space in the folder where this is run. The output might indicate that there are no new bundles to be downloaded.

4. On SDDC manager generateMarker using:

   cd /root
   /opt/vmware/vcf/lcm/lcm-tools/bin/lcm-bundle-transfer-util --generateMarker

   Copy generated markerFile and markerFile.md5 to output3 folder on the jump box (Internet access machine)

5. Download all possible bundles using:

   ./lcm-tools/bin/lcm-bundle-transfer-util -download -outputDirectory $PWD/output4 -depotUser <my-vmware-username> -markerFile $PWD/output3/markerFile \
   -markerMd5File $PWD/output3/markerFile.md5

   Avoiding selection of package / bundle / platform to show list of all valid bundles

   Choose n to avoid downloading all bundles

6. Download specific bundle using names listed in above output using:

   ./lcm-tools/bin/lcm-bundle-transfer-util -download -outputDirectory $PWD/output4 -depotUser <my-vmware-username> -markerFile $PWD/output3/markerFile \
   -markerMd5File $PWD/output3/markerFile.md5 -bundle <bundle-name>

   Bundles to download might include latest install version of following:

   • vRealize Life Cycle manager
   • Workspace one access
   • vRealize log Insight
   • vRealize operations manager

   Only one bundle can be downloaded at a time. Automation creates and deletes tmp directory which creates issues with multiple parallel download

7. rsync output1 to output4 folders to SDDCmanager at /nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount/output4/ using:

   rsync -vtrp output1/ root@<sddc-manager>:/nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount/output4/
   rsync -vtrp output2/ root@<sddc-manager>:/nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount/output4/
   rsync -vtrp output3/ root@<sddc-manager>:/nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount/output4/
   rsync -vtrp output4/ root@<sddc-manager>:/nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount/output4/

8. On SDDC Manager run

   chmod -R 0777 /nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount/output4/
   chown -R vcf_lcm:vcf /nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount/output4/

9. On SDDC Manager Import the bundles using:

   cd /opt/vmware/vcf/lcm/lcm-tools/bin/
   ./lcm-bundle-transfer-util -upload -bundleDirectory /nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount/output4/ -bundle <bundle-id>

   where bundle-id should be given for each downloaed bundle one-by-one

10. On SDDC Manager Delete the folder after all bundles are uploaded

    rm -rf /nfs/vmware/vcf/nfs-mount/output4

Refer:

• https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/66612
• https://blog.bertello.org/2019/11/vmware-cloud-foundation-offline-bundle-download-3-x/
• https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-Cloud-Foundation/4.2/vcf-42-lifecycle/GUID-8FA44ACE-8F04-47DA-845E-E0863094F7B0.html

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