vSphere Management Network Shared Between Different Clusters

[Eddie Lopes]

Hello - Looking for some feedback on this design concept and networking best practices related to vSphere clusters. Pending Build per this design concept.

I have 2 physical clusters (2-node Cluster / 4-node cluster) and would like to use a single vSphere vCenter (in High Availability pair) to manage both vSAN clusters. According to Broadcom design for VCF 8+, all nodes being managed by a vCenter must exist on the same management network/subnet using the same gateway as opposed to 2 different subnets having their traffic routed through the firewall and cluster A with one subnet/Gateway and Cluster B with another Subnet/Gateway. 

What are the implications of having a single management network (behind the firewall) being shared between 2 different clusters, controlled and managed by a single vCenter HA pair? If this is a bad network design, then what would be a better network layout which would allow a single vCenter Server manage both vSAN clusters?

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[cloudyMcCloudFace]

Hi Eddie,

vCenter can manage hosts on separate networks, it's more efficient on the same network, if you're traversing a firewall it's just more rule/ports to manage.

My main concern is vCenter HA, why? what are you protecting? what is the requirement for vCenter HA.

vCHA introduces a lot of complexity, and fail over usually results in longer downtime than a reboot. I've seen it implemented and cause all sorts of issues.

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[snapfriend]

Hello @Eddie Lopes

To create a vCenter & ESXi setup, you do require vCenter appliance & beneath vCenter Server -> you can create required (virtual) Data Center & then (virtual) cluster. Once vCenter is prepared then you can install your new ESXi hosts & add it into required cluster to make 2 nodes or more nodes cluster. This is simple setup. You can create vSAN in your ESXi host cluster level & define vSAN setup with your required policies & collected disks from ESXi hosts. Please see or review minimum requirement for vSAN cluster.

vSAN Technical Document

https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/vmware-cis/vsan/vsan/8-0/planning-and-deployment/requirements-for-creating-a-virtual-san-cluster.html

vCenter Technical Document

https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/vmware-cis/vsphere/vsphere/8-0/vcenter-installation-and-setup.html

ESXi Technical Document

https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/vmware-cis/vsphere/vsphere/8-0/esx-installation-and-setup.html

Now, moving to your next topic. You mentioned about VCF 8+ in your thread. Please find below KB link for your reference related to VCF version hisotry where there is no VCF 8+ version in the list..
https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article/314608/correlating-vmware-cloud-foundation-vers.html

If you are considering a fresh a setup for VCF 9.0.2 version then please follow below KB article for more information

https://blogs.vmware.com/cloud-foundation/2025/07/28/planning-a-successful-vmware-cloud-foundation-9-0-deployment/

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