VCF - Management domain and Workload domain in same hosts

[George Geoffrick G]

Hi there, we have a new requirment coming up where we need to implement a onprem landscape with SAP services and such.This will be our first VCF 9.0 implementation as we have only worked on Vsphere and other components before. One main query we  have is that currently we have only 5 hosts and we cant afford to dedicate one or two machine solely for Management so we want to use it for both Management and Workload domain. I have checked on the consolidated architecture design but still wanted to understand how feasible is this solution.Will we face any issues surrounding this implementation and any documents supporting this will also be helpful

[Allan Solomon Mejia]

Hi George,

Yes, it's technically possible, especially in smaller environments where host count is limited. VMware Cloud Foundation supports a consolidated architecture where the Management Domain and Workload Domain can share the same physical hosts, provided the design follows VMware's documented guidance.

That said, there are a few trade-offs to consider. Since management components (vCenter, SDDC Manager, NSX Manager, etc.) will be sharing resources with production workloads like SAP, proper CPU and memory sizing becomes critical. You'll also want to reserve sufficient capacity for maintenance operations, HA events, and lifecycle management so management services remain available during host failures or upgrades.

With only five hosts, I'd recommend performing a thorough capacity assessment before deployment, particularly if the SAP workloads are expected to grow. If the budget allows in the future, separating the Management Domain onto dedicated hosts will provide better operational isolation and resilience.

VMware's VCF Consolidated Architecture documentation is a good reference, as it outlines the supported deployment models, design considerations, and sizing recommendations. If you can share your planned host specifications (CPU, memory, storage) and the expected SAP workload, the community may be able to provide more targeted recommendations.

[George Geoffrick G]

Hi Allan for some reason i cant reply to your answer so I am posting it as a seperate answer.I have attached here the rough estimation of my workload that we are planning to run, can you make a educated guess based on this about the Management domain resource space consumption based on it

[Allan Solomon Mejia]

Based on the workload estimates you've shared, I think a consolidated VMware Cloud Foundation deployment is feasible on your five-host environment. Your estimated production workloads consume approximately 162 vCPUs and just over 1 TB of RAM, leaving around 64% CPU and 63% memory available across the cluster. A typical VCF Management Domain (vCenter, SDDC Manager, NSX Managers, and NSX Edge nodes) generally requires around 50–60 vCPUs and 150–180 GB of memory, which should comfortably fit within the remaining capacity.

 

That said, I would still validate the design against N+1 failure scenarios rather than just total capacity. The key questions are whether the cluster can absorb the loss of the largest host while maintaining SAP performance, whether HA admission control reserves sufficient resources, and whether maintenance operations can be completed without resource contention. I'd also review future SAP growth projections and ensure the FC SAN provides adequate performance, not just available capacity.

 

Based on the numbers you've provided, I don't see any obvious resource limitations that would prevent running the Management Domain alongside the Workload Domain, but I would recommend performing a formal VMware Cloud Foundation capacity assessment before deployment to confirm resilience under failure and maintenance scenarios.