An administrator must deploy a new VCF instance in a dark site (no Internet). How should binaries be downloaded before starting installation?

For a dark site (air-gapped) deployment of VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF), the software binaries must be downloaded from an internet-connected workstation and then transferred to the isolated environment. VMware provides a specific command-line tool, the VCF Bundle Transfer Utility, for this task. This utility ensures that the complete and correct set of software components, as defined by the VCF Bill of Materials (BOM), is downloaded. This prevents version mismatches and ensures a validated deployment. The term "VCF Download Tool" functionally describes this official utility, which is the correct method to acquire binaries before initiating the installation with the Cloud Builder.

B. Use Broadcom Downloads: This method involves manually downloading individual software components, which is highly error-prone and does not guarantee compliance with the specific VCF Bill of Materials (BOM).

C. Use the VCF Installer: The VCF Installer (Cloud Builder appliance) is used to perform the deployment. It requires the installation bundles to be available beforehand and cannot download them in a dark site.

D. Use SDDC Manager: SDDC Manager is only available after the VCF management domain has been successfully deployed. It is used for ongoing lifecycle management, not for the initial software download.

1. VMware Cloud Foundation 5.1 Documentation

Administering VMware Cloud Foundation

"Download VCF Software Bundles for an Air-Gapped VCF instance": This official guide explicitly states

"You use the VCF Bundle Transfer Utility to download software bundles on a computer that has Internet access and then transfer them to the air-gapped VCF instance." This section details the procedure for using the lcm-bundle-transfer-util command-line tool

which is the "VCF Download Tool" for this purpose.

2. VMware Cloud Foundation 4.5 Documentation

VMware Cloud Foundation Lifecycle Management

"Bundle Management for an Environment with no vCenter Server Internet Connectivity": This document for a prior version outlines the same process

confirming the long-standing use of a dedicated utility for offline bundle downloads. It states

"To download bundles to the SDDC Manager appliance in a VMware Cloud Foundation system with no Internet connectivity

you must use the bundle transfer utility..." This establishes the tool's role for pre-installation and ongoing management in dark sites.