The terms Software-Defined Data Center (SDDC) and VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) are often used closely together, which can give the impression that VMware Cloud Foundation is required to build an SDDC.

However, an SDDC is primarily an architectural concept, while VMware Cloud Foundation is VMware’s integrated platform for implementing and operating that architecture.

If you already have vSphere/vCenter + vSAN + NSX, you already possess the three core software-defined infrastructure layers:

  • vSphere → software-defined compute
  • vSAN → software-defined storage
  • NSX → software-defined networking and security


VMware NSX provides the software-defined networking and security layer of the VMware SDDC. Conceptually, this is comparable to Hyper-V Network Virtualization (HNV) in the Microsoft SDN stack, where logical tenant networks are abstracted from the underlying physical network. For a practical deep dive into these concepts, see my six-part series below.

Windows Server Software Defined Networking (SDN) and Hyper-V Network Virtualization (HNV) – Part 1: Deploying the SDN Infrastructure


You can therefore absolutely design and operate an SDDC architecture using these components without VMware Cloud Foundation.

You do not technically need SDDC Manager or the corresponding VCF management and lifecycle capabilities, before the environment can be considered an SDDC.

VMware Cloud Foundation goes one step further. It combines these core technologies into an integrated and validated SDDC platform and adds centralized deployment, automation, configuration, and lifecycle management of the complete infrastructure stack.

In this article, we will take a purely theoretical look at the relationship between SDDC, vSphere, vSAN, NSX, and VMware Cloud Foundation, and clarify what


Table Of Contents
  1. The Core Components of a VMware SDDC
  2. What VMware Cloud Foundation Adds
  3. SDDC vs. VMware Cloud Foundation
  4. Does Virtualization Automatically Mean SDDC?
  5. Links


The Core Components of a VMware SDDC

A Software-Defined Data Center (SDDC) abstracts the major infrastructure resources from the underlying physical hardware and manages them through software.

In a VMware environment, the three core infrastructure layers can be provided by:

  • VMware vSphere – Software-defined compute through ESXi and vCenter Server.
  • VMware vSAN – Software-defined storage by pooling local storage devices across ESXi hosts.
  • VMware NSX – Software-defined networking and security, including network virtualization, routing, switching, and distributed firewalling.


Together, these technologies provide the fundamental compute, storage, and networking layers of an SDDC.

Importantly, VMware Cloud Foundation is not required to create an SDDC. These components can also be deployed and managed independently to build an SDDC architecture. VCF primarily adds an integrated management and lifecycle layer on top of this software-defined infrastructure.

What VMware Cloud Foundation Adds

VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) combines the individual SDDC components into an integrated and validated platform. Instead of deploying and maintaining vSphere, vSAN, and NSX largely as separate products, VCF manages them as parts of a common infrastructure stack.

VCF adds capabilities such as:

  • Automated deployment and configuration
  • Centralized lifecycle and update management
  • Validated interoperability between the SDDC components
  • Creation and management of separate workload domains
  • Standardized infrastructure deployment and operation


Traditionally, much of this orchestration and lifecycle management has been provided by SDDC Manager, although newer VCF releases are evolving these management capabilities.

So, in simplified terms:

vSphere + vSAN + NSX = the core SDDC infrastructure

VCF = integrated and lifecycle-managed VMware SDDC platform

SDDC vs. VMware Cloud Foundation

The easiest way to distinguish the two is to consider SDDC as the architecture and VCF as VMware’s integrated implementation and operational platform for that architecture.

An organization can build an SDDC using vSphere, vSAN, and NSX without deploying VCF. In this case, however, the individual components and their lifecycles must be integrated and managed separately.

With VCF, VMware provides a standardized framework for operating these components together as a complete SDDC stack.

SDDC describes what the architecture is; VCF provides VMware’s integrated approach to deploying and operating it.

Does Virtualization Automatically Mean SDDC?

Simply running ESXi hosts and vCenter Server does not by itself represent a complete Software-Defined Data Center. While vSphere provides the software-defined compute layer, an SDDC extends this abstraction to other infrastructure domains such as storage and networking.

Adding technologies such as vSAN and NSX provides these additional software-defined layers, while VMware Cloud Foundation integrates and manages them as a standardized platform.

Links

What is virtual infrastructure?
https://www.vmware.com/topics/virtual-infrastructure

VMware Cloud Foundation 9.1.1 and VMware vSphere Foundation 9.1.1
https://www.vmware.com/docs/vmware-cloud-foundation-9-1-feature-comparison-and-upgrade-paths

Getting Started with VMware Cloud Foundation – A Video Introduction to VMware’s New Unified SDDC Platform
https://blogs.vmware.com/cloud-foundation/2017/04/27/getting-started-vmware-cloud-foundation-video-introduction-vmwares-new-unified-sddc-platform

Get the Facts about VMware Cloud Foundation – Part 2
https://blogs.vmware.com/cloud-foundation/2019/10/08/get-the-facts-about-vmware-cloud-foundation-part-2

Protecting Your VCF Management Domain
https://blogs.vmware.com/cloud-foundation/2019/09/16/protecting-your-vcf-management-domain

Getting Started with VMware Cloud Foundation: SDDC Manager’s Dashboard
https://blogs.vmware.com/cloud-foundation/2016/11/22/sddc-managers-dashboard