Holodeck Toolkit Installation and Content Staging

On your management workstation (with internet access and PowerShell 7.0+), download the Holodeck Toolkit. Option A (Recommended): Clone from GitHub: git clone https://github.com/vmware/Holodeck.git C:\Holodeck. Option B: Download from Broadcom support portal (requires account). Option C: If GitHub is unavailable, download from Broadcom Community: https://community.broadcom.com/vmware-cloud-foundation/ (search 'Holodeck')

Navigate into the Holodeck directory: cd C:\Holodeck (Windows) or cd ~/Holodeck (Mac/Linux with PowerShell Core)

Import the Holodeck module: Import-Module ./PowerShell/Holodeck.psm1 -Verbose

Verify the module is loaded: Get-Command -Module Holodeck | Measure-Object

Check Holodeck module version: Get-Module Holodeck | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Version

Verify connectivity to the physical ESXi host: Get-HoloDeckHealth -TargetHost <esxi-host-ip> -TargetHostUser root -TargetHostPassword <password> (alternatively, if prompts are preferred: Get-HoloDeckHealth will ask interactively)

Create the content staging directory on your management workstation (or on the physical ESXi datastore for faster network performance). Recommended: /vmfs/volumes/<datastore>/holodeck-content or C:\Holodeck\content if staging locally first.

Download VCF 9.0.2 content pack from Broadcom support portal: https://support.broadcom.com (Search: 'VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0.2' or 'Holodeck'). Required files: (a) ESXi 8.0 Update 3 ISO (~670 MB), (b) vCenter Server OVA 8.0.x (~1.2 GB), (c) NSX Manager bundle 9.0.2 (~1.8 GB), (d) SDDC Manager OVA 9.0.2 (~1.2 GB), (e) Cloud Builder OVA 9.0.2 (~1.1 GB). Total: ~6-7 GB. Alternatively, if you have GitHub access: https://github.com/vmware/Holodeck/releases (pre-built manifest for 9.0.2)

Create a manifest file (manifest-9.0.2.json) in the content directory. Template: { 'vcfVersion': '9.0.2', 'components': [ { 'name': 'ESXi', 'filename': 'ESXi-8.0.3-XXXX.iso', 'sha256': '<hash>', 'size': 'XX GB' }, {...} ] }. For each file, compute its SHA256 hash: (Windows) certutil -hashfile <filename> SHA256 or (Linux/Mac) sha256sum <filename>

Verify manifest completeness: In PowerShell, run: $manifest = Get-Content ./manifest-9.0.2.json | ConvertFrom-Json; $manifest.components | ForEach-Object { if (!(Test-Path $_.filename)) { Write-Warning "Missing: $($_.filename)" } }

Verify manifest checksums: For each file, recompute its hash and compare against the manifest: (Powershell) (Get-FileHash 'ESXi-8.0.3-XXXX.iso' -Algorithm SHA256).Hash should match the sha256 field in manifest. Do this for all 5 files.

Optional but recommended: Move the content staging directory to the physical ESXi datastore to improve deployment performance. Example: scp -r C:\Holodeck\content root@<esxi-host>:/vmfs/volumes/datastore1/holodeck-content. Update the content path in config.json (Task 4) to reference the ESXi-local path.

Copy the Holodeck config template: Copy-Item ./PowerShell/templates/config-template.json ./templates/config.json or if template doesn't exist, manually create config.json with the structure shown in Holodeck documentation.

Edit config.json. Key fields to set: (a) targetHost: <physical-esxi-host-ip>, (b) targetHostUser: root, (c) targetHostPassword: <esxi-root-password>, (d) vcfVersion: '9.0.2', (e) contentManifestPath: './templates/manifest-9.0.2.json' (relative to Holodeck root), (f) holoRouterExternalIP: <accessible-ip-on-your-network> (e.g. 192.168.1.100 — must be routable from your workstation), (g) datastoreName: <name-of-esxi-datastore> (e.g. 'datastore1')

Configure management cluster resources. Locate the managementCluster section in config.json. Set: (a) hostCount: 4 (or 3 if your host has 48-63 cores), (b) cpuPerHost: 12, (c) memoryPerHostGb: 96. Verify total resource consumption: (hostCount cpuPerHost) + 8 (overhead) = total vCPU, and (hostCount memoryPerHostGb) + 64 (overhead) = total GB. Must not exceed 80% of physical resources.

Configure networking. Locate the network section. Set: (a) managementCIDR: '10.1.1.0/20', (b) managementVlan: 1644, (c) vlanRange: [1644, 1645, 1646, 1647, 1648], (d) holoRouterExternalIP: <your-network-accessible-IP>. Verify the VLAN range doesn't conflict with production networks. Verify the external IP is on a network you can route to.

Set passwords and credentials. Locate sections for esxiPassword, cbPassword, sddcPassword. Set strong passwords (>= 8 chars, mixed case, numbers, special chars). These will be used for nested ESXi, Cloud Builder, SDDC Manager, and vCenter access in subsequent labs. Document them securely (password manager, encrypted file, etc.).

Verify config.json completeness and syntax: $config = Get-Content ./templates/config.json | ConvertFrom-Json; Write-Host "vcfVersion: $($config.vcfVersion), Target Host: $($config.targetHost), Manifest: $($config.contentManifestPath)"

Optional: Run a dry-run validation without deploying: New-HoloDeckConfig -ConfigFile ./templates/config.json -ValidateOnly. This will check for obvious errors without allocating resources.

Document your Holodeck environment baseline. Create a file: deployment-baseline.txt with the following: (a) Physical ESXi version: esxcli system version get | grep Version, (b) Total RAM: esxcli hardware memory get | grep 'Physical Memory', (c) Total cores: esxcli hardware cpu global get, (d) Free datastore space: esxcli storage filesystem list | grep vmfs, (e) NTP status: esxcli system ntp get, (f) Holodeck Toolkit version: Get-Module Holodeck | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Version, (g) Content files checksums: Get all 5 content pack file hashes, (h) config.json content (redact passwords): Get-Content ./templates/config.json

Run final health check before Prepare: Get-HoloDeckHealth -TargetHost <esxi-ip> -TargetHostUser root. Verify all checks pass. If any check fails, remediate it before proceeding (e.g., start NTP, enable SSH).

Create a baseline snapshot of the physical ESXi host (optional but recommended): In vSphere Client, right-click the ESXi host VM (if it's a VM itself, which it isn't in production but may be in a nested lab scenario) or skip this step if it's a physical machine. If you can't snapshot the host itself, document that this is a physical machine with no pre-deployment snapshot available.

Review the pre-flight checklist below and sign off on each item. This is your contractual commitment that you've validated the environment. For each item, you should answer 'YES' with confidence. If any item is 'MAYBE' or 'NO', halt and fix it.

Execute the Holodeck Prepare phase (you are NOT running Start yet — Prepare only stages content and validates): New-HoloDeckInstance -ConfigFile ./templates/config.json -Verbose

Verify Prepare succeeded: Get-HoloDeckInstance | Format-Table -Property InstanceId, State, VcfVersion. Confirm State shows 'Prepared'.

Take a snapshot of the Holodeck state after successful Prepare: Get-VM -Name 'Holo-*' | New-Snapshot -Name 'holodeck-01-complete' -Description 'Post Prepare - content staged, HoloRouter ready, config validated' -Memory:$false