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VMware vSphere Provider Setup

Purpose: For platform engineers, shows how to configure the VMware provider when the vSphere virtual machines already exist.

Prerequisites​

  • VMware vSphere 7.0+ or 8.0+ environment
  • vCenter Server with API access
  • Pre-provisioned Linux VMs for the control-plane and worker nodes
  • Service account or credentials suitable for vSphere CSI and inventory inspection
  • DNS and IP assignments for all cluster nodes
  • openCenter CLI installed

Initialize Cluster​

opencenter cluster init prod-cluster --org my-org --type vmware

Configure Provider Section​

opencenter cluster edit prod-cluster

Set the VMware provider block and list the existing VMs:

opencenter:
  infrastructure:
    provider: vmware
    bastion:
      address: bastion.example.com
    cloud:
      vmware:
        vcenter_server: vcenter.example.com
        datacenter: Datacenter1
        cluster: Cluster1
        datastore: datastore1
        network: VM Network
        folder: /vm/opencenter
        nodes:
          - name: cp-1.example.com
            ip: 192.168.12.20
            role: master
          - name: cp-2.example.com
            ip: 192.168.12.21
            role: master
          - name: cp-3.example.com
            ip: 192.168.12.22
            role: master
          - name: worker-1.example.com
            ip: 192.168.12.30
            role: worker
          - name: worker-2.example.com
            ip: 192.168.12.31
            role: worker

secrets:
  vsphere_csi:
    vcenter_host: vcenter.example.com
    username: administrator@vsphere.local
    password: ${VSPHERE_PASSWORD}
    datacenters: Datacenter1
    insecure_flag: "false"
    port: "443"
    datastoreurl: ds:///vmfs/volumes/datastore-12345/

VMware-Specific Services​

VMware clusters typically use:

  • vsphere-csi — vSphere CSI driver for VMDK-backed persistent volumes
  • metallb — LoadBalancer service type implementation

The same secrets.vsphere_csi credentials are used by the CSI integration and the VMware drift-detection backend.

What openCenter Does Not Do​

The VMware provider is a pre-provisioned path:

  • openCenter does not create the VMs for you
  • openCenter does not reconcile VMware resources automatically
  • you remain responsible for VM lifecycle, placement, and capacity planning

Validate and Deploy​

opencenter cluster validate prod-cluster
opencenter cluster setup prod-cluster --render

opencenter cluster bootstrap prod-cluster

Use the rendered inventory and GitOps output to carry the cluster through your normal Kubespray and service-deployment workflow.

Verification​

# Check vSphere CSI driver
kubectl get pods -n vmware-system-csi
kubectl get csidrivers | grep vsphere

# Inspect VMware drift
opencenter cluster drift detect prod-cluster

# Verify StorageClass
kubectl get storageclass