Manufacturing IT and VCF 9: How to Run a Minimal Deployment
In the world of manufacturing IT, there's a golden rule: if it ain't broke, don't upgrade it into oblivion. But with VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9 rolling in and Broadcom tightening the screws on licensing, many IT teams find themselves staring down the barrel of a full-stack deployment they never asked for, complete with NSX, vSAN, and a management plane built for a private cloud they don't need.
That's the situation for many mid-sized manufacturers right now. They're uptime-obsessed pragmatists, and the shop floor needs stability far more than shiny complexity. So when VVF (vSphere Foundation) starts looking like a dead end, and the only alternative is VCF, the big question becomes how "minimal" you can make VCF 9 and still survive.
The VCF dilemma: all in or all out?
VCF is a powerful tool, especially for organizations that want a full-on private cloud experience. But for manufacturing teams just trying to keep their legacy apps and SCADA systems humming along 24/7, it can feel like deploying a spaceship to fix a bicycle.
One user summed it up best: "We don't need a 'Private Cloud,' we need a stable virtualization platform."
That sentiment echoes across the board. These teams don't want to rebuild their network around NSX or shift storage to vSAN, because their VLANs and iSCSI setups work just fine. They just want to renew licensing without rewriting their entire infrastructure.
So, can you run a lite version of VCF 9?
The short answer is yes, but like anything in enterprise IT, it's complicated.
You can deploy VCF without NSX or vSAN and just use vSphere and vCenter, and plenty of shops are already taking that approach. As one user explained: "By purchasing VCF you receive licenses for each product… So if you want to limit your deployment to just this, you can."
You'll still need to run the VCF Operations (VCfOps) appliance to satisfy the licensing, but you don't have to turn on all the bells and whistles. Think of it as buying a Swiss Army knife and only using the knife and screwdriver.
In practice, vSphere and vCenter are obviously required. The VCF Operations appliance is needed for host and vCenter licensing. NSX and vSAN are optional in practice, though "preferred" by Broadcom.
NSX: the necessary evil?
The most heated debates always circle back to NSX. There's fear, confusion, and frankly, a lot of frustration. Many IT teams ask whether they have to change their MTU settings, and whether they need VTEPs, VXLAN, Geneve tunnels, or jumbo frames on every switch. It turns out you don't.
You can run VLAN-backed port groups with NSX and avoid re-architecting your entire data center, which keeps you technically compliant with VCF expectations without overhauling your network. As one user noted: "You realize you can just run boring VLAN backed port groups with NSX unless I missed something."
Jumbo frames are still recommended, of course, and if you use NSX Edges, you'll probably have to tweak MTU settings. But if you skip micro-segmentation and overlay networking, the setup becomes more tolerable.
That raises the question of why you'd deploy NSX at all if you're not going to use its main features. The answer depends on your licensing model. Some admins opt to "shelfware" NSX and vSAN, keeping them installed but idle, and move on. It's not elegant, but it's legal.
Edge use case: your secret weapon
If you're running smaller, distributed sites (think factories, not data centers), then VCF Edge might be your escape hatch.
VCF Edge is a lighter SKU intended for these exact situations. It's priced below the full Data Center bundle and acknowledges that you won't deploy the full stack. As one user put it: "VCF Edge Cores are essentially the same except with ELUA differences."
A solid deployment strategy is to centralize your VCF stack at your HQ, deploy small single-host or minimal clusters at edge sites, and use the centralized Ops cluster for licensing and lifecycle management. That lets you "check the box" for compliance without shoving a full VCF deployment down the throat of every remote site.
So, what's the catch?
Even a "minimal" VCF deployment isn't free. You'll need hardware overhead for the management appliances and time to install, configure, and maintain VCF Ops. And yes, you'll be paying more than you would with a standalone vSphere/vCenter setup.
One user nailed the pain point: "Shelfware everything but ESX, vCenter, and the license server… but with bigger bills."
That's the hidden cost of VCF, spending budget on software you're not using just to stay in the game.
What the community is doing right now
Across the board, teams are taking a few approaches. Some go with a minimal deployment: a VCF license for compliance, with only vSphere/vCenter deployed and NSX/vSAN skipped. Others follow a shelfware strategy, installing NSX and vSAN but not using them, so they exist only to satisfy support/license checks. Some use a "VCF Edge at HQ" setup, keeping management overhead in one place, centralizing operations, and letting plants run lean. And some are doing hybrid planning, maintaining current infrastructure while evaluating alternatives like Hyper-V or Nutanix for future transitions.
Final thoughts: fight the stack and keep your sanity
If you're in manufacturing IT, you already have enough to worry about: compliance, uptime, aging PLCs, and "that one Windows XP VM that still controls the conveyor belt." The last thing you need is a forced cloud-native retooling of your environment.
VCF 9 may be the new normal, but you don't have to go full stack to stay compliant. Run what you need, ignore what you don't, and keep your eyes on practical, manageable solutions that fit your own situation instead of the vendor's roadmap.
In the end, flashy infrastructure matters far less than making sure the factory keeps running and the lights stay on. If that means doing more with less, then so be it.