Installing and Configuring VMware Data Services Manager 9.0.1 on VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0.1 with VCF Automation Integration.

By | 31. October 2025

Within our new All Apps organization, we leverage Supervisor Services that are accessible through Kubernetes as well as VMware Cloud Foundation Automation.
This post walks through deploying VMware Data Services Manager (DSM) as a Supervisor Service and using it to create databases automatically through the Automation portal.

Deploy DSM Appliance

In vCenter open the Administration Menü and go to Solutions > Client Plugins. Click ADD

Select Local Files and click on Upload Files. Select the DSM OVA and click NEXT

Choose a name for the VM and a folder. Click NEXT

Select a compute resource. Click NEXT

Review details. Click NEXT

Select the storage. Click NEXT

Select the Destination Network. Click NEXT

Define a password for the root user, vCenter Hostname, vCenter SHA-256 Thumbprint and scroll down

Define the vCenter Administrator username / password. Define the network properties and scroll down

Define the rest of the network properties. Click NEXT

Select the vCenter to associate. Click NEXT

Check all parameters. Click FINISH

Check the status of the DSM plugin

Create an Infrastructure Policy and a DSM Admin

Change to the inventory view, select the vCenter and open the Configure tab. Under Data Services Manager > Infrastructure Policies click CREATE DSM-MANAGED POLICY

Define a name for the Policy. Click NEXT

Select one or more compute resources that share the same storage policies. Click NEXT

Select a storage policy. Click NEXT

Select compatible network port groups. Click NEXT

Click on CREATE IP POOL

Define an IP Pool name and the Pool settings. Click NEXT

Select the created IP Pool. Click NEXT

Select a VM Folder. Click NEXT

Select one or more VM Classes. Click NEXT

Check all parameters. Click CREATE POLICY

Change to Data Services Manager > Permissions > Data Services Manager Console. Click CREATE LOCAL USER

Define the credentials for a DSM Admin. Click CREATE

Basic Configuration of DSM Appliance

Login to the DSM Appliance in the Browser with the created DSM Admin User

Change to Version & Upgrade > Postgres and choose the versions you want to enable. Click ENABLE
Note: In the current version VCF Automation only supports the provisioning of Postgres databases through the self-service interface.

Click SAVE on the Enable Data Service message

Check the Status of the enabled version

Change to Namespaces and click CREATE NAMESPACE. Define a Namespace Name and click CREATE

Change to Data Service Policies and create a policy (this step is only necessary if you want to create a Database from the DSM UI. Automation creates his own policy)

After that step you can try to create a postgres database over the UI. You can do that under Database > Postgres > CREATE DATABASE

Configure DSM Service in VCF Automation

Login to the Provider Organization on VCF Automation and change to VCF Services > Data Services. Click CONFIGURE SERVICE

Define the DSM FQDN and the Admin Username / Password. Click TEST REMOTE CONNECTION

Check the status and click CONFIGURE

Click NEW POLICY to create a Data Service Policy for Automation

Create a Policy (only showing the summary)

Configure the DSM Supervisor Service:

Before configuring the service you have to prepare a values.yaml (it´s also available on the download page) for the DSM Service:
Configure the values.yaml file for the VMware Data Services Manager Supervisor service.
The values.yaml file provides the VMware Data Services Manager Supervisor service with the necessary connectivity and authentication details to your VMware Data Services Manager Provider. Review and edit the following parameters:

  • consumptionClusterName: The name of the Supervisor installed on the cluster
  • endpoint : https://<DSM-provider-ip-or-fqdn>
  • rootCA : The Base64-encoded PEM CA certificate of your VMware Data Services Manager appliance. You can get the certificate by exporting it from your web browser when opening the VMware Data Services Manager URL in a tab.
  • user : The username of a VMware Data Services Manager administrator account
  • password : <DSM_admin_password>
  • image : You must customize this parameter only for an air-gapped environment and replace the packages.broadcom.com domain with the local registry. Both the imgpkgBundle location in packages.yaml and the image location in values.yaml must point to the local registry.
  • isSupervisor : Must be set to true.

For more Details about this step go to: https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/vmware-cis/dsm/data-services-manager/9-0/using-vmware-data-services-manager-with-vmware-cloud-foundation/using-as-a-provider/install-the-dsm-supervisor-service.html

Open the vCenter UI again and go to Supervisor Management > Services. Click ADD on Add New Service

Click UPLOAD on the Register Service page

Choose the Data Services Manager Consumption Operator file (you can download here). Click FINISH

Click on ACTIONS > Manage Service on the Data Services Manager Consumption Operator Service

Select Version and Supervisor and click NEXT

On the review page insert the values.yaml parameters created at the beginning of that section. Click FINISH

Check the Status of the DSM Service under “your supervisor” > Configure > Supervisor Services

Deploy a Database over VCF Automation:

Login to a All Apps Organization in VCF Automation

Change to Build & Deploy > Services > Database and click CREATE

Define the Basic Information and click NEXT

Define the Infrastructure Parameter and click NEXT

Define the Backup and Maintenance Parameter and click NEXT

Define the Advanced Settings and click NEXT

Check all parameters and click CREATE POSTGRES CLUSTER

Check the Status of the Database Instance

Have Fun!

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Christian Liebner
Category: Uncategorized VCF 9 VCF Automation Tags: , , , , , , ,

About Christian Liebner

Christian has joined VMware in January 2009 as Internal Systems Engineer. Since he previously worked for a distributor as a supporter and trainer and at VMware as a Specialist for vSphere, HA & DR and then for Cloud Management Solutions in various cloud projects, he has gained experience in datacenter, server, storage, networking, security and cloud management technologies. Today his primary focus is on automation and operation topics with integration into many surrounding solutions like containers, configuration management, directory services and others. He is responsible for the management components in the VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) product family for enterprise customers in Germany.

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