I had my first build off a offline depot:
https://www.wardvissers.nl/2025/11/10/upgrade-vcf-to-9-0-1-setting-up-an-offline-depot-on-ubuntu/
Sow It was time for a revision
Prerequisites
First, download the required bundle files from the Broadcom VMware portal. This includes:
On the Depot Server (Ubuntu)
Sizing for the disk is 70GB of OS files
1TB for Data files /Data
Login
Login with the user account that you create
Sudo passwd root
Vim /etc/ssh/sshd_config
if the following line exists, possibly commented out (with a # in front):
PermitRootLogin
Then change it to the following, uncommenting if needed (remove the # in front):
PermitRootLogin yes
sudo service ssh restart
now you can login als root
Install Apache and tools
Sudo update
sudo apt install apache2 openssl apache2-utils unzip
Create a certificate config file
nano ~/vcf-openssl.cnf
Paste the following:
[ req ]
default_bits = 2048
prompt = no
default_md = sha256
distinguished_name = dn
x509_extensions = v3_req
[ dn ]
C = US
ST = CA
L = LA
O = TS
OU = IT
CN = flt-depot.wardhomelab.nl
emailAddress = a@b.c
[ v3_req ]
basicConstraints = CA:FALSE
keyUsage = digitalSignature, keyEncipherment
extendedKeyUsage = serverAuth
subjectAltName = @alt_names
[ alt_names ]
DNS.1 = flt-depot.wardhomelab.nl
IP.1 = 192.168.150.246
Replace the values with your organization’s details.
Generate the certificate
cd /etc/apache2
sudo mkdir ssl
sudo openssl req -x509 -nodes -days 365 –newkey rsa:2048 –keyout /etc/apache2/ssl/vcf.key -out /etc/apache2/ssl/vcf.crt -config /etc/apache2/ssl/vcf-openssl.cnf
Create a basic auth user
Sudo htpasswd -c /etc/apache2/.htpasswd vcfadmin
Configure Apache
sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/default-ssl.conf
Paste the following:
<VirtualHost *:443>
ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost
DocumentRoot /data/html
# SSL
SSLEngine on
SSLCertificateFile /etc/apache2/ssl/vcf.crt
SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/apache2/ssl/vcf.key
SSLProtocol -all +TLSv1.2 +TLSv1.3
SSLHonorCipherOrder On
SSLCompression Off
# Main VCF Depot
<Directory /data/html>
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride None
AuthType Basic
AuthName “VCF Depot”
AuthUserFile /etc/apache2/.htpasswd
Require valid-user
</Directory>
# VCF Components
<Directory /data/html/PROD/COMP>
AuthType Basic
AuthName “VCF Depot”
AuthUserFile /etc/apache2/.htpasswd
Require valid-user
</Directory>
# VCF Metadata
<Directory /data/html/PROD/metadata>
AuthType Basic
AuthName “VCF Depot”
AuthUserFile /etc/apache2/.htpasswd
Require valid-user
</Directory>
# VxRail VVS Cookie Validation
<Directory /data/html/PROD/COMP/Compatibility>
<Files “VxrailCompatibilityData.json“>
<If “%{HTTP:Cookie} == ‘ngssosession=ngsso-token'”>
Require all granted
</If>
</Files>
</Directory>
# vSAN HCL – no authentication required
<Directory /data/html/PROD/vsan/hcl>
Require all granted
</Directory>
# Required for VCF 5.1.0.0
Alias /products/v1/bundles/lastupdatedtime /data/html/PROD/vsan/hcl/lastupdatedtime.json
Alias /products/v1/bundles/all /data/html/PROD/vsan/hcl/all.json
# UMDS patch store – no authentication required
<Directory /data/html/umds-patch-store>
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride None
Require all granted
</Directory>
</VirtualHost>
Enable modules and restart Apache
sudo a2enmod ssl headers
sudo a2ensite default-ssl
sudo systemctl restart apache2
Extract the metadata ZIP
Sudo chmod 777 /data
Upload vcf-9.0.1.0-offline-depot-metadata.zip /data/ with Winscp
Sudo unzip vcf-download-tool-9.1.1.0.25713929.tar -d /data
Create your Download token
Create your Download token in de Broadcom portal
Create a token file in /home folder
Upload the VCF download tool
Upload the tool in /data folder
tar -xf vcf-download-tool-9.1.1.0.25713929.tar.tar.gz
Sudo chmod 755 /data/vcf-download-tool-9.1.1.0.25713929
sudo reboot
Run the following
cd/data/vcf-download-tool-9.1.1.0.25713929/bin/
./vcf-download-tool configuration generate –software-depot-id
# Versies download
List the latest install components
./vcf-download-tool binaries list –sku VCF –vcf-version 9.1.1 –depot-download-activation-code-file /data/activation-code.txt –type INSTALL –automated-install
Download the latest install components
./vcf-download-tool binaries download –sku VCF –vcf-version 9.1.1 –depot-download-activation-code-file /data/activation-code.txt –type INSTALL –automated-install –depot-store /data/html
List the latest Upgrade components
./vcf-download-tool binaries list –sku VCF –vcf-version 9.1.1 –depot-download-activation-code-file /data/activation-code.txt –type UPGRADE
Download the latest upgrade componnets
. /vcf-download-tool binaries download –sku VCF –vcf-version 9.1.1 –depot-download-activation-code-file /data/activation-code.txt –type UPGRADE –depot-store /data/html
List not the latest components
./vcf-download-tool binaries list –sku VCF –vcf-version 9.1.1 –depot-download-activation-code-file /data/activation-code.txt –latest=false –type UPGRADE
Download not the latest components
./vcf-download-tool binaries download –sku VCF –vcf-version 9.1.1 –depot-download-activation-code-file /data/activation-code.txt –latest=false –type UPGRADE –depot-store /data/html
ESX Download
./vcf-download-tool esx configuration -G
./vcf-download-tool esx configuration \
-D embeddedEsx-6.7-INTL \
-D esxio-9.1-INTL \
-D armEsx-9.1-INTL \
-D embeddedEsx-8.0-INTL \
-D embeddedEsx-7.0-INTL \
-D embeddedEsx-9.0-INTL \
-D esxio-8.0-INTL \
-D esxio-9.0-INTL
./vcf-download-tool esx configuration -G
./vcf-download-tool esx download –depot-download-activation-code-file /data/activation-code.txt –depot-store /data/html
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