An administrator has been tasked with deploying a new instance of VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF)...

For dark site (air-gapped) deployments, VMware Cloud Foundation requires the use of the VCF Download Tool to retrieve the required software bundles from a connected system before transferring them into the isolated environment.

The VCF 9.0 Installation Guide specifies:

“For deployments in disconnected or air-gapped environments, use the VCF Download Tool on a connected system to download required bundles and then transfer them to the target environment.”

The VCF Installer (A) consumes bundles but does not download them.

SDDC Manager (B) can download bundles only in connected mode.

Broadcom Downloads (D) is the source portal, but not the supported workflow tool for preparing offline repositories.

Therefore, the correct method for dark site deployments is to use the VCF Download Tool.