In this episode of Hancock’s VMware Half Hour, we walk through creating an Offline Depot using a Python script to support VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.0 deployments in air-gapped or isolated environments. We begin with a brief update on the VCF Installer, remove previously downloaded components, and disconnect our offline repository from a Synology NAS. Then we dive into the technical steps—running a Python script on Ubuntu using the http_server_auth.py script from GitHub, mounting an NFS export, verifying FQDN configuration, and checking access to the depot via a web browser. Finally, we show how to configure the VCF Installer to use this offline depot, perform downloads directly to the installer, and verify SSH shell activity to ensure everything is working correctly. This practical guide is ideal for anyone managing VCF in restricted environments or those who need a secure and reusable local depot setup.
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