VMware Validated Designs (VVD) are prescriptive SDDC blueprints with comprehensive deployment and operational practices.

Standard SDDC Architecture

This VMware Validated Design SDDC ‘Standard Architecture’ is Based on the ‘two-pod’ design where the management workloads & compute and edge workloads are segregated. The management workloads have their own dedicated vSphere cluster while  the compute and edge reside on a separate vSphere cluster . This ‘two-pod’ design requires at least 8 ESXi hosts, 4 for mgmt and 4 for shared compute and edge workloads. The VVD Standard Architecture supports both single and dual-region deployments. Dual-region implies 2 DC’s located in geographically dispersed locations, leveraging vSphere replication and SRM to protect the workloads. VMware official ‘Overview of Standard SDDC’.

Consolidated SDDC Architecture

This VMware Validated Design SDDC ‘Consolidated Architecture’ is Based on the ‘one-pod’ design where both the management workloads and compute/edge workloads are co-located on a single vSphere cluster. Requires a minimum of 4 hosts and supports a single-region. VMware official ‘Overview of Consolidated SDDC’.

Note: As of VVD 4.2 the term ‘Pod’ is being replaced by ‘Workload Domain’ to describe the different cluster types: ‘Management’ and ‘Compute & Edge’.

VVD FAQ:

https://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-34266

VVD Quick References:

http://vmwa.re/vvd