Category : NSX

Written by Christopher Lewis on September 6, 2017 .

This post is a number of posts that make up a VCAP6-NV Study guide .

In this post we will look at how to generate a Self Signed SSL Certificate on an existing VMware NSX Edge Service Gateway (ESG) or NSX Edge. Once generated, the SSL certificate could be used for SSL VPN or Load Balancing.

Prerequisites

  • A working deployment of VMware NSX.
  • A deployed NSX Edge Services Gateway

Generate Self Signed SSL Certificate

Note: These steps assume you are not even logged into vCenter Server. Skip the first few steps if you are!

VMware NSX-V VCAP6-NV VCIX6-NV HOWTO

Written by Christopher Lewis on August 16, 2017 .

The 2nd half vExpert announcement just dropped into my inbox and I’m extremely humbled to be added to the growing list of ~150 people worldwide that have been awarded the vExpert subcategory accolade of VMware vExpertNSX.

The vExpert award is a acknowledgement of the contributions made by individuals to the VMware community. It is not too ealy to start working on building your content for the vExpert 2018 submission which will be later this year!

NSX-V vExpert vExpertNSX

Written by Christopher Lewis on August 6, 2017 .

On Friday I took the VCAP6-NV Deploy exam. I didn’t manage to get a passing score this time, but that wont stop me from studying some more and taking it again. Given work commitments and holiday, this will probably now be at VMworld in Barcelona.

How does it compare to the other VCAP exams?

Like with all the VCAP6 Deploy exams, the exam is based on the “improved” VMware HOL interface. I personally never took the VCAP5 exams so, I have no opinion on whether it is “improved” or not. One thing is for certain, like the other VCAP6 Deployment exams, time is not your friend. In fact, for this exam, I would go so far as to say that time is you nemesis.

VMware NSX-V VCAP6-NV VCIX6-NV HOWTO

Written by Christopher Lewis on August 2, 2017 .

Skills and Abilities

Objective 3.3 - Configure and Manage Additional VMware NSX Edge Services

  • Configure DHCP services according to a deployment plan:
    • Create/edit a DHCP IP Pool
    • Create/edit DHCP Static Binding
    • Configure DHCP relay
  • Configure DNS services
  • Configure NAT services to provide access to services running on privately addressed virtual machines

Objective Prerequisites

The following prerequisites are assumed for this Objective:

  • A working VMware vSphere 6.x environment.
  • A working VMware NSX 6.x environment.

Objective Breakdown

Enabling DHCP

Note: These steps assume you are not even logged into vCenter Server. Skip the first few steps if you are!

VMware NSX-V VCAP6-NV VCIX6-NV HOWTO

Written by Christopher Lewis on August 2, 2017 .

This post is one of a number of posts created as part of the VCAP6-NV Deployment Study Guide ,

Overview

There are multiple component steps in configuring NSX Load Balancing:

  • Deployment of an VMware NSX Edge Service Gateway (ESG).
  • Enabling Load Balancing on the ESG.
  • Creating Application Profile(s)
  • (optional) Create Service Monitors
  • Creating Server Pool(s).
  • (optional) Create Application Rules.
  • Creating Virtual Server(s).

In this example, we’re going to use the Load Balancer configuration for deploying VMware vRealize Automation following the Load Balancing Guide .

VMware NSX-V VCAP6-NV VCIX6-NV HOWTO

Written by Christopher Lewis on August 1, 2017 .

Dynamic Routing provides the necessary forwarding information between Layer 2 broadcast domains. There are 3 types of Dynamic Routing supported by VMware NSX OSPF, BGP and IS-IS.

In this post, as part of the VCAP6-NV Deployment Study Guide , we will be covering the configuration of BGP.

Prerequisites

The following prerequisites are assumed for this Objective:

  • A working VMware vSphere 6.x environment.
  • A working VMware NSX 6.x environment.

Configure a Router ID for each NSX Edge

To configure BGP, each NSX Edge must have a Router ID configured. The steps to do this is covered in HOWTO: Configure the Router ID for a VMware NSX Edge .

VMware NSX-V VCAP6-NV VCIX6-NV HOWTO

Written by Christopher Lewis on August 1, 2017 .

Dynamic Routing provides the necessary forwarding information between Layer 2 broadcast domains. There are 3 types of Dynamic Routing supported by VMware NSX-V: OSPF, BGP and IS-IS.

In this post, as part of the VCAP6-NV Deployment Study Guide , we will be covering the configuration of OSPF.

Prerequisites

The following prerequisites are assumed for this Objective:

  • A working VMware vSphere 6.x environment.
  • A working VMware NSX 6.x environment.

Configure a Router ID for each NSX Edge

To configure OSPF, each NSX Edge must have a Router ID configured. The steps to do this is covered in HOWTO: Configure the Router ID for a VMware NSX Edge .

VMware NSX-V VCAP6-NV VCIX6-NV HOWTO

Written by Christopher Lewis on August 1, 2017 .

This is one of many posts that will form part of the VCAP6-NV Deploy Exam Guide .

When configuring Dynamic Routing within VMware NSX it is important to configure each NSX Edge, either Edge Service Gateway (ESG) or Distributed Logical Router (DLR), with a Router ID.

Configuring the Router ID

Note: These steps assume you are not even logged into vCenter Server. Skip the first few steps if you are!

Using your favourite web browser, navigate to the vCenter Server login page (https://vcenter.fqdn).

VMware NSX-V VCAP6-NV VCIX6-NV HOWTO

Written by Christopher Lewis on August 1, 2017 .

Skills and Abilities

Objective 5.1 - Backup and Restore Network Configurations

  • Schedule/Backup/Restore NSX Manager data
  • Export/Restore vSphere Distributed Switch configuration
  • Export/Import Service Composer profiles
  • Save/Export/Import/Load Distributed Firewall configurations

Objective Prerequisites

The following prerequisites are assumed for this Objective:

  • A working VMware vSphere 6.x environment.
  • A working VMware NSX 6.x environment.

Objective Breakdown

Schedule/Backup NSX Manager data

Using a browser, navigate to the VMware NSX Manager Virtual Appliance (https://nsx-manager.fqdn).

Enter admin as the User name and the Password (set during the installation above) then click Login.

VMware NSX-V VCAP6-NV VCIX6-NV HOWTO

Written by Christopher Lewis on July 31, 2017 .

In this series of 3 articles, we’ll be looking at how to configure VMware NSX and VMware vRealize Log Insight together so we get the best possible logging.

In Part Three, we’ll be looking at how to configure the VMware NSX Edge to SYSLOG to VMware vRealize Log Insight.

Configuring a VMware NSX Edge to SYSLOG to Log Insight

Note: These steps assume you are not even logged into vCenter Server. Skip the first few steps if you are!

VMware NSX-V VCAP6-NV VCIX6-NV HOWTO