Category : NSX
Written by Christopher Lewis on July 30, 2017 .
Skills and Abilities
Objective 1.2 - Prepare Host Clusters for Network Virtualization
- Prepare vSphere Distributed Switching for NSX
- Prepare a cluster for NSX
- Add/Remove Hosts from cluster
- Configure the appropriate teaming policy for a given implementation
- Configure VXLAN Transport parameters according to a deployment plan
Objective Prerequisites
The following prerequisites are assumed for this Objective:
- A working VMware vSphere 6.x environment.
- The VMware NSX Manager has been deployed.
- At least one VMware NSX Controller has been deployed (if required).
Objective Breakdown
Prepare vSphere Distributed Switching for NSX
I’m unsure what they will expect for us to configure. However, I would suggest that they will expect the creation of a Distributed Switch with the right port groups and the right MTU value (1600). I won’t be covering the creation of vDS here, if you are unsure how to do this, then check out the VMware article .
Written by Christopher Lewis on July 30, 2017 .
When you add a host from a VMware NSX enabled cluster, the NSX VIBs are automatically installed. The process steps for adding hosts to a VMware NSX enabled cluster is the same as if you were adding a host from a standard vSphere cluster.
Prerequisites
This post assumes the following:
- The target VMware ESXi host(s) are already connected to vCenter Server.
- The target VMware ESxi host(s) are already connected to any relevant Distributed Switches.
Add a Host to a VMware NSX enabled Cluster
Note: These steps assume you are not even logged into vCenter Server. Skip the first few steps if you are!
Written by Christopher Lewis on July 30, 2017 .
When you remove a host from a VMware NSX enabled cluster, the NSX VIBs are automatically removed. The process steps for removing hosts from a VMware NSX enabled cluster is the same as if you were removing a host from a standard vSphere cluster.
Remove a Host from a VMware NSX enabled Cluster
Note: These steps assume you are not even logged into vCenter Server. Skip the first few steps if you are!
Written by Christopher Lewis on July 29, 2017 .
Skills and Abilities
Objective 1.1 - Deploy VMware NSX Infrastructure components
- Deploy the NSX Manager virtual appliance
- Integrate the NSX Manager with vCenter Server
- Configure Single Sign On
- Specify a Syslog Server
- Implement and Configure NSX Controllers
- Exclude virtual machines from firewall protection according to a deployment plan
Objective Prerequisites
The following prerequisites are assumed for this Objective:
- A working VMware vSphere 6.x environment.
Objective Breakdown
Deploy the NSX Manager virtual appliance
See HOWTO: Deploy and Configure the VMware NSX Manager Virtual Appliance - Part 1
Written by Christopher Lewis on July 29, 2017 .
In this post, we’ll look at the final step of deploying the VMware NSX infrastructure, excluding VMs from the firewall protection. The default rule if DENY ALL which is due to security by design reasons but can cause all sorts of problems!
VMware recommends that the following machines are excluded:
- vCenter Server (including Platform Services Controllers)
- Partner service virtual machines.
- Virtual machines that require promiscuous mode.
- The SQL server that your Windows-based vCenter uses.
- vCenter Web server, if you are running it separately.
Adding Virtual Machines to the Exclusion List
Note: These steps assume you are not even logged into vCenter Server. Skip the first few steps if you are!
Written by Christopher Lewis on July 27, 2017 .
In this post, we’ll look at how to deploy the VMware NSX Controllers in the NSX environment. Remember that the deployment of NSX Controllers are not required if the use case is just for the deployment of the Distributed Firewall (DFW).
The NSX Controllers use node majority for HA, so there needs to be an odd number of them deployed. Officially, three (3) is the magic supported number, but in a homelab environment you could get away with just one.
Written by Christopher Lewis on July 17, 2017 .
So you have deployed and configured the VMware NSX Manager Virtual Appliance, deployed the VMware NSX Controller(s) and goto Host Preparation and click Install to prepare your hosts. Then you get an error message to say you don’t have the right license… did you forget something?
Adding VMware NSX Licensing to vCenter
Note: These steps assume you are not even logged into vCenter Server. Skip the first few steps if you are!
Written by Christopher Lewis on July 16, 2017 .
This is the third of three posts in which we look at how to deploy and configure the VMware NSX Manager.
The posts will cover the following topics:
- Deploying the VMware NSX Manager Appliance Appliance. ( HOWTO )
- Completing VMware NSX Manager Initial Configuration. ( HOWTO )
- Integrating VMware NSX Manager into VMware vCenter. (THIS POST)
Configuring VMware NSX Manager integration into vCenter Server
Using a browser, navigate to the VMware NSX Manager Virtual Appliance (https://nsx-manager.fqdn).
Written by Christopher Lewis on July 16, 2017 .
This is the second of three posts in which we look at how to deploy and configure the VMware NSX Manager.
The posts will cover the following topics:
- Deploying the VMware NSX Manager Appliance Appliance. ( HOWTO )
- Completing VMware NSX Manager Initial Configuration. (THIS POST)
- Integrating VMware NSX Manager into VMware vCenter. ( HOWTO )
VMware NSX Manager Initial Configuration
Using a browser, navigate to the VMware NSX Manager Virtual Appliance (https://nsx-manager.fqdn).
Written by Christopher Lewis on July 16, 2017 .
This is the first of three posts in which we look at how to deploy and configure the VMware NSX Manager.
The posts will cover the following topics:
- Deploying the VMware NSX Manager Appliance. (THIS POST)
- Completing VMware NSX Manager Initial Configuration. ( HOWTO
- Integrating VMware NSX Manager into VMware vCenter. ( HOWTO )
Deploying the VMware NSX Manager Appliance
Navigate to VMware vCenter Server (https://vcenter.fqdn) using your preferred web browser.
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