VMware NSX Installation Procedure and Requirements

Before doing the actual installation I preferr to lay down the procedure and requirements. This helps seamless deployment experience

Procedure

 
  • Deploy NSX Manager
  • Register with vCenter
  • Deploy NSX Controllers
  1. IP Pools needs to be configured in vCenter
  2. Wait for the 1st Controller to be deployed successfully before starting the remaining 2
  3. Please ensure to configure DRS anti-affinity rule to prevent the controllers from residing on the same host
  4. Please be aware of Password policies 
    Password must not contain the username as a substring. Any character must not consecutively repeat 3 or more times.
    The password must be at least 12 characters and must follow 3 of the following 4 rules:
    At least one upper case letter
    At least one lower case letter
    At least one number
    At least one special character
    • Prepare ESXi Hosts for NSX
    • Configure VXLAN Networking
    • Make sure the DVSwitch and Transport VLAN details are in handy beforehand
    • If using Static IPs then IP Pools needs to be configure in vCenter
    • Decide on the NIC Teaming Policy. This will decide how many IPs are required for VTEPs
    • Assign Segment ID
    • Add a Transport Zone
    • Add Logical Switch(s) as per your design
    • Add Distributed Logical Router as per your design
    • Add an Edge Services Gateway as per your design

    System Requirements

     

    vSphere Requirements

    In order to install and configure VMware NSX we need to ensure vSphere Infrastructure is already build and available. Refer the Product Interoperability Matrixes.

    Resource Requirements

    VM

    CPU

    RAM (GB)

    Storage (GB)

    Minimum Count

    Remarks

    VC

    2

    8

    125

    1

    To Support 100 Hosts, 1000 VMs

    NSX Manager

    4

    16

    60

    1

    To support 256 hypervisors

    NSX Controller(s)

    4

    4

    20

    3

    Standard Config with no customization possible

    NSX Edge ( ESG+ DLR)

    Compact – 1

    Compact – 512 MB

    Compact – 500 MB

    1 x DLR with HA Enabled
    2 x ESG with ECMP ON

     

    Large – 2

    Large – 1

    Large – 1 disk 500 MB + 1 disk 512  MB

     

    Quad-Large – 4

    Quad-Large – 1

    Quad-Large – 1 disk 500 MB + 1 disk 512  MB

     

    X-Large – 6

    xLarge – 8

    X-Large – 1 disk 500 MB + 1 disk 2  GB

     

     

    References

     

       

    Data store Requirements

    Component
    Data store Name
    Remarks
    VC
    NSX Manager
    NSX Controller 01
    NSX Controller 02
    NSX Controller 03
    NSX ESG 01
    My Plan is to only have 2 ESGs
    NSX ESG 02
    NSX DLR 01 – Active
    My Plan is to have 1 DLR with HA enabled

    Network Requirements

     

    Following Ports & Protocols needs to be opened in the physical network if there are restrictions

    Source
    Target
    Port
    Protocol
    Purpose
    Client PC
    NSX Manager
    80
    TCP
    NSX Manager VIB Access
    Client PC
    NSX Manager
    443
    TCP
    NSX Manager Administrative Interface
    ESXi Host
    vCenter Server
    80
    TCP
    ESXi Host Preparation
    vCenter Server
    ESXi Host
    80
    TCP
    ESXi Host Preparation
    ESXi Host
    NSX Manager
    5671
    TCP
    RabbitMQ
    ESXi Host
    NSX Controller
    1234
    TCP
    User World Agent Connection
    NSX Controller
    NSX Controller
    2878, 2888, 3888
    TCP
    Controller Cluster – State Sync
    NSX Controller
    NSX Controller
    7777
    TCP
    Inter-Controller RPC Port
    NSX Controller
    NSX Controller
    30865
    TCP
    Controller Cluster – State Sync
    NSX Controller
    NTP Time Server
    123
    TCP
    NTP client connection
    NSX Manager
    NSX Controller
    443
    TCP
    Controller to Manager Communication
    NSX Manager
    vCenter Server
    443
    TCP
    TCP vSphere Web Access
    NSX Manager
    vCenter Server
    902
    TCP
    vSphere Web Access
    NSX Manager
    ESXi Host
    443
    TCP
    Management and provisioning connection
    NSX Manager
    ESXi Host
    902
    TCP
    Management and provisioning connection
    NSX Manager
    DNS Server
    53
    TCP
    DNS client connection
    NSX Manager
    Syslog Server
    514
    TCP
    Syslog connection
    NSX Manager
    NTP Time Server
    123
    TCP
    NTP client connection
    vCenter Server
    NSX Manager
    80
    TCP
    TCP Host Preparation
    REST Client
    NSX Manager
    443
    TCP
    NSX Manager REST API
    VXLAN Tunnel End Point (VTEP)
    VXLAN Tunnel End Point (VTEP)
    8472 or 4789*
    UDP
    Transport network encapsulation between VTEPs
    ESXi Host
    ESXi Host
    6999
    UDP
    ARP on VLAN LIFs
    ESXi Host
    NSX Manager
    8301, 8302
    UDP
    DVS Sync
    NSX Manager
    ESXi Host
    8301, 8302
    UDP
    DVS Sync

    Infrastructure Requirements

    We will need following infrastructure details before we start the deployment

    Component
    VLAN ID
    Port Groups
    IP Address
    Subnet
    Gateway
    Remarks
    VC
    NSX Manager
     If we plan to use NTP & DNS please make note of the details as well
    NSX Controller 01
     If using Static IPs it is recommended to use consecutive IPs for NSX Controllers ins a single vCenter IP Pools
    NSX Controller 02
    NSX Controller 03
    NSX ESG 01
    Current Plan is to only have 2 ESGs
    DLR will be part of VXLAN based network
    NSX ESG 02
    VXLAN Networking
    (VTEP)
    MTU of 1600 or greater on the DVSwitch & VXLAN transport network(s)
    No. of IPs will Depend upon the NICs and Teaming/Failover policies

    Logical Switch Requirements

     

    Even though it is not mandatory it is good to have the details handy before we actually start implementation

    Switch Name
    Purpose
    IP Address
    Subnet
    Gateway
    Remarks
    App01 LS
    Applications VMs
    App02 LS
    Applications VMs
    App03 LS
    Applications VMs
    App04 LS
    Applications VMs
    Transit LS
    Transit Network between DLR and ESG
    OSPF will be enabled on this switch

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