Data Center Technologies: NSX-T 2.4 Edge Transport Node Installation

NSX-T 2.4 Edge Transport Node Installation

In this lab, I am going to install NSX-T Edge Transport Nodes as VMs
NSX-T Edge Node VMs could be of VM form factor or could be baremetal.

Edge Node VM connectivity using a DVS

The above diagram shows that the vnics of Edge Transport Node VMs are mapped with Distributed Port Groups of VDS.
vnic 1 is used for management purpose and is mapped to management port group of DVS.
vnic 2 - EXT 1 Port Group - This corresponds to VLAN 1 which is used to peer with physical network.
vnic 3 - EXT 2 Port Group - This corresponds to VLAN 2 which is used to peer with physical network.
vnic 4 - TEP Port Group - This corresponds to Overlay VLAN which is used for handling encapsulated traffic.

NSX-T Edge Transport Node VMs will be deployed from the vcenter UI.

Select the OVA file for edge node

Select name and location

Select compute resource

Review details

Select Edge VM deployment configuration

The NSX Edge Small VM appliance size is suitable for lab and proof-of-concept deployments.
The NSX Edge Medium appliance size is suitable for a typical production environment and can support up to 64 hypervisors.
The large appliance is for large-scale deployments with more than 64 hypervisors

Select Storage

Select networks

The four interfaces are:

1. Management

2. VLAN 1 used for peering with physical network

3. VLAN 2 used for peering with physical network

4. Overlay - this interface handles encapsulation and de-encapsulation.

Edge Node VM connectivity is covered in this post.
We need to ensure that the vnics of the Edge Transport Node VM are mapped properly with appropriate Distributed Port Groups. This can be done from the vcenter GUI.

Specify the hostname, passwords, management IP, subnet mask and gateway, DNS server IP, NTP server IP, domain search list.
Also enable SSH

Register the edge node VM with NSX manager

Once the OVA is deployed, power on the edge node VM and SSH to it.

Get the NSX Manager thumbprint

Use the NSX Manager thumbprint to register the edge

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Configure NSX on Edge Transport Node

Before we start configuring NSX on Edge Transport Node, we need to make sure that the transport zones and uplink profiles are there in place.

Transport Zones

Uplink Profiles

Next up, we will configure NSX

Select the transport zones

N-VDS for Overlay Traffic

N-VDS for VLAN 1

N-VDS for VLAN 2

Edge Transport Nodes are now configured.

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Method 2

I prefer this method as in this case there is no need to register the edge node VM with NSX-T manager.

You can also install Edge Transport Node VMs using NSX Manager GUI