[lunar.lab] NSX-T Deploy & Initial Configuration

Disclaimer:

• This is for lunar.lab only and not intended as a guide for production environment. I’m aware that some configurations I use here are not supported configuration. 
• All deployed on vSphere environment. 
• I use nested environment. 
• The official documentation is here: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T/2.1/com.vmware.nsxt.install.doc/GUID-414C33B3-674F-44E0-94B8-BFC0B9056B33.html
• The documentation is quite clear, I just add some notes specific to my deployment. 

Step-by-step:

• Deploy
• NSX-T Manager: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T/2.1/com.vmware.nsxt.install.doc/GUID-FA0ABBBD-34D8-4DA9-882D-085E7E0D269E.html
• NSX-T Controller (for lab purpose I only deploy 1 NSX-T Controller): https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T/2.1/com.vmware.nsxt.install.doc/GUID-24428FD4-EC8F-4063-9CF9-D8136740963A.html
• NSX-T Edge (for lab purpose I only deploy 1 NSX-T Edge): Please note that PKS requires Large (8 vCPU 16GB RAM) size of NSX-T Edge Node. https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T/2.1/com.vmware.nsxt.install.doc/GUID-AECC66D0-C968-4EF2-9CAD-7772B0245BF6.html
• During the wizard, you’ll need to select which portgroup you want to use for each NSX Edge interface, my configuration goes like this: 
• Network 0 connect to management network, which is connect to the same port group as NSX Manager, NSX Controller, vCenter Server, ESXi management connect to. 
• Network 1 connect to dedicated portgroup which will be used for overlay network (GENEVE). 
• This is where you need to ensure that these portgroup is connected to a port configured with minimum MTU 1600. 
• Network 2 connect to portgroup which will be the uplink to external network (VLAN base). 
• Network 3 is not used, but you still need to connect it to a portgroup 
• For more information, please refer to this document: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T/2.1/com.vmware.nsxt.install.doc/GUID-370D06E1-1BB6-4144-A654-7AF2542C3136.html
• By default, NSX-T components deployed will have their CPU and memory reservation configured. You may want to remove it for your lab environment. 
• Join NSX Controller with NSX Manager: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T/2.1/com.vmware.nsxt.install.doc/GUID-05434745-7D74-4DA8-A68E-9FE17093DA7B.html 
• Command to enable SSH: service start ssh 
• Initialize the Control Cluster to create a Control Cluster Master: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T/2.1/com.vmware.nsxt.install.doc/GUID-273F6344-7212-4105-9FBA-A872CD75803F.html#GUID-273F6344-7212-4105-9FBA-A872CD75803F
• If HA required, this step should be continued with joining additional NSX Controllers with the Cluster Master: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T/2.1/com.vmware.nsxt.install.doc/GUID-8A8394EB-9D4A-4F13-AE91-8CFDD10334D4.html#GUID-8A8394EB-9D4A-4F13-AE91-8CFDD10334D4
• Join NSX Edge with Management Plane: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T/2.1/com.vmware.nsxt.install.doc/GUID-11BB4CF9-BC1D-4A76-A32A-AD4C98CBF25B.html
• Create Transport Zone: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T/2.1/com.vmware.nsxt.install.doc/GUID-F739DC79-4358-49F4-9C58-812475F33A66.html
• Create TZ-Overlay 
• NVDS Name: NVDS-Overlay 
• NVDS Type: Standard 
• Traffic Type: Overlay 
• Create TZ-VLAN 
• NVDS Name: NVDS-VLAN 
• NVDS Type: Standard 
• Traffic Type: VLAN 
• Create Uplink Profile: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T/2.1/com.vmware.nsxt.install.doc/GUID-50FDFDFB-F660-4269-9503-39AE2BBA95B4.html
• Create New Uplink Profile 
• Name: Single Uplink 
• Active Uplinks: Uplink01 (Teamings)
• This is only a profile, you’ll need to associate this profile with specific interface in the coming step. 
• Create Tunnel Endpoint IP Pool: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T/2.1/com.vmware.nsxt.install.doc/GUID-E7F7322D-D09B-481A-BD56-F1270D7C9692.html 
• Add New IP Pool 
• Name: TEP IP Pool 
• Add Subnets 
• IP Range: 192.168.99.11-192.168.99.30 
• CIDR: 192.168.99.0/24 
• Add a Compute Manager: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T/2.1/com.vmware.nsxt.install.doc/GUID-D225CAFC-04D4-44A7-9A09-7C365AAFCA0E.html
• Add vCenter Server which manages target compute nodes to NSX Fabric. 
• Install NSX on ESXi Hosts 
• At NSX Manager, go to Fabric > Nodes > Hosts [1] 
• Change Managed by to the vCenter Server added on previous step [2] 
• Expand the discovered vSphere Cluster  [3]
• Select all ESXi hosts needed to participate as NSX compute node [4] 
• Click on Install NSX [5]
• The ESXi Hosts should have minimum 8GB of RAM per host. I try with only 6GB of RAM per host, the installation failed.

Figure 1 - Install NSX on ESXi Hosts

• Add Transport Nodes: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T/2.1/com.vmware.nsxt.install.doc/GUID-53295329-F02F-44D7-A6E0-2E3A9FAE6CF9.html#GUID-53295329-F02F-44D7-A6E0-2E3A9FAE6CF9
• Create NSX Edge Transport Node 
• Select NSX Edge as Node 
• Select both Transport Zones [1] 

Figure 2 - Select both Transport Zones for NSX Edge

• TZ-Overlay 
• Edge Switch Name: NVDS-Overlay [2] 
• Uplink Profile: Single Uplink [3] 
• IP Assignment: Use IP Pool [4] 
• IP Pool: TEP IP Pool [5] 
• Virtual NIC: fp-eth0 [6] as Uplink01 [7] 
• This is Network 1 you configure in the beginning

Figure 3 - Configure NVDS-Overlay for NSX Edge Transport Node

• TZ-VLAN 
• Edge Switch Name: NVDS-VLAN [8] 
• Uplink Profile: SIngle Uplink [9] 
• Virtual NIC: fp-eth1 [10] as Uplink01 [11] 
• This is Network 2 you configure in the beginning

Figure 4 - Configure NVDS-VLAN for NSX Edge Transport Node

• Create Host Transport Node: For each ESXi Host add it as Transport Node 

• Select TZ-Overlay only [1] 

Figure 4 - Select Transport Zone TZ-Overlay only for Host Transport Node

• Edge Switch Name: NVDS-Overlay [2] 
• Uplink Profile: Single Uplink [3] 
• IP Assignment: Use IP Pool [4] 
• IP Pool: TEP IP Pool [5] 
• Physical NIC: Select vmnic you want to use as overlay network uplink for Uplink01 [6] 

Figure 5 - Configure NVDS-Overlay for Host Transport Node

• NOTE: You also can define Uplink Profile and IP Pool within this step 

• Create NSX Edge Cluster: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T/2.1/com.vmware.nsxt.install.doc/GUID-898099FC-4ED2-4553-809D-B81B494B67E7.html#GUID-898099FC-4ED2-4553-809D-B81B494B67E7

Ok, done for the deployment and initial configuration.