Deploying NSX Edge - Architecture & UI Together

 


In this blog post I'm going to discuss the NSX edge. I'll keep the explanation restricted to edges of virtual machine form factor. However, bare metal edges are also possible. The use-case for bare metal edges are high packet throughput scenarios, such as at a telco / ISP. 

Architecturally, edges are the bridge between the physical network and NSX overlay network. Edges are a resource on which virtual routers and network services can be deployed. By services, I'm referring to things such as DHCP, NAT, stateful firewall, or most commonly, logical routing and switching and more. 

To prepare your infrastructure for edge deployment, consider the following:

  • Is our NSX edge cluster of a collapsed design (i.e. shared with compute cluster) or broken out into its own cluster as recommended by the NSX design guide?
  • What is the management network? (needed: subnet, gateway, vlan, and vCenter portgroup, mgmt ip and FQDN)
  • What network is connecting the TOR to the edge? (needed: subnet, vlan, portgroup, using routing protocol? BGP, OSPF or static route?)
  • What network has been designated to carry overlay traffic?  (needed: subnet, gateway, vlan, and vCenter portgroup)
  • How will we assign ip addresses to the TEP interfaces? (ip pool or DHCP?) 
  • What are the management login credentials?
  • What DNS server do you use? (create a-record for the edge mgmt interface)
  • What NTP server do you use?


Ideally, you'll want to break out NSX edges into a separate set of ESXi hosts in their own cluster. For my lab, I only have one cluster, so I have a collapsed cluster design. You'll need to know what design you've chosen so that when you create edges, you can fill out the following screen on the NSX edge wizard:


With that said, here is what an NSX design would look like if using separate compute and edge clusters:



In my lab, the physical networking is provided by a Cisco 3750 swtich. Here is my VLAN config and subnet config:



Next, lets create the a-record for my edge's management interface. Below I show an a-record for a previously created edge with management ip address 172.17.0.50. As I make a new edge, I will use ip address 172.17.0.51:




Lets create a new edge at ip address 172.17.0.51. Notice I have chosen a small VM for my lab. I suggest you deploy an Extra Large VM in a production use case. Why deploy a medium or large and then require a change window once your organization outgrows that VM? Set it one time during initial provision and save yourself a maintenance window.:


Next we select what vSphere cluster to deploy the edges on. I've shown this image above and am showing it again.

Now we apply the ip address, default gateway, FQDN, and mgmt porgroup.

On the next page you'll have to pull together many previously configured components of this deployment. It should be noted that I haven't discussed all of these settings in detail. If you need more info on these use your Google-fu!
  • Edge Switch Name: You can type in a switch name here. It must be the same name if it is to be used across multiple edges. 
  • Transport Zone: NSX comes with default transport zones. You should probably configure your own.
  • Uplink Profile: This describes how the edge vm will connect to the dvSwitch for uplink and overlay traffic.
  • IP Assignment: It describes how the edge teps get their ip addresses.
  • Teaming Policy Uplink Mapping: Maps edge vnics to vSphere portgroups.

An expanded view of the teaming policy uplink mapping:


Afterwards, you click finish and the edge starts to deploy. We've seen the edge from the menu perspective, but what did we actually configure from a visual standpoint? Check the image below to find out.

Edge Management interface configuration:

Alright, what about the other 3 edge interfaces? How did those get configured? Check the image below to find out.

And how do these edge uplink configs map to the edge uplink profile? Check the image below to find out.



Assuming you've planned appropriately and entered all of the configuration into the GUI correctly, you should have an edge VM deployed. You can validate the vm and its interfaces in the vCenter UI:


Lastly, what did we actually just build? Lets take a look inside of the edge.



That's it!











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