In the previous post, We have successfully completed, Our first NSX-T Edge Node Deployment. In this post, We will be adding a secondary NSX-T Edge Node and performing the NSX-T Edge Cluster. For POC and LAB Testing you can create an NSX-T Edge Cluster with a Single Edge Node as well.
Second Edge Node adding, Sice We covered step by step of deploying NSX-T Edge Deployment in the previous post. I won’t be including all the screenshots, I have included only the change Settings.
Creating an NSX-T Edge Cluster
Since now We have Two NSX-T Edge Nodes deployed It’s time to create an Edge Cluster, If you are doing POC or Lab Testing you can create a Cluster with a single Edge Node as well.
System – Configuration – Fabric – Nodes – Edge Clusters
Member Type is Edge Node
I have chosen Default Edge Cluster Profile as below.
Summarize the NSX-T Manager and Edge Installation
So far We have completed the NSX-T Manager and Edge Installation. I’m including screenshots here that I think that’s important to make you get the clear picture
NSX-T Transport Nodes (ESXi Nodes) – NSXT-HA – vSphere Cluster
Host Transport Nodes vDS Switch – NSXT-vDS (That we have selected in Transport Node Profiles)
NSX-T Edge Transport Nodes
Edge Transport Nodes’ “N-vDS” Switch that We created during the Edge Deployment. This Switch can’t be seen in VMware vSphere. I have included a few screenshots in My vSphere environment, There is a vSphere Standard Switch (vSS) Port Group called “none” which is attached to the Two NSX-T Edge VMs we deployed (But, not connected to the Network). That’s the only additional configuration I noticed after the Edge deployment.
One of the NSX-T Edge VM’s (NSXT-EDGE1) attached Networks after the Edge configuration
You can refer to my previous post about NSX-T Edge Port Groups before configuring the NSX-T Edge here,
NSX-T, Edge Deployment – Prerequisites (cont’d)
- none – vSphere Standard Switch VM Port Group created by Edge Deployment
- vDS-Trunking – vLAN Trunking Port Group to carry all the vLANs
- vDS2_vLAN_105 – vLAN 105 Port Group for Edge Management
NSX-T Edge Cluster – Edge-Cluster
Transport Zones (Overlay and vLAN) – Overlay-Transport-Zone, vLAN-Transport-Zone and NSX-T Edge Transport Zone
Also, I have listed the no of vLANs that We used and would be used so far and their purpose again just to recap;
- vLAN – 105 – VMware vSphere (ESXi and vCenter), NSX-T Manager and NSX-T Edge Management Network (All the Management Services including AD, DNS, DHCP, NTP, etc.)
- vLAN – 104 – Host Transport TEP Network (Transport Node Uplink Profile)
- vLAN – 106 – Edge Transport TEP Network (Edge Node Uplink Profile)
- vLAN – 107 – vLAN-Backed Segment to be used for Tier-0 Gateway’s External Interface – We will use it when configuring Logical Routing in a later post
Note: As explained before all the vLANs have been included on Trunk Ports to the ToR Switch (From ESXi Physical Uplinks to the ToR Switch)
* Screenshots captured from VMware vCenter Console and NSX-T Manager Console on Jan 01, 2022.
