VCIX-NV Objective 1.1
So I started this journey a while ago, I let things get in the way of me getting it, and here we are. Trying to get back on track once again. This cert has eluded me longer than it should have.
I am going to try to do a little bit of mixed media in this Blog series, just to try to mix it up, but also to see if it helps me a little bit more. Hopefully these will help other people but most of all myself. Starting at the beginning, this is for Objective 1.1 which covers the following:
-Deploy the NSX Manager virtual appliance
-Integrate the NSX Manager with vCenter Server
– Configure Single Sign On
– Specify a Syslog Server
-Implement and configure NSX Controllers
-Exclude virtual machines from firewall protection
Starting with the first piece, deploying the NSX Manager OVA. First thing you will need to check is availability of resources for the manager. The manager requires 4 vCPUs and 16GB of RAM. It also needs 60GB of diskspace. This holds true all the way up to environments with 256 hosts. When the environment has 256 or more hosts or hypervisors, it is recommended to increase vCPUs to 8 and RAM to 24 GB of RAM.
The rest of the installation of the OVA is run of the mill. Same as every other OVA deployment. Once done with that, you will need to connect the NSX Manager to a vCenter. The NSX Manager has a 1:1 relationship with the vCenter so you will only need to do this once, most of the time.
You will need to log on using admin and the password you set during setup. Once the site opens, click on the Manager vCenter Registration button to continue the installation.
Once the Registration page pulls up, you will need to enter your vCenter information to properly register it.
As you can see I’ve already connected it to my vCenter. Once I’ve done this, it should inject the Networking and Security Plugin so that you will be able to manage NSX. You will want to make sure that bot is connected status. You can log into the vSphere Web Client and go to Administration and then Client Plugins to see it there.
The next step was to setup a syslog server. This is easy since it is right in the UI. If you are still logged in from the vCenter registration, you want to click on Manage Appliance settings and then General on the left side. And you will see the below:
I have set mine up for my Log Insight server in my environment. 514 is the standard port. It can be over UDP or TCP or IPv6 UDP or TCP. Once that is taken care of, next piece is installing the controllers. This is taken care of in the web client. Once in the web client, you need to click on Networking and Security under Home. When Networking and Security opens, you will want to click on Installation on the left side.
In the center pane, at the top you will see NSX Managers, and under that, NSX Controller nodes. I have already installed two in my environment. To add another, you will need to click on the green + icon.
When you click on the green + the following will popup.
You will need to fill out all the information that has asterixis in front of it. Once you click OK, it will start to deploy. It will take a few minutes to finish. You will want to make sure you have enough resources for it before you start the above. Each controller will want 4 vCPUs and 4GB of RAM and 28 GB of Hard disk space. One cool thing to notice is once the controllers are done deploying they each have a little box on the side letting you the other ones are online. Just one of the things I think is really cool about NSX – how easy they make it to keep tabs on things.
The last part we need to address now is excluding virtual machines from the firewall on each host. To do this you will need to click on the NSX Manager in the navigation pane, all the way at the bottom.
Once you click on that you will then need to click on the NSX manager instance.
Then in the middle, click on Manage. Then click on Exclusion List.
To add a virtual machine to the list, click on the green + icon. Then click on the virtual machine and move it from the left pane to the right. I would show that…but I have no virtual machine in my environment yet. And that is the end of the first Objective. Stay tuned for the next.