Importance As a Data Center Solutions Architect, you must understand the VMware Virtual Cloud Network framework and the solutions that it offers to address challenges in your data center. You must also understand the NSX-T Data Center architecture and components to properly design, deploy, and manage a data center that meets your business requirements.
Learner Objectives • Describe the purpose and framework of VMware Virtual Cloud Network • Describe how NSX-T Data Center fits into the NSX product portfolio • Recognize the main components of NSX-T Data Center • Identify the use cases for NSX-T Data Center • Describe the main features of NSX-T Data Center
Virtual Cloud Network Framework Virtual Cloud Network is the VMware framework for connecting and protecting different types of workloads running across various environments. The Virtual Cloud Network framework is built on NSX technology. Virtual Cloud Network is a software layer. This layer provides connectivity between data center, cloud, and edge infrastructure with data visibility and security.
VMware NSX Portfolio Virtual Cloud Network is based on a robust portfolio of products built on the foundations of the concept of any infrastructure, any cloud, any application, any platform, and any device. Virtual Cloud Network includes several key solutions that provide security, integration, extensibility, automation, and elasticity.
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Review of Learner Objectives • Describe the purpose and framework of VMware Virtual Cloud Network • Describe how NSX-T Data Center fits into the NSX product portfolio • Recognize the main components of NSX-T Data Center • Identify the use cases for NSX-T Data Center • Describe the main features of NSX-T Data Center
Learner Objectives • Recognize the main elements in the NSX-T Data Center architecture • Describe the functions of NSX policy • Describe the NSX management cluster and the management plane • Identify the functions and components of the control plane • Identify the functions and components of the data plane
NSX-T Data Center Architecture The management, control, and data planes are the main elements of the NSX-T Data Center architecture. This architectural separation enables scalability without affecting workloads.
About the Management and Control Planes The management plane and control plane are part of a single NSX management cluster: • The management plane provides the REST API and web-based UI interface for all user configurations. • The control plane is responsible for computing and distributing the network run time state.
About the NSX Management Cluster A group of three NSX Manager nodes form the NSX management cluster for high availability and scalability. The NSX Manager appliance has the built-in policy, manager, and controller roles: • The management plane includes the policy and manager roles. • The central control plane (CCP) includes the controller role. The desired state is replicated in the distributed persistent database, providing the same configuration view to all nodes in the cluster.
Default NSX Management Cluster Deployment Default deployment considerations: • No L2 adjacent requirement. • All three node IPs can be used for GUI and API access. However, when that node fails, a different IP has to be used.
NSX Management Cluster with Virtual IP Address Virtual IP address deployment considerations: • Low cost • Low complexity • Single IP address can be used for API and UI access • Single subnet only • No UI and API load distribution
NSX Management Cluster with Load Balancer External load balancer deployment considerations: • Single IP availability • Multisubnet: No L2 across management racks • More complex setup with LB configuration required • Complex life cycle management and compatibility • Costly: Requires external load-balancing solution.
NSX Policy Functions The policy role performs several functions: • Provides a centralized location for configuring networking and security across the environment • Enables users to enter the intended configuration in the NSX UI • Enables users to specify the final desired state of the system without being concerned about the current state or underlying implementation
NSX Manager Functions NSX Manager performs several functions: • Receives and validates the configuration from NSX policy • Publishes the configuration to the CCP • Installs and prepares the data plane components • Retrieves the statistical data from data plane components
NSX Controller Functions NSX Controller maintains the realized state of the system and configures the data plane. The main functions of NSX Controller include: • Providing control plane functionality, such as logical switching, routing, and distributed firewall • Computing all ephemeral runtime states based on the configuration from the management plane • Disseminating topology information reported by the data plane elements • Pushing stateless configurations to forwarding engines
Control Plane Components (1) In NSX-T Data Center, the control plane is divided into the CCP and local control plane (LCP). The CCP exists as part of the NSX Manager nodes and is offered by the NSX Controller role. The LCP exists on host transport nodes or on NSX Edge transport nodes.
Control Plane Components (2) The CCP and LCP perform different functions. • The CCP: – Computes the ephemeral runtime state based on the configuration from the management plane – Disseminates information reported by the data plane elements by using the LCP • The LCP: – Monitors local link status – Computes most ephemeral runtime states based on updates from the data plane and the CCP – Pushes stateless configurations to forwarding engines
About the Data Plane The data plane has several components and functions: • Includes multiple endpoints (ESXi hosts, KVM hosts, and NSX Edge) • Contains various workloads, such as VMs, containers, and applications running on bare-metal servers • Forwards data plane traffic • Uses a scale-out distributed forwarding model • Implements logical switching, distributed and centralized routing, and firewall filtering
Data Plane Functions The data plane forwards packets based on configurations populated by the control plane and reports topology information to the control plane. The data plane has the following responsibilities: • Maintains the status of and handles failover between multiple links or tunnels • Performs stateless forwarding based on tables and rules populated by the control plane • Maintains packet-level statistics
Data Plane Components Types of data plane components, called transport nodes, include: • Hypervisor transport nodes: – Act as forwarding plane for the VM traffic – Support ESXi and KVM hypervisors • Bare-metal transport nodes: – Include Linux-based and Windows workloads running on bare-metal servers – Include containers running on bare-metal servers without a hypervisor • NSX Edge cluster: – Contains edge transport nodes (VM or bare- metal form factors) – Provides stateful and gateway services
Review of Learner Objectives • Recognize the main elements in the NSX-T Data Center architecture • Describe the functions of NSX policy • Describe the NSX management cluster and the management plane • Identify the functions and components of the control plane • Identify the functions and components of the data plane
Key Points • The VMware Virtual Cloud Network is a ubiquitous software layer that connects and protects any workload across any environment. • The NSX family is a portfolio of various offerings, including NSX-T Data Center, vRealize Network Insight, NSX Cloud, NSX Intelligence, NSX Distributed IDS/IPS, NSX Advanced Load Balancer, NSX Service Mesh, and VMware HCX. • In an NSX management cluster, each node performs the management, control, and policy roles. • NSX policy provides consistency in networking and security configuration across the NSX-T Data Center environment. • The data plane in NSX-T Data Center forwards packets, based on tables populated by the control plane and reports topology information, to the control plane. Questions?
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