On-premises sites or the clients L2 VPN require a specially configured VMware® NSX Edge™ appliance called autonomous edge. Deploy the NSX Autonomous Edge appliance by using an OVF file on the ESXi host.

In on-premises data centers, you deploy an NSX Autonomous Edge and configure it as on-premises client side of an L2 VPN that connects to the cloud site.

Prerequisites

  • Verify that VMware Cloud Director Availability 4.2 or later is successfully deployed.
  • Verify that you have access to the NSX Edge OVF file.

Procedure

  1. Locate the NSX Edge OVF file on the VMware download portal and either copy the download URL or download it locally.
  2. By using the vSphere Client, log in to the vCenter Server that manages the non-NSX on-premises site.
  3. Select Hosts and Clusters and to show the available hosts, expand the clusters.
  4. To deploy the NSX Edge, right-click the host where you want it and select Deploy OVF Template.
    1. On the Select an OVF template page, to download and deploy the OVF file, paste the URL, or select a locally downloaded OVF file and click Next.
    2. On the Select a name and folder page, in the Virtual machine name text box enter a name for the NSX Autonomous Edge, select a location for its virtual machine and click Next.
    3. On the Select a compute resource page, select the destination compute resource and click Next.
    4. On the Review details page, verify the OVF package template details and click Next.
    5. On the Configuration page, select a deployment configuration size and click Next.
    6. On the Select storage page, select the provisioning, a storage for the configuration and the disk files and click Next.
    7. On the Select networks page, for all destination networks select the management network and click Next.
      After the setup completes, the On-Premises to Cloud Director Replication Appliance takes over managing the network interfaces of the NSX Autonomous Edge. For more information, see Configure the networks of the NSX Autonomous Edge on-premises.
    8. On the Customize template page, enter the following properties and click Next.
      Note: The NSX Edge appliance does not validate the property values such as the passwords before powering on for the first time.
      Option Description
      System Root User Password Enter and confirm the passwords for the system users, that meet the following complexity requirements:
      • At least 12 characters
      • At least one uppercase letter
      • At least one lowercase letter
      • At least one digit
      • At least one special character
      • At least five different characters
      • No dictionary words
      • No palindromes
      • No more than four monotonic character in a sequence
      Note: NSX Edge core services do not start unless you enter passwords meeting these requirements.
      CLI "admin" User Password
      Is Autonomous Edge

      Select this property to deploy the NSX Edge node as an autonomous edge in the L2 VPN topology. NSX does not manage NSX Edge nodes determined as autonomous edges.
      • You can enable SSH and allow root SSH login.
      • Skip configuring the remaining properties, like hostname or IP. VMware Cloud Director Availability needs a management IP address for the NSX Autonomous Edge to connect to. If the management network selected during the NSX Autonomous Edge deployment does not grant one, for example via DHCP, you must provide a static one.
    9. On the Ready to complete page, review the NSX Autonomous Edge settings and click Finish.
  5. After the deployment completes, power on the NSX Autonomous Edge virtual machine.

Results

The NSX Autonomous Edge appliance deployed successfully on-premises.

What to do next

Register this newly deployed NSX Autonomous Edge for L2 stretch management by using the management interface of the On-Premises to Cloud Director Replication Appliance. For more information, see Register the NSX Autonomous Edge on-premises.