You can configure the IP pools needed for a DHCP service of an NSX Data Center for vSphere edge gateway. DHCP automates IP address assignment to virtual machines connected to organization virtual data center networks.

As described in the NSX Administration documentation, the DHCP service requires a pool of IP addresses. An IP pool is a sequential range of IP addresses within the network. Virtual machines protected by the edge gateway that do not have an address binding are allocated an IP address from this pool. IP pool ranges cannot intersect one another, thus one IP address can belong to only one IP pool.

Note: At least one DHCP IP pool must be configured to have the DHCP service status turned on.

Procedure

  1. Open Edge Gateway Services.
    1. From the top navigation bar, select Resources, and click the Cloud Resources tab.
    2. In the left panel, click Edge Gateways.
    3. Click the radio button next to the name of the target edge gateway, and click Services.
  2. Navigate to DHCP > Pools .
  3. If DHCP service is not currently enabled, turn on the DHCP Service Status toggle.
    Note: Add at least one DHCP IP pool before saving changes after turning on the DHCP Service Status toggle. If no DHCP IP pools are listed on the screen and you turn on the DHCP Service Status toggle and save the changes, the screen displays with the toggle turned off.
  4. Under DHCP Pools, click the Create (Add button) button, specify the details for the DHCP pool, and click Keep.
    Option Description
    IP Range Type in a range of IP addresses.
    Domain Name Domain name of the DNS server.
    Auto Configure DNS Turn on this toggle to use the DNS service configuration for this IP pool DNS binding.

    If enabled, the Primary Name Server and Secondary Name Server are set to Auto.

    Primary Name Server When you do not enable Auto Configure DNS, type your primary DNS server IP address of your primary DNS server.

    This IP address is used for hostname-to-IP address resolution.

    Secondary Name Server When you do not enable Auto Configure DNS, type your secondary DNS server IP address.

    This IP address is used for hostname-to-IP address resolution.

    Default Gateway Type the default gateway address.

    When you do not specify the default gateway IP address, the internal interface of the edge gateway instance is taken as the default gateway.

    Subnet Mask Type the subnet mask of the edge gateway interface.
    Lease Never Expires Enable this toggle to keep the IP addresses that are assigned out of this pool bound to their assigned virtual machines forever.

    When you select this option, Lease Time is set to infinite.

    Lease Time (Seconds) Length of time (in seconds) that the DHCP-assigned IP addresses are leased to the clients.

    The default lease time is one day (86400 seconds).

    Note: You cannot specify a lease time when you select Lease never expires.
  5. Click Save changes.

Results

VMware Cloud Director updates the edge gateway to provide DHCP services.