To isolate the compute workloads from the networking workloads, VMware Cloud Director supports the edge cluster object. An edge cluster consists of a vSphere resource pool and a storage policy that are used only for organization VDC edge gateways. Provider virtual data centers cannot use resources dedicated to edge clusters, and edge clusters cannot use resources dedicated to provider virtual data centers.

Edge clusters provide a dedicated L2 broadcast domain, which reduces the VLAN sprawls and ensures the network security and isolation. For example, the edge cluster can contain additional VLANs for peering with physical routers.

You can create any number of edge clusters. You can assign an edge cluster to an organization VDC as a primary or secondary edge cluster.

  • The primary edge cluster for an organization VDC is used for the main edge appliance of an organization VDC edge gateway.
  • The secondary edge cluster for an organization VDC is used for the standby edge appliance when an edge gateway is in HA mode.

Different organization VDCs can share edge clusters or can have their own dedicated edge clusters.

Starting with vCloud Director 9.7, the old process for using metadata to control the edge gateway placement is deprecated. See KB article 2151398.

You can migrate legacy edge gateways to newly created edge clusters by redeploying these edge gateways. See Redeploy an Edge Gateway in VMware Cloud Director.

Preparing Your Environment for an Edge Cluster

  1. In vSphere, create the resource pool for the target edge cluster.

    If an organization virtual data center is using a VLAN network pool, the VLAN network pool and the edge cluster for this organization virtual data center must reside on the same vSphere distributed switch.

  2. If an organization virtual data center is using a VXLAN network pool, in NSX, add the edge cluster to the VXLAN transport zone, after which synchronize the VXLAN network pool in VMware Cloud Director.
  3. In vSphere, create the edge cluster storage profile.

Creating and Managing Edge Clusters

After you prepare your environment, to create and manage edge clusters, you must use the VMware Cloud Director OpenAPI EdgeClusters methods. See Getting Started with VMware Cloud Director OpenAPI.

Viewing edge clusters requires the Edge Cluster View right. Creating, updating, and deleting edge clusters require the Edge Cluster Manage right.

When you create an edge cluster, you specify the name, the vSphere resource pool, and the storage profile name.

After you create an edge cluster, you can modify its name and description. After you delete or move its containing edge gateways, you can delete an edge cluster.

Assigning an Edge Cluster to an Organization VDC

After you create an edge cluster, you can assign this edge cluster to an organization VDC by updating the organization VDC network profile. You can assign an edge cluster to an organization VDC as a primary or secondary edge cluster.

If you do not assign a secondary edge cluster, the standby edge appliance of an edge gateway in HA mode is deployed on the primary edge cluster but on a host different from the host running the primary edge appliance.

To update, view, and delete organization VDC network profiles, you must use the VMware Cloud Director OpenAPI VdcNetworkProfile methods. See Getting Started with VMware Cloud Director OpenAPI.

Considerations:
  • The primary and secondary edge clusters must reside on the same vSphere distributed switch.
  • If the organization VDC uses a VXLAN network pool, the NSX Transport Zone must span the compute and the edge clusters.
  • If the organization VDC uses a VLAN network pool, the edge clusters and the compute clusters must be on the same vSphere distributed switch.

If you update again the primary or secondary edge cluster of an organization VDC, to move an existing edge gateway to the new cluster, you must redeploy this edge gateway. See Redeploy an Edge Gateway in VMware Cloud Director.