With NSX Federation, you can federate NSX environments across VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) instances. You can manage federated NSX environments with a single pane of glass, create gateways and segments that span VMware Cloud Foundation instances, and configure and enforce firewall rules consistently across instances.

Important: If you plan to deploy VMware Aria Suite components, you must deploy Application Virtual Networks before you configure NSX Federation. See Deploying Application Virtual Networks in VMware Cloud Foundation.

NSX Federation is supported between VCF and non-VCF deployments. If you choose to federate NSX between VCF and non-VCF deployments, you are responsible for the deployment and lifecycle of the NSX Global Managers, as well as maintaining version interoperability between VCF-owned NSX Local Managers, non-VCF NSX Local Managers, and the NSX Global Manager.