You can deploy Avi Load Balancer for workload domains that do not share their NSX Manager with any other workload domains.

Avi Load Balancer was formerly known as NSX Advanced Load Balancer. The SDDC Manager UI still refers to NSX Advanced Load Balancer.

You cannot deploy Avi Load Balancer on a workload domain that shares its NSX Manager with another workload domain.

Prerequisites

Download the install bundle for a supported version of NSX Advanced Load Balancer. See Downloading Install Bundles for VMware Cloud Foundation.

Procedure

  1. In the navigation pane, click Inventory > Workload Domains.
  2. In the Workload Domains page, click a domain name in the Domain column.
  3. Select Actions > Deploy NSX Advanced Load Balancer.
  4. Select the NSX Advanced Load Balancer version and click Next.
    Drop-down menu for selecting the NSX Advanced Load Balancer version.
  5. Select the appliance size and click Next.
    Drop-down menu for selecting the NSX Advanced Load Balancer appliance size. A table shows the required and available memory, CPU, and disk space.
    Make sure that the management domain has enough resources for the selected size.
  6. Enter the settings for the NSX Advanced Load Balancer Controller cluster and click Next.
    Administrator password Enter an administrator password. Although individual VMware Cloud Foundation accounts support different password requirements, it is recommended that you set passwords following a common set of requirements across all accounts:
    • Minimum length: 12
    • Maximum length: 20
    • At least one lowercase letter, one uppercase letter, a number, and one of the following special characters: ! @ # $ ^ *
    • Must NOT include:
      • A dictionary word
      • A palindrome
      • More than four monotonic character sequences
      • Three of the same consecutive characters
    Node 1 IP Address Enter the IP address of the first Avi Controller.
    Node 2 IP Address Enter the IP address of the second Avi Controller.
    Node 3 IP Address Enter the IP address of the third Avi Controller.
    Cluster VIP Enter the Avi Load Balancer Controller cluster IP address.

    The Avi Load Balancer Controller cluster IP address is a single IP address shared by the Avi Controllers within the cluster. It is the address to which the web interface, CLI commands, and REST API calls are directed. As a best practice, to access the Avi Controller, you must log in to the cluster IP address instead of the IP addresses of individual Avi Controller nodes.
    Cluster FQDN Enter the Avi Controller cluster FQDN.
    Note: When creating a service account for the NSX Advanced Load Balancer Controller cluster, VMware Cloud Foundation 5.2 combines the Avi Load Balancer VIP host name and the NSX Manager VIP host name to create the account, svc-<alb hostname>-<nsx hostname>. The total characters cannot exceed 32. VCF 5.2.1 automatically truncates the service account name to avoid deployment failures based on account name length.
    Cluster Name Enter a name for the Avi Controller cluster.
  7. Click Start Deployment.
    You can monitor the deployment in the Tasks panel.
    The Tasks panel showing the status of the NSX Advanced load Balancer cluster deployment.

What to do next

After the Avi Load Balancer Controller cluster deploys successfully, you can access the web interface from the Services tab for the workload domain by clicking the NSX Advanced Load Balancer link.
The Services tab for a workload domain, showing the NSX Advanced Load Balancer link.
You can manage the Avi Load Balancer Controller cluster administrator password and certificate using the SDDC Manager UI.