Before you deploy an NSX Edge cluster on a workload domain, review the prerequisites.

  • The workload domain must have NSX deployed.
  • Verify that separate VLANs and subnets are available for the NSX host overlay VLAN and NSX Edge overlay VLAN. You cannot use DHCP for the NSX Edge overlay VLAN.
  • Verify that the NSX host overlay VLAN and NSX Edge overlay VLAN are routed to each other.
  • For dynamic routing, set up two Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) peers on Top of Rack (ToR) switches with an interface IP, BGP autonomous system number (ASN), and BGP password.
  • Reserve a BGP ASN to use for the NSX Edge cluster’s Tier-0 gateway.
  • Verify that DNS entries for the NSX Edge nodes are populated in the customer-managed DNS server.
  • The vSphere cluster hosting an NSX Edge cluster must include hosts with identical management, uplink, NSX Edge overlay TEP, and NSX Edge overlay TEP networks (L2 uniform).
  • If the vSphere cluster hosting the NSX Edge nodes has hosts with a DPU device:
    • Enable SR-IOV in the BIOS and in the vSphere Client (if required by your DPU vendor).
    • Ensure that UPT is enabled for the DPU-backed NICs.
    Important: You cannot use SDDC Manager to deploy an NSX Edge cluster on a vSphere cluster with dual DPU hosts configured for high-availability. Use NSX Manager instead.
  • The management network and management network gateway for the NSX Edge nodes must be reachable from the NSX host overlay and NSX Edge overlay VLANs.
Note: VMware Cloud Foundation 4.5 and later support deploying an NSX Edge cluster on a vSphere cluster that is stretched. Edge nodes are placed on ESXi hosts in the first availability zone (AZ1) during NSX Edge cluster deployment.