Network Design for Health Reporting and Monitoring for VMware Cloud Foundation

The network design details the design decisions for the network segment placement, IP addressing, name resolution, and time syncronization of the host virtual machine.

Network Segment

This validated solution places the host virtual machine on the management VLAN of the VMware Cloud Foundation instance. This ensures connectivity and close proximity to SDDC Manager and VMware Aria Operations.

Figure 1. Network Design for Health Reporting and Monitoring

Table 1. Design Decisions on Network Segments for the Host Virtual Machine

Decision ID	Design Decision	Design Justification	Design Implication
HRM-VM-NET-001	Place the host virtual machine on the management VLAN of the management domain.	Place the host virtual machine on the same network as SDDC Manager for direct communication.	None

IP Addressing

Allocate a statically assigned IP address and host name to the host virtual machine from the corresponding network.

Table 2. Design Decisions on IP Addresses for the Host Virtual Machine

Decision ID	Design Decision	Design Justification	Design Implication
HRM-VM-NET-002	Allocate statically assigned IP address from the management VLAN to the host virtual machine.	Using statically assigned IP addresses ensures stability of the deployment and simplifies maintenance and tracking.	Requires precise IP address management.

Name Resolution

Name resolution provides the translation between an IP address and a fully qualified domain name (FQDN), which makes it easier to connect to components across the SDDC. The IP address of the host virtual machine must have a valid internal DNS forward (A) and reverse (PTR) records.

Table 3. Design Decisions on Name Resolution for the Host Virtual Machine

Decision ID	Design Decision	Design Justification	Design Implication
HRM-VM-NET-003	Configure forward and reverse DNS records for the host virtual machine IP address.	Ensures the host virtual machine is accessible by using a fully qualified domain name instead of using IP address only.	You must provide a DNS record for the host virtual machine IP address. Firewalls between the host virtual machine and the DNS servers must allow DNS traffic.
HRM-VM-NET-004	Configure DNS servers on the host virtual machine.	Ensures the host virtual machine has accurate name resolution.	DNS infrastructure services should be highly-available in the environment. Firewalls between the appliance and the DNS servers must allow DNS traffic. You must provide two or more DNS servers unless a DNS geographic load balancing is active.

Time Synchronization

Time synchronization provided by the Network Time Protocol (NTP) ensures that all components within the SDDC are synchronized to the same time source. This section of the design consists of characteristics and decisions that support the time configuration for the host vitual machine.

Table 4. Design Decisions on Time Synchronization for the Host Virtual Machine

Decision ID	Design Decision	Design Justification	Design Implication
HRM-VM-NET-005	Configure NTP servers for the host virtual machine.	Ensures that the host virtual machine has accurate time synchronization. Assists in the prevention of time mismatch between the host virtual machine and any dependencies.	NTP infrastructure services should be highly-available in the environment. Firewalls between the host virtual machine and the NTP servers must allow NTP traffic. You must provide two or more NTP servers unless an NTP geographic load balancing is active.