Prepare the vCenter Instance for NSX-Based Deployment

Before you install and deploy VMware Integrated OpenStack, prepare your vCenter instance by setting up the necessary clusters, firewall, and network resources.

About this task

For details about working with vCenter Server, see the vSphere documentation.

For details about working with data centers, see the vSphere documentation.

Prerequisites

Verify that the required VLANs are configured. See Physical NSX Network.

Procedure

1. (Optional) Configure a vCenter instance dedicated to your VMware Integrated OpenStack deployment.

   A dedicated vCenter instance is not required but optimizes deployment.

2. Create a vCenter Server.
3. Define a data center in the vCenter instance.
4. Create the Management cluster.

   The management cluster contains VMware Integrated OpenStack management operations and the Integrated OpenStack Manager used to deploy and manage the Integrated OpenStack deployment.

   1. Name the cluster.
   2. Assign at least three hosts to the management cluster.
   3. Attach one or more datastores to the management cluster to store images for the Image Service component.
5. Create the Compute cluster.
   1. Name the cluster.
   2. Assign at least one host to the compute cluster.
   3. Attach one or more datastores to each Compute cluster.
6. Create the Edge cluster.

   The recommended architecture separates the NSX Edge nodes into a dedicated cluster to ensure optimal performance. NSX Edge nodes provide DHCP and support for routing, and floating IP addresses.

   1. Name the cluster.
   2. Assign at least one host to the Edge cluster.
   3. Attach one or more datastores to the Edge cluster.
7. Configure all clusters with the following settings.

   • Enable VMware vSphere Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS).

   • Enable Host Monitoring.

   • Enable Admission Control and set the policy. The default policy is to tolerate one host failure.

   • Set virtual machine restart policy to High.

   • Set virtual machine monitoring to virtual machine and Application Monitoring.

   • Set monitoring sensitivity to High.

   • Enable vMotion and Fault Tolerance Logging.

   • Enable Hardware VT enabled in the BIOS of all hosts in the cluster.

   • Enable vMotion and Fault Tolerance Logging for the management network VMkernel port.

8. Create and configure the Virtual Distributed Switch (VDS) appropriate to your physical implementation.

   The VDS configuration depends on whether the Management, Edge, and Compute clusters are L2 adjacent. Clusters that are L2 adjacent can share the same VDS. Otherwise, create a separate VDS for each cluster.

   Typically, there are three possible configurations:

   • You add the Management, Edge, and Compute clusters to a shared VDS. (All three clusters are L2 adjacent.)

   • You add the Management and Edge clusters to a shared VDS, and add the Compute cluster to a separate VDS. (The Management and Edge clusters are L2 adjacent.)

   • You add the Management, Edge, and Compute clusters to separate VDS switches. (None of the clusters are L2 adjacent.)

9. Create a management port group on each VDS (Management, Edge, and Compute), and tag them with the VLAN ID assigned to the Management network.
10. Create the API Access port group on the Management VDS, and tag it with the VLAN ID assigned to the API Access network.
11. Create the External port group on the Edge VDS, and tag it with the VLAN ID assigned to the External network.