To ensure complete system redundancy, the NSX Advanced Load Balancer Controller must be highly available. To provide high availability (HA) for the Controller, add two additional Controller nodes to create a three-node Controller cluster.
HA of the Controller requires three separate Controller instances configured as a 3-node cluster. Start with a single-node Controller deployment and use the following steps to add two additional Controller nodes to form a 3-node cluster.
If the cluster is already deployed and you want to modify its node membership or dismantle the cluster, see Changing NSX Advanced Load Balancer Controller Cluster Configuration.
Prerequisites for Cluster Deployment
A Controller cluster can have three nodes, one leader node, and two follower nodes.
- Leader node
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The leader can be any single node with configuration or without configuration.
The leader can have SEs connected.
The node must have a static IP address.
Using DHCP can cause issues when nodes reboot and their IP addresses change.
The current release does not support the use of hostnames for cluster configuration.
- Follower nodes
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An NSX Advanced Load Balancer Controller cluster can have 3 nodes, 1 leader node and 2 follower nodes.
Follower nodes must have only factory-default configuration.
In AWS environments, follower nodes must have an initial password configured. For more information, see Changes for Cluster Set-up for AWS Deployments topic in the VMware NSX Advanced Load BalancerInstallation Guide.
In all other environments, follower nodes must be using the default initial admin credentials; do not run the initial setup wizard to set an admin password.
Follower nodes are expected to be running the same NSX Advanced Load Balancer base+patch version as the leader.
Follower typically is a VM or container created from the the NSX Advanced Load Balancer Controller installation package.
Each follower node must have a static IP address.
Caveats
The current release does not support the use of hostnames for cluster configuration.
