Edge Cluster Deployment for Bridging

The VMware NSX Migration for VMware Cloud Director requires one or more dedicated NSX-T edge cluster(s) with edge transport nodes configured in advance. For routed or isolated Org VDC networks, the migration tool will automatically configure L2 bridging between VXLAN and Geneve overlay networks or between VLAN networks and Geneve overlay networks. Layer 2 bridging minimizes East-West network disruption during migration.

Note that routed or isolated vApp networks are not bridged; thus, the workloads connected to them will experience additional networking downtime during their vMotion from source to the target environment.

The bridging edge nodes must be deployed to the source vSphere infrastructure and must have access to the VXLAN port groups. They should be connected to a trunk port group with access to VLANs used by VLAN network pools and to transport Geneve VLAN used as routed or switched underlay in the target NSX-T environment.

The migration tool requires a dedicated transport zone for bridging which will be created and configured automatically by the tool. The Edge Switch Name of bridging Edge Transport Node should be the same as the Switch Name of Overlay Transport Zone. The table below can be used as a reference.

Entity	Edge/Host-Switch-Name/N-VDS
Bridging Edge Transport Node	`<host-switch-name-1>`
Overlay Transport Zone	`<host-switch-name-1>`

Note
In NSX-T 3.1 and later, the Transport Zone Host Switch Name has been deprecated and removed from the NSX-T configuration UI. However, the parameter still exists from an API point of view. Two scenarios exist:

NSX-T was installed before 3.1 and the Overlay Transport Zone was created using a specific Host Switch name. If this is true, the bridging edge nodes should be created using the same value.

NSX-T was installed in 3.1 (or later), if the Host Switch Name was not changed using API, the default value is nsxDefaultHostSwitch.

Prepare Edge Cluster Deployment for Bridging

This section provides information to create the edge cluster for bridging.

Deploy an edge VM on the NSX Data Center for the vSphere prepared cluster:
1. (If necessary) Attach the source vCenter Server as Compute Manager in System > Fabric > Compute Managers + Add Compute Manager.
2. Navigate to System > Fabric > Nodes.
3. On the Edge Transport Nodes tab, click + Add Edge NODE.
4. On the Name and Description page, enter the name, host name, and description for the edge VM and click Next.
1. On the Credentials page, set the password for the CLI and root users and click Next.
Ensure that the CLI and root user passwords are the same as the NSX-T Manager password.
1. On the Configure Deployment page, select the compute manager name.
2. Select the NSX Data Center for vSphere prepared hosts cluster and the datastore for the edge VM deployment and click Next.
1. On the Configure Node Settings page, select the IP Assignment as Static, and enter the Management and Default Gateway IP addresses and click Next.
1. On the Configure NSX page, select the overlay transport zone, add the N-VDS details, and click Finish.
The Edge Switch Name must be the same as the switch name used in the Overlay Transport Zone.

For the bridging configuration, the total number of deployed bridging edge nodes must be larger or equal to the maximum number of organization VDC networks to bridge in a single migration. The NSX Migration for VMware Cloud Director tool auto-configures the specific VXLAN or VLAN to Geneve bridging.
Create the edge cluster(s) using the edge nodes created in previous steps:
1. Navigate to System > Fabric > Nodes.
2. On the Edge Cluster tab, click + ADD EDGE CLUSTER.
3. Provide the required information, select the required edge nodes from the Available column, and move it to the Selected column.
You can either select the default edge cluster profile or create an edge cluster profile. You can configure a maximum of 10 edge nodes per NSX edge cluster. Multiple bridging edge clusters can be specified in the source input YAML file.
1. Click Add to create a cluster.