Install NSX Manager on ESXi Using the Command-Line OVF Tool

If you prefer to automate or use CLI for the NSX Manager installation, you can use the VMware OVF Tool, which is a command-line utility.

By default, nsx_isSSHEnabled and nsx_allowSSHRootLogin are both disabled for security reasons. When they are disabled, you cannot SSH or log in to the NSX Manager command line. If you enable nsx_isSSHEnabled but not nsx_allowSSHRootLogin, you can SSH to NSX Manager but you cannot log in as root.

Prerequisites

Verify that the system requirements are met. See System Requirements.
Verify that the required ports are open. See Ports and Protocols.
Verify that a datastore is configured and accessible on the ESXi host.
Verify that you have the IP address and gateway, DNS server IP addresses, domain search list, and the NTP server IP address for the NSX Manager to use.
If you do not already have one, create the target VM port group network. Place the NSX-T Data Center appliances on a management VM network.
If you have multiple management networks, you can add static routes to the other networks from the NSX-T Data Center appliance.
Plan your NSX Manager IPv4 IP addressing scheme.

Procedure

Run the ovftool command with the appropriate parameters.

The process depends on whether the host is standalone or managed by vCenter Server.

For a standalone host:

Note: On a standalone host, if you enter an incorrect role in the nsx_role property, then the appliance is deployed in the NSX Manager role.

Windows example:

C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware OVF Tool>ovftool \
--sourceType=OVA \
--name=nsx-manager \
--deploymentOption=medium \ 
--X:injectOvfEnv \
--X:logFile=<filepath>\nsxovftool.log \
--allowExtraConfig \
--datastore=<datastore name> \
--network=<network name> \
--acceptAllEulas \
--noSSLVerify \
--diskMode=thin \ 
--powerOn \
--prop:"nsx_role=NSX Manager" \
--prop:"nsx_ip_0=10.168.110.75" \
--prop:"nsx_netmask_0=255.255.255.0" \
--prop:"nsx_gateway_0=10.168.110.1" \
--prop:"nsx_dns1_0=10.168.110.10" \
--prop:"nsx_domain_0=corp.local" \
--prop:"nsx_ntp_0=10.168.110.10" \
--prop:"nsx_isSSHEnabled=<True|False>" \
--prop:"nsx_allowSSHRootLogin=<True|False>" \
--prop:"nsx_passwd_0=<password>" \
--prop:"nsx_cli_passwd_0=<password>" \
--prop:"nsx_cli_audit_passwd_0=<password>" \
--prop:"nsx_hostname=nsx-manager" \
<nsx-unified-appliance-release>.ova \
vi://root:<password>@10.168.110.51

Note: The above Windows code block uses the backslash (\) to indicate the continuation of the command line. In actual use, omit the backslash and put the entire command in a single line.

Note: In the above example, 10.168.110.51 is the IP address of the host machine where NSX Manager is to be deployed.

Note: In the above example, --deploymentOption is set to the default size Medium. To know the other supported sizes, see NSX Manager VM and Host Transport Node System Requirements.

Linux example:

mgrformfactor="small"
ipAllocationPolicy="fixedPolicy"
mgrdatastore="QNAP-Share-VMs"
mgrnetwork="Management-VLAN-210"

mgrname01="nsx-manager-01"
mgrhostname01="nsx-manager-01"
mgrip01="192.168.210.121"

mgrnetmask="255.255.255.0"
mgrgw="192.168.210.254"
mgrdns="192.168.110.10"
mgrntp="192.168.210.254"
mgrpasswd="<password>"
mgrssh="<True|False>"
mgrroot="<True|False>"
logLevel="trivia"

mgresxhost01="192.168.110.113"

ovftool --noSSLVerify --skipManifestCheck --powerOn \
--deploymentOption=$mgrformfactor \
--diskMode=thin \
--acceptAllEulas \
--allowExtraConfig \
--ipProtocol=IPv4 \
--ipAllocationPolicy=$ipAllocationPolicy \
--datastore=$mgrdatastore \
--network=$mgrnetwork \
--name=$mgrname01 \
--prop:nsx_hostname=$mgrhostname01 \
--prop:nsx_role="NSX Manager" \
--prop:nsx_ip_0=$mgrip01 \
--prop:nsx_netmask_0=$mgrnetmask \
--prop:nsx_gateway_0=$mgrgw \
--prop:nsx_dns1_0=$mgrdns \
--prop:nsx_ntp_0=$mgrntp \
--prop:nsx_passwd_0=$mgrpasswd \
--prop:nsx_cli_passwd_0=$mgrpasswd \
--prop:nsx_cli_audit_passwd_0=$mgrpasswd \
--prop:nsx_isSSHEnabled=$mgrssh \
--prop:nsx_allowSSHRootLogin=$mgrroot \
--X:logFile=nsxt-manager-ovf.log \
--X:logLevel=$logLevel \
/home/<user/nsxt-autodeploy/<nsx-unified-appliance-release>.ova \
vi://root:<password>@$mgresxhost01

The result should look something like this:

Opening OVA source: nsx-<component>.ova
The manifest validates
Source is signed and the certificate validates
Opening VI target: vi://root:<password>@10.168.110.51
Deploying to VI: vi://root:<password>@10.168.110.51
Transfer Completed
Powering on VM: NSX Manager
Task Completed
Completed successfully

For a host managed by vCenter Server: