After you add a location to Global Manager, you can create objects from Global Manager that span that location.

You can find the number of supported locations in the VMware Configuration Maximums tool. Select the appropriate version of NSX-T Data Center, select the NSX Federation category, and click View Limits.

Only use the admin account credentials to register the Local Manager with the Global Manager.

After you add a location to the Global Manager, the NSX Manager is called a Local Manager (LM).

Prerequisites

  • Verify that you have an NSX-T Data Center environment installed in the location you want to add.

    You can add a new NSX-T Data Center environment or an NSX-T Data Center environment with an existing configuration.

  • The NSX-T Data Center environment in the new location must have three NSX Manager nodes deployed and a cluster VIP configured. See Configure a Virtual IP Address for a Cluster.

    For a proof-of-concept environment, you can add a location that has only one NSX Manager node, but you must still configure a cluster VIP.

  • Verify that the latency between the Global Manager and the location is 150 ms or less.
  • Verify that the environment you are adding has NSX-T Data Center 3.1 installed .
  • Prior to NSX-T Data Center 3.1.1, if you are using VMware Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Integrated Edition (formerly VMware Enterprise PKS), you have to install the same certificate on all your NSX Manager nodes. On those releases, you cannot change the certificates on NSX Manager nodes after you add the NSX Manager to the Global Manager. You must update the certificates on your NSX Manager nodes before adding a location to the Global Manager, to ensure that you can use VMware Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Integrated Edition with your NSX-T Data Center deployment, while also using NSX Federation. See "Certificates" in the NSX-T Data Center Administration Guide for more information on certificates used in NSX-T Data Center, and how to replace them.

    For NSX-T Data Center 3.1.1 and later, certificates on your Local Manager can be updated, and communication between the Local Manager and the Global Manager continues.

Procedure

  1. Log in to the Global Manager at https://global-manager-ip-or-fqdn/.
  2. Select System > Location Manager and click Add On-Prem Location.
  3. In the Add New Location dialog box, enter the Location details.
    Option Description
    Location Name Provide a name for the location.
    FQDN/IP

    Enter the FQDN or IP address of the NSX Manager cluster VIP. Do not enter an individual NSX Manager FQDN or IP.
    Username and Password Provide the admin user's credentials for the NSX Manager at the location. Do not use any other account to register the Local Manager with the Global Manager.
    SHA-256 Thumbprint Log in to any NSX Manager node in the cluster and run this command: 
    get certificate cluster thumbprint

    The result is the cluster VIP certificate:

    bfae1a0a...
    Check Compatibility Click Check Compatibility to ensure that the location can be added. This checks that the NSX-T Data Center version is compatible.

What to do next

If you want to create gateways and segments that span more than one location, you must configure a remote tunnel endpoint (RTEP) on Edge nodes in each location to handle the cross-location traffic. See Configure Edge Nodes for Stretched Networking.