To install NSX Tools on your Linux workload VMs, follow these instructions.

See Supported Operating Systems for Workload VMs for a list of Linux distributions currently supported.

Note: To verify the checksum of this script, go to VMware Downloads > Drivers & Tools > NSX Cloud Scripts.

Prerequisites

  • Ensure that the following commands are available on your workload VM to run the NSX Tools installation script:
    • wget
    • nslookup
    • dmidecode
  • In Microsoft Azure, if you have a custom DNS server configured for the Azure VNet where the workload VMs are running, do one of the following:
      1. Add a DNS record to resolve the PCG's private IP and use that DNS name for the download/installation commands.
      2. Provide the corresponding DNS suffix and DNS server parameters for the NSX Tools installation command.
    • Or set up DNS forwarding on your DNS server to forward DNS queries to the PCG's FQDN (nsx-gw.vmware.local) to the Azure DNS: 168.63.129.16

Procedure

  1. Log in to CSM and go to your public cloud:
    1. If using AWS, go to Clouds > AWS > VPCs. Click a Transit or Compute VPC.
    2. If using Microsoft Azure, go to Clouds > Azure > VNets. Click the VNet on which one or a pair of PCGs is deployed and running.
    Note: Transit VPC/VNet is where one or a pair of PCGs is deployed and running. Compute VPC/VNet is the one linked to a Transit and can use the PCG instances deployed there.
  2. From the NSX Tools Download & Installation section of the screen, make a note of the Download Location and the Installation Command under Linux.
    Note: For VNets, if you have a custom DNS configured, see prerequisites regarding DNS settings.
  3. Log in to the Linux workload VM with superuser privileges.
  4. Use wget or equivalent to download the installation script on your Linux VM from the Download Location you noted from CSM. The installation script is downloaded in the directory where you run the wget command.
    Note: To verify the checksum of this script, go to VMware Downloads > Drivers & Tools > NSX Cloud Scripts.
  5. Change permissions on the installation script to make it executable if necessary, and run it:
    $ chmod +x install_nsx_vm_agent.sh && sudo ./install_nsx_vm_agent.sh 
    
    Note: On Red Hat Enterprise Linux and its derivatives, SELinux is not supported. To install NSX Tools, disable SELinux.
  6. You lose connectivity with your Linux VM after installation of NSX Tools begins. Messages such as the following appear on your screen: Installation completed!!! Starting NSX Agent service. SSH connection will now be lost.. To complete the onboarding process, log in to your VM again.

Results

NSX Tools are installed on your workload VM.

Note:
  • After NSX Tools are successfully installed, port 8888 shows as open on the workload VM but it is blocked for VMs in the underlay mode and must be used only when required for advanced troubleshooting. You can access workload VMs over port 8888 using a jumphost if the jumphost is also in the same VPC as the workload VMs that you want to access.
  • The script uses eth0 as the default interface.

What to do next

Managing VMs in the NSX Enforced Mode