Manually Install NSX-T Data Center Kernel Modules on ESXi Hypervisors

To prepare hosts to participate in NSX-T Data Center, you must install NSX-T Data Center kernel modules on ESXi hosts. This allows you to build the NSX-T Data Center control-plane and management-plane fabric. NSX-T Data Center kernel modules packaged in VIB files run within the hypervisor kernel and provide services such as distributed routing, distributed firewall, and bridging capabilities.

You can download the NSX-T Data Center VIBs manually and make them part of the host image. The download paths can change for each release of NSX-T Data Center. Always check the NSX-T Data Center downloads page to get the appropriate VIBs.

Procedure

Log in to the host as root or as a user with administrative privileges
Navigate to the /tmp directory.
```
[root@host:~]: cd /tmp
```
Download and copy the nsx-lcp file into the /tmp directory.

Run the install command.

[root@host:/tmp]: esxcli software vib install -d /tmp/nsx-lcp-<release>.zip
Installation Result
   Message: The update completed successfully, but the system needs to be rebooted for the changes to be effective.
   Reboot Required: true
   VIBs Installed: VMware_bootbank_nsx-adf_<release>, VMware_bootbank_nsx-aggservice_<release>, VMware_bootbank_nsx-cli-libs_<release>, VMware_bootbank_nsx-common-libs_<release>, VMware_bootbank_nsx-context-mux_<release>, VMware_bootbank_nsx-esx-datapath_<release>, VMware_bootbank_nsx-exporter_<release>, VMware_bootbank_nsx-host_<release>, VMware_bootbank_nsx-metrics-libs_<release>, VMware_bootbank_nsx-mpa_<release>, VMware_bootbank_nsx-nestdb-libs_<release>, VMware_bootbank_nsx-nestdb_<release>, VMware_bootbank_nsx-netcpa_<release>, VMware_bootbank_nsx-netopa_<release>, VMware_bootbank_nsx-opsagent_<release>, VMware_bootbank_nsx-platform-client_<release>, VMware_bootbank_nsx-profiling-libs_<release>, VMware_bootbank_nsx-proxy_<release>, VMware_bootbank_nsx-python-gevent_<release>, VMware_bootbank_nsx-python-greenlet_<release>, VMware_bootbank_nsx-python-logging_<release>, VMware_bootbank_nsx-python-protobuf_<release>, VMware_bootbank_nsx-rpc-libs_<release>, VMware_bootbank_nsx-sfhc_<release>, VMware_bootbank_nsx-shared-libs_<release>, VMware_bootbank_nsx-upm-libs_<release>, VMware_bootbank_nsx-vdpi_<release>, VMware_bootbank_nsxcli_<release>, VMware_bootbank_vsipfwlib_<release>
   VIBs Removed: 
   VIBs Skipped:

Depending on what was already installed on the host, some VIBs might be installed, some might be removed, and some might be skipped. A reboot is not required unless the command output says Reboot Required: true.

Results

As a result of adding an ESXi host to the NSX-T Data Center fabric, the following VIBs get installed on the host.

nsx-adf: (Automated Diagnostics Framework) Collects and analyzes performance data to produce both local (at host) and central (across datacenter) diagnoses of performance issues.
nsx-aggservice: Provides host-side libraries for NSX-T Data Center aggregation service. NSX-T Data Center aggregation service is a service that runs in the management-plane nodes and fetches runtime state from NSX-T Data Center components.
nsx-cfgagent: Provides communication between the central control plane and hypervisors. Receives logical networking state from the central control plane and programs this state in the data plane.
nsx-cli-libs: Provides the NSX-T Data Center CLI on hypervisor hosts.
nsx-common-libs: Provide some utilities classes such as AES, SHA-1, UUID, bitmap, and others.
nsx-context-mux: Provides NSX Guest Introspection relay functionality. Allows VMware Tools guest agents to relay guest context to inhouse and registered third-party partner appliances.
nsx-esx-datapath: Provides NSX-T Data Center data plane packet processing functionality.
nsx-exporter: Provides host agents that report runtime state to the aggregation service running in the management plane.
nsx-host: Provides metadata for the VIB bundle that is installed on the host.
nsx-metrics-libs: Provides metric utility classes for collecting daemon metrics.
nsx-mpa: Provides communication between NSX Manager and hypervisor hosts.
nsx-nestdb: NestDB is a database that stores NSX configurations related to the host (desired/runtime state, etc).
nsx-opsagent: Communicates operations agent executions (transport node realization, Link Layer Discovery Protocol - LLDP,traceflow, packet capture, etc.) with the management plane.
nsx-netcpa: Provides communication required by the different components.

nsx-platform-client: Provides a common CLI execution agent, for centralized CLI and audit log collecting.
nsx-profiling-libs: Provides the functionality of profiling based on gpeftool which used for daemon process profiling.
nsx-proxy: Provides the only northbound contact point agent, which talks to the central control plane and management plane.
nsx-python-gevent: Contains Python Gevent.
nsx-python-greenlet: Contains Python Greenlet library (third party libraries).
nsx-python-logging: Contains the Python logs.
nsx-python-protobuf: Provides Python bindings for protocol buffers.
nsx-rpc-libs: This library provides nsx-rpc functionality.
nsx-sfhc: Service fabric host component (SFHC). Provides a host agent for managing the lifecycle of the hypervisor as a fabric host in the management plane's inventory. This provides a channel for operations such as NSX-T Data Center upgrade and uninstall and monitoring of NSX-T Data Center modules on hypervisors.
nsx-shared-libs: Contains the shared NSX libraries.
nsx-upm-libs: Provides unified profile management functionality for flattening client-side configuration and avoiding duplicate data transmission.
nsx-vdpi: Provides Deep Packet Inspection capabilities for NSX-T Data Center Distributed Firewall.
vsipfwlib: Provides distributed firewall functionality.
nsxcli: Provides the NSX-T Data Center CLI on hypervisor hosts.

To verify, you can run the esxcli software vib list | grep -E 'nsx|vsip' or esxcli software vib list | grep <yyyy-mm-dd> command on the ESXi host, where the date is the day that you performed the installation.

What to do next

Add the host to the NSX-T Data Center management plane. See Form an NSX Manager Cluster Using the CLI.