Install the Active and Standby Global Manager

To use NSX Federation, you must install the Global Manager.

Installing a Global Manager appliance is similar to installing an NSX Manager appliance. The only difference is that when you deploy the appliance, you select NSX Global Manager for the role.

Install a standby Global Manager appliance for high availability and disaster recovery. The standby Global Manager appliance must be installed in a different location with a latency of 500ms or less.

Prerequisites

• Verify that your environment meets the requirements for NSX Manager. See NSX Manager VM and Host Transport Node System Requirements.

• Decide which locations will contain the active and standby Global Manager appliances.
• Verify that you are installing the Global Manager appliance with NSX 3.2.0 or later.
  Important: In order to consume the latest features of a given NSX version, all Global Manager and Local Manager appliances in an NSX Federation environment must have the same version of NSX installed.

Procedure

1. To install the first Global Manager appliance on vSphere: Install NSX Manager and Available Appliances.
   • Select Medium, Large, or Extra Large for the deployment configuration size. Starting in NSX Federation 4.2, the XL form factor is available. Do not use Small.
   • Select NSX Federation Global Manager for the Rolename.
2. Log in to the NSX Manager appliance.
   See Log In to the Newly Created NSX Manager.
3. Configure a compute manager.
   See Add a Compute Manager.

   Note: If you are at this step while installing the standby Global Manager, you must configure a separate compute manager. Do not use the same compute manager that you configured for the active Global Manager.
4. Create a Global Manager cluster. See Cluster Requirements for an Individual Site for design recommendations.
   • On vSphere with a compute manager configured: See Deploy NSX Manager Nodes to Form a Cluster from the UI.
   • On vSphere without a compute manager configured: Repeat the NSX Manager install on vSphere steps to install three appliances, then form the cluster. See Form an NSX Manager Cluster Using the CLI.
5. Configure a VIP for the Global Manager cluster.
   See Configure a Virtual IP Address for a Cluster.
6. In a different location, install a standby Global Manager appliance and form a cluster by repeating these steps.

What to do next

Select the designated Global Manager appliance as active and connect it with the standby Global Manager.