Creating and Managing Network Profiles (NSX-T Only)

This topic describes how VMware Tanzu Kubernetes Grid Integrated Edition (TKGI) administrators can create and delete network profiles for Kubernetes clusters provisioned by TKGI on vSphere with NSX‑T integration.

This topic also describes the use cases for when a TKGI administrator should use a network profile.

Prerequisite

TKGI supports network profiles on TKGI on vSphere with NSX‑T only.

To work with TKGI network profiles you must be either a cluster manager or cluster administrator:

• To create or delete a network profile, you must be a cluster administrator: pks.clusters.admin.

• To use a network profile, you must be a cluster manager: pks.clusters.manage or a cluster administrator: pks.clusters.admin.

Note: If a cluster manager, pks.clusters.manage, attempts to create or delete a network profile, the following error occurs: “You do not have enough privileges to perform this action. Please contact the TKGI administrator.”

Overview

You can use network profiles to customize your TKGI Kubernetes clusters on vSphere with NSX‑T. For information on when to use network profiles, see Network Profile Use Cases below.

TKGI cluster administrators can administer network profiles in the following ways:

• Create a Network Profile
• Update an Existing Network Profile
• Delete a Network Profile

TKGI cluster administrators can also use network profiles in all the ways that a cluster manager can:

• List Network Profiles
• Create a Cluster with a Network Profile
• Assign a Network Profile to an Existing Cluster
• Update an Existing Network Profile

For information on managing network profiles, see Using and Managing Network Profiles.

Create a Network Profile

The following is the basic structure of a network profile JSON configuration:

{
    "name": "PROFILE-NAME",
    "description": "PROFILE-DESCRIP",
    "parameters": {
        TOP-LEVEL-PARAMETERS,
        "cni_configurations": {
            "type": "nsxt",
            "parameters": {
                CNI-CONFIGURATIONS-PARAMETERS
            }
        }
    }
}

Where:

• PROFILE-NAME is the internal name of the network profile.
• PROFILE-DESCRIP is an internal description of the network profile.
• TOP-LEVEL-PARAMETERS are one or more comma-delimited top-level parameters in a Network Profile. For more information, see Top-Level Parameters below.
• CNI-CONFIGURATIONS-PARAMETERS are one or more comma-delimited cni_configurations parameters in a Network Profile. For more information, see cni_configurations Parameters below.

To create a network profile in TKGI:

1. Create a network profile configuration JSON file with the following content:

   {
       "name": "PROFILE-NAME",
       "description": "PROFILE-DESCRIP",
       "parameters": {
   
           "cni_configurations": {
               "type": "nsxt",
               "parameters": {
   
   
               }
           }
       }
   }
   

   Where:

   • PROFILE-NAME is the internal name for your network profile.
   • PROFILE-DESCRIP is an internal description for your network profile.

2. Edit the file to specify your network parameters. For information about the available network parameters, see Network Profile Parameters below.

3. Review your network profile configuration carefully. If you are modifying an existing cluster, ensure that you are modifying only parameters that support modification. For information on which network profile parameters are updateable in this version of TKGI, see the network profile parameters tagged Updatable in the Network Profile Parameters tables below. You cannot modify any other network profile parameters on an existing cluster.

4. To create a network profile from your network profile configuration, run the following TKGI CLI command:

   tkgi create-network-profile PATH-TO-YOUR-NETWORK-PROFILE-CONFIGURATION
   

   Where PATH-TO-YOUR-NETWORK-PROFILE-CONFIGURATION is the path to your network profile configuration file.
   
   For example:

    $ tkgi create-network-profile np-routable-pods.json
   
   Network profile example-network-profile successfully created 

5. Store a copy of your network profile configuration in case you need to modify the network profile in the future.

Cluster managers can create new clusters with your network profile and assign your network profile to existing clusters. For information on managing network profiles, see Using and Managing Network Profiles.

Network Profile Example

The following is an example of a complete network profile JSON configuration:

{
    "name": "example-network-profile",
    "description": "Example Network Profile with All Available Parameters -- FOR ILLUSTRATION PURPOSES ONLY",
    "parameters": {
        "lb_size": "large",
        "pod_ip_block_ids": [
            "ebe78a74-a5d5-4dde-ba76-9cf4067eee55",
            "ebe78a74-a5d5-4dde-ba76-9cf4067eee56" ],
        "pod_subnet_prefix": 27,
        "pod_routable": true,
        "fip_pool_ids": [
            "e50e8f6e-1a7a-45dc-ad49-3a607baa7fa0",
            "ebe78a74-a5d5-4dde-ba76-9cf4067eee55" ],
        "t0_router_id": "5a7a82b2-37e2-4d73-9cb1-97a8329e1a90",
        "master_vms_nsgroup_id": "9b8d535a-d3b6-4735-9fd0-56305c4a5293",
        "node_ip_block_ids": [
            "2250dc43-63c8-4bb8-b8cf-c6e12ccfb7de", "3d577e5c-dcaf-4921-9458-d12b0e1318e6" ],
        "node_routable": true,
        "node_subnet_prefix": 20,
        "nodes_dns": [
            "8.8.8.8", "192.168.115.1", "192.168.116.1" ],      
        "dns_lookup_mode": "API_INGRESS",
        "ingress_prefix": "api",
        "single_tier_topology": true,
        "infrastructure_networks": [
            "30.0.0.0/24",
            "192.168.111.0/24",
            "192.168.115.1" ],
        "failover_mode": "PREEMPTIVE",        
        "cni_configurations": {
            "type": "nsxt",
            "parameters": {
                "nsx_lb": false,
                "nsx_ingress_controller": true,         
                "x_forwarded_for": "insert",
                "ingress_ip": "192.168.160.212",
                "log_settings": {
                    "log_level": "DEBUG",
                    "log_firewall_traffic": "ALL" },
                "ingress_persistence_settings": {
                    "persistence_type": "cookie",
                    "persistence_timeout": 1 },
                "max_l4_lb_service": 10,
                "l4_persistence_type": "source_ip",
                "l4_lb_algorithm": "weighted_round_robin",
                "top_firewall_section_marker":"section-id",
                "bottom_firewall_section_marker":"section-id",
                "lb_http_request_header_size":60,
                "lb_http_response_header_size":45,
                "lb_http_response_timeout":30,
                "connect_retry_timeout":30,
                "enable_hostport": true, 
                "enable_nodelocaldns": true,
                "client_ssl_profile": "example_ssl_profile_ID",
                "lb_connection_multiplexing_enabled": true,
                "lb_connection_multiplexing_number": 80  
            }
        }
    }
}

Note: This example network profile is for illustration purposes only. It is not intended to be used as a template for a network profile configuration.

Update an Existing Network Profile

To update an existing cluster’s network profile:

1. Confirm the Network Profile Property Supports Updates
2. Create a Modified Network Profile Configuration
3. Create a Modified Network Profile
4. Update the Cluster With a Modified Network Profile

Confirm the Network Profile Property Supports Updates

After you create a cluster, you can modify only specific network profile parameters. Ensure that you modify only parameters that support modification.

For information on which network profile parameters are updateable in this version of TKGI, see the network profile parameters tagged Updatable in the Network Profile Parameters tables below. You cannot modify any other network profile parameters on an existing cluster.

For more information, see Update-Cluster Network Profile Validation Rules below.

Create a Modified Network Profile Configuration

To create a modified network profile configuration file:

1. Make a copy of your original network profile configuration file.
   
   If it is not possible to obtain the original network profile, create a new network profile with the original values in all of the fields.
2. Change the name field to a unique name.

3. If you are updating the pod_ip_block_ids field, reorder the IP Block IDs or add additional IP Block IDs.
   
   For example, the following network profile has two pod_ip_block_ids, the first is the original IP block used when creating the cluster, and the second is the new IP block to use for pods.

   {
       "description": "Example network profile for adding pod IP addresses to an existing cluster",
       "name": "pod-ips-add",
       "parameters": {
         "pod_ip_block_ids": [
           "ebe78a74-a5d5-4dde-ba76-9cf4067eee55",
           "ebe78a74-a5d5-4dde-ba76-9cf4067eee56"
         ]
       }
   }
   

   Note: Update only network profile properties that support being updated.

   For more information on configuring a network profile, see Network Profile Parameters above.

4. Review and save the network profile configuration file.

5. Store a copy of your network profile configuration in case you need to modify the network profile in the future.

Create a Modified Network Profile

To create a network profile from a configuration file:

1. Run the following TKGI CLI command:

   tkgi create-network-profile PATH-TO-YOUR-NETWORK-PROFILE-CONFIGURATION
   

   Where PATH-TO-YOUR-NETWORK-PROFILE-CONFIGURATION is the path to your network profile configuration file.

Update the Cluster with a Modified Network Profile

To update a cluster with a modified network profile:

1. To apply the network profile created above to your cluster, run the following command::

   tkgi update-cluster CLUSTER-NAME --network-profile NETWORK-PROFILE-NAME
   

   Where:

   • CLUSTER-NAME is the unique name of your cluster.
   • NETWORK-PROFILE-NAME is the name of the network profile you want to use for your cluster.

TKGI validates the network profile before updating the cluster with the new network profile. For more information, see Update-Cluster Network Profile Validation Rules below.

Update-Cluster Network Profile Validation Rules

TKGI uses strict validation rules before applying a network profile to a cluster with an existing network profile:

• If a field in the original network profile is empty, the system ignores the empty field even if the field is included in the new network profile.
• If a field in the new network profile is empty, the system ignores the field even if the field is not empty in the original network profile.
• If the pod_ip_block_ids field in the new network profile contains the same entries as the existing network profile, the entry passes validation.
• If a field in the new network profile conflicts with the field in the existing network profile, the system reports the conflict and fails the validation.

Delete a Network Profile

TKGI administrators can delete a network profile that is not in use.

To delete a network profile:

1. Run the following TKGI CLI command:

   tkgi delete-network-profile NETWORK-PROFILE-NAME
   

   Where NETWORK-PROFILE-NAME is the name of the network profile you want to delete.

Note: You cannot delete a network profile that is in use.

Network Profile Parameters

The Top-Level Parameters and cni_configurations Parameters sections below describe the parameters you can add to a Network Profile.

Top-Level Parameters

TKGI supports the following top-level network profile parameters:

Parameter	Type	Description
name	String	Name of the network profile.
description	String	Description of the network profile.
parameters	Map	One or more name-value pairs.
cni_configurations	Map	Map containing key-value pairs for configuring NCP (see table below).
dns_lookup_mode	String	DNS lookup mode. Values: “API”, “API_INGRESS”. For Kubernetes API LB: “API”. For Ingress controller: “API_INGRESS”.
failover_mode	String	If the preferred node fails and recovers, enable the node to preempt a peer as the active node. Values: “PREEMPTIVE”, “NON_PREEMPTIVE”. Default: “PREEMPTIVE”.
fip_pool_ids	String	Array of floating IP pool UUIDs defined in NSX-T.
infrastructure_networks	String	Array of IP addresses and subnets for Node Networks for use with a Shared Tier-1 topology in a Multi-Tier-0 environment.
ingress_prefix	String	Ingress controller hostname prefix for DNS lookup. If DNS mode is set to API_INGRESS, TKGI creates the cluster with ingress_prefix.hostname as the Kubernetes control plane FQDN. TKGI confirms that the ingress subdomain can be resolved as a subdomain prefix on the host before creating new clusters.
lb_size	String	Size of the NSX-T load balancer service. Values: “small”, “medium”, “large”. Default Value: “small”.
master_vms_nsgroup_id	String	Namespace Group UUID as defined in NSX-T.
nodes_dns	String Updatable	Array (up to 3) of DNS server IP addresses for lookup of Kubernetes nodes and pods.
pod_ip_block_ids	String Updatable	Array of Pod IP Block UUIDs.
pod_routable	Boolean	Make the Pods subnet routable. Values: true, false. Default Value: false.
pod_subnet_prefix	Integer	Size of the Pods IP Block subnet.
single_tier_topology	Boolean	Use a single Tier-1 Router per cluster (shared). Values: true, false. Default Value: true.
t0_router_id	String	Tenant Tier-0 Router UUID defined in NSX-T.

Note: On an existing cluster, you can modify only the network profile parameters that are labeled Updatable.

cni_configurations Parameters

TKGI supports the following cni_configurations parameters:

Parameter	Type	Description
type	String	Values: “nsxt”.
parameters	Map	One or more name-value pairs for NCP settings.
bottom_firewall_section_marker	String	UUID of the bottom section-id for the distributed firewall (DFW) section as defined in NSX-T. See also: top_firewall_section_marker below and Define DFW Section Markers.
client_ssl_profile	String Updatable	The NSX-T client-side ssl profile to use, exposed by NCP as client_ssl_profile. Default: The default NCP client SSL profile. For more information, see client_ssl_profile below.
connect_retry_timeout	Integer	Configure HTTP LoadBalancer connection retry timeout. Example Value:30. See also: lb_http_response_timeout and persistence_timeout.
enable_hostport	Boolean Updatable	Enable NCP support for Kubernetes Host Port. Values: true, false. Default Value: false.
enable_nodelocaldns	Boolean Updatable	Enable NCP support for Kubernetes NodeLocal DNSCache. Values: true, false. Default Value: false.
ingress_ip	String	IP address to use for the ingress controller.
ingress_persistence_settings	String	Parameters for customizing Layer 7 persistence. See also: persistence_timeout and persistence_type
l4_lb_algorithm	String	Layer 4 load balancer behavior. Values: “round_robin”, “least_connection”,“ip_hash”, “weighted_round_robin”. Default Value: “round_robin”. See also: l4_persistence_type and max_l4_lb_service.
l4_persistence_type	String	Connection stickiness based on source_ip. See also: l4_lb_algorithm and max_l4_lb_service.
lb_connection_multiplexing_enabled	Boolean Updatable	Enable NSX-T load balancer TCP multiplexing. Values: true, false. Default: false.
lb_connection_multiplexing_number	Integer Updatable	The maximum number of NSX-T load balancer TCP multiplexing connections. Default: 6.
lb_http_request_header_size	Integer	Configure HTTP LoadBalancer request header size. Example Value:60.
lb_http_response_header_size	Integer	Configure HTTP LoadBalancer response header size. Example Value:45.
lb_http_response_timeout	Integer	Configure HTTP LoadBalancer response timeout. Example Value:30. See also: connect_retry_timeout and persistence_timeout.
log_dropped_traffic	Boolean	Log dropped firewall traffic. Values: true, false. Default: false. A log_settings parameter. See also: log_firewall_traffic, log_level, log_settings.
log_firewall_traffic	String	Log firewall traffic. Values: ALL, ALLOW, DENY. Default: DENY. A log_settings parameter. See also: log_dropped_traffic, log_level, log_settings.
log_level	String	Values: “INFO”, “WARNING”, “DEBUG”, “ERROR”, “CRITICAL”. A log_settings parameter. See also: log_dropped_traffic, log_firewall_traffic, log_settings.
log_settings	Map	Parameters for configuring NCP logging. See also: log_dropped_traffic, log_firewall_traffic, log_level.
max_l4_lb_service	Integer	Limit the maximum number of layer 4 virtual servers per cluster. Minimum Value:1. See also: l4_lb_algorithm and l4_persistence_type.
nsx_ingress_controller	Boolean	Use NSX-T layer 7 virtual server as the ingress controller for the Kubernetes cluster. Default is true. Values: true, false.
nsx_lb	Boolean	Use NSX-T layer 4 virtual server for each Kubernetes service of type LoadBalancer. Values: true, false. Default Value: true.
persistence_timeout	Integer	An ingress_persistence_settings parameter. Persistence timeout interval in seconds. See also: connect_retry_timeout and lb_http_response_timeout.
persistence_type	String	An ingress_persistence_settings parameter. Specify the ingress persistence type. Values: “cookie”, “source_ip”. Default Value: true.
top_firewall_section_marker	String	UUID of the top section-id for the distributed firewall (DFW) section as defined in NSX-T. See also: bottom_firewall_section_marker above and Define DFW Section Markers.
x_forwarded_for	String	Use the same source IP for calling clients. Values: “insert”, “replace”.

Note: On an existing cluster, you can modify only the network profile parameters that are labeled Updatable.

Parameter Descriptions

The following describes commonly used network profile parameters:

client_ssl_profile

The primary use case for updating the network profile client_ssl_profile field is to configure which NSX-T client-side ssl profile is to be used by NCP.

You can change the client_ssl_profile parameter to a valid NSX-T client-side ssl profile ID.

Configure client_ssl_profile in the cni_configurations parameters section of your network profile.

If client_ssl_profile is blank or incorrect, the default NCP client SSL profile value is used instead:

• In Management API mode the default is nsx-default-client-ssl-profile.
• In Policy API mode the default is default-balanced-client-ssl-profile.

Both of these default NCP client SSL profiles use balanced-level pre-defined ciphers.

enable_hostport

The primary use case for updating the network profile enable_hostport field is to activate or deactivate NCP support for Kubernetes Host Port.

You can change the enable_hostport parameter to either true or false. Configure enable_hostport in the cni_configurations parameters section of your network profile.

The Kubernetes Host Port feature allows you to expose an application to be externally accessible through a single port from outside of your cluster. For more information on Host Port, see Pod Security Policies in the Kubernetes documentation.

enable_nodelocaldns

The primary use case for updating the network profile enable_nodelocaldns field is to activate or deactivate NCP support for Kubernetes NodeLocal DNSCache.

You can change the enable_nodelocaldns parameter to either true or false. Configure enable_nodelocaldns in the cni_configurations parameters section of your network profile.

NodeLocal DNSCache improves cluster DNS performance by running a dns caching agent on cluster nodes as a DaemonSet. For more information on NodeLocal DNSCache, see Using NodeLocal DNSCache in Kubernetes clusters in the Kubernetes documentation.

lb_connection_multiplexing_enabled

The primary use case for updating the network profile lb_connection_multiplexing_enabled field is to enable NSX-T load balancer TCP multiplexing.

You can change the lb_connection_multiplexing_enabled parameter to either true or false.

Configure lb_connection_multiplexing_enabled in the cni_configurations parameters section of your network profile.

lb_connection_multiplexing_number

The primary use case for updating the network profile lb_connection_multiplexing_number field is to configure the maximum number of NSX-T load balancer TCP multiplexing connections.

You can change the lb_connection_multiplexing_number parameter to an integer value.

Configure lb_connection_multiplexing_number in the cni_configurations parameters section of your network profile.

nodes_dns

The primary use case for updating the network profile nodes_dns field is to update the DNS server configuration for a cluster.

You can configure the network profile nodes_dns field to add, modify or remove IP addresses from a cluster DNS server configuration. For more information on the network profile nodes_dns field and an example of a nodes_dns configuration, see Specify Nodes DNS Servers.

Note: If you modify a DNS server configuration, do not exceed the maximum of three DNS server IP addresses.

pod_ip_block_ids

The primary use case for updating the network profile pod_ip_block_ids field is to add additional IP addresses for pods when a cluster is at or near the point exhausting all available public IP addresses for pods.

You can change the pod_ip_block_ids parameter array as follows:

• Add more IP Block IDs to the array.
• Reorder the IP Block IDs in the array.

You cannot remove any of the IP Block IDs from an existing pod_ip_block_ids parameter array. Do not create a copy of a network profile, remove pod_ip_block_ids array values, and assign the new profile to a cluster that has the original profile assigned.

For more information on modifying a network profile pod_ip_block_ids field, see Add Pod IPs in Customizing Pod Networks. For more information on the pod_ip_block_ids field, see Network Profile Parameters above.

Network Profile Use Cases

Network profiles let you customize configuration parameters for Kubernetes clusters provisioned by TKGI on vSphere with NSX‑T.

You can apply a network profile to a Kubernetes cluster for the following scenarios:

Topic	Description
Size a Load Balancer	Customize the size of the NSX-T load balancer service that is created when a Kubernetes cluster is provisioned.
Customizing Pod Networks	Customize Kubernetes Pod Networks, including adding pod IP addresses, subnet size, and routability.
Customize Node Networks	Customize Kubernetes Node Networks, including the IP addresses, subnet size, and routability.
Customize Floating IP Pools	Specify a custom floating IP pool.
Configure Bootstrap NSGroups	Specify an NSX-T Namespace Group where the Kubernetes control plane nodes will be added to during cluster creation.
Configure Edge Router Selection	Specify the NSX-T Tier-0 router where Kubernetes node and Pod networks will be connected to.
Specify Nodes DNS Servers	Specify one or more DNS servers for Kubernetes clusters.
Configure DNS for Pre-Provisioned IPs	Configure DNS lookup of the Kubernetes API load balancer or ingress controller.
Configure the TCP Layer 4 Load Balancer	Configure layer 4 TCP load balancer settings; use a third-party load balancer.
Configure the HTTP/S Layer 7 Ingress Controller	Configure layer 7 HTTP/S ingress controller settings; use third-party ingress controller.
Define DFW Section Markers	Configure top or bottom section markers for explicit DFW rule placement.
Configure NCP Logging	Configure NCP logging.
Dedicated Tier-1 Topology	Use dedicated Tier-1 routers, rather than a shared router, for each cluster’s Kube node, Namespace, and NSX-T load balancer.