Configure an NSX Load Balancer

Configure an NSX Native load balancer that serves the VMware Cloud Director cells. Alternatively, you can deploy and configure VMware NSX Advanced Load Balancer.

Prerequisites

1. Deploy two NSX Edge nodes and configure them as Edge transport nodes. See Configure the Edge Nodes.

2. Create a VLAN-backed logical switch by selecting a standard VLAN-backed Transport Zone and using the VLAN ID of the management network.

Procedure

1. Log in to the NSX Manager Web interface by using an account with administrative privileges.
2. Create and configure a Tier-1 Router.
   1. Select Networking > Tier-1 Gateway.
   2. Click Add Tier-1 Gateway.
   3. Enter the following settings for the router:

      Option	Value
      Name	CD_LB_Tier-1
      Tier-0	Leave it blank.
      Edge Cluster	CD_LB_Cluster
      Edges Pool Allocation Size	LB Small/LB Medium/LB large
      Failover Mode	Leave the default.

   4. Click Save to save the settings.
3. Add a service port for the Tier-1 Gateway.
   1. Click Service Interface to create ports.
   2. Select Service Interface > Set.
   3. Under Set Interface, click Add Interface
   4. Select Configuration > Router Ports.
   5. Configure the following settings to the port, and leave all other details as default, and save:

      Option	Value
      Name	CD_VIP_Interface
      Logical Switch	Select the VLAN-backed logical switch that you created as part of the prerequisites.
      IP Address/mask	Enter the router port IP address in the CIDR notation.

4. Enable Route Advertisement as per user requirement.
5. Create and configure the load balancer.
   1. Select Networking > Load Balancing > Add Load Balancer.
   2. Enter CD_LB as the load balancer name and provide a description.
   3. Select the load balancer virtual server size.
   4. Connect to Tier-1 gateway, created in previous steps from the drop-down menu.
   5. Leave all other details as default and save.
6. Create a health monitor.
   1. Navigate to Load Balancing > Server Pools > Health Monitors.
   2. Click Add Active Monitor and select TCP Protocol to create a health monitor.
   3. Configure the health monitor settings, leave all other details as default, and save

   Option	Value
   Name	TCP_CD
   Description	Provide a description.
   Monitoring Port	443

7. Add a server pool for load balancing.
   1. Navigate to Load Balancing > Server Pools and click Add.
   2. Configure the General Properties settings.

      Option	Value
      Name	CD_VIP_Pool
      Description	Provide a description.
      Load Balancing	ROUND_ROBIN
      SNAT Translation Mode	Auto Map
      Active Monitor	Selecting health monitor TCP_CD that you created earlier.

   3. Configure the Pool Members settings.

      Option	Value
      Membership Type	Static
      Pool Members	Add three pool members. Member 1 settings: Name - TCI_CD_Primary Set an IP address. State - Enabled. Member 2 settings: Name - TCI_CD_Standby_1 Set an IP address. State - Enabled. Member 3settings: Name - TCI_CD_Standby_2 Set an IP address. State - Enabled.

   4. Click Save.
8. Configure a virtual server.
   1. Navigate to Load Balancing > Virtual Servers, click Add Virtual Server, and select L4 TCP.
   2. Configure the General Properties settings.

      Option	Value
      Name	CD_VIP
      Description	Provide a description.
      Port	443, 80
      Load Balancer	Select the Load Balancer that you created previously.
      Server Pool	Select the Server Pool that you created previously.
      Application Profile	default-tcp-lb-app-profile
      Persistence	Source IP

   3. Click Save.