You can set up vRealize Network Insight Cloud collector by importing OVA to your VMware vCenter server.

To add a Collector VM, you must do the following:
  1. Download the Collector VM OVA.
  2. Generate and copy the shared secret
  3. Deploy the data collector VM OVA using vSphere web client or vSphere windows native client.
Note: Before you add a Collector VM, ensure that you review and meet Recommendation for the Collector Deployment for optimum performance. To know about the Collector deployment requirement, see the System Recommendations and Requirements topic.

Generate a Shared Secret

You can generate and import the vRealize Network Insight Cloud collector virtual appliance.

Generate a shared secret and import the vRealize Network Insight Cloud collector virtual appliance:

Procedure

  1. Log into the vRealize Network Insight Cloud UI.
  2. Click any one of the following account:
    • VMware vCenter
    • VMware Cloud (VMC)
    • VMware SD-WAN by VeloCloud
    Note: You do not need to add any Collector for public cloud accounts such as Amazon AWS and Microsoft Azure.
  3. Click ADD COLLECTOR VM.
  4. Click DOWNLOAD if you haven’t already downloaded the Collector.
  5. Click COPY to copy the shared secret, and click CLOSE.
    You need this shared secret during the deployment of vRealize Network Insight Cloud Collector OVA.

Deployment Using vSphere Web Client

You can import the vRealize Network Insight Cloud Collector OVA using vSphere Web Client.

Procedure

  1. Right-click the Datacenter where you want to install the appliance and select Deploy OVF Template.
  2. Enter the URL to download and install the OVA package from the internet. Or, browse your computer to select the source location of the OVA package.
  3. Provide a name and specify a location where you want to save the deployed template. Click Next.
  4. Select a resource (host or a cluster) where you want to run the deployed template. Click Next.
  5. Verify all the details of the template. Click Next.
  6. Read the End-User License Agreement and click Accept. Click Next.
  7. Select a deployment configuration. Click Next.
  8. Select the location where you want to store the files for the deployed template.
    1. Select Thin Provision as the virtual disk format.
    2. Specify the format in which you want to store the virtual disks.
    3. Select the datastore in which you want to install the files.
    4. Click Next.
  9. Specify the destination network for the source network. Click Next.
  10. Customize the template for the deployment. Provide the shared secret that is generated on the UI. You will have to manually configure the appliance using the VM console. Click Next.
  11. Verify all the configuration data. Click Finish.
  12. Once the Collector OVA is installed, start the VM and launch the console.
  13. Log in with the console credential that you see on the screen and run the setup command.
  14. Create the password for the support login and change the password for the consoleuser.
    Note:
    • Your password must contain a minimum of 6 characters. A single quote (') is not allowed.
    • You must change the support and consoleuser password periodically to comply with your organization policy.
  15. Configure the network. Enter the following details:
    1. IPv4 Address: Second reserved static IP address.
    2. Netmask: Subnet mask for the static IP address.
    3. Default Gateway: Default gateway of your network.
    4. DNS : DNS server of your environment.
      Note: To enter multiple DNS servers, use space.
    5. Domain Search List : The domain that must be appended for DNS lookups
    6. Enter y to save the configuration.
  16. Network Time Server Configuration: Configure NTP or secure NTP servers.
    • Enter y if network time security is supported for the NTP server. Network time security is supported only in secure NTP servers.
    • Enter n if network time security is not supported for the NTP server.
  17. Based on your choice in step 16, enter the IP address or FQDN details of a NTP or secure NTP server. Ensure that the VMs can reach these servers. If the NTP time is out of sync, the services will fail to start.
    To enter multiple servers, use commas.
  18. (Optional) To configure web proxy:
    1. Enter y.
    2. Provide the web proxy details.
  19. A check is made to see if the shared secret key has been configured. The collector is paired with the corresponding platform. This may take few minutes.
  20. All the services are verified.
  21. Click Finish, when you see the Proxy Detected! message displayed on the onboarding page. You will be redirected to the Login page.

Collector Recommendation and Other Requirements

For optimum performance, you must match the minimum recommendations for the deployment.

Recommendation for the Collector Deployment

Table 1. Specifications for Collector Brick Size
Brick Size Cores required for 2.1 GHz CPU Cores required for 2.3 GHz CPU Cores required for 2.6 GHz CPU RAM Disk
Medium 5 5 4 12 GB 200 GB
Large 10 9 8 16 GB 200 GB
Extra Large 10 9 8 24 GB 200 GB
Note: The reservation for the CPU speed and RAM for each node must be 100% of the value specified above.
Table 2. Collector Deployment - Maximum Capacity
Collector Size Number of VMs

(K = Thousand)

 Flows per Day

(M = Million)

 Flow count in 4 days

(M = Million)

 Number of Edges for VMware SD-WAN

(K = Thousand)
Medium 4K 2.5M 3.25M 4K
Large 10K 5M 6.5M 6K
Extra Large 35K 10M 13M 10K
Note:
  • The count of VMs and edges mentioned in the table is the maximum individual limit for a single deployment. So, if you have edges in your setup, you might have to reduce the VM count.
  • The count of VMs includes the templates on the VMware vCenter as well.
  • For a single deployment with more than one collector, the limitation on the total flows across collectors is based on the capacity of the platform.

Other Requirements and Considerations

  • The availability of the NTP service is critical to system operations. Ensure that you do not reboot the platform node or the collector node when the NTP service is not available.
  • The recommended network latency between platform and collector VMs for optimal performance is up to 150ms. The system performance might degrade beyond this limit.
  • For Network Map, the maximum supported firewall rules per VMware NSX-T Manager (including of DFW and edge rules) is 5000.

Supported Web Browser

  • Google Chrome: The latest two versions.
  • Mozilla Firefox: The latest two versions.

Recommendations to Support High Availability for Collector

You can customize vSphere HA options to enable vSphere high availability for the Collector.

  • Host Failure - Restart VMs
  • Host Isolation- Disabled
  • Guest not heartbeating- Disabled