To handle the networking configuration for all hosts in the Supervisor, create a vSphere Distributed Switch, create distributed port groups, and associate hosts with the switch.

Procedure

  1. In the vSphere Client, navigate to a data center.
  2. In the navigator, right-click the data center and select Distributed Switch > New Distributed Switch.
  3. Enter a name for the new distributed switch.
    For example, DSwitch.
  4. In Select Version, enter a version for the distributed switch.
    Select 8.0.
  5. In Configure Settings, enter the number of uplinks ports.
    Enter a value of 2.
  6. Review the settings and click Finish.
  7. Right-click the distributed switch you created and select Settings > Edit settings.
  8. On the Advanced tab, enter a value of more than 1700 as the MTU (Bytes) value and click OK.
    The MTU size must be 1700 or greater on any network that carries overlay traffic.
    For example, 9000.
    NSX takes the global default MTU value 1700.

Create Distributed Port Groups

Create distributed port groups for each NSX Edge node uplink, Edge node TEP, management network, and shared storage.

The default port group and the default uplinks are created when you create the vSphere Distributed Switch. You must create the management port group, vSAN port group. Edge TEP port group, and the NSX Edge uplink port group.

Prerequisites

Verify that you have created a vSphere Distributed Switch.

Procedure

  1. In the vSphere Client, navigate to a data center.
  2. In the navigator, right-click the distributed switch and select Distributed Port Group > New Distributed Port Group.
  3. Create a port group for the NSX Edge uplink.
    For example, DPortGroup-EDGE-UPLINK.
  4. Configure VLAN Type as VLAN Trunking.
  5. Accept the default VLAN trunk range (0-4094).
  6. Click Next and then click Finish.
  7. Right-click the distributed switch and from the Actions menu, select Distributed Port Group > Manage Distributed Port Groups.
  8. Select Teaming and failover and click Next.
  9. Configure active and standby uplinks.
    For example, active uplink is Uplink1 and standby uplink is Uplink2.
  10. Click OK to complete the configuration of the port group.
  11. Repeat steps from 2 through 10 to create port groups for the Edge node TEP, management network, and shared storage.
    For example, create the following port groups:
    Port group Name VLAN Type
    Edge node TEP DPortGroup-EDGE-TEP Configure VLAN Type as VLAN Trunking.

    Configure the active uplink as Uplink2 and the standby uplink as Uplink1.

    Note: The VLAN used for the Edge nodes TEP must be different than the VLAN used for ESXi TEP.
    Management DPortGroup-MGMT Configure VLAN Type as VLAN and enter the VLAN ID of the management network. For example, 1060.
    Shared storage or VSAN DPortGroup-VSAN Configure VLAN Type as VLAN and enter the VLAN ID. For example, 3082.
  12. Create port groups for the following components:
    • vSphere vMotion. This port group is required for Supervisor updates. Configure the default port group for vMotion.
    • VM traffic. Configure the default port group to handle VM traffic.

Add Hosts to the vSphere Distributed Switch

To manage the networking of your environment by using the vSphere Distributed Switch, you must associate hosts from the Supervisor with the switch. Connect the physical NICs, VMkernel adapters, and virtual machine network adapters of the hosts to the distributed switch.

Prerequisites

  • Verify that enough uplinks are available on the distributed switch to assign to the physical NICs that you want to connect to the switch.
  • Verify that at least one distributed port group is available on the distributed switch.
  • Verify that the distributed port group has active uplinks configured in its teaming and failover policy.

Procedure

  1. In the vSphere Client, select Networking and navigate to the distributed switch.
  2. From the Actions menu, select Add and Manage Hosts.
  3. On the Select task page, select Add hosts, and click Next.
  4. On the Select hosts page, click New hosts, select the hosts in your data center, click OK, and then click Next.
  5. On the Manage physical adapters page, configure physical NICs on the distributed switch.
    1. From the On other switches/unclaimed list, select a physical NIC.
      If you select physical NICs that are already connected to other switches, they are migrated to the current distributed switch.
    2. Click Assign uplink.
    3. Select an uplink.
    4. To assign the uplink to all the hosts in the cluster, select Apply this uplink assignment to the rest of the hosts.
    5. Click OK.
    For example, assign Uplink 1 to vmnic0 and Uplink 2 to vmnic1.
  6. Click Next.
  7. On the Manage VMkernel adapters page, configure VMkernel adapters.
    1. Select a VMkernel adapter and click Assign port group.
    2. Select a distributed port group.
      For example, DPortGroup.
    3. To apply the port group to all hosts in the cluster, select Apply this port group assignment to the rest of the hosts.
    4. Click OK.
  8. Click Next.
  9. (Optional) On the Migrate VM networking page, select the Migrate virtual machine networking check box to configure virtual machine networking.
    1. To connect all network adapters of a virtual machine to a distributed port group, select the virtual machine, or select an individual network adapter to connect only that adapter.
    2. Click Assign port group.
    3. Select a distributed port group from the list and click OK.
    4. Click Next.

What to do next

Deploy and configure NSX Manager. See Deploy and configure NSX Manager.