In this video, I'd like to walk you through and give you examples of the nested
networking
I'm doing inside of the vSphere environment.
So as far as the nested ESXi host, we have ESXi A and ESXi B and one called ES
Xi something
like management.
And although I don't need all the networking on all three because of the
benefit of vSphere
running in this nested environment and using a virtualized distributed switch,
it was
super easy just to replicate the same virtual switch across all three. WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000
super easy just to replicate the same virtual switch across all three.
So in each of these hosts, they were each given six network cards, or I should
say at
least six network cards.
I went back and forth a few times, but I would recommend six network cards each
and that
would represent VMNIC 012345 on each of those ESXi hosts.
And on the parent physical host, those are going to be connected to port groups
on a
virtual distributed switch, each of which is supporting trunking.
You already mentioned the requirement of setting up the 9K frame size, which we
would
also want to do on these switches. WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000
also want to do on these switches.
So that would be a switch level.
We'd also want to make sure as we set up the port groups that were allowing the
MACID
rust changes and MACID rust learning and also forged transmits for each of the
port groups
that were going to be creating underneath these switches.
And to support the NSX environment, I would recommend creating these two
distributed switches.
One called something like VDS host and one called VDS edge.
And then for the port groups, we want to make a port group for management.
And for that management port group, we just associate that with VMNIC's zero
and one.
We could also create additional port groups that we could use in combination WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000
We could also create additional port groups that we could use in combination
with the
motion and provisioning and so forth.
And for any of those port groups that we're going to set up, I would recommend
just using
the first two ports, zero and one.
So you can set it up with that one being primary, the one being standby, or you
can
set it up to share those two links.
It really doesn't matter too much in an nested environment.
But the key is we want to leave ports two and three, the third and fourth upl
inks off
of the switch called VDS host.
And then for this switch here, this distributed switch called VDS edge, we're WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000
And then for this switch here, this distributed switch called VDS edge, we're
going to associate
two uplinks, VMNIC 4 and VMNIC 5.
And over here, we're going to create two port groups.
We're going to create a port group that says something like VMNIC 4.
And then we'll create another port group that reminds us of VMNIC 5 and then we
'll
link those port groups to those respective uplinks.
One of the challenges in an NSX lab environment is remembering what goes where.
And so if we have a port group over here called PG4 off of the switch and we
want an edge
node to use this uplink, we can simply associate that edge node for its WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000
node to use this uplink, we can simply associate that edge node for its
transport network with
that port group, which leads to that uplink.
And same thing for an edge node where we want to use a profile that's
associated with the
uplink 5, we can simply refer to that port group, which leads off to this upl
ink.
And although not all three hosts are going to need all those exact uplinks,
because the
two edge nodes are going to run right here on just the ESXI management VM, it
just makes
it a lot easier and more consistent if you set this environment up across all
three.
And that way later, if you want to change roles or anything else, you have all
the networking
connectivity in place. WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000
connectivity in place.
So with this in mind, let me show you my nested environment.
So again, the light mode is my nested environment.
There's the single sign on domain, OGIT.lab.
So if we were to go to the networking tab here on the vSphere client, let's
take a look
at first at this distributed switch called lab one NSX hosts.
And one of the first things I want to remind you about with these distributed
switches are
the settings.
So if we right click on the switch itself and go down to settings, and then
click here
and edit settings, we want to make sure under advanced that we have an MTU of WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000
and edit settings, we want to make sure under advanced that we have an MTU of
at least 9,000
bytes.
And also for this NSX hosts, we were going to specify that there's four uplinks
available.
And I also found it super convenient to label these uplinks here with the
actual VM next
you're going to be using them for that way later when we're trying to link NSX
uplinks
in combination with our virtual distributed switch uplinks.
We'll have a really good clue about what goes where.
So again, for this distributed switch called NSX host for uplinks and an MTU of
9,000.
So no changes there. WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000
So no changes there.
Let's also take a look at the lab one NSX edges that distributed switch will
right click,
click on settings and then click on edit settings.
Again, under advanced a 9,000 MTU and two uplinks for this.
I've also labeled them with the intended uplinks I want to use on the
respective hosts.
So in the lab environment in the heat of battle, when you're trying to figure
out what goes
where, this is going to be super helpful.
So no changes there.
We'll click on cancel and then let's take a look at the rest of the config here
.
So here on the edges, I have two poor groups. WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000
So here on the edges, I have two poor groups.
In fact, a really great way of looking at this is to select the distributed
switch, click
on the configure tab here and then go to the topology view, which I love.
So here for this poor group called lab one, poor group to VM, Nick four, you'll
notice
it's mapped just to VM, Nick four on each of the hosts.
And here for this poor group called lab one, poor group to VM, Nick five, it's
mapped
just to VM, Nick five on those three hosts.
And currently I have one virtual machine associated with each of those poor
groups,
but I didn't put in there directly.
It was the NSX manager who did it when I deployed edges. WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000
It was the NSX manager who did it when I deployed edges.
So edge one is currently associated with VM, Nick four and edge two is
currently associated
with VM, Nick five.
And because those two VMs are running on the management host, that's why they
're showing
up going over to those respective ports.
All right, so that's the NSX edges.
And then if you take a look at the NSX host, distribute a switch.
I have a poor group.
In fact, we can do this also from the configure and topology view here.
So for this to show you the switch, I have a poor group called management PG WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000
So for this to show you the switch, I have a poor group called management PG
and for
the VLAN ID, it's all left off.
So it's not going to do any tagging.
This leads straight out through the parent ESX I host through its uplink out to
my management
network.
And that's in my case, the 192 168 one network.
And then I also set up one for provisioning, which using VLAN 11 and for ice g
uzzy, which
is VLAN ID two.
And so in your nested lab environment, you don't need to set up additional
network connectivity
to ice guzzy networking or shared storage if you don't want to.
But on the parent network on the physical host, it is important for the benefit WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000
But on the parent network on the physical host, it is important for the benefit
of DRS
and V motion to be able to move stuff around very quickly.
It's important in the parent physical network to make sure that we have shared
storage.
So the provisioning and ice guzzy and V motion poor groups aren't too critical.
And then down here, I have a couple of NSX created segments that are leveraging
my existing
distributed switch right here, the NSX hosts.
So as we create segments inside of NSX, we're going to be using existing VDSs
virtual distributed
switches in vSphere.
And this is the result of that. WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000
And this is the result of that.
So these two segments right here are a result of NSX configuration leveraging
this existing
switch.
So the key takeaway here is that for this switch, this NSX host switch, we want
four uplinks.
We want to name them correctly so we know exactly where they go.
And we want to make sure the switch is set for a 9000 byte jumbo frame.
And then as we create segments in NSX, they'll show up right here associated
with this distributed
switch.
So now that we've taken a close look to verify our nested networking in the
next video, let's
take a look at deploying the NSX manager. WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=LOCAL:00:00:00.000,MPEGTS:900000
take a look at deploying the NSX manager.