Unable to create a VI WLD with DPU enabled hosts in VCF 5.1 with network offloading.

Products

• VMware Cloud Foundation

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

When deploying a VI WLD with DPU enabled hosts in VCF 5.1, either the workflow fails, or the resulting NSX deployment is not in the recommended mode.

1. If the user selects a default switch profile (e.g. NSX Traffic Separation"), there are no validation errors, but the workflow fails with an error stating an unsupported NSX mode ("Standard").

2. If the user creates a custom switch profile and selects the recommended option of "Enhanced Datapath", the workflow completes successfully but the actual NSX deployment uses the "Enhanced Datapath Interrupt" mode.

Details:
NSX can be deployed in 3 modes: "Standard", "Enhanced Datapath Standard", or "Enhanced Datapath Performance". In the SDDC manager these modes are mapped respectively to "Standard", "Enhanced Datapath", and "Enhanced Datapath Interrupt".

For DPU hosts, NSX can only be deployed with the enhanced datapath modes ("Enhanced Datapath Standard" or "Enhanced Datapath Performance"). Currently "Enhanced Datapath Standard" mode is the recommended NSX operating mode for general use cases.

In the case of symptom 1, the default SDDC manager switch profiles are hard coded to use the "Standard" mode which results in a downstream NSX deployment failure.

In the case of symptom 2, both the "Enhanced Datapath" and "Enhanced Datapath Interrupt" options in the SDDC manager custom switch profile creation are mapping to the "Enhanced Datapath Performance" mode on the NSX Manager.

Environment

VMware Cloud Foundation 5.1.1
Vmware Cloud Foundation 5.1

Cause

Defect in SDDC Manager

Resolution

• These issues are fixed in VCF 5.1.1, or in future versions.
• For DPU enabled hosts, the VI WLD should be directly deployed as VCF 5.1.1 or greater, and the user should create a custom switch profile selecting “Enhanced Datapath” as the mode.

Note: Upgrading an existing VI WLD from VCF 5.1 to 5.1.1 will not retroactively change the mode from "Enhanced Datapath Performance" to "Enhanced Datapath Standard". Setting the mode is only done on the initial deployment of the VI WLD, and the mode cannot be toggled in a deployed instance.

Workaround:
Currently there is no workaround.