NSX Edge TEP networking options
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NSX Edge TEP networking options

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Article ID: 317168

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Updated On:

Products

VMware NSX VMware NSX-T Data Center

Issue/Introduction

This article explains the environmental configurations that determine if the NSX Edge TEP and the ESXi TEP can be on the same network.

Note: Invalid configuration may result in BFD tunnels going down between Edge VMs and ESXi Hosts while Host to Host and Edge to Edge remain up. This triggers Edge tunnels down alarm. 

Environment

VMware NSX

Resolution

Edge TEP and ESXi host TEP can be configured on the same VLAN in the following configurations:

  • Edge VM TEP interface connected to a vDS portgroup on an ESXi host not prepared for NSX.
  • Edge VM TEP interface connected to a vDS portgroup on an ESXi host prepared for NSX and NSX enabled on vDS portgroup.
  • Edge VM TEP interface connected to a vDS portgroup on a switch with no NSX TEP, on an ESXi host prepared for NSX.
  • Edge VM TEP interface connected to a segment on a vDS on a host prepared for NSX.


Edge TEP and ESXi host TEP must be on separate VLANs in the following configurations:

  • Edge VM TEP interface connected to a vDS portgroup where that vDS has no NSX TEP and NSX is not enabled on the vDS portgroup.
  • Edges are being used for bridging.

Steps to Enable NSX on vDS portgroup

  1. Log in to the NSX Manager UI with Enterprise Admin privileges.
  2. Navigate to System > Fabric > Hosts.
  3. Click on the Clusters tab to view your prepared vSphere clusters.
  4. Select the Cluster(s): Check the box next to the cluster where your NSX Edge VMs are deployed.
    Note: If your VDS spans multiple clusters, you must select all clusters associated with that VDS.
  5. Click the Actions dropdown menu at the top of the table.
  6. Select Activate NSX on vDS portgroups.
    A confirmation dialog will appear. Click Yes to initiate the activation process.
  7. NSX will now discover the port groups associated with the VDS.
    Verification: Monitor the cluster status on the NSX UI Fabric > Hosts page.
    Wait until the column labelled "NSX on vDS portgroups" updates to Yes (Success).

Once this is successfully activated, the Edge VM's TEP interface can natively connect to the vDS portgroup sharing the host's TEP VLAN, and the Geneve tunnels will establish correctly.

Additional Information

If using a VLAN segment on an NSX prepared VDS, adding only a single VLAN to the segment will result in the segment processing traffic for that VLAN only and stripping the tag for ingress traffic and adding the tag for egress traffic. This will result in the edge TEPs being unable to communicate as they require a trunked segment. This can be achieved by applying a range to the VLAN value (inclusive of your required VLAN).

For more details refer Broadcom KB NSX-T Edge tunnels are down to ESXi hosts when sharing the same VLAN for TEP traffic

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