HCX - DNS CNAME changed for HCX Service "connect.hcx.vmware.com"

Products

• VMware NSX Networking

Issue/Introduction

Potential loss of connectivity to connect.hcx.vmware.com, This is due to DNS not recognizing cloudflare.net as a valid endpoint for individual customers' deployments. 

Environment

1. The existing HCX Manager system which has lost the HTTPS connection to HCX service will be serving a grace period of 14 days starting from 10th June, after which HCX services/workflow will be impacted, until the connection is restored. During grace period of 14 days, HCX will continue to be functional for all migration/network extension and deployment related activities. After expiration of grace period:
   1. The existing/ongoing migrations will be continued to be progress until completed.
   2. The existing network extensions will be continued to be operational at datapath level.
   3. Any new deployment/migration or network extension won’t be serviced.
2. New HCX Manager systems activation will fail if the DNS resolution fails against HCX service.

Cause

Broadcom has decided to move HCX service (connect.hcx.vmware.com) from Akamai CDN to Cloudflare effective 10th June 2024. As part of the change, the connect.hcx.vmware.com server's CNAME has been pointed to connect.hcx.vmware.com.cdn.cloudflare.net but the server URL (connect.hcx.vmware.com) hasn’t been changed.

Resolution

The DNS server is required to whitelist the CNAME: connect.hcx.vmware.com.cdn.cloudflare.net, wherever its applicable.

Additional Information

Refer https://www.cloudflare.com/en-gb/learning/dns/dns-records/dns-cname-record/ for more info about CNAME used in DNS.