Minimum Hardware requirements

[kopper27]

Hi guys

Last year Microsoft worked with us in a POC integrating its NVGRE and Azure to automate and provision virtual machines and Network Virtualization

Now my boss want to do the same but with Vmware....

For that we want to know what are the minimum requirements regarding Hardware.

I am going to tell you our regular servers have at least 48 GB RAM and 8 Core or more..... so I am not talking about ram and cpus...

I need the minimum requirements for amount of servers required for a POC with vCloud Automation Center and NSX.

Do you have any idea?

like physical server for vCenter and ESXi.

1 physical Server for vCloud Automation Center

and 2 physical servers for NSX

thanks a lot

[GrantOrchardVMw]

NVGRE is an encapsulation protocol like VXLAN, not network virtualisation per se. But I digress.

For a PoC, you would need the following VMs, from there we can extrapolate how many hosts you need to validate this.

Core Infrastructure:

vCenter Server Appliance

NSX:

NSX Manager

NSX Controller (x3)

NSX Edge (I call this out here but it's more a requirement for vRA/NSX integration based on standard architecture)

vRealize Automation:

vRA Appliance

vRA IaaS Box (doubling as SQL Server)

On top of this there will be the workloads that you want to deploy.

Now, in theory all of this could fit on one physical ESXi host, but I'd strongly recommend two (or even three) for the following reasons:

1. Availability. If you have a host failure then your PoC goes down in a screaming heap. With additional hosts you can tap into HA for failover.

2. Functional Testing. You need to validate the NV functions. Examples:

     i.      Routing between two distinct networks for VMs on the same host do not traverse the network (or exit the host, take your pick).

     ii.     Communicaton between two VMs on the same network but different hosts only traverse the switch nearest your hosts, and do not hit the core.

     iii.    Load Balancing behaves identically when VMs are placed on either the same or different hosts.

You get the picture.

3. PoCs should represent your final deployment. So, to contradict my initial VM counts... if you would implement a distributed installation for Production it is worth taking the time to deploy it in the same manner for your PoC in order to validate operational procedures such as backups, failure scenarios etc.

I know that's a little fuzzy but it's a starting point. Can you tell us a bit more about what you're trying to achieve here and I (we) can provide some more specific advice about building a successful PoC.

Grant

[kopper27]

GrantOrchardVMwareGrantOrchardVMware thanks a lot for your answer.....

so far we have some Datacenters but in all of them we provision VMs manually using templates in our vCenter..... nothing special and time consuming.

now customer are requesting to have the ability to connect to something and provide their own VMs....so provisioning by customers... so of course since customers need something like that

network virtualization is required.

that was when someone from Microsoft helped us to create this POC and showed us how Azure and its NVGRE was able to do it all (if you know what I mean)..... my boss and the networking team was impressed with with this NVGRE

so we starting to search about something similar for Vmware and  since we are Vmware in all our DCs....  no-brainer to continue using Vmware Products and the equivalents to provide the same as Microsoft did it....

so basically that is what we want to achieve....sounds like 2 hosts well do it.....

[GrantOrchardVMw]

If you're willing, send me a DM with your details. I'll find out who your SE is and ask them to give you some assistance.

Grant

[kopper27]

well, I already tried that, I am not sure if that person is my SE but he could no give me a proper answer.....

he told me to look up manuals/labs but manuals do not say anything about minimum requirements

he told me to work on the labs below, you will get experience and find out what you need, when he could tell something like you 2 or 3 servers....

HOL-SDC-1401-HOL Cloud Management with vRealize Operations

HOL-SDC-1402 - vSphere Distributed Switch from A to Z

HOL-SDC-1403 - VMware NSX Introduction

HOL-SDC-1424 - VMware NSX in the SDDC

HOL-SDC-1425 - VMware NSX Advanced

VMware Learning Platform

In fact the HOL for vRealize it's not even the one related with provisioning....it's related with monitoring and stuff - former vCOPs -

[GrantOrchardVMw]

Right... that's not ideal!

1421 is the vRealize Automation Lab, though it doesn't have any instruction on NSX integration. If you do want help from VMware with the PoC, let me know and I'll get in touch with the vRA Specialist in your area to assist.

Grant

[kopper27]

thanks a lot GrantOrchardVMwareGrantOrchardVMware

We are in Costa Rica