Help with multi-tenant configuration

[Bolw]

I want to learn how network overlay works on the NSX environment so I set up a lab with the following setting

GW: 10.1.1.254, 10.1.2.254, 10.1.3.254

vCenter: 10.1.3.1

NSX: 10.1.3.2

NSX Controller: 10.1.2.100

(Cluster1)

  - ESX1: 10.1.1.1

    - Guest1: 192.168.1.1

  - ESX2: 10.1.1.2

    - Guest2: 192.168.1.2

(Cluster2)

  - ESX3: 10.1.2.1

    - Guest3: 192.168.1.3

Then I did

1. configure VXLAN on both clusters

2. create a transport zone (unicast) and add both clusters to it

3. create a logical switch with the transport zone above and add all 3 guest machines to it

4. then I try to ping each other among the guest machines but none of them succeeded.

I can capture the VXLAN packets from ESX1 when Guest1 pings Guest2. The weird thing is the destination IP address is not ESX2. Instead it's an IP address not in my settings, 0.0.0.1. I thought if Guest1 pings Guest2, the destination IP of the VXLAN packet should be ESX2 and if Guest1 pings Guest3, the destination IP should be ESX3. So what's wrong in my lab setup? Thanks for help.

[admin]

how could this happen?

Looks like due to temporary connectivity issues between hosts and NSX components, user world components on your hosts (vsfwd and netcpa) weren't able to get their configuration information correctly, which means that VXLAN control plane wasn't operating and doing its job.

This control plane is what maps VMs MAC addresses to the IP addresses of VTEPs of the hosts where these VMs are running for Logical Switches in Unicast mode, so if it doesn't work, hosts wouldn't know IP addresses of other VTEPs, and VM to VM connectivity won't work.

[Bolw]

is there any material that covers these details I can study? although I can set up the lab and make it work now, I am curious how it works under the hood. actually I'm a bit confused why there must be so many components involved, NSX manager, vCenter, and controller? what's the job of each component? what is communicated among these components? just to name a few. thanks.

[admin]

A lot of this material is covered in the 5-day "Install, Configure, Manage" course available from VMware training. A link to available and upcoming courses was posted in this forum previously, here it is: https://mylearn.vmware.com/mgrReg/plan.cfm?plan=48389&ui=www_edu

To get an even deeper understanding of what's under the hood, I expect the upcoming Troubleshooting course to be a good start.

There are several other things "in works" that might be able to help when they become available.

Also, one of my colleagues is busy documenting his journey through learning NSX in an ever-expanding blog post here: http://networkinferno.net/nsx-compendium

Hope this helps

[Bolw]

I think reading material is more suitable for me and the blog looks like a good start. Thanks.

[shijimol]

Register for this on-demand webinar which is a good place to start

https://event.on24.com/eventRegistration/EventLobbyServlet?target=registration.jsp&eventid=789134&se...