VIBs installation

[nsxv4746]

I have a ESXi cluster version 6.0

There are 5 hosts in this cluster & not part of NSX. Nearly 100 VMs are distributed into these hosts.

I want to install NSX VIBs to this cluster. I am planning to use this only for DFW & not VXLAN.

I am planning to add all the 100 VMs to exclusion list as 1st step.

My question is if i install VIBs to this cluster where 100 proudction VMs are running will there be any impact to the production VMs (Since Vibs will be installed on cluster basis)

What is the right procedure to install the vibs wihout any production impact.

Is there any article which explains the right procedure considering my scenario.

Thanks in advance.

[daphnissov]

Your scenario (installing NSX in a brownfield environment) is no different than thousands of such attempts every day. There is no downtime by installing the NSX VIBs on your ESXi hosts while they service production workloads.

[nsxv4746]

Can you share any official link from VMWare regarding this ?

While the vibs are getting installed in the hosts under the cluster, the existing VMs will function as normal & no impact to the existing VMs.

Reference article from VMware.

[daphnissov]

The official links are in the product documentation, which you're welcome to read. Preparing of ESXi hosts online servicing VMs has been a fact since even the very early days.

[Sreec]

Default DFW rule doesn't block any traffic which will be at the bottom of the rule table . After the VIB installation, if required you can configure L2/L3 rules and change the default rule from allow to block

NSX 6 Documentation Center  , exclude any Management VM's completely to be in safer side also a better approach and all system/service VM will be automatically excluded from DFW rule.