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Whilst writing the NSX-T Installation Series: Step 10 to install an NSX-T Edge, I thought it was essential to complement it with further information. This blog focuses on the NSX-T Edge types, its limitations and considerations, so one can make an appropriate decision on the “form factor” before Install.
Unlike NSX-V Edge, an NSX-T Edge is an empty container appliance and does not do anything until you create logical routers. Each logical router contains a services router (SR) and a distributed router (DR). A DR is distributed across all transport nodes that belong to the same transport zone and an SR is centrally instantiated on the Edge Appliance(s). An SR instance is required for services that cannot be distributed i.e. Physical Connectivity, NAT, DHCP, Load Balancers, etc.
NSX-T Edge can be deployed as a Virtual Machine or on a BareMetal server, and have different requirements and limitations as follows:
| Size | Memory (Gb) | vCPU / CPU | Disk Space (Gb) | Load Balancers (Small) | Load Balancers (Medium) | Load Balancers (Large) | Maximum LB Pool Members |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small VM | 2 | 2 | 200 | n/a(v2.4) 1(v2.5) | n/a | n/a | n/a(v2.4) 300(v2.5) |
| Medium VM | 8 | 4 | 200 | 1(v2.4) 10(v2.5) | n/a(v2.4) 1(v2.5) | n/a | 300(v2.4) 2000(v2.5) |
| Large VM | 32 | 8 | 200 | 40 | 4 | 1 | 7500 |
| Bare Metal | 32 | 8 | 200 | 750 | 750 | 18 | 30000 |
Note: The values mentioned next to the “v2.4” and “v2.5” in the table above are specific to the NSX-T version deployments.
All Edge nodes must be of the same size so that they can be members of the same cluster. If there are different sizes of Edge Services Gateways in your environment, you must calculate the correct size to deploy. Calculate the total memory and vCPU resources required for all Edge Services Gateways in the environment, and then divide by the number of Edge nodes required for migration. Compare the calculated requirements to the NSX-T Edge size requirements to choose the correct size.
For an NSX-T Edge VM type, there are two ways to Install an NSX Edge VM via the UI, for step-by-step instructions, click on the options below to visit my other blogs:
- Install NSX Edge VM on ESXi using vSphere UI (Option 1)
- Install NSX Edge VM on ESXi using NSX-T Manager UI (Option 2)
NSX-T Edge: Key points of consideration before install:
- NSX Edge VM deployment is only supported on ESXi.
- If you are going to use migration coordinator, you must use Option 1 above.
- VMotion of Edge Node VMs is only supported from NSX-T v2.5.1
- There can only be ONE “Tier 0” router per Edge Node
- NSX-T Edge VM needs to be a member of the NSX-T Edge Cluster to function.
- There must be a minimum of ONE NSX-T Edge VM in an NSX-T Edge Cluster
- NSX-T Edge nodes should not be deployed on ESXi hosts that are prepared for the NSX-V environment.
- For bandwidth requirement of over 10Gb and a maximum of 40Gb, BareMetal NSX-T Edge type should be used.
- Bare Metal Edge Node requires Intel Based CPUs and specific NIC requirements, for more information see NSX-T v2.4 Edge Node Requirements or NSX-T v2.5 Edge Node Requirements
- There are different number of Edge Nodes scaling with different version of NSX-T. For configuration maximums see NSX-T v2.4.1 Edge Node Scaling and NSX-T v2.5 Edge Node Scaling
Thank you the writing this Blog, I have few question.
I am deploying NSX-T 2.5 Version on a Single cluster with 7 nodes,
Should a Edge Node has to be installed on a dedicated host?
Apologies for the late reply. The Edge VM should “run” on a dedicated host and you must not move it another host, as VMotion is not supported on any versions prior to NSX-T v2.5.1. Therefore, DRS for the specific VM should be configured to manual or configure VM to Host should/must rules, to prevent automatic VMotion.