VMware NSX 6.x – Part 4 – Deployment of NSX Controller

The NSX Controller is the Control Plane and is usually deployed in three-node cluster to ensure High Availability. There wont be any impact to the NSX Domain as long as 1 instance of NSX Controller is running. The NSX controller holds three primary tables – MAC address table, ARP table and a VTEP table.

Login to Web Client and open Networking & Security.

In the NSX Dashboard, click Installation in the left plane.

You would see your NSX Manger listed. Click the Add button in the NSX Controller.

Enter the Host and Datastore details and click Select for the IP Pool.

Click New IP Pool.

Specify the DNS, Gateway and the range of IP and click OK. NSX Controller will use an IP address from this range.

Type in the Root Password for the NSX Controller.

Click OK.

NSX Controller will start deploying.

Wait for the status to become Normal.

Click the Add button and add two more controllers. But not select the same IP Pool instead of creating one.

Verify NSX Controller Status

NSX Controller cluster needs a Quorum and hence it is always recommended to have NSX Controllers in Odd numbers. Now, we would check the cluster status of the NSX Controllers. To do so, login to the NSX Controller with the admin account.

Run the below command

show control-cluster status

Join status: Make sure it is reporting as Join complete

Majority status: Make sure it is Connected to cluster majority

Cluster ID: Verify all the Controllers have the same Cluster ID

Roles: Verify all the roles as enabled and activated

Run the below command

show control-cluster connections

Make sure the NSX Controller is listening on all the ports.

Run the bellow command to check which node is the Master Node

show control-cluster roles

Node 1:

Node 2:

Node 3:

In my environment, node 2 is elected as the master.

Run the below command to see the Cluster Configuration History.

show control-cluster history

If you get the same, NSX Controller is successfully deployed.

 

See Next:

VMware NSX 6.x – Part 5 – Host Preparation

See Also:

VMware NSX 6.x – Part 1 – Overview
VMware NSX 6.x – Part 2 – Deployment of NSX Manager
VMware NSX 6.x – Part 3 – Registering NSX Manager with vCenter Server
VMware NSX 6.x – Part 4 – Deployment of NSX Controller
VMware NSX 6.x – Part 5 – Host Preparation
VMware NSX 6.x – Part 6 – Configuring VXLAN
VMware NSX 6.x – Part 7 – Create Segment ID and Transport Zones
VMware NSX 6.x – Part 8 – Create NSX Logical Switch
VMware NSX 6.x – Part 9 – Create Distributed Logical Router
VMware NSX 6.x – Part 10 – Backup NSX Configuration