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Supervisor with "NSX + DTGW/VNA"

This section describes the requirements for deploying the Supervisor utilizing an "NSX + DTGW/VNA" architecture inside a vSphere environment.

DTGW Architecture

Requirements

Supervisor with "NSX + DTGW/VNA" has the following networking requirements:

Topology

Physical Fabric

2 Subnets/VLANs

  • Management:
    Can be an existing Management subnet/VLAN that already hosts other components (such as vCenter).
    Requires 5 consecutive IPs (for the Supervisor Cluster).
  • Dataplane:
    Can be a new dedicated subnet/VLAN (recommended) or an existing subnet/VLAN that already hosts other components (such as Physical Servers).
    The subnet needs to be large (to host future K8s VIPs and VPC Outbound-NAT).

No requirement for dynamic routing (such as BGP)

vCenter

VDS Port Group

  • Management:
    VDS Port Group VLAN for the Management traffic.

    Status Validation

    Navigate to vCenter > Networking > VDS-PortGroup > Edit Settings > VLAN.
    Ensure the VLAN Type is "VLAN" with the right "VLAN ID": VDS Port Group Settings

NSX

Missing NSX Requirements?

If your environment is not yet configured with the NSX prerequisites below, please refer to:

vCenter Cluster "VCF Networking ready (NSX Overlay)"

  • vCenter Cluster with NSX Prepared
    The vCenter Cluster must be prepared for VCF Networking so the future Supervisor Cluster can connect to the VPC.

    Status Validation

    Navigate to vCenter > Host and Clusters > [your vCenter Cluster] > Configure > Networking > Network Configuration.
    Ensure "Cluster Status" and "Host Status" are "Green", and ESX have at least 1 TEP IP Address:

    Note: If no workloads have been deployed on logical networks yet, it is normal to have zero tunnels established on the ESX hosts.

    NSX Host Preparation Status

vCenter with "DTGW + VNA ready"

  • VNA Cluster
    The VNA Cluster hosts the Load Balancing and Outbound-NAT services (providing NAT for Supervisor / K8s Clusters communicating with the physical network).

    Status Validation

    Navigate to vCenter > Networking > vCenter > Configure > Networking > VNA Clusters.
    Ensure the VNA Cluster with its Nodes is deployed and shows a Green status. VNA Cluster Status

  • Distributed External Connection
    A Distributed External Connection is the VLAN and physical router used by logical networks (such as Transit Gateways and VPCs) to connect to the physical network.

    Status Validation

    Navigate to vCenter > Networking > vCenter > Configure > Networking > External Connection.
    Ensure you have at least 1 Distributed External Connection configured: Ext Conn Properties

  • IP Blocks
    The External IP Block is for the future K8s VIPs, VPC Outbound-NAT, and VPC Public Subnet (IP Block is the full Dataplane subnet or part of it).

    Status Validation

    Navigate to vCenter > Networking > Virtual Private Clouds > Configure > Settings > IP Blocks.
    Ensure you have at least 1 External IP Block configured: IP Blocks Properties

  • Connectivity Profile
    The Connectivity Profile binds the DTGW configuration (VNA Cluster, Outbound-NAT, and N-S Services for Load Balancing).

    Status Validation

    Navigate to vCenter > Networking > Virtual Private Clouds > Configure > Settings > Connectivity Profiles.
    Ensure the Connectivity Profile has the following configured:

    • External and Private Transit Gateway IP Blocks selected
    • A VNA Cluster selected
    • N-S Services enabled (for the LB service)
    • Default Outbound NAT enabled (for NAT)
    Connectivity Profile Properties

  • Distributed Transit Gateway (DTGW)
    The Distributed Transit Gateway is the distributed logical router responsible for routing traffic between the logical and physical networks.

    Status Validation

    Navigate to vCenter > Networking > Default Transit Gateway > Configure > Settings > Properties.
    Ensure the DTGW has a Connection Type of "Distributed VLAN", and an External Connection configured. DTGW Properties