Azure VMware Solution: Private Cloud Component Inventory

Introduction

This document describes the components provisioned when a new Azure VMware Solution private cloud is created and connected to an Azure VNet with the Azure VNet connect feature. These include:

  • Azure resources
  • vSphere components
  • NSX-T components
  • Add-on components

Components List

Azure Component Descriptions

The following Azure resources are created:

  • An AVS Private cloud object
  • An ExpressRoute connection to the Azure Dedicated Enterprise Edge
  • A new VNet, if the user elects to create a new VNet with the Azure VNet connect wizard
  • A subnet named GatewaySubnet if one does not already exist in the selected VNet
  • A VNet gateway, with an auto-generated name of the form VNetName-gateway
  • An ExpressRoute Authorization Key, named er-auth-key
  • A Public IP address, with an auto-generated name of the form VNetName-gateway-pip
  • A gateway connection, with an auto-generated name of the form VNetName-gateway-conn

 

vSphere Component Descriptions

The following vSphere components are deployed and configured:

  • A vCenter Appliance configured with an embedded Platform Services Controller. Currently deployed version is 7.0 U3k. The vCenter receives an auto-generated name of the form vc.UniqueIdentifier.azureregionname.avs.azure.com
  • One Datacenter object, named SDDC-Datacenter
  • One cluster, named Cluster-1
  • One vSAN datastore, named vsanDatastore
  • Three or more VMware ESXi 7.0 U3k hosts. These hosts receive auto-generated names of the form esx##-r##.p##.vCenterUniqueIdentifier.azureregionname.avs.azure.com.
  • Each ESXi host has four vmnic interfaces, each attached two one of two distributed switches:
  • vminc0 and vmnic3 are connected to an NSX-T virtual distributed switch, named in the form TNT##-NVDS01
  • vmnic1 and vmnic2 are connected to a distributed switch, named in the form TNT##-DVS
  • Each ESXi host has five VMkernel adapters provisioned on the TNT##-DVS distributed switch.
  • vmk0 is assigned an Azure IP address, and is not used in normal customer operation
  • vmk1 is used for management communication
  • vmk2 is used for vMotion traffic
  • vmk3 is used for vSAN traffic, and has an MTU of 9000
  • vmk4 is used for vSphere Replication traffic

ESXi host configuration details--including vmnic assignments, VMkernel adapter configuration, distributed switch configuration, and NSX-T virtual distributed switch configuration--are managed by Microsoft and cannot be modified by customers. This information is provided only for reference.

NSX-T Components

The current version of NSX-T in AVS is 3.2.2. The following NSX-T components are deployed and configured:

  • Three NSX management nodes
  • One NSX-T Edge Cluster named in the form TNT##-CLSTR
  • Two Edge Nodes named in the form TNT##-EVM01 and TNT##-EVM02
  • One Tier-0 gateway named in the form TNT##-T0
  • One Tier-1 gateway named in the form TNT##-T1
  • Six Transport Zones:
  • TNT##-EVM-PRIVATE01-TZ and TNT##-EVM-PRIVATE02-TZ, used by the Edge nodes to define T0 connectivity to top of rack switches
  • TNT##-VLAN-TZ is a used by the Edge nodes for VLAN uplinks
  • TNT##-OVERLAY-TZ used for VM segments
  • nsx-overlay-transportzone and nsx-vlan-transportzones are default NSX-T objects and are not used.
  • Three Segments:
  • TNT##-HCX-UPLINK used for HCX uplink connectivity
  • TNT##-T0-PRIVATE01-LS is associated with the TNT##-EVM-PRIVATE01-TZ transport zone and T0 interfaces to Top-of-Rack switch 1
  • TNT##-T0-PRIVATE02-LS is associated with the TNT##-EVM-PRIVATE02-TZ transport zone and T0 interfaces to Top-of-Rack switch 2
  • A DNS Service named TNT##-DNS-FORWARDER, associated with the T1 gateway
  • A DNS forwarder one named TNT##-DNS-FORWARDER-ZONE, configured to forward all DNS requests to Cloudflare DNS servers (1.1.1.1, 1.0.0.1)

NSX-T management and edge clusters, transport zone configuration, and default segments are managed by Microsoft and cannot be modified by customers. This information is provided only for reference.

Customers can manage the default Tier-1 gateway, create and manage additional Tier-1 gateways, create and manage additional overlay segments, create and manage an NSX-hosted DHCP server or relay, and modify DNS configuration including the default DNS servers and conditional forwarders.

vSphere Management Component Footprint

The table below summarizes resource consumption for AVS management components.

Required Components:

Component

Provisioned vCPU

Provisioned RAM (GB)

Provisioned Storage (GB)

Typical CPU Usage (GHz)

Typical RAM Usage (GB)

vCenter Server

8

28

915

1.1

3.6

vSphere Cluster Service VM 1

1

0.1

5

0.1

0.1

vSphere Cluster Service VM 2

1

0.1

5

0.1

0.1

vSphere Cluster Service VM 3

1

0.1

5

0.1

0.1

ESXi Node 1

N/A

N/A

N/A

9.4

0.4

ESXi Node 2

N/A

N/A

N/A

9.4

0.4

ESXi Node 3

N/A

N/A

N/A

9.4

0.4

NSX Manager 1

6

24

300

5.5

8.5

NSX Manager 2

6

24

300

5.5

8.5

NSX Manager 3

6

24

300

5.5

8.5

NSX Edge 1

8

32

200

1.3

0.6

NSX Edge 2

8

32

200

1.3

0.6

Required Component Total:

57

164.3

2,230

48.7

31.8

 

Optional Add-On Components:

Component

Provisioned vCPU

Provisioned RAM (GB)

Provisioned Storage (GB)

Typical CPU Usage (GHz)

Typical RAM Usage (GB)

HCX Manager[1]

4

12

65

1

3.2

HCX IX

8

3

2

(Varies)

(Varies)

HCX NE

8

3

2

(Varies)

(Varies)

HCX WAN Optimization

8

14

100 / 5000 IOPS

(Varies)

(Varies)

Site Recovery Manager

4

12

33

1

1

vSphere Replication Manager Appliance

4

8

33

4.3

2.2

vSphere Replication Server Appliance

2

1

33

1

0.1

Optional Component Total:

78

53

268

7.3

6.5

Required and Optional Add-On Components Combined:

Category

Provisioned vCPU

Provisioned RAM (GB)

Provisioned Storage (GB)

Typical CPU Usage (GHz)

Typical RAM Usage (GB)

Required

57

164.3

2,230

48.7

31.8

Optional

78

53

268

7.3

6.5

Total

135

217.3

2,498

56

38.3

Summary and Additional Resources

This document described the components deployed when a new Azure VMware Solution private cloud is created, and their initial configurations.

Additional Resources

For more information about Azure VMware Solution, you can explore the following resources:

Authors and Contributors

  • Steve Pantol, Senior Technical Marketing Architect, CIBG, VMware
  • Jeremiah Megie, Principal Cloud Solutions Architect, CIBG, VMware

Changelog

The following updates were made to this guide:

Date

Description of Changes

2021/11/04

  • Initial publication

2023/01/13

  • Updated to reflect vSphere 7 changes

2023/07/18

  • Updated to reflect component version changes, add detail for Microsoft-managed and customer-managed components

[1] HCX 4.4.2 is the version currently being deployed. Customers may upgrade as needed.

Filter Tags

Getting Started Azure Services Compute Networking Azure VMware Solution Document Technical Overview Overview