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

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 6.7 U3p. 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 6.7 U3 P05 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

NSX-T Components

The following NSX-T 3.1.2 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)

vSphere Management Component Footprint

The table below summarizes resource consumption for AVS management components.

VM	vCPU	RAM (GB)	Storage (GB)	Reserved CPU (MHz)	Reserved RAM (GB)	Form Factor
Required Components
vCenter	8	24	1024			Medium (400 hosts, 4000 VMs)
NSX Manager 1	6	24	400	6000	24	Medium (up to 64 hosts)
NSX Manager 2	6	24	400	6000	24	Medium
NSX Manager 3	6	24	400	6000	24	Medium
NSX Edge 1	8	32	400	8000	32	Large
NSX Edge 2	8	32	400	8000	32	Large
Required Component Total:	42	160	3,024	34,000	136
Optional Components
HCX Manager	4	12	130	0	3
HCX IX	8	3	2
HCX NE	8	3	2
HCX Wan Optimization	8	14	100
SRM	2	8	20
vSphere Replication	2	8	28
Optional Component Total	32	48	282		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