VMware NSX : Design (V4)

The VMware NSX : Design (V4) course is a comprehensive program aimed at equipping learners with the knowledge and skills to design an NSX-based data center networking infrastructure. It covers key design concepts, the NSX architecture, components, and both logical and physical aspects of network design. The course offers a deep dive into NSX Edge design, Logical switching and routing, security, network services, and considerations for the physical infrastructure. It also addresses Multi-location designs and optimization, including DPU-Based Acceleration for improved performance. By the end of the course, participants will be able to translate customer requirements into a scalable, secure, and manageable design that leverages the full capabilities of VMware NSX. Additionally, it covers the integration of VMware Cloud Foundation in NSX design, which is pivotal for creating a seamless hybrid cloud environment. Those who complete this course will be well-prepared to design NSX environments effectively, ensuring they meet both current and future business needs.

Course Objectives

By the end of the course, you should be able to:

• Describe and apply a design framework.

• Apply a design process for gathering requirements, constraints, assumptions, and risks.

• Design a VMware vSphere® virtual data center to support NSX requirements.

• Create a VMware NSX® Manager™ cluster design.

• Create a VMware NSX® Edge™ cluster design to support traffic and service requirements in NSX.

• Design logical switching and routing.

• Recognize NSX security best practices.

• Design logical network services.

• Design a physical network to support network virtualization in a software-defined data center.

• Create a design to support the NSX infrastructure across multiple sites.

• Describe the factors that drive performance in NSX.

Who Can Benefit

• Network and security architects

• Consultants who design enterprise and data center networks

• Professionals involved in NSX environments

Prerequisites

Before taking this course, you must complete the following course:

• VMware NSX: Install, Configure, Manage [V4.0]

You should also have an understanding or knowledge of these technologies:

• Good understanding of TCP/IP services and protocols.

• Knowledge and working experience of computer networking and security, including:

  • Switching and routing technologies (L2 and L3).

  • Network and application delivery services (L4 through L7).

  • Firewalling (L4 through L7).

  • vSphere environments.

Course Outline:

1. Course Introduction

• Introduction and Course Logistics: Overview of participants, course structure, and logistical details.

• Course Objectives: Define the key learning outcomes and skills participants will acquire by the end of the course.

2. NSX Design Concepts

• Identify Design Terms: Familiarization with essential NSX design terminology.

• Describe Framework and Project Methodology: Overview of the framework and methodologies utilized in NSX design projects.

• Describe the Role of VMware Cloud Foundation™ in NSX Design: Understanding how VMware Cloud Foundation integrates with NSX design.

• Identify Customers’ Requirements, Assumptions, Constraints, and Risks: Techniques for gathering and analyzing customer requirements.

• Explain the Conceptual Design: Overview of conceptual design principles in NSX.

• Explain the Logical Design: Understanding the components and considerations of logical design.

• Explain the Physical Design: Overview of physical design elements in NSX.

3. NSX Architecture and Components

• Recognize the Main Elements in the NSX Architecture: Identification of core NSX architecture components.

• Describe the NSX Management Cluster and the Management Plane: Overview of the management cluster and its functions.

• Identify the Functions and Components of Management, Control, and Data Planes: Understanding the roles of different planes in NSX architecture.

• Describe the NSX Manager Sizing Options: Guidelines for sizing NSX Manager based on deployment needs.

• Recognize the Justification and Implication of NSX Manager Cluster Design Decisions: Analyzing design decisions for NSX Manager clustering.

• Identify the NSX Management Cluster Design Options: Exploring various design options for management clusters.

4. NSX Edge Design

• Explain the Leading Practices for Edge Design: Best practices for designing NSX Edge environments.

• Describe the NSX Edge VM Reference Designs: Overview of virtual machine reference designs for NSX Edge.

• Describe the Bare-Metal NSX Edge Reference Designs: Understanding bare-metal design approaches for NSX Edge.

• Explain the Leading Practices for Edge Cluster Design: Best practices for structuring edge clusters.

• Explain the Effect of Stateful Services Placement: Impact of service placement on edge performance.

• Explain the Growth Patterns for Edge Clusters: Understanding how edge clusters can scale.

• Identify Design Considerations When Using L2 Bridging Services: Key factors to consider when implementing L2 bridging.

5. NSX Logical Switching Design

• Describe Concepts and Terminology in Logical Switching: Overview of logical switching fundamentals.

• Identify Segment and Transport Zone Design Considerations: Design considerations for segments and transport zones.

• Identify Virtual Switch Design Considerations: Key aspects of designing virtual switches.

• Identify Uplink Profile and Transport Node Profile Design Considerations: Guidelines for uplink and transport node profiles.

• Identify Geneve Tunneling Design Considerations: Understanding Geneve tunneling in NSX.

• Identify BUM Replication Mode Design Considerations: Considerations for Broadcast, Unknown unicast, and Multicast (BUM) replication.

6. NSX Logical Routing Design

• Explain the Function and Features of Logical Routing: Overview of logical routing functionalities.

• Describe the NSX Single-Tier and Multitier Routing Architectures: Understanding routing architectures in NSX.

• Identify Guidelines When Selecting a Routing Topology: Best practices for choosing routing topologies.

• Describe the BGP and OSPF Routing Protocol Configuration Options: Configuration options for routing protocols in NSX.

• Explain Gateway High Availability Modes of Operation and Failure Detection Mechanisms: Understanding high availability for routing gateways.

• Identify How Multitier Architectures Provide Control Over Stateful Service Location: Impact of multitier architectures on service location.

• Identify EVPN Requirements and Design Considerations: Key considerations for Ethernet VPN in NSX.

• Identify VRF Lite Requirements and Considerations: Overview of VRF Lite design considerations.

• Identify the Typical NSX Scalable Architectures: Understanding scalable architectures within NSX environments.

7. NSX Security Design

• Identify Different Security Features Available in NSX: Overview of security features offered by NSX.

• Describe the Advantages of an NSX Distributed Firewall: Understanding the benefits of a distributed firewall.

• Describe the Use of NSX Gateway Firewall as a Perimeter Firewall and as an Intertenant Firewall: Applications of the NSX Gateway Firewall.

• Determine a Security Policy Methodology: Strategies for developing effective security policies.

• Recognize the NSX Security Best Practices: Overview of best practices for NSX security.

8. NSX Network Services

• Identify the Stateful Services Available in Different Edge Cluster High Availability Modes: Overview of stateful services and their availability.

• Describe Failover Detection Mechanisms: Understanding mechanisms for failover detection.

• Compare NSX NAT Solutions: Analysis of different NAT solutions in NSX.

• Explain How to Select DHCP and DNS Services: Guidelines for selecting appropriate DHCP and DNS services.

• Compare Policy-Based and Route-Based IPSec VPN: Differences between policy-based and route-based VPN configurations.

• Describe an L2 VPN Topology That Can Be Used to Interconnect Data Centers: Overview of L2 VPN topologies for data center connectivity.

• Explain the Design Considerations for Integrating VMware NSX® Advanced Load Balancer™ with NSX: Key factors in integrating load balancing with NSX.

9. Physical Infrastructure Design

• Identify the Components of a Switch Fabric Design: Understanding the elements involved in switch fabric design.

• Assess Layer 2 and Layer 3 Switch Fabric Design Implications: Overview of design considerations for Layer 2 and Layer 3 fabrics.

• Review Guidelines When Designing Top-of-Rack Switches: Best practices for top-of-rack switch design.

• Review Options for Connecting Transport Hosts to the Switch Fabric: Techniques for connecting transport hosts.

• Describe Typical Designs for VMware ESXi™ Compute Hypervisors with Two pNICs: Overview of designs for ESXi with two physical NICs.

• Describe Typical Designs for ESXi Compute Hypervisors with Four or More pNICs: Best practices for ESXi hypervisors with multiple physical NICs.

• Differentiate Dedicated and Collapsed Cluster Approaches to SDDC Design: Understanding different approaches to Software-Defined Data Center (SDDC) design.

10. NSX Multilocation Design

• Explain Scale Considerations in an NSX Multisite Design: Overview of scalability in multisite NSX deployments.

• Describe the Main Components of the NSX Federation Architecture: Understanding NSX Federation architecture components.

• Describe the Stretched Networking Capability in Federation: Overview of stretched networking in NSX Federation.

• Describe Stretched Security Use Cases in Federation: Applications of security in stretched networks.

• Compare the Federation Disaster Recovery Designs: Analysis of disaster recovery designs in NSX Federation.

11. NSX Optimization and DPU-Based Acceleration

• Describe Geneve Offload: Understanding Geneve offload functionalities.

• Describe the Benefits of Receive Side Scaling and Geneve Rx Filters: Overview of benefits related to scaling and filtering.

• Explain the Benefits of SSL Offload: Advantages of SSL offloading in NSX.

• Describe the Effect of Multi-TEP, MTU Size, and NIC Speed on Throughput: Factors affecting throughput performance.

• Explain the Available Enhanced Datapath Modes and Use Cases: Overview of enhanced datapath modes in NSX.

• List the Key Performance Factors for Compute Nodes and NSX Edge Nodes: Identifying critical performance factors in NSX environments.

• Describe DPU-Based Acceleration: Overview of Data Processing Unit (DPU) acceleration.

• Define the NSX Features Supported by DPUs: Understanding NSX features compatible with DPUs.

• Describe the Hardware and Networking Configurations Supported with DPUs: Overview of configurations for DPU integration.