NSX-T comes with some pretty nice tooling to support the abstractions of software-defined networking.
First up is the Port Connection tool. I have to ask – where was this in NSX-V? This is a spectacular tool that lets you choose a source and destination virtual machine or logical port, and get a topology diagram. What TN is the source on? How about the destination? What is the network layout between point A and point B? Even better? Everything is hyperlinked, so you can click on a logical port in the diagram and get the name, UUID, and status of the thing. Oh, did I mention that it also shows the connection state between TEPs on different transport nodes? Yeah, it’s pretty cool.
Then there’s the time-tested Traceflow. Excellent, as always, but better than ever. In NSX-V, for example, if you define a source VM and want to trace to an external endpoint, you just can’t. NSX-T will allow it, but naturally can only trace out to Edge Uplink. If you’re tracing from one VM to another inside the NSX domain, you get the trace results, as well as a Port Connection diagram (for unicast flows). This is the first place I go when someone tells me that two VMs can’t communicate with one another.
Port mirroring is available, and you can create Local, Remote, Remote L3 and Logical SPAN sessions.
IPFIX is still around, and allows for multiple IPFIX collectors, and different Switch or Firewall profiles to forward data out to your preferred collector. The cool thing about this is that you could, for example, define different Observation Domain IDs for different tenants to keep everyone’s flow data separate.
Like I said at the beginning of this series, we’re not looking at anything comprehensive here, nor was this intended to be a deep technical look at NSX-T. This was just a Shameless plug – you should come to one of our NSX-T: Install: Configure, Manage classes for that.
~$ history
Introduction: From NSX-V to NSX-T. An Adventure
NSX-T: The Manager of All Things NSX
The Hall of the Mountain King. or “What Loot do We Find in nsxcli?”
Three Controllers to Rule Them All (that just doesn’t have the same ring to it, does it?)
Beyond Centralization: The Local Control Plane
Transport Zones, Logical Switchies, and Overlays! Oh, My!
Which Way Do We Go? Let’s ask the Logical Router!
If You’re Not Living on the Edge, You’re Taking Up Too Much Room
Welcome to the Edge, I’m at Your Service
VirtualKrueger 