Home Lab, Networking, VCF

Configuring Centralized Connectivity Networking with BGP in VCF 9.0

sargonkhizeran

VCF 9.0 introduced a new way to setup and configuring networking. The two models that can be configured depending on your business’s needs. There is Centralized Connectivity & Distributed Connectivity. Not going into full detail with the difference of those two, please read about it here, Setting up Network Connectivity.

Some of the plumbing of the network, it’s all Ubiquiti Unifi system, ESX hosts have dual 10GB interfaces each. My choice of routing is BGP, read more about my experience here; BGP Peering NSX Tier-0 with Ubiquiti UDM Pro. This will be key as I want my virtual networking to traverse the physical (North/South)

My blog on BGP Peering is pending an update. I will work on an update, however should get the peering to work.

Deployment

From the vSphere client, highlight the vCenter instance, in the right pane navigate to Networks >> Network Connectivity.

You will be presented with a Gateway Type, ours will be Centralized Connectivity

Networking Prerequisites

This is where we configure our Edges, select our size and give a unique name for our Edge cluster object.

Clicking ‘Add’ will bring up configuration for the first Edge node. In this section it will be mainly management configuration for the Edge as well as Edge TEPs.

The bottom was cut off, here is the remainder

Once we save, we have an option of Adding or Cloning the configuration.

Fill out the unique settings for the clone

There is an option to have passwords auto generate or you can specify ‘admin’ & ‘root’ passwords.

Example of filling it out

The final step before Deploying will be the ‘Workload Domain Connectivity’, this will contain BGP related configuration and Edge gateway uplink configuration.

The next series of screenshots are configuring 2 Gateway uplinks for each edge appliance.

I have 2 physical networks created (vlan 3 & vlan4) as interfaces specifically for overlay and North-South communication.

The final step is Deploy. Take a look at some of the photos post-install.

The final step is to perform an Inventory Sync in VCF Operations. This let’s Operations manage monitoring and password Lifecycle.

Under Fleet Management >> Passwords, Edge appliances are not there.

From VCF Operations >> Inventory, select the Management Domain and perform a Sync Inventory

After some time, the additional accounts will appear under Fleet Management/Passwords

Personal Blogs

TLDR – What keeps pulling me in as a vExpert

sargonkhizeran

Growing up as a kid in Yonkers, New York, I got to be part of many groups. We had a church youth, friends from the block and school. There were many of us, different ages, race, upbringing, history but with one common goal, have fun. The group would grow because we would continuously invite new friends. This was my introduction to ‘community’ at a young age. This background certainly contributed to the extrovert side of me, feeding energy from others as momentum.

I would not trade my time growing up with these friends for nothing, still talk to them, one passed away. If it was not people I grew up with, I managed to build fruitful friendships with co-workers. These are people where we spread positivism and help make each other better.

Being curious by nature helped me break into new things. I started involving myself with a community group in 2014. I came across a Help Desk software called Spiceworks. I was lucky to be more involved with supporting VMware infrastructure during my time at Sutter Health. We had a Technical Account Manager (TAM) and he would speak about VMware User Groups (VMUG) meetings and VMworld. I naturally gravitated and inserted myself in these events. I wanted to become a product of these environments. I got to meet the likes of other user group members, VMware employees and bloggers.

December 2019, hosted my first meeting for the Sacramento VMUG chapter as a leader.

Remember the shutdown of 2020? That did not stop me, I went on to host several virtual VMUG events. I met so many new people, for the first time felt like I was building something. A VMware employee nudged me to apply for the vExpert program, went something like this..

Someone sees something in you that you do not always see for yourself. Some self-doubt, the famous “impostor syndrome”. It felt re-assuring as a VMUG leader, it gives you a really good shot. So, I did. February 2021 I was accepted after applying.

Things were beginning to launch, work viewed me as a VMware SME, VCP certified, vExpert, met more people from VMUG. In March 2021 I accepted a position at VMware (now Broadcom) and it’s been great ride since then. The vExpert applications continued annually for me, my content increased significantly with contributions, blogging and YouTube videos. This was not done alone as folks from the vExpert community helped me navigate the world and cheer you on.

Overcame self-doubt, built confidence and get over the fear of putting yourself out there.

Don’t believe me? Here are some numbers

Blogging increased, I overcame fear and continued to double my numbers year over year. BTW..2025 we can probably thank AI.
Writing is fun, being able visually contribute feels different.

Are you ready to apply? You would not be alone as you can reach out to any member to discuss.

vExpert Application Portal