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Deploying NSX-T Using Ansible – Part 3: Running The Playbook

April 10, 2019April 10, 2019 Gavin Stephens

In this post I am going to cover the running of the Ansible NSX-T playbook, so that you can get NSX-T deployed in your environment(s). In case you missed them, in my previous posts, I detailed how to set up your Ansible environment and configure the playbook in preparation for deploying NSX-T.

If you arrived here and want to figure it out for yourself, you can download my playbooks here: https://github.com/nmshadey/Ansible-NSXT

Playbook Overview

The main playbook that you will need to run is called ‘nsxt_create_environment.yml‘, which is located in the root of the Ansible-NSXT folder.

---
## Deploys an NSX-T environment
- hosts: nsxt_managers_controllers
  connection: local
  become: yes
  gather_facts: False
  vars:
    nsxt_deployment_vcenter: "{{ mgmt_vcenter_server }}"
    nsxt_deployment_vcenter_username: "{{ mgmt_vcenter_admin_username }}"
    nsxt_deployment_vcenter_password: "{{ mgmt_vcenter_admin_password }}"
    nsxt_deployment_datacenter: "{{ mgmt_vcenter_datacenter }}"
    nsxt_deployment_cluster: "{{ mgmt_vcenter_cluster }}"
    nsxt_deployment_datastore: "{{ nsxt_datastore }}"
    nsxt_deployment_portgroup: "{{ nsxt_portgroup }}"
    nsxt_deployment_size: "{{ nsxt_default_deployment_size }}"
    nsxt_role: "{{ nsxt_default_role }}"

    compute_managers:
    - name: "{{ nsxt_compute_manager_name }}"
      host: "{{ nsxt_compute_manager_host }}"
      transport_clusters: "{{ nsxt_transport_clusters }}"

    ip_pools:
    - display_name: "{{ nsxt_transport_switch_ip_pool_name }}"
      subnets:
      - allocation_ranges:
        - start: "{{ nsxt_transport_switch_ip_pool_start }}"
          end: "{{ nsxt_transport_switch_ip_pool_end }}"
        cidr: "{{ nsxt_transport_switch_ip_pool_cidr }}"

    transport_zones:
    - display_name: "{{ nsxt_transport_zone_name }}"
      description: "{{ nsxt_transport_zone_desc }}"
      transport_type: "OVERLAY"
      transport_switch_name: "{{ nsxt_transport_switch_name }}"

    uplink_profiles:
    - display_name: "{{ nsxt_transport_switch_uplink_profile_name }}"
      teaming:
        active_list:
        - uplink_name: "{{ nsxt_transport_switch_uplink_1 }}"
          uplink_type: PNIC
        - uplink_name: "{{ nsxt_transport_switch_uplink_2 }}"
          uplink_type: PNIC
        policy: "{{ nsxt_transport_switch_uplink_profile_policy }}"
      transport_vlan: "{{ nsxt_transport_switch_uplink_profile_vlan }}"

    transport_node_profiles:
    - display_name: "{{ nsxt_transport_node_profile_name }}"
      description: "{{ nsxt_transport_switch_profile_desc }}"
      host_switches:
      - host_switch_profiles:
        - name: "{{ nsxt_transport_switch_uplink_profile_name }}"
          type: UplinkHostSwitchProfile
        host_switch_name: "{{ nsxt_transport_switch_name }}"
        pnics:
        - device_name: "{{ nsxt_transport_switch_pnic_1 }}"
          uplink_name: "{{ nsxt_transport_switch_uplink_1 }}"
        - device_name: "{{ nsxt_transport_switch_pnic_2 }}"
          uplink_name: "{{ nsxt_transport_switch_uplink_2 }}"
        ip_assignment_spec:
          resource_type: StaticIpPoolSpec
          ip_pool_name: "{{ nsxt_transport_switch_ip_pool_name }}"
      transport_zone_endpoints:
      - transport_zone_name: "{{ nsxt_transport_zone_name }}"
    
  roles:
    - nsxt_deploy_ova
    - nsxt_apply_license
    - nsxt_add_compute_managers
    - nsxt_create_ip_pools
    - nsxt_create_transport_zones
    - nsxt_create_uplink_profiles
    - nsxt_create_transport_profiles
    - nsxt_configure_transport_clusters

---

## Deploys an NSX-T environment

- hosts: nsxt_managers_controllers

connection: local

become: yes

gather_facts: False

vars:

nsxt_deployment_vcenter: "{{ mgmt_vcenter_server }}"

nsxt_deployment_vcenter_username: "{{ mgmt_vcenter_admin_username }}"

nsxt_deployment_vcenter_password: "{{ mgmt_vcenter_admin_password }}"

nsxt_deployment_datacenter: "{{ mgmt_vcenter_datacenter }}"

nsxt_deployment_cluster: "{{ mgmt_vcenter_cluster }}"

nsxt_deployment_datastore: "{{ nsxt_datastore }}"

nsxt_deployment_portgroup: "{{ nsxt_portgroup }}"

nsxt_deployment_size: "{{ nsxt_default_deployment_size }}"

nsxt_role: "{{ nsxt_default_role }}"

compute_managers:

- name: "{{ nsxt_compute_manager_name }}"

host: "{{ nsxt_compute_manager_host }}"

transport_clusters: "{{ nsxt_transport_clusters }}"

ip_pools:

- display_name: "{{ nsxt_transport_switch_ip_pool_name }}"

subnets:

- allocation_ranges:

- start: "{{ nsxt_transport_switch_ip_pool_start }}"

end: "{{ nsxt_transport_switch_ip_pool_end }}"

cidr: "{{ nsxt_transport_switch_ip_pool_cidr }}"

transport_zones:

- display_name: "{{ nsxt_transport_zone_name }}"

description: "{{ nsxt_transport_zone_desc }}"

transport_type: "OVERLAY"

transport_switch_name: "{{ nsxt_transport_switch_name }}"

uplink_profiles:

- display_name: "{{ nsxt_transport_switch_uplink_profile_name }}"

teaming:

active_list:

- uplink_name: "{{ nsxt_transport_switch_uplink_1 }}"

uplink_type: PNIC

- uplink_name: "{{ nsxt_transport_switch_uplink_2 }}"

uplink_type: PNIC

policy: "{{ nsxt_transport_switch_uplink_profile_policy }}"

transport_vlan: "{{ nsxt_transport_switch_uplink_profile_vlan }}"

transport_node_profiles:

- display_name: "{{ nsxt_transport_node_profile_name }}"

description: "{{ nsxt_transport_switch_profile_desc }}"

host_switches:

- host_switch_profiles:

- name: "{{ nsxt_transport_switch_uplink_profile_name }}"

type: UplinkHostSwitchProfile

host_switch_name: "{{ nsxt_transport_switch_name }}"

pnics:

- device_name: "{{ nsxt_transport_switch_pnic_1 }}"

uplink_name: "{{ nsxt_transport_switch_uplink_1 }}"

- device_name: "{{ nsxt_transport_switch_pnic_2 }}"

uplink_name: "{{ nsxt_transport_switch_uplink_2 }}"

ip_assignment_spec:

resource_type: StaticIpPoolSpec

ip_pool_name: "{{ nsxt_transport_switch_ip_pool_name }}"

transport_zone_endpoints:

- transport_zone_name: "{{ nsxt_transport_zone_name }}"

roles:

- nsxt_deploy_ova

- nsxt_apply_license

- nsxt_add_compute_managers

- nsxt_create_ip_pools

- nsxt_create_transport_zones

- nsxt_create_uplink_profiles

- nsxt_create_transport_profiles

- nsxt_configure_transport_clusters

Continue reading →

Deploying NSX-T Using Ansible – Part 2: Setting Up The Playbook

April 10, 2019April 11, 2019 Gavin Stephens

In my previous post I covered how to prepare your Ansible environment and install the VMware NSX-T modules. I also provided the details on how to install my Ansible playbooks for deploying NSX-T in your environments.

In this post I am going to detail how to configure these playbooks to meet your environment/requirements. I have chosen to break out my variables into multiple files. This gives me the flexibility to assign values specific to a group of hosts, inherit values from a parent group and to store usernames, passwords and license information more securely, in their own Ansible Vault encrypted file.

The deployment examples that I will demonstrate include 2 sites, that each include the following:

A management environment at each site. This includes a vCenter Server instance with a single management cluster.
A compute resource (CMP) environment at each site. This includes a vCenter Server instance with a single resource cluster.

I will deploy an NSX-T instance at each management cluster. These NSX-T instances will be used to provide SDN capabilities to the compute resource clusters (when I get time I’ll create a diagram!).

An overview of the playbook tree:

├── ansible.cfg
├── nsxt_create_environment.yml
├── nsxt_example_add_compute_manager.yml
├── nsxt_example_apply_license.yml
├── nsxt_example_create_ip_pools.yml
├── nsxt_example_create_transport_profiles.yml
├── nsxt_example_create_transport_zones.yml
├── nsxt_example_create_uplink_profiles.yml
├── nsxt_example_deploy_ova.yml
├── group_vars
│   ├── all
│   ├── nsxt_managers_controllers
│   ├── site_a
│   ├── site_a_cmp_nsxt
│   ├── site_b
│   └── site_b_cmp_nsxt
├── inventory
│   └── hosts
├── roles
│   ├── nsxt_add_compute_managers
│   ├── nsxt_apply_license
│   ├── nsxt_check_manager_status
│   ├── nsxt_configure_transport_clusters
│   ├── nsxt_create_ip_pools
│   ├── nsxt_create_transport_profiles
│   ├── nsxt_create_transport_zones
│   ├── nsxt_create_uplink_profiles
│   └── nsxt_deploy_ova
├── ssh_config

├── ansible.cfg

├── nsxt_create_environment.yml

├── nsxt_example_add_compute_manager.yml

├── nsxt_example_apply_license.yml

├── nsxt_example_create_ip_pools.yml

├── nsxt_example_create_transport_profiles.yml

├── nsxt_example_create_transport_zones.yml

├── nsxt_example_create_uplink_profiles.yml

├── nsxt_example_deploy_ova.yml

├── group_vars

│ ├── all

│ ├── nsxt_managers_controllers

│ ├── site_a

│ ├── site_a_cmp_nsxt

│ ├── site_b

│ └── site_b_cmp_nsxt

├── inventory

│ └── hosts

├── roles

│ ├── nsxt_add_compute_managers

│ ├── nsxt_apply_license

│ ├── nsxt_check_manager_status

│ ├── nsxt_configure_transport_clusters

│ ├── nsxt_create_ip_pools

│ ├── nsxt_create_transport_profiles

│ ├── nsxt_create_transport_zones

│ ├── nsxt_create_uplink_profiles

│ └── nsxt_deploy_ova

├── ssh_config

Continue reading →

Deploying NSX-T Using Ansible – Part 1: Setting Up The Environment

April 10, 2019April 10, 2019 Gavin Stephens

When I saw the release of NSX-T 2.4, I decided that I would upgrade my compute clusters to utilise this new version. Since I manage the compute NSX managers mostly through the API, I figured this would provide me with some good experience and also allow me to understand how this is deployed.

In my lab I run vRealize Automation with a management cluster (CMP stack), 2 nested vCenter Servers and ESXi Clusters (compute) that mimic two geographically dispersed data centres. Until now I had deployed a dedicated NSX-V instance for each of my three vCenter deployments, that provides the logical switching and routing required for my lab.

I didn’t want to create yet another ‘how to’ guide on how to do this using the GUI, so instead, I am going to attempt to accomplish this using Ansible. VMware have handily made available Ansible modules for NSX-T, which are supported for the 2.4 release and above (note that these are still in preview). I will attempt to make use of these modules, but if I discover broken or missing functionality, then I will revert to using the NSX-T Rest API.

Link to the VMware Github repository for Ansible NSX-T: https://github.com/vmware/ansible-for-nsxt

Link to my Github Ansible NSX-T Deployment Playbooks: https://github.com/nmshadey/Ansible-NSXT

I am going to provide a series of posts that will cover the set up of the Ansible environment, how to install the VMware NSX-T modules and use the playbooks and roles that I have created to deploy NSX-T in your environments. Continue reading →