VCP-NV Resources

VMware NSX resources

In my preparation for the VMware Certified Professional – Network Virtualization (VCP - NV) exam I will come across resources that will help me in achieving exam succes. To give something back to this community, this thread will link to those resources.

Blueprint: https://mylearn.vmware.com/lcms/web/portals/certification/VCP_Blueprints/VCP-NV-Exam-Blueprint-v1_1.pdf

This topic will be updated as I progress in my studies.

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JBrown

Great webinar on NSX Architecture VMware NSX Architecture - YouTube

Asif Dasl

I was going to post that webinar, but I see it has already been posted... the original webpage for it is <here>, just in case there is any more content on that site that might interest others.

VMware Education - VMware Network Virtualization Fundamentals (Self-Paced 3 Hours)

http://featurewalkthrough.vmware.com/NSX/

www.vExperienced.co.uk » Thoughts on VMware’s NSX ICM course

Elastic Sky - NSX quiz questions

NSX Compendium - Network Inferno

Install NSX in a home Lab using VMware Workstation

There is NSX labs over at VMware HOL
VMware - Hands On Labs - Networking

As far as I can see you need switches with VXLANs and OVSDB (Open vSwitch Database)
HP - Greater agility and continuity - Brochure (Brochure/4AA5-4307ENW.pdf)

Some more switch info from Cumulus Networks - these are the cheapest switches that I could find that do both VXLANs & OVSDB
Cumulus Networks - Connecting Physical and Virtual Worlds with VMware NSX and Cumulus Linux
Cumulus Networks - Rethinking Networking, Cumulus Linux Architecture

Slideshare - SDN Hub - Understanding and deploying Network Virtualization

Pluralsight - Software Defined Networking (SDN): The Big Picture

Essendon

New courses available > New Courses on NSX and Cloud Orchestration Now Available | VMware Education and Certification Blog - VMware Blogs

tomtom1

I'm currently in the NSX ICM, and will share the resources once the course is complete. There are some jewels in there which will help you guys (and myself) preparing for the VCP-NV.

JustFred

I guess this is for their paid training?

for a limited time whenever you attend one you’ll also receive a 50% off VCP exam voucher.

tomtom1

Asif Dasl wrote: »

As far as I can see you need switches with VXLANs and OVSDB (Open vSwitch Database)
HP - Greater agility and continuity - Brochure (Brochure/4AA5-4307ENW.pdf)

Well, that's only if you want to extend your VXLANs further than the virtual environment. In a typical NSX deployment, it would look something like this:

Where basically you have the VXLANs (VNI's or logical switches, all the same) per tier or tenant on the bottom, and the DLR (distributed logical router) in the middle, providing distributed routing between each of the VXLANs. This is called south west traffic. The DLR is so awesome because they really separated the management, control, and data plane. Like this:

The management plane is located in the NSX manager.
The control plane is actually provided by 2 separate entities, the NSX controllers (do note that the only current supported number of NSX controllers is 3) and the router control VM, which is provisioned when you deploy a DLR.
The data plane is located in the ESXi host kernel, when doing the host provisioning steps, the following 3 VIBs are deployed on the ESXi host:

esx-dvfilter-switch-security5.5.0-0.0.1546774
esx-vsip5.5.0-0.0.1546774
esx-vxlan5.5.0-0.0.1546774

So, when you kill the control plane (for example, all controllers and the logical router control VM fail) the forwarding can still take place. Only the learning of new routes won't be possible until the control plane is back up again.

"Above" the logical router is an NSX ESG (Edge Services Gateway) which is able to provide communication between the virtual LAN (VXLANs) and the physical LAN (VLAN). This is called north-south traffic. So, there is no need for specific switches if your implementation of NSX just spans the virtual environment, as the ESG is able to connect both worlds. The DLR is able to do this too, but it makes more sense to spawn up and ESG for this purpose.

Screen Shot 2014-11-08 at 09.57.46.jpg

tomtom1

I'd also like to inform everyone currently (or for the future) pursuing VCP-NV that the NSX Design Guide is a resource that isn't widely spread, but is a jewel in terms of technical NSX content. You can ask QHalo

The NSX Design Guide 2.1 can be found here:
https://communities.vmware.com/servlet/JiveServlet/previewBody/27683-102-3-37383/NSXvSphereDesignGuidev2.1.pdf

QHalo

Yup. It helped me pass the VCP-NV today. Muchas gracias!

JustFred

QHalo wrote: »

Yup. It helped me pass the VCP-NV today. Muchas gracias!

Awesome. Congrats.

dave330i

tomtom1 wrote: »

The NSX Design Guide 2.1 can be found here:
https://communities.vmware.com/servlet/JiveServlet/previewBody/27683-102-3-37383/NSXvSphereDesignGuidev2.1.pdf

Found a possible error in the guide regarding unicast mode. In the ICM course book, it mentions a segment VTEP proxy designated by NSX controller. In the 2.1 guide, it indicates local ESXi hosts elect their own segment VTEP proxy.

Also, congrats QHalo on passing.