One of the reasons I put together the VVD 4.3 on VxRail Breadcrumb Build series was that I wanted to have a go at using VMware HCX to migrate workloads between a VxRack SDDC and a VxRail. In this series, the ultimate goal is to build a VMware HCX topology like the one shown below that will allow me to migrate virtual machine workloads between these endpoints in cold or vMotion styles using either on-demand or scheduled migrations.
HCX offers some cool features when it comes to this sort of thing. The ones that jumped out at me were these
Uncomplicated network requirements between the platforms. Really all you need open is TCP 443 and UDP 500,4500. Thats about as uncomplicated as it gets.
Ability to on-demand/schedule both bulk migration and vMotion migration types
Single source to multiple targets (could be used for redistribution from one source to multiple smaller targets)
Built in WAN optimization, and network extension
So let’s gather a few of the key data points you are going to need during the deployment. You’ll find that typically the destination system is referred to as ‘cloud’ and the source system is typically referred to as ‘enterprise’ throughout the HCX documentation (presumably to reinforce that you can migration out of your datacenter and into a cloud provider). I’m keeping that nomenclature for the parameter gathering.
VMware Enhanced vMotion Compatibility (EVC)
Before you go too far, if you intend to use the live vMotion capability of HCX, then you should check out how compatible the CPUs between enterprise/source and cloud/destination systems are. You might find that you need to turn EVC on if you haven’t already and that the levels of EVC are compatible. It can be disruptive to turn this one if there are workloads already running on the system, so get out in front of it.
Licenses
Parameter Key
Notes
Example
[nsx-enterprise-plus-license]
xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx
Supporting Infrastructure
Parameter Key
Notes
Example
[cloud-dns-server]
Destination Name Resolution
192.168.5.9
[cloud-ad-domain]
Destination AD
regiona.domain.local
[cloud-ntp-ip]
Destination Time Synchronization
192.168.76.12
[enterprise-dns-server]
Source Name Resolution
[enterprise-ad-domain]
Source AD
sddc1.corp.local
[enterprise-ntp-ip]
Source Time Synchronization
192.168.15.9
vCenter/SSO Information
Parameter Key
Notes
Example
[cloud-vcenter-fqdn]
Destination vCenter
vc02.regiona.domain.local
[cloud-vcenter-ip]
192.168.5.31
[cloud-psc-lb-fqdn]
Destination Load Balanced PSC or stand alone as appropriate
ra-psc.regiona.domain.local
[cloud-sso-admin-username]
administrtor@vsphere.local
[cloud-sso-admin-password]
VMw@re!!
[enterprise-vcenter-fqdn]
Source vCenter
rack-vc-1.sddc1.corp.local
[enterprise-vcenter-ip]
192.168.105.31
[enterprise-psc-lb-fqdn]
Source Load Balanced PSC or stand alone as appropriate
FearDamhan 