This document supersedes the NSX Design Guide starting with VCF version 9.0.
For VCF 5.2 or standalone NSX 4.2 deployments, the content of the NSX Design guide is still relevant.
VCF Virtual Networking
VMware NSX is the software component that powers VMware Cloud Foundation's virtual networking capabilities, including Virtual Private Clouds (VPCs) and advanced network services. NSX serves as a foundational component for any private cloud deployment where the goal is to achieve a cloud operational model and provide a true cloud experience for users.
By abstracting network services from underlying hardware and delivering them through software, NSX represents a fundamental shift in how organizations approach network virtualization and security in modern data centers. As enterprises increasingly adopt software-defined infrastructure and cloud-native architectures, NSX provides the critical networking foundation that enables agility, security, and operational efficiency at scale.
This comprehensive technology reference guide serves as both an architectural blueprint and a practical implementation resource for NSX deployments within VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) environments.
What You'll Find in This Guide
The content is structured to take you from foundational concepts through advanced operational scenarios, covering the complete NSX technology stack and its integration with VCF automation platforms.
Core Architecture and Fundamentals - We begin with the essential NSX architecture components, examining the management, control, and data planes that form the foundation of NSX networking. You'll gain deep insights into logical switching and routing capabilities, including the advanced multi-tier routing models that enable complex network topologies and a cloud consumption model.
Advanced Networking Services - The guide explores sophisticated NSX capabilities, including VPC (Virtual Private Cloud) consumption models, distributed transit gateways, and multi-protocol BGP EVPN implementations. Special attention is given to VRF Lite configurations, edge bridging scenarios, and the integration of overlay and underlay networking architectures.
High Availability and Performance - Critical coverage of NSX Edge node deployment strategies, failure domains, and high availability mechanisms ensures your implementations can meet enterprise reliability requirements. Performance optimization guidance addresses everything from TCP optimizations and jumbo frame configurations to Enhanced Datapath - Standard (EDP-S), the high-performance networking stack that delivers DPDK-like performance features while minimizing CPU footprint on standard NICs.
Operational Guidance - Extensive day-2 operations content covers NSX Manager cluster management, edge node lifecycle operations, password management, and component placement strategies across different VCF workload domain architectures.
Specialized Use Cases - Advanced topics include multicast routing implementation, IPv6 routing considerations, and the integration of NSX with Supervisor clusters for Kubernetes workloads through VCF Automation.
Who Should Use This Guide
This reference is designed for network architects, infrastructure engineers, and operations teams responsible for designing, implementing, and maintaining NSX environments. The content assumes familiarity with virtualization concepts and enterprise networking fundamentals, while providing the specific technical details needed for production NSX deployments.
The official VCF 9 Design Guide provides prescriptive and standardized implementation guidance for initial deployments. This document, while still providing information relevant to design and architecture, is more targeted at understanding how the platform works and how to enable advanced use cases after the initial baseline infrastructure has been deployed following the recommendations of the VCF 9 Design Guide. These advanced use cases include implementing Virtual Private Clouds (VPCs) for multi-tenant environments, configuring edge bridging for hybrid overlay-VLAN architectures, deploying VRF Lite for advanced routing segmentation, implementing multi-protocol BGP EVPN for scalable control plane operations, enabling IPv6 routing for modern workload requirements, and establishing multicast routing for specialized application needs.
How to Navigate This Document
For most readers, the content through the "VPC Consumption" section will provide comprehensive coverage of basic NSX operations and the most common use cases. This foundational material, combined with the design and architecture guidance provided by the official VCF 9 Design Guide, should suffice for typical enterprise deployments.
The remaining sections of this document are targeted towards readers who need a deeper understanding of the platform and are interested in implementing more advanced use cases. Each section builds upon previous concepts while remaining modular enough to serve as a standalone reference material.