VMware NSX 6.1 for vSphere – Connecting logical and Edge Routers

Caution: Articles written for technical not grammatical accuracy, If poor grammar offends you proceed with caution ;-)

This article builds on my previous article Deploying an Edger Gateway.  In this article we are going to connect the Edge router we deployed in my previous post to the Logical Router we deployed in the post Deploying Logical Distributed Routers.  In order to link these together we will need to deploy a Logical Switch to be used as a transit network between the Edge Gateway and the Logical Router.

Connecting the Logical and Edge Router

1. Followed the steps I outlined in Deploying Logical Switches to create a new logical switch.
2. Once you have created the new Logical Switch navigate to NSX Edges and double-click on the NSX Logical Router that we deployed in Deploying a Logical Router.
3. Once on the router manage page select interfaces from the left menu and then click the green + to add another interface to the router.
4. Next give the interface a name, make sure to choose uplink as the type, then click select to chose the Logical Switch that you created in step 1.
5. Select the Logical Switch you created in step 1 and click OK.
6. Next click the green + to add the IP information for the interface.
7. Click the green + to add a new IP Address and input the address in the field then click OK.  Next Input the subnet bits in the Subnet Prefix Length field and then click ok.*Note – Because this network is only for connecting the two routers you don’t need to use a /24.  You can use a /29.  Don’t use a /30 because you will actually need 3 addresses on this subnet which you will find out more about when we configure OSPF in a separate article.   Anyone see what’s wrong with my IP Address? I accidentally put the network address in the field.  The first usable IP for this subnet is actually 172.16.200.9. 
8. Next Click OK to add the interface.
9. Next we need to connect the Logical Switch to the Edge Gateway we created in Deploying an Edge Gateway.  From the NSX Edges menu double-click the NSX Edge Gateway to add the interface to.
10. Select an available vNIC and then click the pencil to edit it.
11. Give the interface a name, select Internal as the type then click change and select the Logical Switch that you created in Step 1.  Once you select the Logical Switch click the Green + to add the IP information to the interface.
12. Just like we did on the Logical Router Click the green +, then input the IP Address, Click OK, input the Subnet Bits, and then click OK.
13. Click OK to set the interface settings on the NSX Edge Gateway.
14. We now have an environment that looks like the below diagram.  With the routers now connected to you think the VM’s will be able to communicate with your physical network?  As of right now they still can’t communicate, do you know why?
15. The challenge for this exercise is to see if you can figure out how to make the VM’s communicate with your physical network.  I will cover this topic in my next NSX post.