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VCF Operations for Networks 9.0.x | Install Guide |


Introduction


VCF Operations for Networks brings intelligent automation and oversight to your software-defined networking and security.


It empowers you to build an optimized, highly available, and deeply secure infrastructure across any multi-cloud environment.


By bridging the gap between virtual and physical networks, it delivers end-to-end visibility, allowing you to accelerate micro-segmentation planning and gain the exact operational insights needed to confidently manage and scale your VCF NSX deployments.



Architecture


When you install VCF Operations for Networks (formerly known as VMware Aria Operations for Networks or vRealize Network Insight), the architecture relies on two distinct types of virtual appliances working together.


The Platform Node (Platform VM)

This is the brain of the operation. The Platform Node is the centralized analytics and management node.


  • What it does: It processes all the network data, runs the analytics engine, stores the mathematical models of your network, and serves the web-based User Interface (UI) that you interact with.


  • Role in the network: When you search for a traffic flow, map out application dependencies, or generate micro-segmentation recommendations, the Platform Node is doing the heavy lifting.


  • Scalability: In small environments, you only need one. For larger enterprise environments or for High Availability (HA), you can deploy a cluster of multiple Platform nodes to share the load and ensure redundancy.


The Collector Node (Proxy/Collector VM)

Think of this as the data-gatherer. The Collector Node sits closer to your actual data sources (like vCenter, NSX Managers, physical switches, firewalls, and public cloud endpoints).


  • What it does: It actively ingests and collects data from your infrastructure using various protocols (like APIs, NetFlow, SNMP, SSH, etc.). After gathering the data, it encrypts and forwards it to the Platform Node for processing.


  • Role in the network: It acts as a secure proxy, so the Platform VM doesn't need direct access to every single switch or firewall in your environment.


  • Scalability: You will typically deploy one or more Collector VMs depending on the size of your network, the geographical distribution of your data centers, and the volume of traffic data being generated



Sizing


VMware sizes these deployments into "Bricks" (Medium, Large, Extra Large, etc.) based on the scale of your environment, such as the number of VMs and the volume of network flows you need to monitor.


Crucial Deployment Note: For VCF Operations for Networks to function properly and remain fully supported, VMware strictly requires a 100% reservation for both CPU and Memory on these nodes.


Platform Node Requirements

Because the Platform Node runs the analytics engine and database, it is the more resource-heavy of the two.

Brick Size

vCPU (at 2.6 GHz)

Memory (RAM)

Storage (Thin Provisioned)

Medium

8 Cores

32 GB

1 TB

Large

12 Cores

48 GB

1 TB

Extra Large

16 Cores

64 GB

2 TB

Collector Node Requirements

The Collector Node is lighter since its primary job is to ingest, encrypt, and forward data rather than analyze it.


Brick Size

vCPU (at 2.6 GHz)

Memory (RAM)

Storage (Thin Provisioned)

Medium

4 Cores

12 GB

200 GB

Large

8 Cores

16 GB

200 GB

Extra Large

8 Cores

24 GB

200 GB

2X Large

16 Cores

48 GB

300 GB


Things to Note, Very Important


  • An IP for each node , that's for Platform and Collector

  • VCF Operations for networks does not accept FQDN during installation. It will ask only for an IP Address.

  • Even though during install only IP Address is accepted, it is recommended to assign the IP's to an FQDN.

  • Have all these IP's and FQDN as part of certificate's subject alternative name. This is very important keeping in mind future upgrades.

  • The platform and collector node are only deployed on the management domain of a given VCF Instance



Installation


Login into VCF Operations , browse to Fleet Management -- Lifecycle -- VCF Management -- Binary Management -- Install Binaries. Download VCF Operations for networks install binary




Binary download request would be triggered and it would take couple of minutes to complete



Once the binary download is complete , browse to Fleet Management -- Lifecycle -- VCF Management -- Add Component -- operations-networks



A new pane opens where it presents following options

  • Installation Type

    • New Install

      • Use this option when you would like to install a vanilla or a brand new operations-networks

    • Import

      • Use this option if you already have operations-networks 9.0.x installed in your environment and you would like to import it into VCF Operations ( fleet management appliance's inventory for lifecycle management)

      • This option is used rarely when the operations-networks component is soft-deleted or removed from fleet management appliance's inventory for troubleshooting purposes

      • Leverage this option if you do have  VMware Aria Operations for Networks 6.x which is not managed by VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle but you would like to import it and upgrade it to VCF Operations for networks 9.0.x

    • Import from legacy VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle

      • Use this option if you already have VMware Aria Operations for Networks 6.x and being managed by VMware Aria Suite Lifecycle 8.x

  • Version

    • Select the version you would like to deploy

  • Deployment Type

    • Choose between Standard and Cluster, this defines how many platform and collector nodes are deployed



Click "Next" to choose the Certificate. If you don't have a certificate for this operations-networks deployment, click the "+" sign to open a pane for generating a new certificate.

Remember to fill in the Hostname and IP Addresses field with all the hostnames and IP addresses of the platform and collector nodes.

As mentioned earlier, even though operations-networks doesn't use hostnames in its deployment, most customers assign a hostname to an IP address as a best practice to avoid IP conflicts if the IP is not reserved.

It's crucial to include hostnames and IP addresses for both platform and collector nodes in the certificate.



Click on next to enter infrastructure details on where the nodes are deployed

  • Select vCenter Server

  • Select Cluster

  • Select Folder

  • Select Resource Pool

  • Select Network

  • Select Datastore

  • Select Disk Mode

  • Use Content library (Optional)




Click on next to enter network details

  • Enter Domain Name

  • Enter Domain Search Path

  • Select the DNS Server

  • Select the NTP Server

  • Enter IPv4 details

    • Default IPv4 gateway

    • IPv4 Netmask



Click on next to enter component details. This is the pane where you enter platform and collector nodes deployment details

  • Platform Node

    • VM Name

      • Its the display name of the platform node

    • IP Address

      • IP address of the platform node

    • Node Size

      • Select the size of the platform node

  • Collector Node

    • VM Name

      • Its the display name of the collector node

    • IP Address

      • IP address of the collector node

    • Node Size

      • Select the size of the collector node



Click on next to run prechecks



After the prechecks are successful, proceed by clicking "Next" to review the details and submit to initiate the deployment process.







Once the deployment is completed. Go ahead and use the VCF Operations for networks by accessing the platform node's FQDN.



 
 
 

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