As a vExpert and NSX expert, I will guide you through the process of setting up a lab environment for vSphere with Tanzu using NSX Advanced Load Balancer (ALB). In this blog post, we will focus on preparing the vSphere side of the environment.

Before we begin, please note that this article assumes that you have already enabled vSphere with Tanzu and have a valid license for the feature. If you have not done so yet, please enable vSphere with Tanzu and obtain a valid license before proceeding.

Preparing the vSphere Environment

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To set up a lab environment for vSphere with Tanzu using NSX ALB, we need to create an empty content library in vSphere. This content library will be used to store the OVF (Open Virtualization Format) of the NSX ALB Service Engine (SE).

To create an empty content library, follow these steps:

1. Open the vSphere Client and navigate to the “Home” menu.

2. Click on “Content Libraries” and select “Create Content Library.”

3. Enter a name for your content library, such as “NSX ALB Lab,” and click “Next.”

4. Select “Empty” as the type of content library and click “Next.”

5. Choose a location for your content library and click “Finish.”

Once you have created the content library, you can upload the OVF of the NSX ALB SE to it. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the “Home” menu in the vSphere Client.

2. Click on “Content Libraries” and select your newly created content library.

3. Click on the “Upload” button and select the OVF file of the NSX ALB SE.

4. Click “Open” to upload the OVF file to the content library.

Creating a Lab Cluster

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Next, we need to create a lab cluster in vSphere that will host our NSX ALB lab environment. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the “Home” menu in the vSphere Client.

2. Click on “Lab Clusters” and select “Create Lab Cluster.”

3. Enter a name for your lab cluster, such as “NSX ALB Lab,” and click “Next.”

4. Select “vCenter Server” as the type of lab cluster and click “Next.”

5. Choose the vSphere server that you want to use for your lab cluster and click “Next.”

6. Select the ESXi hosts that you want to include in your lab cluster and click “Finish.”

Once you have created your lab cluster, you can deploy the NSX ALB SE to it. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the “Home” menu in the vSphere Client.

2. Click on “Lab Clusters” and select your newly created lab cluster.

3. Click on the “Deploy” button and select the OVF file of the NSX ALB SE that you uploaded to your content library earlier.

4. Click “Deploy” to deploy the NSX ALB SE to your lab cluster.

Conclusion

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In this article, we have covered the preparation of the vSphere environment for a lab environment for vSphere with Tanzu using NSX Advanced Load Balancer (ALB). We have created an empty content library in vSphere and uploaded the OVF file of the NSX ALB SE to it. We have also created a lab cluster in vSphere that will host our NSX ALB lab environment.

In the next article, we will focus on configuring the NSX ALB SE in our lab environment. Please stay tuned for the next installment of this series.