HCX Network Profiles

The Network Profile is an abstraction of a Distributed Port group, Standard Port group, or NSX Logical Switch, and the Layer 3 properties of that network. A Network Profile is a subcomponent of a complete Compute Profile and can be created within the Compute Profile or created first. Network Profiles can be shared amongst other Compute Profiles that might be in use for different clusters in additional Service Meshes. Ensure the IP range is big enough to allow for all the appliances and any additional appliances needed for HA pairs. Another Network Profile will need to be created at the destination site.

A Network Profile has been created for each network service intended for HCX. It is in these profiles that IP pools are configured, MTU settings are defined for the following functions:

• Management Network: The HCX Interconnect appliances use this network to communicate with management systems like the HCX Manager, vCenter Server, ESXi Management, NSX Manager, DNS, NTP.

• Uplink Network: The HCX Interconnect appliances use this network for WAN communications, like TX/RX of transport packets.

• vMotion Network: The HCX Interconnect appliances use this network for the traffic exclusive to vMotion protocol operations.

• Replication Network:

  • For destination - vSphere Replication Network: The HCX Interconnect appliances use this network for the traffic exclusive to vSphere Replication.

  • For source sites – the vSphere Replication Network is shared with the Management Network Profile.

HCX Traffic Types and HCX Appliances

Here we discuss the different traffic types and their uses in HCX.

The table describes which Network Profile traffic types are used by the different HCX appliances.

Note One IP address is assigned for uniquely backed traffic type.

For example, if all HCX-IX traffic types are configured to use a single network, a single vNIC with a single IP address is assigned. If a dedicated network is configured for each possible IX traffic type, then the HCX-IX uses four vNICs with an IP in each network.

HCX Appliance	Traffic Types Used
HCX-IX (Migrations, DR)	HCX Uplink HCX Management HCX vMotion HCX Replication
HCX-NE (Network Extension)	HCX Uplink HCX Management
HCX-WO (WAN Optimisation)	HCX Management

Understanding Network Profile Traffic Types

HCX Network Profile Types	Description
HCX Uplinks	Used by Service Mesh components to reach their peer appliances.
HCX Management	Used by Service Mesh components to connect to HCX Manager, vCenter Server, NTP, DNS.
HCX vMotion	Used by Service Mesh components to connect to the ESXi cluster for vMotion-based services.
HCX Replication	Used by Service Mesh components connect to the ESXi cluster for Replication-based services. Note: cannot be used for vSphere Replication NFC VMkernel traffic