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NSX-T Policy API Explorer, Docs and Sample Updates for VMC

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The VMware Cloud on AWS (VMC) in-product API Explorer is something that I use on a regular basis, especially for executing a quick tasks without needing to write a single line of code or for documentation purposes to understand the required parameter to a specific API. Today, the VMC API Explorer includes both the VMC Service and Cloud Services Platform API, but one key API that has been missing is the inclusion of the NSX-T Policy API.

With the release of VMC 1.7 which just came out a few days ago, customers will now be able to also access the NSX-T Policy API directly from within the VMC API Explorer! In addition to adding to the VMC API Explorer, the NSX team has also enhanced their Swagger JSON and documentation to provide a better developer experience when working with NSX-T in VMC.

NSX-T Policy API Explorer

The new NSX-T Policy API Explorer is only available for SDDCs running 1.7, which can be newly created SDDC or an SDDC that has been upgraded to 1.7. In addition, since there still SDDC running NSX-V, to view the new API Explorer, you will need to select an NSX-T 1.7 SDDC and then two new NSX-T API references will be available: NSX VMC Policy API and NSX VMC AWS Integrations API 

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New Thunderbolt 3 to 10GbE options for ESXi

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With the help from Aquantia, we now have an ESXi driver to enable the built-in 10GbE adaptor for both the Apple 2018 Mac Mini and the iMac Pro. Although this was exciting news for our VMware/Apple customers, I was actually more excited for what this development meant for the larger VMware Community when it comes to 10GbE accessibility.

Many Enterprise customers have already been using Thunderbolt 2/3 to access their 10 Gigabit infrastructure, usually over SFP+ but Ethernet based options also exists such as the Sonnet solution which I had shared last year. This is especially common for VMware customers who virtualize Apple MacOS on vSphere for MacOS/iOS development and the use of Thunderbolt enables ESXi to connect to the underlying storage and networking infrastructure, which traditionally has been either Fibre Channel and/or IP-based storage running over a 10Gig link.

When you start looking at 10GbE accessibility for VMware home labs which could potentially apply to remote office/branch office (ROBO) and Edge/IoT environments, the cost and the complexity of the setup is something that many folks have to consider. There are definitely some creative options out there, most recently Chad Moon shared his solution using a Thunderbolt 3 to PCIe expansion chassis with his Intel NUCs which will run you about $230 per setup or you can be a true hardware hacker like Jack Harvest and use one of the M.2 slots in the Intel Skull Canyon NUC and connect that to PCIe 10GbE SFP+ card with a custom 3D printed chassis to hide everything for just $43.68 🙂

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NSX-T Opaque Networks now supported with Cross vCenter Workload Migration Fling

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The Cross vCenter Workload Migration Fling continues to be an extremely powerful tool for our customers and I just love hearing successful customer stories like the one recently shared by Jason on how the tool allowed him to easily migrate over 600 Virtual Machines and with more to come!

One capability that customers have been asking for is the ability to migrate to and from an NSX-T Opaque Network type, which the current Fling does not support. This has become more and more important as the default NSX stack for VMware Cloud on AWS (VMC) is now NSX-T by default, rather than NSX-V. We are also seeing requests from on-premises customers who have deployed NSX-T for their next generation infrastructure and needing the ability to easily migrate workloads between their old infrastructure that maybe running VSS/VDS or NSX-V backed networks.

With the help from two new colleagues, Vikas Shitole and Rajmani Patel, we are excited to announce the release Cross vCenter Workload Migration v2.6 which now adds support for NSX-T Opaque Networks!

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