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Getting started with the new NSX-T Policy API in VMC

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Today, when you deploy a new SDDC on VMware Cloud on AWS (VMC), NSX-T is now the default networking stack and NSX-V is no longer used for net new deployments. In fact, we are about to start migrating existing VMC customers who have an NSX-V SDDC and converting them to an NSX-T SDDC. Humair Ahmed who works over in our Networking & Security Business Unit has an excellent blog post here that goes into more details on what NSX-T brings to VMC.


Upon first glance, you might think that this is the exact same version of NSX-T that we have been shipping to our on-premises customers but in fact, it is actually a brand new and improved version. Similar to vSphere (vCenter and ESXi) and VSAN, VMC is always running a newer version of our software than our on-prem customers. One immediate difference that you should be aware of when using NSX-T in VMC is that the current NSX-T API is not available and instead a new NSX-T Policy API has been introduced to help simplify the consumption of NSX-T. All functionality in the current on-prem NSX-T API can be consumed using the new Policy API.

At VMworld, I spoke to a number of current and upcoming customers with NSX-T based SDDCs and they were really interested in using the new NSX-T Policy API and as the title of this blog post suggests, this will be a quick primer on how to do that. Before we get started, confirm that you have an NSX-T based SDDC deployed. If you are not sure, there are a few ways to determine this using either the VMC Console UI or API, instructions can be found here and here.

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VSAN Managed Object Browser (MOB) in vSphere 6.7 & vSphere 6.7 Update 1

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If you have ever spent any time using the vSphere API, you probably have heard of or have used the vSphere Managed Objected Browser (MOB) which is an extremely useful learning and debugging tool when working with the vSphere API. The vSphere MOB is accessed through a web browser connecting to either vCenter Server or ESXi and provides a graphical interface, allowing you to discovery/explore the underlying vSphere API and its data in a very intuitive manner.

As an avid user of the VSAN Management API since its release, I have always wanted something similar, especially when I first got started. I was quite happy when I found out in vSphere 6.7 and VSAN 6.7, the VSAN team has added a VSAN MOB interface directly on ESXi, for the VSAN specific APIs that are available only on an ESXi host. Just like the vSphere MOB which is also available on ESXi host, it is disabled by default and must be enabled.

The following ESXCLI commands can be used to enable/disable the VSAN MOB on ESXi 6.7:

esxcli vsan debug mob start
esxcli vsan debug mob stop

However, when I tried to enable the VSAN MOB, I ran into the following error message:

hostname 'localhost.localdomain' doesn't match '192.168.30.10'


It turns out there is an issue where it fails to match the IP Address of the ESXi host to the default localhost.localdomain and hence it fails to start the VSAN MOB. This issue is fixed in the upcoming vSphere & VSAN 6.7 Update 1, but in the mean time, there is a workaround.

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Using VMC API to answer commonly asked questions about your SDDC

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In the past month or so since joining the VMware Cloud on AWS (VMC) team, I have seen a number of inquiries from our Customer Success team, partners and customers on how to retrieve certain pieces information about their deployed SDDC, usually for information or integration purposes. Some of these questions can simply be answered by using the VMC Console UI, however there are others that is only available when using the VMC API, which provides a ton more data than what the UI could ever display. In any case, I figure it would be useful to share some of this information, especially as it pertains to the VMC API.

Below are just some of the frequently asked questions that I have seen and they can all be answered simply performing a GET /api/orgs/<orgId>/sddcs/<sddcId> on your specific SDDC via VMC API. In addition, I have also create two sample scripts which exercises these VMC APIs, one using the native VMC REST API and another with PowerCLI using the VMC cmdlet, which you can find more details below.

1) What version is my SDDC running?

This can be found in the VMC Console UI under the "Support" tab for a given SDDC.


You can also find this information using the VMC API by referring to the resource_config.sddc_manifest.vmc_version property.

2) When was my SDDC created?

This can be found in the VMC Console UI under the "Support" tab for a given SDDC.


You can also find this information using the VMC API by referring to the created property.

3) How long do I have until my 1-Node SDDC expires?

This can be found in the VMC Console UI under the SDDC card summary view or detailed view.


You can also find this information using the VMC API by referring to the expiration_date property. This property will be null if your SDDC is NOT a 1-Node, which is the only configuration which has an expiration.

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