How to migrate the N-VDS as the host switch to VDS 7.0 in NSX-T 3.x

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Hello There,

In this article, i am covering how to migrate the ESXi host switch from N-VDS to VDS 7.0 switch in NSX-T 3.2.x version.

When using N-VDS as the host switch, NSX-T is represented as an opaque network in vCenter Server. N-VDS owns one or more of the physical interfaces (pNICs) on the transport node, and port configuration is performed from NSX-T Data Center. You can migrate your host switch to vSphere Distributed Switch (VDS) 7.0 for optimal pNIC usage and manage the networking for NSX-T hosts from vCenter Server. When running NSX-T on a VDS switch, a segment is represented as an NSX-T Distributed Virtual Port Groups. Any changes to the segments on the NSX-T network are synchronized in vCenter Server.


We have an NSX-T environment running with NSX-T 3.2.2.1 version. this environment was designed and implemented with NSX-T 2.x version and that time we used the N-VDS as host switch configuration on the transport nodes bcuz VDS was not supported that time. 😊

So, what happened with us which forced me to be written this article, let’s see. 😊

We were trying to upgrade the NSX-T from 3.2.2.1 to 4.1.2 version. During the time of upgrade, we ran pre-checks for ESXi hosts, Edge Nodes and NSX Manager. Pre-checks gives critical warnings like below...


 8 hosts and 1 Transport Node Profiles configured with N-VDS switches. N-VDS is not supported starting NSX 4.0. Please migrate all the N-VDS to VDS and delete/edit these Transport Node Profiles having N-VDS before proceeding to upgrade. List of Transport Node Profiles having N-VDS: TNP-ABC-XYZ-ESXi."






So, we have checked the NSX 4.x documentation and we got to know that N-VDS is not supported in NSX 4.x version for ESXi host transport nodes. For Edge Nodes, it will be supported.

Now, our upgrade activity halted due to this error and N-VDS limitation in NSX 4.x version. 

So, First we have to do the ESXi host switch N-VDS migration to VDS 7.0 to get the NSX environment upgraded to 4.x version.

 To do the host switch N-VDS to VDS 7.0 migration, we need to prepare some prerequisites and make the environment compatible for this switch migration.

The following requirements must be met to migrate to a VDS 7.0 host switch:

·       vCenter Server 7.0 or later

·       ESXi 7.0 or later

·       NSX-T is no longer represented as an opaque network after migration. You may need to update your scripts to manage the migrated representation of the NSX-T hosts.

·       In NSX-T 3.1, N-VDS to vSphere Distributed Switch migration is not supported for an N-VDS-based Collapsed Cluster environment. It is supported in NSX-T 3.1.1 without named teaming.

·       You can scale up migration by parallelly migrating hosts that are in maintenance mode through vSphere Lifecycle Manager or manually through APIs. By default, 64 hosts per cluster with a thread pool size of 22 per manager in a cluster can be migrated in parallel mode. Ensure that the batch size for parallel remediation is restricted to 4 nodes. For migration through vSphere Lifecycle Manager, "In Queue" status is shown for any host waiting for an available thread. For migration through API, any request over 64 active migration is rejected.

·       The parallel remediation feature requires vCenter Server 7.0 Update 2 or later. This feature is not supported for NSX-T Data Center 3.1 and should not be enabled for clusters under migration.

·       N-VDS to NSX-T Data Center on VDS migration is triggered only for ESX upgrades that cross the 7.0.2 (X.Y.Z-U.P) release. Migration will not be triggered for any "U.P" (update-patch) upgrades. ESX version is specified as X.Y.Z-U.P where,

o   X = Major

o   Y = Minor

o   Z = Maintenance

o   U = Update

o   P = Patch

·       The N-VDS to VDS migration tool is unavailable in NSX-T Data Center 3.2.0. If you want to migrate your workloads from N-VDS to VDS in this release, you will have to do so manually.


To migrate the N-VDS on ESXi hosts to NSX on VDS we can choose below options:


Alright, we are going with option 2 and use the CLI to migrate the N-VDS to VDS switch.

Below is the screenshot of ESXi host before migrate to VDS. If you see vmnic2 and 6 are attached to N-VDS switch for Overlay connectivity.




To verify that the hosts are ready for migration, run the following command and run a pre-check:

 Login to NSX manager and run below command.


vds-migrate precheck





To retrieve the recommended topology, run the following command:


vds-migrate show-topology




Run the following command to create a VDS with the recommended topology:


vds-migrate apply-topology




So, with above command, it will create a VDS on the vCenter server. Let's verify it.



VDS has been created successfully.

 

To initiate the N-VDS to VDS migration, run the following command:


vds-migrate esxi-cluster-name <cluster-name>


So, we have run the command and one ESXi host got successfully migrated from N-VDS to VDS but 3 hosts got failed.





We have checked the logs and found that task is failed due to timeout for putting the ESXi host into Maintenance mode.

 

So, we have taken a different approach now.

 

we put the rest of the ESXi host into Maintenance mode one by one and run the following command to migrate the N-VDS to VDS.

 

we have run below command to migrate one ESXi host and complete all with same process.

you need to put the transport node ID of ESXi host on NSX manager directory for example- /opt/tnid

 

Run below command to execute the migration process.


vds-migrate tn-list /opt/tnid




So, All the ESXi host has been migrated successfully from N-VDS to VDS topology.


Note:- Please follow the VMware best practices and documentation while doing this kind of the activity.


https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-T-Data-Center/3.2/administration/GUID-1039A36F-F55E-4A0A-B6C6-2C383F4A716D.html#GUID-FBC4AA20-0240-4097-AF2B-D8940C1B37E9


Thanks, Cheers !!




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