This repository provides an easy-to-use automation framework that installs and configures NSX-T on vCenter clusters where PKS and/or PAS can be deployed.

Under the hood, there is a Concourse pipeline which is to be set up by a Docker container which the user creates. The Concourse pipeline is in turn run in three Docker containers: DB, worker, and web container.

The Concourse pipeline performs the following jobs:

1. Deploy NSX manager, controllers and edges;
2. Convert hosts from vCenter clusters specified by user to NSX transport nodes;
3. Create NSX logical resources to make the environment PAS/PKS deployment ready.

See the wiki: https://github.com/vmware/nsx-t-datacenter-ci-pipelines/wiki

On a Ubuntu VM with at least ~20GB of space,

wget https://github.com/vmware/nsx-t-datacenter-ci-pipelines/raw/master/docker_image/nsx-t-install-05202019-ua.tar -O nsx-t-install.tar
docker load -i nsx-t-install.tar
mkdir -p /home/concourse

Create nsx_pipeline_config.yml based on a sample config file, e.g. https://github.com/vmware/nsx-t-datacenter-ci-pipelines/blob/master/sample_parameters/PAS_only/nsx_pipeline_config.yml for PAS environment, and place it under /home/concourse.

docker run --name nsx-t-install -d \
  -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock \
  -v /home/concourse:/home/concourse \
  -e CONCOURSE_URL='http://<host_ip>:8080' \
  -e EXTERNAL_DNS='<dns_server>' \
  -e IMAGE_WEBSERVER_PORT=40001 \
  -e VMWARE_USER='<myvmware_user_email>' \
  -e VMWARE_PASSWORD='<myvmware_password>' \
  nsx-t-install

Set CONCOURSE_URL to http://<host_ip>:8080 (host_ip is the IP address of the primary NIC of the VM running the container (example: 10.85.99.130); it is not the loopback address. Set EXTERNAL_DNS to the DNS server (it should be able to resolve the vCenter hostname, and public names e.g. github.com), and IMAGE_WEBSERVER_PORT to the port number provided in the nsx_pipeline_config.yml parameter nsx_image_webserver (recommendation: 40001).

The above command will automatically download the ovftool (e.g. VMware-ovftool-4.3.0-xxxxxxx-lin.x86_64.bundle) and NSX OVA (nsx-unified-appliance-2.4.0.0.0.xxxxxxx.ova) files from myvmware.com. If you have already downloaded the two files manually, place them under /home/concourse, and you can run above command with VMWARE_USER and VMWARE_PASSWORD skipped. By default, the docker image from master/nsxt_2.4.0 branch downloads nsx ova version 2.4.0. If deploying earlier version (e.g. NSX-T 2.3.0), simply add -e NSXT_VERSION=2.3.0 in the docker run command above, or use the docker image from nsxt_2.3.0 branch.

If running the pipeline on existing concourse environment and not using the nsx-t-install image, please perform following additional steps: in nsx_pipeline_config.yml that was created under /home/concourse, add the following lines at the beginning:

nsxt_ansible_branch=master
nsx_t_pipeline_branch=master

if deploying NSX-T 2.4.0 or later, or

nsxt_ansible_branch=v1.0.0
nsx_t_pipeline_branch=nsxt_2.3.0

if deploying NSX-T 2.3.0 or earlier. Also, if ovftool and ova files were downloaded manually, add ova_file_name=<ova_file_name> and ovftool_file_name=<ovftool_file_name> in nsx_pipeline_config.yml as well.

Browse to the Concourse pipeline: http://<CONCOURSE_URL>/teams/main/pipelines/install-nsx-t/ (example: http://10.85.99.130:8080/teams/main/pipelines/install-nsx-t/) and click on the plus on the upper right corner to trigger a build to install NSX-T. If you are prompted with a username and password, use 'nsx' and 'vmware'.

Check out the Troubleshooting Guide for troubleshooting tips.

The nsx-t-datacenter-ci-pipelines project team welcomes contributions from the community. Before you start working with nsx-t-datacenter-ci-pipelines, please read our Developer Certificate of Origin. All contributions to this repository must be signed as described on that page. Your signature certifies that you wrote the patch or have the right to pass it on as an open-source patch. For more detailed information, refer to CONTRIBUTING.md.

NSX-T-Data-Center-CI-Pipeline-with-Concourse

Copyright (c) 2018 VMware, Inc.

The MIT license (the “License”) set forth below applies to all parts of the NSX-T-Data-Center-CI-Pipeline-with-Concourse project. You may not use this file except in compliance with the License. 

MIT License

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The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

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