ACI 3.2 Integration with vSphere 6.7 - Multiple VMM Domain for same ESXi host

[LNC]

Hi All,

I would like to know if we can have multiple VMM domain per ESXI host in ACI 3.2. I made a quick and dirty pic portraying the requirement. We need two VDS because there is a constraint that we cannot do any changes on VDS1 by CISCO ACI.

Please help and let me know if you need more details.

• We need to connect APIC 3.2 to vCenter 6.7 with VMware Distributed Switch
• vSphere 6.7 host will have two VDS, for example VDS 1 and VDS 2.  
• Each VDS will have 4 * 10 bps NICs. So total 8 * 10 Gbps Nic per vSphere host.
• VDS 1 will be deployed through vCenter and should NOT be managed by CISCO ACI ->  READ-ONLY VMM Domain.
• VDS2 will be fully managed by CISCO ACI -> READ WRITE VMM Domain.  

Query,

• Is it possible to have two VMM domain (One read-only and one Read-write) in CISCO ACI for the same vSphere hosts?
• If it is supported, then please provide any official CISCO documentation will be helpful

Regards,

LNC

[Hector Gustavo Serrano Gutierrez]

Hi @LNC,

Yes, Integration with VMware vSphere 6.7 is supported since ACI version 3.2(2) according to ACI Virtualization Compatibility Matrix.

What you are asking is possible. You need to create 2 separate VMM domains and use the same vCenter IP. You can either:

- Have both DVS in the same vCenter/DataCenter

or

- Have the DVS each on a different "Data Center" defined in vCenter

Take into consideration that for Read Only Mode, you need to create the VMM domain with the same name as the existing VDS in vCenter and this VDS must be inside a folder with the same name.

PS: This has been discussed previously in the Cisco Support forums. https://community.cisco.com/t5/application-centric/vmm-intergration-multiple-dvs/td-p/2998685

Regards.

[LNC]

Hi  @Hector Gustavo Serrano Gutierrez ,

Thanks for your reply. I did see the other CISCO community article you pointed out, but there is a difference in deployment. Hence can you please clarify again please. You can also refer to the drawing I have attached

The other cicso community article you pointed out refers to two DVS managing two different ESXi cluster on same vCenter. My query is about two DVS managing Single ESXi cluster. First DVS should be "Read-Only" VMM domain managing first 4 NIC ports and Second DVS on the same ESXI cluster with "Read-Write" VMM Domain managing the last 4 Nic ports. 

Apologies If i am asking same query, as I unable to find any article / CISCO document to this scenario and hence i would like to clarify if this is possible?

Regards,

LNC

[Sergiu.Daniluk · Accepted solution]

Hi @LNC 

Yes you can have an ESX host using 2x VDSs (2x VMM domains), one VDS being read_write (created and managed by APIC) and second one in read_only (created and managed by vCenter, and APIC only viewing inventory information). More ever, you can even configure 2x VDSs in read_write mode.

Regards,

Sergiu

[LNC]

Thanks @Sergiu.Daniluk &  @Hector Gustavo Serrano Gutierrez for your reply and answer.

Much Appreciated !!!