Deploy NSX-T Manager 4.1 with OVFtool

NSX Manager is a key component of the NSX suite, responsible for centralized management and control of NSX resources. In this blog post, we will walk you through the process of deploying VMware NSX Manager using OVFTool, a command-line utility provided by VMware for deploying OVF (Open Virtualization Format) and OVA (Open Virtualization Appliance) files.

Prerequisites:

Before you begin, make sure you have the following prerequisites in place:

1. OVFTool Installation: Download and install the OVFTool from the VMware website. Ensure that the OVFTool is available in your system’s PATH. I used ovftool version 4.5, and with 4.4.3 I kept getting an error “Error processing attribute “type” with value “HostDistEsxClusterStoreManager””
2. NSX Manager OVA File: Obtain the NSX Manager OVA file from the VMware website or your authorized source.
3. vCenter Server/ ESXi host: You should have access to a vCenter Server where you want to deploy the NSX Manager.
4. Prepare the config file. This is my sample config end of the page

• --acceptAllEulas: Accepts all End User License Agreements (EULAs) during deployment.
• --name: Specify the name you want to give to your NSX Manager VM.
• --datastore: Replace your_datastore_name with the name of the datastore where you want to store the VM files.
• --network: Replace your_network_name with the network you want to connect the VM to.
• --diskMode=thin: Sets the disk mode to thin provisioning for efficient storage utilization.
• path_to_nsx_manager.ova: Provide the path to your NSX Manager OVA file.
• vi://your_vcenter_server_ip_or_hostname: Specify the connection information for your vCenter Server.

--sourceType=OVA --name=nsx-manager --deploymentOption=medium --X:injectOvfEnv --X:logFile=nsxovftool.log --allowExtraConfig --datastore="SSD1" --network="VM Network" --acceptAllEulas --noSSLVerify --diskMode=thin --powerOn --prop:"nsx_role=NSX Manager" --prop:"nsx_ip_0=192.168.50.241" --prop:"nsx_netmask_0=255.255.255.0" --prop:"nsx_gateway_0=192.168.50.1" --prop:"nsx_dns1_0=8.8.8.8" --prop:"nsx_domain_0=corp.local" --prop:"nsx_ntp_0=27.124.125.525" --prop:"nsx_isSSHEnabled=True" --prop:"nsx_allowSSHRootLogin=True" --prop:"nsx_passwd_0=VMware1!VMware1!" --prop:"nsx_cli_passwd_0=VMware1!VMware1!" --prop:"nsx_cli_audit_passwd_0=VMware1!VMware1!" --prop:"nsx_hostname=nsx-manager" nsx-unified-appliance-4.1.1.0.0.22224317.ova --vi://root:VMware1!@192.168.50.172