Insights on VMware HCX, Virtualization, and other products

4 of 9 – Base HCX Manager Configuration

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by

graemeash1
in

Base HCX Manager Configuration covers simple tasks normally carried out in the VAMI / Admin / 9443 interface, these include:

  • Licensing
  • Registering vCenter
  • Registering NSX-T
  • Settings Location
  • Applying vCenter Admin Groups
  • etc

We will re-use the Hashtable process created in the earlier blogs but we will also leverage a PowerShell module developed by William Lam.

William Lam’s Power.HCX.psm1 PowerShell module can be downloaded from GIT here https://github.com/lamw/VMware.HCX

You will just need to load it at the start of your script i.e. 

Import-Module .\VMware.HCX.psm1 -Force

My script has a choice of Connector or Cloud when you start, this then loads the relevant data from the Hashtable and is used later to skip tasks i.e. NSX-T registration for Source HCX Connector. You can then simply run the script twice, just choose a different choice:

Licensing

First off all, connect to the HCX Manager, we then simply use functions within the Power.HCX module.

Query HCX for any licenses, if none found, apply a license.

Note – I have commented this out as I don’t have a handy key for my Lab

Register vCenter

The code is near identical, we once again query for configuration and if none found, apply the new settings from the Hashtable.

Register NSX-T

Similar to the vCenter code but it also checks if you are configuring HCX Connector or Cloud, if Connector it simply skips config.
If Cloud and now settings found, it applies the NSX-T manager details:

Set HCX Manager Location

Each HCX Appliances need to have a City and Country defined, this then appears on the UI.

You might want to validate your city and Country and valid manually within the Admin UI before commit them into the input CSV file.

For my lab I have been using ‘Sydney’ and ‘Australia’, Note – There are 2 x entries available for Sydney in the web UI, the first is ‘apse2 – Sydney’ which is a region in VMC on AWS, the second is the better one for Sydney.

Note – The locations are for fun, I am not running a lab across the Tasman Sea!

Adding a vCenter Admin Role

To enable non SSO Admin users to login to HCX Manager with their AD Accounts, you need to add a vCenter Group to the HCX VAMI.
This can also be done via API:

Note – I did have issues with this if you try an add more than 1 Group, also, make sure the group exists first!

Well thats a wrap! There are many other settings that can be and probably should be configured for live solution i.e.

  • Public URL
  • Proxy
  • Backups
  • etc

Feel free to have a go.

Ready to move on? Click here for blog 5 of 9 – Creating Site Pairings

Fancy seeing those steps in action?
Check out the YouTube link below (maybe watch at 2x speed):