6.3 Networking
vCloud Director creates and manages virtual networks and network services through NSX Manager – the management component of VMware NSX for vSphere which offers full backward compatibility and a seamless upgrade path for VMware vCloud Networking and Security™ used in older vCloud Director environments.
VXLAN based logical networks, Edge Gateways and distributed firewalls are deployed and managed by NSX Manager, while VLAN and vCloud Isolation (VCDNI) based logical networks are deployed and managed directly by vCloud Director.
vCloud Director 8.20 offers access to Edge Gateway and distributed firewall NSX services to tenants, while the provider can leverage non-exposed NSX services for provider-managed services.
The following table summarizes the transition between vCloud Director releases and vCloud Networking and Security / NSX interaction.
Table 6. vCloud Director Networking Platform Transition
vCloud Director | 5.5/5.6 | 8.0 | 8.10 | 8.20 |
vCloud Networking and Security | | | | |
NSX for vSphere | | | | |
Edge Gateway version | 5.5 | 5.5 | 6* | 6* |
VXLAN | | | | |
VCDNI | | | | deprecated |
* Edge Gateway version 5.5 is still supported, however newly deployed Edge Gateways are version 6.
Note NSX version 6.3 and later no longer support legacy networking APIs, and therefore, Edge Gateway version 5.5 is no longer supported. The provider must upgrade all Edges to version 6 before upgrading to NSX version 6.3!