A network pool contains network definitions used to instantiate organization VDC and vApp networks. Networks created must be isolated at Layer 2 from all other networks.

A VXLAN network pool is created automatically when the provider VDC is created, if the VXLAN fabric is prepared in the NSX Manager governing the provider VDC vCenter Server.

A VXLAN network pool can span multiple distributed switches if they are managed by one vCenter Server. The VXLAN transport zone (scope) is configured in NSX Manager by vCloud Director automatically when the provider VDC is created or reconfigured with additional vSphere resource pools (clusters). The VXLAN transport zone always defaults to multicast control plane mode.

Do not us legacy VLAN-based, port group-based, and vCloud Director Network Isolation (VCDNI) based network pools in large service provider use cases because they have limited scale.

vSphere 6.5 does not support VCDNI network pools. vCloud Director 8.20 does not allow creation of new VCDNI network pools. It provides migration option to transition VCDNI backed networks to VXLAN backed networks from the UI or with vCloud API with a minimal network disruption¹.