Network & Security Insights for Oracle Cloud VMware Solution

With the recent release of vRealize Network Insight 6.5, we are glad to announce Oracle Cloud VMware Solution (OCVS) is supported and certified.

The Oracle Cloud VMware Solution is a customer-managed, VMware Cloud Verified environment built on VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF). It comes with vSphere, VSAN, and NSX-T in-built, so integration with other VMware products is seamless

We tested and certified the Oracle Cloud VMware solution with vRealize Network insight / vRealize Network insight Cloud and covered the following use cases. All functionality should work as with any other VCF infrastructure, we only explicitly tested these

• Application Awareness: Discover, Plan Migration (with VMware HCX) and Day 2 Operations
• Security: Flow Visibility, Planning, and Firewall Rule Recommendations
• Alerts and Analytics: Pro-active Alerting, Top-talkers, Outliers, Dynamic Thresholds, Flows (including Latency)
• Dashboards: NSX-T Manager, vCenter, ESXi Hosts, VMs, Applications, and more
• Hybrid Network Troubleshooting:
  • Inter SDDC Path
  • SDDC to Internet
  • On-prem to SDDC over Policy-Based VPN via NSX
• VMware HCX: Stretched L2 VLAN stitched flows

Integrating Oracle Cloud VMware Solution in vRealize Network Insight

Requirements:

• SDDC in Oracle Cloud VMware Solution with admin privileges
• vRealize Network Insight Cloud subscription / On-premises account with admin privileges

Deploying the Collector

Prerequisites:

Before deploying the collector, review the Oracle Cloud VMware Solution environment and keep the resources handy

Accessing vCenter

Log in to Oracle Cloud Console and Software-Defined Datacenters under VMware Solution

Now Click on the compartments and choose the SDDC you want to add to vRealize Network Insight

Log in to vCenter, keep it open in a browser tab. We will need it in later steps.

Collector Deployment:

1. Log in to vRealize Network Insight / vRealize Network Insight Cloud with admin user
2. Navigate to Settings > Install and Support > Add Collector VM.
3. Copy the contents of the shared secret. Note: You will require this in later stage
4. For vRealize Network Insight Cloud: Download the Collector OVA from the Add Collector VM wizard
5. For vRealize Network Insight OnPrem: Download the Collector OVA from the my.vmware.com
6. Now go back to the vCenter tab. Deploy the vRealize Network Insight Collector OVA, Use the shared secret that you have generated (From Step 3)
7. Start the collector VM, follow the wizard to pair the collector with the platform. 
8. Validate that the collector pairs successfully with the platform.

Add vCenter

After logging to vRealize Network Insight, go to settings –> Add Source –> Choose VMC – vCenter under VMware Cloud and add it.

Add the NSX-T Manager

Go to settings –> Add Source –> Choose VMC – NSX Manager under VMware Cloud

In the dropdown, choose Oracle Cloud VMware Solution, provide the username/password and click submit

Exploring Oracle Cloud VMware Solution entities in vRealize Network Insight

Sample Search queries

vcenter where VMware Cloud Type = 'OCVS'
Host  where VMware Cloud Type = 'OCVS'
vms where VMware Cloud Type = 'OCVS'
NSX Policy Manager where VMware Cloud Type = 'OCVS'
Flow where Source VMware Cloud Type = 'OCVS'
Flow where Destination VMware Cloud Type = 'OCVS'

NSX-T Manager

Network Performance

Top Talkers

Elephant Flows

Conclusion:

vRealize Network Insight in Oracle Cloud VMware Solution environment makes a powerful combination to discover, manage & migrate applications,  get 360-degree network visibility and finally secure it.

References:

To elevate your overall Oracle Cloud VMware Solution experience with vRealize products, please read this blog post from @lefteris_marakas

vRealize Network Insight Blogs