In this blog, I will show you the routing path for different NSX-T Edge cluster deployment options.

• The 1st is the simplest scenario: we have a Edge Cluster and there is not any Tier-1 SR. So we will only have Tier-0 DR and Tier-0 SR running in this NSX Edge Cluster.  In the routing path diagram, I used the orange line to show the northbound path and the dark green line to show the southbound path.

• In the 2nd scenario, Tier-1 vRouter includes Tier-1 DR and Tier-1 SR. Both Tier-1 SR and Tier-0 SR are running in the same NSX Edge Cluster. This design is to provide NAT, Firewall function at Tier-1 level via Tier1-SR. In the routing path diagram, I used the orange line to show the northbound path and the dark green line to show the southbound path.

• In the 3nd scenario, we have 2 Edge clusters:
  • NSX-T T1 Edge Cluster: dedicated for Tier-1 SR/SRs, which is dedicated for running centralized service (e.g. NAT);
  • NSX-T T0 Edge Cluster: dedicated for Tier-0 SR/SRs, which provides uplink connectivity to the physical infrastructure;

This option gives better scalability and creates isolated service domains for Tier-0 and Tier-1. Similarly, I used the orange line to show the northbound path and the dark green line to show the southbound path in the diagram below: