In this article, I will dive into the functionality of BGP (Border Gateway Protocol) peering within a VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) and NSX environment. Since VMware’s acquisition of Broadcom, the company’s primary focus has shifted toward expanding and optimizing VCF, making it a critical area of development for enterprise customers.
I’ve been fortunate enough to work with large-scale clients who can fully leverage the benefits that VCF provides. This experience has not only broadened my technical expertise but also given me valuable insights into the real-world applications of VCF in enterprise environments. NSX has always been a key area of interest for me, and integrating it with VCF presented a new, exciting learning curve that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed navigating.
One of the critical aspects of delivering a successful VCF environment is ensuring seamless connectivity with the broader network infrastructure. This is where BGP comes into play. To ensure reliable and efficient routing in and out of VCF, BGP is an essential protocol that helps facilitate proper network communication and routing across complex environments. In the following sections, I will walk you through the importance of BGP peering in a VCF/NSX setup and how it enables smooth, scalable networking.
On June 1st VMware released the latest version for VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF), version 5.0. The release of VCF 5.0 means that VCF customers now can benefit from all the cool new features included in vSphere 8.x and NSX 4.1.x.