TestDrive

HCX Interface

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In this section, we will explore the HCX Interface and walk through the product features

Open VMware HCX Interface

Double click on HCX VMWTD Chrome icon on the desktop to access HCX VMware Platform Services.

Connect to VMware HCX

The username is populated in the HCX username field. To get the password, click the Login Credentials menu on the top right corner, do the following: 

  1. Click the copy icon next to the password
  2. Paste it on the HCX password field by clicking on it, followed by pressing CTRL+v (Windows) or command + v (macOS) on your keyboard
  3. Click Login to access

 

Other pasting options:

  • Windows: use right-click on your mouse/ trackpad and select Paste
  • macOS: press and hold the control key while you click the Horizon username/password field and select Paste

 

If you are using a Safari browser, the copy icon in the Login Credentials menu will not work. The credentials will need to be typed.


VMware HCX Dashboard

On the Dashboard, view site pairing between the on-prem Dallas data center and VMC on AWS SDDC located in US East 1 (N. Virginia) region.

Site Pairing HCX

A Site Pair is established for the connection between HCX Managers on-premises and in VMware Cloud on AWS. This allows for full management, authentication, and orchestration of HCX services between sites.

 

Click on Site Pairing, to see how the on-prem and Cloud Services have been connected between hcx-connector-dal and HCX Cloud - TestDrive.

Interconnect

Click on Interconnect. 

 

The Service Mesh tab shows the HCX services that are needed to enable the site pairing and the mobility of workloads between on-prem and the cloud. 

VMware HCX Services Overview

The Service Mesh allows you to define the profile pairs at both sites, and once created, deploys the service appliances automatically. 

 

VMware HCX Services 

 

Interconnect

A secures connections between HCX installations, supporting management, migration, replication, and disaster recovery operations. This service is deployed as a virtual appliance.

 

WAN Optimization 

Works with the HCX Interconnect service to improve the network performance through a combination of deduplication, compression, and line conditioning techniques.

 

vMotion Migration

Move a single virtual machine between HCX enabled sites with no service interruption.

 

Bulk Migration

Move virtual machines in parallel between HCX enabled sites.

 

Replication Assisted vMotion (RAV)

Move large-scale, parallel migrations with no service interruption.

 

Network Extension

Extends the Virtual Machine networks from an HCX-enabled source site to an HCX-enabled remote site. Virtual Machines that are migrated or created on the extended segment at the remote site are Layer 2 adjacent to virtual machines placed on the origin network.

 

Disaster Recovery

Replicates and protects virtual machines to a remote data center.

View Topology

Click on More > View Topology to view in detail the network infrastructure.

Service Mesh

The Service Mesh Topology shows the network infrastructure on both sides, WAN optimization, Interconnect Service, and Network Extension Service. 

Network Extension

The Network Extension service shows how Layer2 network SourceNet extended from the on-prem data center to VMC.