vRNI Next Steps - Adding Data Sources

A few weeks months ago I did a blog post on how to install VMware vRealize Network Insight 3.2. It has been a busy beginning of the year for me and I am now ready to share the next step in getting vRNI setup , adding Data Sources.  Data Sources in vRNI are where vRNI starts to gain intelligence about the topology, workloads and traffic.

The first source to add is vCenter. This will allow vRNI to learn about the VDS, NSX and all of the hosts and VMs. To begin, click on the gear icon in the upper right hand corner and click on Settings.

Being the smart application vRNI is, it takes you to the Data Sources page automatically.  Click on Add new source in the upper right corner.

Click on the Source Type and select VMware vCenter from the list.  This will expand the details you need to populate.  Add the appropriate details and click on Validate.

One of the main use cases for vRNI is to help you define microsegmentation policies by observing NetFlow traffic on the VDS. Click on the Enable NetFlow (IPFIX) on this vCenter and select the DVS that has your workloads.  Give it a nickname and click Submit.

You should now see this.

Now let’s add NSX Manager. Click on the Add new source again and select NSX Manager from the drop down. You will see it adds some new drop downs.  Click Validate to check your password, give it a nickname and submit.

You should now see this.

The last step is adding my home lab Cisco Catalyst 4948 to vRNI so it can learn about my physical topology.  Just like adding the previous sources, fill out the form and click submit.

Now you’ll have a 3^rd source on the list.  Note, I’ll add SNMP to my 4948 in the future – I just don’t use it today.

That’ll get you started and it may take up to 3 hours before you start seeing flows and data in vRNI from the VDS.  Don’t sweat it and check it later.  You should see where vRNI is comparing your NSX deployment to our Checklist of possible issues, and you can see my lab needs some help.  😉

More on how to use the information vRNI collects displays in a later post.