Deployment of Azure VMware Solution

To deploy an Azure VMware Solution private cloud, you must have an Azure subscription associated with a Microsoft enterprise agreement, or you can deploy AVS within an Azure subscription managed by a CSP.

I begin logged into the Azure Portal with access to such a subscription. As a first step, I will request AVS host quota be applied to my subscription, in the region into which I intend to deploy my private cloud.

AVS hosts are dedicated, bare-metal servers, and there are a finite number available at any given time. Requesting host quota registers my intent to consume a given number of these hosts. You are not billed for these hosts until they are deployed. It can take up to five business days for the hosts to be allocated, so it is important to plan accordingly.

Start the host quota request process with the following steps:

1. In the Azure portal, expand the upper menu control ≡
2. Select Help + Support

3. Click Create a support request

4. On the Basics tab, click in the Summary field

5. Type “Need capacity”
6. Click the Issue type drop-down
7. select Technical
8. Next to Service, select All services
9. Click the Service type drop-down
10. Type “azure vmware solution”
11. Select Azure VMware Solution

12. Click the Problem type drop-down
13. select Capacity Management Issues
14. Click the Problem subtype drop-down
15. select Customer Request for Additional Host Quota/Capacity

16. Click Next: Solutions >>

17. Click Next: Details >>
18. Click in the Description field
19. Type “Production” and hit enter
20. Type “West US” and hit enter
21. Type “3 hosts”
22. Click Yes next to Share diagnostic information?
23. Click the scroll bar to scroll down
24. Next to Preferred contact method, click Email
25. Click the scroll bar to scroll down
26. Click Next: Review + create >>
27. Click the scrollbar to scroll down and review the request
28. Click Create

You will receive an email within five business days informing you that host quota has been assigned. We will proceed assuming this has been completed.

Next, we need to confirm that the Microsoft.AVS resource provider in registered in your subscription.

29. Click Home
30. Click on the AVS subscription
31. Click the scroll bar in the Resource Menu to scroll down
32. Click Settings > Resource providers
33. Click the Filter by name bar
34. Type “Microsoft.AVS” and hit enter

The view will filter. Note that the Microsoft.AVS provider is already registered. If status was “Unregistered,” we could register it by clicking on the Microsoft.AVS row, then clicking Register.

Next, we will create a new Azure resource group for our AVS private cloud and related objects.

35. Click Home
36. Click Create a resource
37. Click in the Search services and marketplace box
38. Type “Resource group” into the search bar
39. Select the “Resource group” item
40. Click Create

41. The Subscription will be pre-populated. Click into the “Resource group” field
42. Enter “<your resource group name>-RG” for the name
43. Click the Region drop-down
44. Click the scroll bar
45. Select Location
46. Click Review + create
47. Click Create
48. When prompted that the resource group has been created, click Go to resource group

Deploy the AVS private cloud

Now we will deploy the AVS private cloud.

49. From the resource group view, click Create
50. Click in the Search services and marketplace box
51. Type “Azure VMware Solution” into the search bar
52. Select the “Azure VMware Solution” item.
53. Click Create

54. The “Create a private cloud” wizard opens. The “Prerequisites” tab reminds us of the need to have host quota assigned and a /22 network available. Click the scroll bar to view the full content.

55. Click Next: Basics >.
56. Subscription and resource group will be pre-populated with the appropriate values. Click into the Resource name field
57. Type “Resource Name”
58. Click the dropdown next to Location
59. Select Location
60. Click the dropdown next to Size of host
61. Select AV36 Node

Leave Number of hosts set to 3

62. Click the scroll bar to scroll down
63. Click into Address block for private cloud field
64. Enter “<IP>/22”
65. Click Review + create

66. Review the settings specified. Click the scroll bar to scroll down
67. Click Create. The deployment process can take a few hours to complete. Through the magic of editing, we have reduced this somewhat.
68. When the deployment is complete, click Go to resource

Connect the AVS private cloud to a new Azure virtual network

We can see now that our AVS Private cloud has been deployed. Now, we need to connect it to an Azure virtual network so that we can access vCenter and NSX Manager from a jumpbox that we will deploy into that virtual network. We will create a new Azure virtual network and connect our AVS private cloud to it with the Azure vNet Connect feature. We will assign non-overlapping IP space for this new virtual network and create three subnets within it.

69. Under Manage, click Connectivity
70. The Connectivity pane will open to the Azure vNet connect tab. Under the Virtual network dropdown, click Create new

71. Leave the default VNet name but click on the pre-populated address range of<IP>/16 to edit it.
72. Enter <IP>/24
73. Click in the empty field under Subnet name
74. Enter GatewaySubnet
75. Click in the Address range field
76. Enter <IP>/27. This subnet will be used by the Virtual Network Gateway that will be deployed to connect the new VNet to the ExpressRoute circuit supporting the AVS private cloud.
77. Click in the empty field under GatewaySubnet
78. Enter AzureBastionSubnet
79. Click the Address range field
80. Enter <IP>/27. This subnet will be used for Azure Bastion connectivity to a jumpbox VM.
81. Click in the empty field under AzureBastionSubnet
82. Enter Management
83. Click the Address Range field
84. Enter <IP>/27. This subnet will be used for the jumpbox VM we deploy later.
85. Click OK
86. Click Save
87. The new VNet and supporting objects will be deployed. When deployment is complete, click the Resource group link to <your resource group name-RG>

Access vCenter from the connected Azure VNet

Next, we will deploy Azure Bastion and a Windows 10 VM to use as an administrative jumpbox, then log into the Windows 10 VM with Bastion to access vCenter.

88. From the resource group view, click Create
89. Click in the Search services and marketplace box
90. Type “Bastion” into the search bar
91. Select the Bastion item.
92. Click Create

93. Subscription and resource group will be pre-populated with the appropriate values. Click the Name field
94. Enter “<name-Bastion>”
95. Click the Region dropdown
96. Click the scroll bar to scroll down
97. Select Region
98. Click the Tier dropdown
99. Select Basic
100. Click the Virtual network dropdown
101. Select <name-vnet>
102. The Subnet value will auto-populate with AzureBastionSubnet. Click the scroll bar to scroll down.
103. Click Review + create

104. Review the settings specified and click Create
105. When deployment is complete, click the Resource group link to <name-RG>.
106. Click Create
107. Click in the Search services and marketplace box
108. Type “Windows 10” into the search bar
109. Select the Microsoft Windows 10 item.
110. Click Create

111. On the Basics tab, Subscription and Resource group will be pre-populated. Click in the Virtual machine name filed
112. Enter “<name-Jumpbox>”
113. Click the Region dropdown
114. Click the scroll bar to scroll down
115. Select Region
116. Click the scroll bar to scroll down
117. Click in the Username field
118. Enter “avsadmin”
119. Click in the Password field
120. Enter “********”
121. Click into the Confirm Password field
122. Enter “********”
123. Next to Public inbound ports, select None. We will use Azure Bastion to connect to the VM.
124. Click the scroll bar again to scroll down
125. Check the box next to “I confirm I have an eligible Windows 10 license with multi-tenant hosting rights.”
126. Click the scroll bar to scroll back to the top
127. Click the Networking tab
128. Click the Public IP drop-down
129. Select None

130. Click Review + create
131. Scroll down to review settings.
132. Click Create
133. When deployment is complete, click Go to resource
134. Click Connect
135. Select Bastion
136. Click Use Bastion
137. Click the Username field
138. Enter “avsadmin”
139. Click the Password field
140. Enter “********”
141. Click Connect

A new tab will open, and the Windows VM desktop will render in that open tab. We have skipped the first-time setup wizard and skipped to an open Edge tab.

142. Click the browser tab to switch back to the Azure Portal tab
143. Click Home
144. Click AVS Private Cloud name
145. Click Manage > Identity
146. Click the Copy to Clipboard button next to the vCenter credentials > Web client URL field

147. Click the browser tab <name-Jumpbox> to switch back to your Windows 10 desktop
148. Right-click into the address bar
149. Click Paste
150. Press Enter
151. Click Advanced
152. Click Continue to IP (unsafe)
153. Click LAUNCH VSPHERE CLIENT (HTML5)
154. Click Advanced
155. Click Continue to (vSphere hostname)
156. Click the browser tab to switch back to the Azure portal
157. Click the Copy to Clipboard button next to vCenter credentials > Admin password
158. Click the browser tab <name-Jumpbox> to switch back to your Windows 10 desktop
159. Click in the username field
160. Type “cloudadmin@vsphere.local”
161. Right-click in the Password field
162. Click Paste
163. Click Login
164. Click to expand SDDC-Datacenter
165. Click to expand Cluster-1
166. Click on the first ESXi host to review summary

Connect an on-premises data center to the AVS private cloud

Now we have confirmed that AVS private cloud components were successfully deployed, and that we can access vCenter from our connected VNet. Next, we will step through the configuration of ExpressRoute Global Reach to allow connectivity to AVS resources from our on-premises data center.

The following steps assume that you have an existing ExpressRoute circuit connecting your on-premises datacenter to Azure, and that the party responsible for that ExpressRoute circuit can provide you with the Resource ID and an authentication key.

167. Return to the tab open to the Azure portal
168. click Manage > Connectivity
169. Click the ExpressRoute Global Reach tab
170. Click Add
171. Right-click into the Enter an ExpressRoute circuit ID field
172. Select Paste to paste in the ExpressRoute Resource ID
173. Right-click in the Authorization key field
174. Select Paste to paste in the Authorization key.
175. Click Create

176. When the cloud connection completes successfully, click Manage > Identity. We will log into vCenter again, this time from our on-premises VM.
177. Click the Copy to Clipboard button next to the vCenter credentials > Web client URL field
178. Click + to open a new Edge tab
179. Right-click in the address bar
180. Select Paste
181. Hit Enter
182. Click Advanced
183. Click Continue to IP (unsafe)
184. Click LAUNCH VSPHERE CLIENT (HTML5)
185. Click Advanced
186. Click Continue to (vSphere hostname)
187. Click in the Username field
188. Enter “cloudadmin@vsphere.local”
189. Click to switch back to the AVS Identity tab
190. Click the Copy to Clipboard button next to vCenter credentials > Admin password
191. Click back to the vCenter client tab
192. Right-click the Password field
193. Click Paste
194. Click Login
195. Click to expand SDDC-Datacenter
196. Click to expand Cluster-1 and review cluster summary