Step 5: Deploy the vSmart Controller

The vSmart controller is the brains of the centralized control plane for the Viptela overlay network, maintaining a centralized routing table and centralized routing policy. Once the network is operational, the vSmart controller effects its control by maintaining a direct DTLS control plane connection to each vEdge router. The vSmart controller runs as a virtual machine (VM) on a network server. It can also run as a container within a vContainer host. To create a vContainer host, see Deploy the vContainer Host.

A Viptela overlay network can have one or more vSmart controllers. The vSmart controllers provide a means to control the flow of data traffic throughout the overlay network. It is recommended that an overlay network have at least two vSmart controllers to provide redundancy. A single vSmart controller can support up to 2,000 control sessions (that is, up to 2,000 TLOCs). A vManage NMS or vManage cluster can support up to 20 vSmart controllers in the overlay network.

To deploy a vSmart controller:

1. Create a vSmart VM instance, either on an ESXi or a KVM hypervisor.
2. Create a minimal configuration for the vSmart controller, to allow it to be accessible on the network. You do this by using SSH to open a CLI session to the vSmart controller and manually configuring the device.
3. Add the vSmart controller to the overlay network so that the vManage NMS is aware of it.
4. Create a full configuration for the vSmart controller. You do this by creating a vManage template for the vSmart controller and attaching that template to the controller. When you attach the vManage template, the initial minimal configuration is overwritten.