NSX Advanced Load Balancer License Editions
Overview
Starting with Avi Vantage release 20.1.2, two new license editions have been introduced. The following are the various editions supported on Avi Vantage:
- VMware NSX Advance Load Balancer Enterprise Edition
- VMware NSX Advanced Load Balancer - Basic Edition - (introduced in Avi Vantage release 20.1.2)
- VMware NSX Advanced Load Balancer essentials for Tanzu - (introduced in Avi Vantage release 20.1.2)
The next section explains the detailed feature list for each of the editions.
Feature Comparison
| Categories | Feature | Essentials | Basic | Enterprise | Enterprise with Cloud Services Edition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Local Traffic Management | L4 LB | TCP & UDP Fast Path No SSL/TLS |
TCP & UDP Fast Path & Proxy No L4 SSL/TLS |
TCP, UDP, DNS, SIP, RADIUS DSR, TLS support, PROXY protocol support |
TCP, UDP, DNS, SIP, RADIUS DSR, TLS support, PROXY protocol support |
| L7 LB | X | Limited to basic L7 features; no HTTP/2 | HTTP/2, content rewrite, compression, caching | HTTP/2, content rewrite, compression, caching | |
| L3/4 Policies | X | Policies limited to connection drops No DataScript support |
Full-featured, including DataScripts and live IP Reputation | Full-featured, including DataScripts and live IP Reputation | |
| L7 Policies | X | Basic match and actions | Match on: IPReputation DB, string groups and much more Actions to: Rate-limit, ICAP and much more |
Match on: IPReputation DB, string groups and much more Actions to: Rate-limit, ICAP and much more |
|
| Global Traffic Management | Global Server Load Balancing | X | X | Enterprise grade GSLB | Enterprise grade GSLB |
| Application Security | SSL/TLS | X | Very limited feature-set | Dynamic CRLs, OCSP stapling, TLSv1.3, HSM, and cert management | Dynamic CRLs, OCSP stapling, TLSv1.3, HSM, and cert management |
| Application Rate Limiting | X | X | Rate limiters can be applied for L4,L7, DNS and WAF | Rate limiters can be applied for L4,L7, DNS and WAF | |
| DDoS Protection | X | X | L3,L4 and L7 DDos protection | L3,L4 and L7 DDos protection | |
| Intelligent WAF | X | X | CRS, learning/PSM, IPReputation, application signatures | CRS, learning/PSM, IPReputation, application signatures, bot detection | |
| Container Ingress | Service Type LB | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Container Ingress | X | Available in Future (Limited) | Full Ingress DNS and GSLB integration Multi K8s cluster and multi-AZ support |
Full Ingress DNS and GSLB integration Multi K8s cluster and multi-AZ support |
|
| Software Defined Platform | Administration | Basic LB administration | Basic LB administration | Fully multi-tenant & granular RBAC Rich alerts and events Various 3rd part integrations Integrations with various IDPs |
Fully multi-tenant & granular RBAC Rich alerts and events Various 3rd part integrations Integrations with various IDPs |
| Scale and HA | Active/Standby only | Active/Standby only | Active/Active deployments BGP and ECMP support Autoscale of load balancers |
Active/Active deployments BGP and ECMP support Autoscale of load balancers |
|
| Flexible upgrades | X | X | Flexible LCM across tenants/clouds/se-groups | Flexible LCM across tenants/clouds/se-groups | |
| Ecosystem automation | No Access Cloud vCenter |
No Access Cloud NSX-T Cloud |
Native integrations with all major public and private clouds and container orchestration platforms | Native integrations with all major public and private clouds and container orchestration platforms | |
| Pulse | X | X | Enhanced case management Live Security Threat Updates |
Enhanced case management Note: Proactive case creation is supported. Live Security Threat Updates |
|
| Advanced Analytics | Application Visibility/Analytics | X | X | Advanced application telemetry Log insights |
Advanced application telemetry Log insights |
How Licensing Editions Work
The followings are the few points regarding how the licensing editions work on an Avi Controller:
- The Enterprise Edition is the default licensing tier for an Avi Controller. A new Avi Controller is set up to be in the Enterprise Edition licensing tier.
- Free Enterprise edition trial licenses are packaged with the Avi Controllers to be used for evaluation. Customers can utilize all features on the Avi Vantange platform using these trial licenses. Please contact your Avi Networks representative for more details.
- An Avi Controller can be set up in any one of the license licensing tiers, but, the entire Controller cluster set-up will operate in a single license edition tier only. All applications and Service Engines would belong to that licensing tier. All applications and Service Engines would belong to that licensing tier.
- Av Avi Controller can be configured to operate in any one of the license editions, but the entire Controller cluster set-up will only operate in that license edition.
- License tier for the Avi Controller cluster set-up can be changed from one edition to another without any disruptions of traffic or without any downtime.
- Free trial license with all the Avi Vantage features is available for evaluation. Please contact your Avi Networks representative for more details.
Various Licensing Editions
VMware NSX ALB Enterprise Edition
VMware NSX ALB Enterprise Edition is a fully-featured Avi Vantage license, which includes load balancing, GSLB, WAF, and all other features available on Avi Vantage.
For more information on VMware NSX ALB Enterprise edition, refer to VMware NSX ALB Enterprise Edition.
VMware NSX Advanced Load Balancer - Basic Edition
Starting with Avi Vantage release 20.1.2, VMware NSX ALB - Basic edition is supported on Avi Vantage.
For more information on VMware NSX ALB Basic edition, refer to VMware NSX ALB Basic Edition.
VMware NSX Advanced Load Balancer essentials for Tanzu
Starting with Avi Vantage release 20.1.2, VMware NSX ALB essentials for Tanzu edition is supported on Avi Vantage.
For more information on VMware NSX ALB Basic edition, refer to VMware NSX ALB essentials for Tanzu.
FAQ
Will existing SEs on an Avi Controller continue to function regardless of license availability?
Yes, the existing SEs on an Avi Controller continues to function regardless of license availability.
Events for License Switching
Events related to switching of license tier are available on Avi UI.
The following event is generated when the licensing change on Avi Vantage from Basic to Enterprise fails.
