A Solutions Architect is helping an organization with the Conceptual Design of an NSX solution.

1. Understanding Constraints in NSX Design

A constraint is a limiting factor in a design that cannot be changed and must be worked around.

In this case, theorganization’s hosts are restricted to only two physical NICs, which can impact:

Overlay network design (Geneve traffic, TEPs allocation).

Traffic segmentation between management, storage, and data plane traffic.

High availability and redundancy configurations for NSX Edge and ESXi hosts.

2. Why "Hosts can only be configured with two physical NICs" is the Correct Answer (C)

NIC limitations can impact NSX-T Transport Node Profiles, asbest practices recommend at least 4 NICs(2 for management and vSAN, 2 for overlay transport).

With only two NICs, careful consideration must be given to:

Uplink Profile design (Active/Active vs. Active/Standby).

Physical redundancy using NIC teaming and VLAN segmentation.

Possible impact on performance if multiple types of traffic share the same NIC.

3. Why Other Options are Incorrect

(A - Dynamic Routing as a Constraint):

Dynamic routing (e.g., BGP, OSPF) is a design choice, not a hard constraint.

(B - CPU & Memory Availability in Management Cluster):

Having resources available is an enabler, not a constraint.

(D - IPv6 Applications):

IPv6 support is an NSX capability, not a constraint.

4. NSX Design Considerations for NIC-Constrained Hosts

Leverage VLAN-backed segments for underlay traffic.

Configure NIC teaming to optimize failover strategies.

Utilize Multi-TEP configurations to balance overlay traffic effectively.

Ensure NSX Edge nodes use DPDK-enabled NICs for high performance.

VMware NSX 4.x Reference:

NSX-T Transport Node Profile Design Guide

VMware Best Practices for NIC Teaming and Traffic Segmentation

NSX-T BGP and OSPF Routing Design Considerations