Cisco Crosswork Network Controller 7.2 Administration Guide

PDF

Add a VM to the Crosswork Network Controller cluster

Updated: March 2, 2026

Want to summarize with AI?

Log in

Add a new VM to the Crosswork Network Controller cluster to expand capacity and support increased application workload.

Add a new VM in Crosswork Network Controller cluster to expand your cluster and handle increased workload.

As your network grows and you add more Crosswork applications, you may need to expand resources to handle increased workload. You can add a new VM to your Crosswork Network Controller cluster to scale capacity. The deployment steps are similar whether you use the UI or the API; for API details, see Crosswork Network Controller APIs. This guide describes the procedure using the UI.

  • If you install your cluster manually, import the cluster inventory file into Crosswork Network Controller before deploying a new VM. The Deploy VM option remains disabled until you complete the import. For more information, see Import the inventory file.

  • When a new Worker (or Hybrid) node is added and an existing node is subsequently deleted, the system can become unstable and many pods may enter a degraded state. This occurs because the system requires a rebalance operation after the new node is added. To avoid instability, users must manually run the Rebalance option from the Actions tab immediately after adding the Worker/Hybrid node.

  • If worker nodes are deployed on an ESXi host with a down Nexus connection, the nodes may appear as successfully added but will not join the cluster. Only nodes that successfully join (for example, hybrid nodes) are shown in the UI, while the backend may still reflect the total expected count. This behavior is expected because a node tile appears in the UI only after the VM boots and joins the cluster.

Before you begin

  • Gather configuration details for Crosswork Network Controller, including the management IP address.

  • Collect host information for the new VM, such as the data store and data VM interface IP address.

  • Decide which type of VM to add. The cluster supports a minimum of three hybrid VMs and up to two worker VMs.

Procedure

1.

From the main menu, choose Administration > Crosswork Manager.

2.

On the Crosswork summary tab, click the System summary tile to display the Cluster Management window.

Note

The Crosswork summary tab and Cluster Management window both display the status of your cluster, but there may be slight differences. The Crosswork summary tab shows VM status based on Kubernetes, while the Cluster Management window also accounts for the VM status in the data center. For example, if a worker VM deployment fails due to insufficient data center resources, the Cluster Management window shows its status as degraded, while the Crosswork summary window shows the status as down.
3.

Select Actions > Deploy VM to display the Deploy VM node window.
4.

Enter the required VM details and configuration.

5.

Click Deploy to begin the provisioning process.

A new VM tile appears in Crosswork Manager and displays deployment progress.
6.

(Optional) To monitor deployment status, use Cluster Management > Actions > View job history, or check the data center UI.

7.

If needed, rebalance cluster resources or restart processes to optimize the load on the new VM. For more information, see Rebalance cluster resources.