The next part of my lab is to deploy the NSX controller cluster. The controller cluster consist of controller nodes - this is the control plane responsible for managing the hypervisor switching and routing modules. NSX Controller maintains information about all hosts, logical switches, and distributed logical routers

For resiliency and performance production cluster nodes be deployed in 3 nodes and spread across 3 ESXi hosts. For a lab 1 node will suffice but for production you will need 3.

For more details around cluster nodes see NSX Reference Design

To deploy the cluster nodes open the web client and login with an account that has permissions to your NSX manager. Browse to Installation - Management - NSX Controller Nodes and select the Plus icon

Select your settings for deployment. For my lab I have deployed this in my management cluster which is connected to my management network. It must be connected to the same network as your ESXi hosts and the NSX manager.

A IP Pool is needed for the cluster node. On the deployment screen select add next to IP Pool to create a new one. Give the IP Pool a name / IP gateway address and subnet prefix length then add the range of IP addresses for the pool

Deploy another 2 if you are using in production.