Versions Compared

Key

  • This line was added.
  • This line was removed.
  • Formatting was changed.
Table of Contents

Info

This page section contains technical notes about AWS networks

...

  1. Default private network

  2. None (Abiquo 6.1.2+)

  3. Custom private networksubnet or public subnet

...

Abiquo will create an AWS VPC according to these options as described in the following sections.

...

Create a virtual

...

When you select Default private network or Custom private network, Abiquo configures VPC networking Scenario 2 as described in the AWS documentation. See https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonVPC/latest/UserGuide/VPC_Scenario2.html

Diagram of how Abiquo creates a VPC in AWS with a NAT gatewayImage Removed

Abiquo creates a VPC in AWS with one Availability zone only. When you create this in AWS using the wizard, it creates three routing tables, but Abiquo creates two and marks the private routing table as Main.

Abiquo creates a public subnet where the name is the AWS Subnet ID, in the format subnet-xxxx, which is the provider ID for the public subnet. The NAT gateway that AWS creates in a VPC uses a private IP in the public subnet.

The primary private IP of the NAT gateway is automatically assigned by AWS. In Abiquo we always set the first IP as the gateway, because according to the documentation, it is reserved for the VPC router. See https://docs.aws.amazon.com/vpc/latest/userguide/subnet-sizing.html.

In Abiquo the public IP of the NAT gateway enables access to the internet from the private subnet, but it does not allow incoming connections.

To connect from outside the VPC, you will need at least one VM with an IP address in the public subnet, and one public IP. To allow connections to your VM via the public IP, AWS automatically creates a DNAT rule using the internet gateway.

...

datacenter with a Default network

If the user creates a virtual datacenter with a Default network, then Abiquo creates a VPC and a private subnet.

...

...

Abiquo can create a VPC with no network

In Abiquo 6.1.2+, the The user can now choose not to create networks when they create a virtual datacenter. In this case, Then Abiquo will create an AWS VPC with no public subnet, internet gateway, or NAT gateway (and no expensive elastic IP!) . Abiquo will still create an address range for the VPC, and the user should enter these details.

If you do not create the networks when you create the VDC, you cannot connect to your VMs or use NAT for outward internet connectivity.To

How to create a public subnet and connect to

...

your VM

If you created your VDC with the None option for networks:, to connect to a VM in an AWS create a public subnet and use an elastic IP, with the following steps.

  1. In your virtual datacenter, go to NetworkPrivate

  2. Click + add and when you create the network, select the Internet gateway checkbox.

    Select the Internet gateway checkbox to create a public subnet in AWSImage RemovedSelect the Internet gateway checkbox to create a public subnet in AWSImage Added
  3. Edit your VM and add an IP from the public subnet

  4. Connect to your VM as usual. For more details, see How to deploy a VM in AWS using Abiquo.

Info

When you create a public subnet, if there is no internet gateway, the platform creates a new one and associates it with a new route table. If an internet gateway exists but it is not associated with a route table with a destination of 0.0.0.0/0, then the platform creates a new route table.

...

How to allow your VMs to connect to the internet

If you created a VDC in AWS with the None option for networks:, to allow outward NAT connectivity from VMs in your VDC, do these steps.

  1. Create a public subnet private network in your VDC (as described above)select the Internet gateway checkbox) to create a public subnet. Abiquo marks this network with a globe symbol

  2. Create a private network in your VDC

  3. Manually create the NAT gateway in the AWS console (see AWS documentation at Create a NAT gateway)

  4. Edit the main route table to add a new route with target = igw and destination 0.0.0.0/0.

...

  1. and select the NAT gateway checkbox, to create a NAT gateway and a private subnet with access to the NAT gateway

  2. Edit your VM and add an IP from the private subnet with access to the NAT gateway

...

Create a virtual datacenter with a custom network

With a Custom private network, the user can specify a private subnet or a public subnet for the VPC. To create a public subnet, select the Internet gateway checkbox.

...

Note

Known issue in Abiquo 6.2.0: you can select the NAT gateway checkbox but this will cause an error because there is no existing public subnet with an internet gateway connection.

...

When you create a VDC with a custom private network, you can also specify the address range of the virtual network. And you can create, onboard, and delete address ranges from AWS. See Manage address ranges.

...

How Abiquo creates a virtual private cloud

Abiquo can create a virtual datacenter with a public subnet, a private subnet, or no networks. After you create a virtual datacenter, you can create more private networks, which are private subnets or public subnets in your AWS VPC. You can also create private subnets with a route to a NAT gateway. This will let you create a configuration similar to the AWS configuration of a VPC with private subnets and NAT (see https://docs.aws.amazon.com/vpc/latest/userguide/vpc-example-private-subnets-nat.html).

...

Abiquo creates a VPC in AWS with one Availability zone only.

Abiquo creates a public subnet with the name entered by the user, and the AWS provider ID will be in the format subnet-xxxx.

A NAT gateway uses a private IP in the public subnet. The primary private IP of the NAT gateway is automatically assigned by AWS.

In Abiquo, we always set the first IP in a network as the gateway, because according to the documentation, it is reserved for the VPC router. See https://docs.aws.amazon.com/vpc/latest/userguide/subnet-sizing.html.

The public IP of a NAT gateway enables access to the internet from the private subnet, but it does not allow incoming connections.

To connect from outside the VPC, you will need at least one VM with an IP address in the public subnet, and one public IP. To allow connections to your VM via the public IP, AWS automatically creates a DNAT rule using the internet gateway.

When you create a VPC in Abiquo, it does not onboard the IPs of the private subnets. You need to synchronize each network to onboard its IPs.

...

Technical notes about AWS networks

The following notes describe how Abiquo manages AWS networks in virtual datacenters.

  • VPC network

    • Abiquo creates a VPC with a

...

  • When creating a NAT gateway, Abiquo will reuse floating IPs that are not assigned to a VDC. 

  • VMs in private networks
    • minimum network size of /16 and a subnet of size /24, or with the sizes defined by the user in address ranges (address spaces) and in default network configuration

    • The user can create the VPC with no subnets, a private subnet, or a public subnet

  • Private networks

    • Abiquo private networks are VPC subnets. They can be private subnets, public subnets, or private subnets with a NAT gateway (requires an existing public subnet)

  • Private subnets

    • A private subnet (of a VPC network) is a private connect network in AWS

    • Abiquo will associate the network with the main route table

  • Creating public subnets

    • If the user selects the internet gateway checkbox, Abiquo routes network traffic to the internet gateway. This is a public subnet, and Abiquo marks it with a globe symbol

    • If there is no internet gateway, Abiquo will create a new one, and a new route table with a route to the internet gateway for all destinations (0.0.0.0/0)

    • If an internet gateway exists, but there is no route table with a route to the internet gateway for all destinations, Abiquo will create a new route table

  • Private subnets with NAT gateway

    Note that
    • VMs in private networks with a NAT gateway assigned will have internet access through the public subnet.

  • Users can create public subnets and Abiquo will assign them to route tables with a route to the internet gateway. 

  • When Abiquo creates new public subnets, it will not create any new NAT gateways.

  • If users delete the original public subnet, this will also delete the original NAT gateway. But Abiquo will replace all the routes in the main route table that route traffic to the deleted NAT gateway with a new rule to route traffic to the internet gateway.

  • Abiquo users must attach Elastic IPs to VMs with a connection to a public subnet.

    • To create a NAT gateway, Abiquo will reuse floating IPs that are not assigned to a VDC

    • A NAT gateway requires an existing public subnet

    • If there is no public NAT gateway, Abiquo will create a new one using the first public subnet it finds, with a new route table that will have a route to the public NAT gateway for destinations to 0.0.0.0/0

    • If a NAT gateway already exists, but there is no route table with a route to the NAT gateway for destinations to 0.0.0.0/0, Abiquo will create a new route table

    • If there are more than one NAT gateway, Abiquo will use the first one that it finds

  • Elastic IPs

    • To be able to connect to VMs over the internet, Abiquo users must add a private IP address in a public subnet, and then attach public IPs, which are Elastic IPs in AWS

    • AWS may charge for Elastic IPs when they are NOT in use, i.e. when they are not assigned to a VM or when the VM is not deployed in AWS.

    The private subnet is a private connect network.
    • Amazon will also charge for the Elastic IP in a NAT gateway

  • Availability zones

    • To deploy VMs to different Availability zones, create a private

    networks
    • network (VPC subnet)

    for
    • in each zone

    .
    • and add IP addresses from the private networks to your VMs

    • The private subnets in the same availability zone as a public subnet will have internet access through the public subnet.

  • Abiquo creates a VPC with a minimum network size of /16 and a subnet of size /24, or with the sizes defined by the user.

  • You can set a custom private network in Abiquo and this network will be used to create the VPC and subnet in Abiquo.

  • You can create multiple address spaces (called Abiquo address ranges) and Abiquo private networks in different availability zones in the same VPC.IP addresses

    • AWS reserves the first four IP addresses and the last IP address of a VPC private connect network.

    • For a network that is defined to start with address 0, the first available IP address will be address 4 and the gateway address is address 1.

    • You can onboard and synchronize existing VMs and create new IP addresses through Abiquo, including multiple Elastic IPs.

    The
  • Deleting subnets and NAT gateways

    • When the user deletes a public subnet, if the subnet is used by a NAT gateway that still has other subnets routing to it, the delete will fail. Otherwise Abiquo will delete the public subnet and the NAT gateway

    • If the subnet is the last subnet associated to a routing table, and the routing table is not the main one, Abiquo will also delete the routing table