Manage public networks

Introduction to public networks

Public Networks allow the users of virtual datacenters to use Internet addressable public IP addresses in their virtual infrastructure. **Users purchase or reserve public IPs for their enterprises in Virtual datacenters view. **Public networks are not assigned to any specific enterprise in Abiquo and they cannot be set as the default network for an enterprise. They can be set as the default network for a virtual datacenter, but make sure that you have made enough public IP addresses available to the users and that the users have reserved enough public IP addresses for their VMs.

Display public networks

To display public networks:

Go to Infrastructure → Private
Select a datacenter and go to Servers view
Go to Networks → Public

You can filter the list using the search boxes above the Networks list. You can scroll through the network list using the page number and arrow buttons at the bottom of the list. And you can search for text to filter the list by network names.

Public network in infrastructure view

On the right side of the screen, in the Public IPs pane, the platform displays the details of the IPs of the selected network.

To sort by a column, click in the header of the column.
To filter the results by any field, use the Search button.
To navigate through the pages, use the page scroll

Create public networks

Before you begin, obtain the network details from your Network Administrator

For NSX-T, you can register a network that your Network Administrator created in NSX-T
- Obtain the provider ID, which is the network path in NSX-T
- Abiquo will reserve the first 20 addresses of this network for load balancers
  - You cannot use a reserved address for a DHCP server
For other systems, obtain the network address, network mask and tag, gateway, and so on

To create a public network do these steps:

Go to Infrastructure → Private
Select a datacenter and go to Servers → Networks → Public
At the bottom of the Networks list, click the + add button
For NSX-T, first select the Device
After you select the Device (nsxt-device), enter the Provider ID and select the Network service type.

Field	Value
Name	The name of the public VLAN with up to 128 characters
IPv6	To create an IPv6 network, select this checkbox
Strict	For IPv6 networks only. If you select Strict, the platform will automatically generate EUI64 IP addresses.
Address	The network address of the VLAN
Netmask	The network mask in CIDR format. For IPv4, the value can be from 16 to 30 inclusive, and for IPv6, enter a value of 64, 56, or 48
Gateway	The gateway of the network that must be within the range defined by the network address and the network mask
Tag*	Enter the network tag (such as a VLAN or VXLAN tag) to use for this network
Check	Click to check tag availability for all the racks of the Abiquo datacenter. Green: available Yellow: in use by other networks but can be reused Red: not available because it is excluded by rack configuration.
Network service type	Choose the Manage network service types, which assigns the network to network interfaces on the hypervisors
Device	Optional device that defines a network virtualization system that will manage the IP addresses of this network. They may be assigned using its DHCP service. Ensure that VMs deployed on this network allow traffic to the appropriate ports for a DHCP connection.
Primary DNS	Address of the primary DNS
Secondary DNS	Address of the secondary DNS
DNS suffix	The default DNS suffix
Restricted	Select to create a Restricted network so that users require privileges to Attach NICs in restricted networks and/or Detach NICs from restricted networks
Excluded from firewall	Select Excluded from firewall to define a network where VM firewalls will not apply
Static routes	Click "Manage" to add and modify static routes.
Provider ID	For NSX-T public networks, enter the path to the Tier 0 segment in the NSX-T system.

Create static routes

To add a Static Route when you create or edit an IPv4 network:

Select the Define checkbox.
Enter the details of the static route.
For example, to add a static route to the network/netmask 1.1.1.0/24 via the gateway/next hop 10.10.100.1
1. Enter the destination Netmask, e.g. 255.255.255.0 (the above screenshot may differ)
2. Enter the destination Network ID, e.g. 1.1.1.0
3. Enter the Gateway IP, which is the next hop on your network, e.g. 10.10.100.1
Click Save and the platform will add the static routes to the VM network configuration.

The platform will configure the static routes in VMs using the network configuration method so it may not always be possible to update the static routes in a deployed VM.
If you are using DHCP to configure VMs, changes to static routes will be received by the VMs when they reconnect to the DHCP server; for example, after they are restarted.

Create IP addresses

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Set the default network for a virtual datacenter

Each virtual datacenter requires a default network. If you deploy a VM without assigning a NIC, the platform will add one from the default network. You cannot unselect the default network, instead you must assign a new default network to replace it.

To set a network as the default, you will require privileges to access this network in the virtual infrastructure.

Privileges: Manage virtual datacenter network elements, Access public network tab, Manage public network elements, Access external network tab, Manage external network elements

To assign a network as the default for a virtual datacenter do these steps:

Go to Virtual datacenters → select virtual datacenter → Network →****network type, e.g. Private
Create or edit a network
Select the Default network checkbox
- This default will override the platform default network and any network set for the enterprise in the datacenter
- The new default network will apply to all VMs deployed after you set it
- For a public network that is the virtual datacenter default, obtain IP addresses for your VMs before you deploy

Edit a public network

To edit the Network Information for the public network

Go to Infrastructure → Private
Select a datacenter and go to** Network → Public**
Edit the public network

Edit a public network

When you edit a public network, you can change some or all of the following fields, depending on whether you have VMs deployed in the network or not.

Field	Description
Name	The name of the public network
Gateway	IPv4 only. The gateway of the network. The gateway must be an IP address inside the range defined by the network address and mask
Tag	The tag to use for this network. Abiquo recommends that you check the tag for availability. Green: tag available. Yellow: tag in use but can be shared. Red: tag excluded from use in the rack.
Network service type	Select the Network Service Type represents a network interface on the hypervisors. Configure the NIC in the switch and then configure the NSTs for your hosts. You cannot change the NST after users deploy VMs in the network
Device	The device defines the network virtualization system to use for SDN
Restricted	If selected, when users edit VMs, the only users who can work with IPs from this network are users with the privileges to Attach NICs in restricted networks and/or Detach NICs from restricted networks
Static routes	Select Define to edit static routes for the network

You can modify these fields at any time but the changes will only apply to VMs deployed after you make the changes.

Field	Description
Primary DNS	The address of the primary DNS server for your network
Secondary DNS	The address of the secondary DNS server for your network
DNS suffix	The DNS suffix for your network

Delete a public network

Before you begin, check that there are no enterprises that have purchased IP addresses from this network. You cannot delete a public network if any of its IP addresses are purchased, reserved, or in use. You cannot delete a public network that is the default for a virtual datacenter.

To delete a public network:

Go to Infrastructure → Private → select a datacenter → Network → Public
Select the public network
Click the delete button

Put an IP address on a deny list

In private cloud, to prevent tenants from obtaining and/or using an IP address, you can quarantine it, which is similar to putting it on a deny list.

To change quarantine status:

Select one or more IP addresses
Click the quarantine (!) symbol and confirm

Selected IPs that were not in quarantine will be put into quarantine. Selected IPs that were already in quarantine will be removed from quarantine.

Click here to show/hide the screenshot

Pages related to public networks

Manage networks in virtual datacenters