Networks

Introduction to datacenter networks

Datacenter networks in Abiquo represent networks that you configure outside of the platform, either manually in switches or using SDN systems. Before you configure your datacenter networks in Abiquo, you should configure the network infrastructure outside of the platform. You will need to obtain ranges of VLAN tags and IP addresses for use by networks in the platform. See Networking guide and Network in the Abiquo Infrastructure Guide.

From the Infrastructure Datacenter Networks tab in Abiquo, you can perform configurations such as:

Define SDN integrations used in Abiquo. See Manage Devices
Create tags for datacenter networks and their corresponding hypervisor network interfaces. See Manage Network Service Types
Reserve network ranges for administration networks, see Manage excluded networks

Virtual networks in Abiquo

On the Private tab, the administrator can only view private cloud networks because these networks belong to virtual datacenters (VDCs). See Manage Networks
On the External and Public tabs, the administrator can manage datacenter networks
- External networks are assigned to a single enterprise and they may have public or private IP address ranges that can be used in more than one VDC. See Manage External Networks
- Unmanaged Networks are a special type of external network with IP addresses that are allocated outside of Abiquo. See Create Unmanaged Networks
- Public networks enable the users of VDCs to obtain Internet addressable public IP addresses for their virtual infrastructure. See Manage Public Networks

Display datacenter networks

In private cloud, to manage datacenter networks within Abiquo:

Privilege: Manage network elements

Go to Infrastructure → Private
Select a datacenter
If necessary, click the server details button at the top right to open the datacenter details view
Go to Networks

Networking scenarios

Here are some examples of networking scenarios for private cloud platforms.

Abiquo and AWS hybrid cloud networking

When you create a VDC, Abiquo creates a virtual private cloud (VPC) with NAT support. This will enable your private networks to access an Internet gateway that will provide NAT services to the VMs in the public cloud region. In addition, you can establish a VPN connection between your private datacenters and public cloud.

Abiquo supports AWS Elastic IPs, which are floating public IP addresses in the platform. Therefore you can also access VMs in a public cloud region through a floating public IP assigned to one of the VMs. From there, you can access the other machines on the VPC private subnet (Private Connect Network).

When you onboard a VPC, the platform will detect NAT support and mark the internet gateway.

When you create a private network, you can select the AWS Availability Zone. This means that you can configure VMs with NICs in different zones to ensure VM high availability.

Related links

For an overview of the Abiquo Multi-cloud platform and some brief tutorials, see Get Started
For documentation on Abiquo private cloud networking in datacenter infrastructure, see Networks
For documentation on virtual networks, see Manage Networks

Connect your virtual datacenter to Azure via VPN

Abiquo virtual datacenters use Azure virtual networks and virtual network subnets. This makes it easy to create hybrid cloud environments, for example, the test environment described in the Microsoft Azure documentation. See https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/vpn-gateway/vpn-gateway-tutorial-vpnconnection-powershell

To create this test environment in Abiquo:

Configure your local subnet following the Azure instructions
Create the virtual network to extend your local network in Azure
In Abiquo, create the Abiquo virtual datacenter with a subnet of the Azure virtual network. See Manage Virtual Datacenters#Createavirtualdatacenterwithcustomnetworks
In Abiquo, add the Azure network details to your tenant as enterprise properties. See Configure Azure VPNs
Configure the site-to-site VPN connection following the Azure instructions. See Manage VPNs
1. You can also use Abiquo to deploy the VM that will be the second domain controller.

Abiquo creates virtual datacenters and virtual networks in Azure ARM.

In Azure ARM, the Abiquo VM always has a public IP.