Manage external networks in vCloud Director

Abiquo enables users to create and delete OrgVDC networks inside the Org VDC and routed through the Edge as external networks. Users can also onboard and synchronize these networks from vCloud Director.

Users manage vCloud External networks in the Virtual datacenters view. External network definitions should be unique in the Organization virtual datacenter (public cloud region of the enterprise).

Abiquo continues to onboard and synchronize these other types of external networks:

External networks outside the OrgVDC but connected to the Edge, for use by load balancers but not VM vNICs
External networks outside the OrgVDC with a direct connection to OrgVDC as OrgVDCNetworks
Isolated Org networks, for use by VM vNICs but not load balancers

An external network created with Abiquo can only use the gateway IP as loadbalancer address.

When you create a public cloud region or virtual datacenter, the platform does not automatically import the external networks.

You can use the abiquo API to request the external networks with source=REMOTE in order to import them.
When you onboard a VDC the external networks are also imported, so we recommend that you onboard a VDC after you create the PCR or after you create the VDC in order to import them

Create an external network in vCloud Director

Users can create an external network for their public cloud region by entering a network definition.

After you create an external network in vCloud, you cannot change the definition of this network.

Create IPs for an external network

When you create an external network, the platform will reserve a range of IPs for vCloud use and load balancers. The administrator can configure the number of IPs to reserve with properties.

You can create IPs within the allowed range of vCloud Director, for example, it will not allow you to use the gateway IP.

After you create a set of IPs, you can select some IPs and make them unavailable to users.

Make an external network the default in vCloud

To make an external network the default for a virtual datacenter, edit the network and select the Default network checkbox.

The platform will mark the default external network with a star symbol.

Create a default external network for a virtual datacenter

To create an external network when you create a virtual datacenter, for Network, select Custom external and enter a network definition.

The platform will create the virtual datacenter with the default external network. The platform will mark the network with the star symbol.

Add an external IP to a VM in vCloud

Adding an external IP to a VM in vCloud is the same as for other external networks. Remember that if your VM does not support hot reconfigure, you must power it off to change the network configuration.

Simply go to Network → External, select the network, and drag and drop an IP address.

Delete an external network in vCloud

If you have not used an external network that you created, then you can delete it directly in Abiquo.

If you have deployed a VM in the external network, then vCloud considers the network to be "in use" and you must delete it in the Edge. After you delete the external network in the Edge, synchronize the public cloud region or external networks in Abiquo. The deleted external network will display in gray text and you then select it and delete it in Abiquo.