Network provisioning guide
- 1 Cloud networks in private cloud datacenters
- 2 Standard networking
- 3 Software defined networking integrations in Abiquo
- 4 Create public networks
- 5 Create an external network
- 6 Create static routes for external and public networks
- 7 Add IP addresses to external and public networks
- 8 Make IP addresses available
- 9 Create unmanaged networks
- 10 Create a NAT network
- 11 Display networks
- 12 Make a network the default for an enterprise or virtual datacenter
This Abiquo provisioning guide describes how to provision networks for tenants in private cloud datacenters.
Before you provision networks, provision infrastructure (including network configuration), and provision tenants.
See Infrastructure provisioning guide and Tenant provisioning guide
Privileges: Manage datacenter infrastructure elements, Manage datacenter infrastructure elements, Manage network elements, Manage devices
Cloud networks in private cloud datacenters
Cloud networks are the virtual networks that administrators configure to deliver self-service IP addresses to the VMs.
The cloud network types supported by Abiquo in private cloud are as follows:
Private Networks within virtual datacenters (in private and public cloud)
External Networks accessible from outside the virtual datacenter and outside the platform, and assigned to a single tenant.
Unmanaged Networks with IP addresses managed outside of Abiquo only, and assigned to a single tenant.
NAT Networks with NAT IP addresses, used with SDN devices
Public Networks with public IP addresses and Internet access and can be shared by multiple tenants.
The external, unmanaged, NAT, and public networks may be collectively referred to as 'datacenter networks' because they are managed at the Abiquo datacenter level.
For each datacenter, the network administrator should design the configuration (e.g. VLAN tags, switches, SDN) that will be required.
In private cloud, you can use standard networking or software defined networking (SDN).
Standard networking
With standard networking, cloud networks are VLANs in the 'service network' that runs on the Abiquo platform networks.
The administrator must configure the cloud platform switches to support the VLANs that make up the service network.
You can configure VM IP addresses using DHCP or guest setup.
The default configuration is the DHCP server installed by Abiquo but you can also provide your own DHCP server.
If a DHCP server is not found, Abiquo uses guest setup with cloud-init and hypervisor tools, requiring compatible templates, or a custom guest setup method.
When you create datacenter networks in Abiquo to register your network infrastructure, you must supply the network details and tag.
Software defined networking integrations in Abiquo
Abiquo has integrations with software defined networking (SDN) systems, such as VMware NSX-T, to provide easy to configure networks, firewalls, load balancers, NAT, and VPNs.
Abiquo uses the network virtualization systems to manage private networks and IPs, and to manage IPs of datacenter networks.
When you create datacenter networks in Abiquo, to register your NSX-T networks, you must supply the network path.
Create public networks
You can make public IP addresses available to users as part of public networks.
Tenants can obtain these IP addresses for their virtual datacenters and you can charge them for reserved IP addresses.
Create an external network
The Abiquo NSX-V integration supports external networks
Create static routes for external and public networks
Add IP addresses to external and public networks
To add IP addresses to your network:
Go to Infrastructure → Private → select Datacenter → Servers view → Network → External or Public
Click the + Add button in the top right-hand corner
Complete the dialog
Enter the Number of IPs to create and the From IP address (the first in the range). The From IP address must be a new address that does not already exist in the network. After creating the first IP address, the platform will try to create the other IPs and it will skip any existing IP addresses.
For example, if you have IP addresses in network 30.30.30.30, which are 30, 33, and 34 and then you request 3 new IPs from 30.30.30.31. The new IPs created should be as follows: 31, 32, 35.
30.30.30.30 |
30.30.30.31 |
30.30.30.32 |
30.30.30.33 |
30.30.30.34 |
30.30.30.35 |
When you add IPv6 addresses on strict networks, you don't need to set the starting address. On non-strict IPv6 networks, Abiquo recommends that you create an automatic IP address, or you can enter a From IP address manually.
Make IP addresses available
After you create public, external, or NAT IP addresses, they will be available to users for their virtual datacenters.
We recommend that you should make unavailable any IP addresses that will be used for administration purposes, for example, the IPv4 gateway network address.
To edit the available IP addresses:
Go Infrastructure → Private → select datacenter → Servers view → Network → select network type
Click Available IPs
The Edit network dialog for Available IPs will open and by default, all IPs are in the Available column
To move an IP, select it and click a single arrow button
To move all IPs in the direction of the arrows, use the double arrow buttons
Create unmanaged networks
In private cloud datacenters, unmanaged networks are a special type of external network with IP addresses that are allocated outside of the platform. Abiquo does not manage the IP addresses for VMs attached to these networks.
Before you begin, obtain the details of your network in the infrastructure, including the VLAN tag, network address, and gateway.
To create unmanaged networks do these steps:
Go to Infrastructure → Private → select Datacenter → Datacenter details → Network → External.
At the top of the External page, click the Add + button
Complete the dialog as described, marking the Unmanaged checkbox.
Field | Value |
---|---|
Name | The name of the unmanaged VLAN with up to 128 characters |
IPv6 | To create an IPv6 network, select this checkbox |
Strict | For IPv6 networks only. If you select Strict, Abiquo will automatically generate EUI64 IP addresses and you will not be able to manually generate them |
Address | The network address of the VLAN |
Netmask | The network mask in CIDR format |
Gateway | The gateway of the network. It must be an IP address inside the range defined by the network address and the network mask |
Tag | The VLAN tag to use for this VLAN |
Check | Check tag availability for all racks of the datacenter. You should define a VLAN with the same tag on all racks. Green = available, Yellow = in use, Red = unavailable |
Network service type | Select the Network Service Type, which represents a network interface on the hypervisors |
Unmanaged | Select to create an unmanaged network, when you will manage IP addresses outside Abiquo |
Enterprise | Select the owner enterprise that will use the unmanaged VLAN |
Device | Not used for unmanaged networks |
Primary DNS | The IP address of the Primary DNS server |
Secondary DNS | The IP address of the Secondary DNS server |
DNS suffix | The default DNS suffix |
Restricted | Mark this checkbox to create a Restricted network. To work with IPs in a restricted network, users require the 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 | Not used for unmanaged networks |
To display IP addresses of NICS in unmanaged networks, add them:
using the API; or
during VM capture using the UI or API
For strict IPv6 networks, you cannot add IP addresses, but the platform retrieves the MAC address from the hypervisor and uses that to generate an IPv6 address for display, which should be the same as the one allocated by the router system.
Create a NAT network
Display networks
You can scroll through the network list using the page number and arrow buttons at the bottom of the list. And you can filter the list by entering text and wildcards to search for in network names.
On the IPs page, click on the header of a column to sort by that column, use the Search box to filter the results by any field, and navigate through the pages with the page scroll.
Make a network the default for an enterprise or virtual datacenter
You can make an external network the default for an enterprise in a datacenter (see Configure a location for an enterprise) or a virtual datacenter (See Manage Networks).
You can make a public or external network the default for a virtual datacenter (See Manage networks)
If the user deploys a VM without adding an IP address, Abiquo will automatically add one in the default network, and it will set the default gateway.
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