Manage external networks

Introduction to external networks

External networks belong to a single enterprise and in private cloud they belong at the datacenter infrastructure level. An external network can use any type of network addresses and it requires a network tag.

The IP addresses that you use in external networks may be private or public addresses. So you may use these networks to communicate between VDCs of the same tenant or with networks outside of the platform. You can also define the same network in more than one datacenter in the platform.

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An example networking scenario using external networks

In private cloud, when using standard networking (without an SDN integration), you can create external networks in vCenter:

• When you deploy the first VM in the network (default option); or

• When you create the external network (Abiquo 6.1.1+), by using a networking device to connect to vCenter for the datacenter. See Manage devices

Display external networks

To display external networks in private cloud:

1. Go to Infrastructure → Private

2. Select a datacenter and go to Network → External

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   Display external networks in infrastructure

To display external networks in vCloud Director

1. Go to myCloud Virtual datacenters → Network → External. Networks that have been deleted in the provider display in gray text.

Create an external network

External networks belong to a single enterprise and may have public or private IP address ranges used in more than one virtual datacenter.

Before you begin:

1. To use a network manager or to create the network in vCenter directly, create a device in Abiquo.
   See Manage devices

2. Define each external network in the network infrastructure (e.g. VLAN in the switch, or network in a network manager), and obtain the network details, such as:

   1. Network address

   2. Gateway

   3. Network tag (e.g. VLAN or VXLAN tag)

To create an external network:

1. Go to Infrastructure → Private

2. Select a Datacenter and in Servers view, go to Network → External

Click the + add button  and enter the details

Create static routes 

To add a static route when you create or edit an IPv4 network:

1. Select the Define checkbox. 

2. 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 

3. Click Save and the platform will add the static routes to the VM network configuration. 

Add IP addresses

To add IP addresses to your network:

1. Go to Infrastructure → Private 

2. Select Datacenter and go to servers view → Network → External or Public

3. Click the +add button

4. 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. 

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:

1. Go Infrastructure → Private

2. Select the datacenter and go to servers view

3. Go to Network and select the network type

4. Click Available IPs

5. 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

Make an external network the default

You can make an external network the default for:

• an enterprise in a datacenter (See Configure an enterprise in a cloud location) or 

• a virtual datacenter (See Manage networks ).

Modify an external network

To modify an external network:

1. On the External page, select the network in the Networks list

2. Click the pencil edit button

Delete an external network

Before you begin, check that there are no VMs using IP addresses from this network. You cannot delete an external network if any of its IP addresses are in use on VMs.

To delete an external network:

1. Select it in the Networks list on the External page

2. Click the trash bin delete button.

If an onboarded network has been deleted in the provider, its name will display in light gray text. If a VM is using an IP from this network, then you cannot deploy the VM.

If there are no VMs using the IPs of an external network that was already deleted in the provider, to delete the network in the platform, select it and click the delete button.

How to put an IP 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:

1. Select one or more IP addresses

2. 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. 

Pages related to networking

• Introduction to Abiquo Networking

• Administrator guide to configuring networks: Network

• Platform network administration: Networks  including Abiquo virtual networks

  • Private networks in virtual datacenters: Manage networks

  • See Create unmanaged networks in Network provisioning guide

  • Manage public networks