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:

1. Go to Infrastructure → Private

2. Select a datacenter and go to Servers view

3. Go to Networks → Public

You can filter the list using the search boxes above the Networks list. You can scroll through the list of networks 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.

Open

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:

1. Go to Infrastructure → Private

2. Select a datacenter and go to Servers → Networks → Public

3. At the bottom of the Networks list, click the + add button 

4. For NSX-T, first select the Device

5. After you select the Device (nsxt-device), enter the Provider ID and select the Network service type.

Create static routes

Create IP addresses

To create new IP addresses in a public network do these steps.

1. On the Public IPs page, click the add + button and enter details

Or you can add an IP directly to a VM. To do this:

1. Go to myCloud → Virtual datacenters

2. Edit a VM and go to Network

3. Click the add + button and enter details (or drag the Auto-generated IP label into the Network pane)

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 starting 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, we recommend that you create an automatic IP address, or you can enter a From IP address manually.

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.

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

1. Go to myCloud Virtual datacenters

2. Select a virtual datacenter and go to Network

3. Select the network type, such as Private

4. Create or edit a network

5. 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

1. Go to Infrastructure → Private

2. Select a datacenter and go to Network → Public

3. Edit the 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.

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

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:

1. Go to  Infrastructure → Private

2. Select a datacenter and go to Network → Public

3. Select the public network

4. 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:

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 public networks

• Manage networks in virtual datacenters