Manage virtual datacenters

Introduction to virtual datacenters

In the Virtual datacenters in myCloud view you can manage your compute, network and storage resources.

Each virtual datacenter (VDC) is a separate cloud environment in a single datacenter or public cloud region. 

To access Virtual datacenters view, click the myCloud button in the main menu and then click the cloud virtual datacenters button.

To display all the virtual datacenters in specific providers, click the funnel filter button at the top of the list and select one or more providers.

Create a virtual datacenter

Before you begin:

• In Azure, before you create a virtual datacenter, Create a resource group and optionally Create an availability set.

  • See Manage resource groups and Manage availability sets

• In Google Cloud Platform, before you create a virtual datacenter, Create a global network and Create a subnet

  • See Manage global networks and subnets

To create a new virtual datacenter with standard networking:

1. Go to myCloud view → Virtual datacenters

2. Below the V. datacenters list, click the + add button

3. Select Create a new virtual datacenter from the pull-down menu

4. For the General information:

   1. For the Location select the datacenter or public cloud region to use

   2. For the Network select from:

      1. Default: Create a network (default private or external) using platform configuration

      2. Custom Private: Create a custom private network (see below)

         

   3. If your environment uses NAT, you can select:

      1. NAT network: to use for the default SNAT rule

      2. Default NAT IP: for the default SNAT rule

5. Click Save

Create a virtual datacenter with a custom network

When you create a virtual datacenter, the platform always creates a private network and it counts as part of your network allocation limits, even if the default network is another type of network.

The private network can be the Automatically-created private VLAN, which is called default_private_network, or a custom private network, which will be set as the default network.

To create a Custom private network, complete the Network section of this dialog.

To manage the VLANs or other networks of your virtual datacenter, go to Virtual datacenters → Network. See Manage networks.

• For information about changing the default network of the VDC, see Manage networks

Create a virtual datacenter for NSX-T

If you are using NSX-T and the tenant may have more than one tier0 configuration, you may enter NSX-T parameters when you are creating a virtual datacenter.

Manage resource allocation limits for a virtual datacenter

• A Hard limit is the maximum amount of a virtual resource (e.g. RAM) that an entity will be allowed to consume. 

• A Soft limit warns users and administrators that the entity is running out of a resource.

The rules for creating allocation limits are as follows:

• You cannot have a hard limit only

• Soft limits must always be less than or equal to hard limits

• When a limit is equal to 0, it means that there is no limit to resource usage at this level

• When editing limits, you cannot set the hard limits below the existing resource usage, except for Local hard disk

Consider a virtual datacenter with a soft limit of 1 virtual CPU and a hard limit of 4 virtual CPUs.

• The user will exceed the soft limit if they deploy a virtual appliance with more than 1 CPU in the virtual datacenter.

• The user will exceed the hard limit if they attempt to deploy a virtual appliance with more than 4 CPUs in the virtual datacenter.

Soft limits message

A soft-limits message popup will allow the user to to acknowledge the message and continue with the operation.

By default, the message will provide details of the limits, used, and requested resources.

For example, the limits are 5 CPUs, the users have 2 CPUs in deployed VMs, and they have requested 3 more CPUs.

The platform will also display this type of message when the users exceed soft limits at another level, for example, enterprise, enterprise in provider, or enterprise in location.

Hard limits message

A hard-limits message pop-up will allow the user to acknowledge the message and terminate the operation.

By default, the message will provide details of the limits, used, and requested resources.

For example, the limits are 5 CPUs, the users have 5 CPUs in deployed VMs, and they have requested 1 more CPU. Because the user will exceed the hard limit, the platform will not allow the user to obtain 1 CPU.

The platform will also display this type of message when the users exceed soft limits at another level, for example, enterprise, enterprise in provider, or enterprise in location.

Set virtual datacenter defaults

When you create a virtual datacenter, you can set some defaults according to your platform configuration.

After you create the virtual datacenter, you can edit it the default values.

Note that Abiquo will use the enterprise’s default network in the cloud location as the default network for the new virtual datacenter.

Set a virtual datacenter role to limit user access 

If you are able to manage user roles, you can limit user access to a virtual datacenter for users that can have their virtual datacenters restricted (usually ordinary cloud users).
For example, you can give users read-only access.

To limit access to a VDC for cloud users:

1. Go to myCloud → Virtual datacenters

2. Create, edit, or onboard a virtual datacenter

3. Go to Roles

   

4. For the Role, select a more restrictive role to replace user roles within this VDC.
   For example, to give users read-only access, select the ENTERPRISE_VIEWER role

5. To create exceptions to the VDC role:

   1. Select a Username and an exception Role for the user

   2. Click Add

6. When you finish creating or editing the virtual datacenter, click Save

The exception will enable all privileges that are included in both the user's role and the exception role. It is not possible to grant additional privileges using a VDC role.

After you have entered Allocation limits, Defaults, and Role, click Save.

The platform will create the virtual datacenter and the default private VLAN and display it in the Virtual datacenters view. 

Create a virtual datacenter using the API

Edit a virtual datacenter

When you edit a virtual datacenter, it is similar to creating a virtual datacenter, but you can also set a default firewall and edit tags.

To set a default firewall for the virtual datacenter: 

1. Go to Virtual datacenters → Edit → Defaults

2. For the Default firewall, select an appropriate firewall 

To manage tags for a virtual datacenter: 

1. Go to Virtual datacenters → Edit a virtual datacenter → Tags

2. Add tags

   

   For more details see Edit resource tags

Set a default network for a virtual datacenter

Each virtual datacenter requires a default network. The platform automatically creates a default private network for each virtual datacenter.
You can configure the default network to be a private network, an external network, or a public network.
You can configure a default network for each enterprise in a datacenter.
If you deploy a VM without assigning a NIC, the platform will add one from the default network.

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 Virtual datacenters → select virtual datacenter → Network

2. Select the network type, such as Private, Public

3. Create or edit a network

4. Select the Default network checkbox

   • This default will override the platform default network and the 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

   • For an external network that is the virtual datacenter default, your administrator must create IP addresses in infrastructure for your VMs before you deploy

Onboard from public cloud

See Onboard from public cloud

Pages related to virtual datacenters

The following pages are related to the management of virtual datacenters

• Administration of virtual datacenters:

  • Manage networks

  • Manage firewalls

  • Manage load balancers

  • Administer and troubleshoot VMs

  • Manage persistent storage and VMs

• How users can work with VMs

  • Manage virtual machines

  • Configure virtual machines

  • Manage scaling groups

  • Manage virtual appliances