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Posted to users@cloudstack.apache.org by "dean@uppercumberlandit.com" <de...@uppercumberlandit.com> on 2012/11/21 18:43:57 UTC

Understanding physical network mapping



First a quick background: 


I am trying to build a small "mini public cloud" that consists of 2 XenServer hosts and 1 management/nfs server. 


There is absolutely no need (at least on my end) for vlans or special isolation. 


Here is my setup: 


**Management / NFS Server** 
-> Ubuntu 12.04 LTS 
-> Two 1GB NICs assigned to br0 in a single bridge configured as 10.0.20.210/24 (saves me having to use another switch) 
-> One 1GB NIC configured with live IP of 63.135.177.210/28 (yes - that's the actual IP) and connected to public switch 
-> IP forwarding and MASQ enabled: 63.135.177.210 <--> 10.0.20.0/24 (tested, works) 
-> DNSMasq installed, configured and working 
-> Entries in /etc/hosts for mgmt.mycloud, xen1.mycloud and xen2.mycloud 
-> Management server completely configured and ready 


** Two Physical Hosts** 
-> Each host has 2 GB NICs 
-> One NIC connected to public switch 
-> The other NIC connected to one of the two bridged ports on the management server 
-> XenServer 6.0.2 
-> Management Network configured via the 10.0.20.0/24 interfaces 
-> xen1 is 10.0.20.211 and xen2 is 10.0.20.212 
-> Neither xen host has a configured public facing IP, but each one IS connected to the switch 


**Physical Router** 
-> Configured gateway IP is 63.135.177.209/28 
-> Connected [obviously] to public switch 


I initially did a very basic setup (basic networking) at first using only public IP addresses. Everything worked, but of coarse, it uses like 8 or 10 IP's total. 


So I figured I would attempt a shot at advanced networking mode, with the following goals: 
-> No need for special isolation 
-> Desire to "share" NFS and Management network (10.0.20.0/24) 
-> Desire to provide VM's (instances) to the 63.135.177.208/28 network on an as-needed basis (not all will need access) 


My first issue I am having trouble coping with is getting a grasp on the "Physical Network" to actual NIC mapping. This seems almost nonexistent. When I add a zone, I select "advanced" and click next. I enter 10.0.20.210 as [both] DNS servers and am imidiately confused by the "Guest CIDR". Still not sure what exactly this should be - and examples online have further added to this confusion. 


One example mentions using a arbitrary subnet (10.1.1.0/24 - the default), and this is what I have been doing thus far.. not sure if I am messing up at this point or not. 


Also, what is the "Public" checkbox for at this window? 


I click "next" and am brought to the Physical Network screen - with all the nice drag-and-drop jquery stuff I am so fond of (nice touch guys). But this is perhaps one of the most confusing parts there is. The documentation says each of these "Physical Networks" should "map" to an actual NIC port on each xen host. How? I see an option to provide a free-form name to each Physical Network (default for the first one is literally "Physical Network 1"). Where/how to I tell cloudstack that "Physical Network 1" belongs to (or should be "connected to") port1/eth1/xenbr1 of the host? 


Also, is this the point at which I should define 2 physical networks and drag the yellow and green icons to the bottom (Physical Network 2) and leave the blue one on "physical network 1"? I also assume I do not need to drag the red icon over into "Physical Network 1" since they are the same subnet - correct? 


Next, the "edit" button on each icon.. Mentions "XenServer traffic label" - is this the uuid, network-uuid or device value from "xe pif-list"? Or is this the actual device or bridge name such as eth1 or xenbr1? Or is this something entirely different? 


Before leaving this step, I also wonder: why does it make me choose VLAN/STT/GRE? Can I not have a simple non-vlan physical network? I am providing the isolation be means of the physical network itself. Am I gonna have to bite the bullet and use VLAN-enabled switches for this? Perhaps I can limit any VLAN-needs to trunk across the 10.0.20.0/24 network since that does not use an external switch and would be simple to mange? 


On the next screen that follows, it asks to set up the "public" network.. **sigh** more confusion... Should I enter the 63.135.177.208/28 details here? Or should I be entering something from the 10.0.20.0/24 network? 


On the next screen, we configure the Pods.. I am pretty sure at this point I need to simply provide the 10.0.20.210 gateway and an un-used range on the 10.0.20.0/24 net - correct? 


The next screen takes me to a VLAN range window.. again - do I really need to? I am trying to avoid VLAN's like the plague . 


I understand "Adding a host" well enough, but if someone intemately familiar w/ CS could shed some light on the questions above, that would be excellent. 


One last consideration: not that I am anti-VLAN, but it is possible I will have to set up and semi-manage over 50 such "mini public cloud" deployments and therefore I really need to keep the overall deployment of each as simple as possible. I have a rather good understanding of networking and XenServer in general and would have typically done this via normal XenCenter, but rather have the CS GUI for end-users. 


Many thanks in advanced! 


- Dean 

Dean M. Rantala 
Upper Cumberland IT 
IT Consultant 
(931) 284-7384 
(931) 268-0037 
www.uppercumberlandit.com 



Re: Understanding physical network mapping

Posted by Marc Cirauqui <mc...@gmail.com>.
I might add, in advanced network mode vlans are used to isolate guest
networks. So for this, using more than one host, I think you will need a
vlan enabled switch.

For the other networks like management, storage and public, vlan field can
be left balnk so no tagging will be used in those networks. Be aware that
system VMs will get an IP address in both your managemet network and public
network, so if they are the same network you might get awkward results.

As for the public network, this is the network where services will be
published, like where your web consoles will connect and the addresses used
to connect to internet (both from guest networks and systemvm). Si it
depends on where you want to put them. As I understand you are setting up a
public cloud, so the logical here is to assign public IP addresses to the
public network.

thx


On Wed, Nov 21, 2012 at 7:58 PM, Prachi Damle <Pr...@citrix.com>wrote:

> Hi Dean,
>
> I can answer your question about the physical network mapping screen.
>
> >>I click "next" and am brought to the Physical Network screen - with all
> the nice drag-and-drop jquery stuff I am so fond of (nice touch guys). But
> this is perhaps one of the most confusing parts there is. The documentation
> says each of these "Physical Networks" should "map" to an actual NIC port
> on each >>xen host. How? I see an option to provide a free-form name to
> each Physical Network (default for the first one is literally "Physical
> Network 1"). Where/how to I tell cloudstack that "Physical Network 1"
> belongs to (or should be "connected to") port1/eth1/xenbr1 of the host?
>
> No the free form name is not used to map the physical network to the NIC.
> Read below on how to set the mapping.
>
> >>Also, is this the point at which I should define 2 physical networks and
> drag the yellow and green icons to the bottom (Physical Network 2) and
> leave the blue one on "physical network 1"? I also assume I do not need to
> drag the red icon over into "Physical Network 1" since they are the same
> subnet - correct?
>
> Adding multiple physical networks is optional. You should create multiple
> physical networks in your setup, only if you want to have different network
> traffics  flow though separate NICs on the host , or you want to have two
> guest NICs in your setup.
>
>
> >>Next, the "edit" button on each icon.. Mentions "XenServer traffic
> label" - is this the uuid, network-uuid or device value from "xe pif-list"?
> Or is this the actual device or bridge name such as eth1 or xenbr1? Or is
> this something entirely different?
>
> To map the physical network to a NIC port on the host:
> - Add network traffic types to the physical network as desired - these are
> the yellow/green/blue tec icons are the network traffic types
> - Use "edit" button on each traffic type you add to the physical network
> and set the traffic label
> - You then need to set the same label on the host manually - for Xen this
> is the name-label property
> - If traffic labels are not configured on the Xen backend, host connection
> will fail.
>
> For example, if I set the traffic label to say ' cloud-private' then I
> should set it on my XenServer host as shown below:
>
> [root@xenprachi5 ~]# xe network-list bridge=xenbr0
> uuid ( RO) : 63b87536-8d88-1267-693b-d2cf6d89352d
> name-label ( RW):
> name-description ( RW):
> bridge ( RO): xenbr0
>
> [root@xenprachi5 ~]# xe network-param-set name-label=cloud-private
> uuid=63b87536-8d88-1267-693b-d2cf6d89352d
>
>
> Thanks,
> Prachi
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: dean@uppercumberlandit.com [mailto:dean@uppercumberlandit.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, November 21, 2012 9:44 AM
> To: cloudstack-users@incubator.apache.org
> Subject: Understanding physical network mapping
>
>
>
>
> First a quick background:
>
>
> I am trying to build a small "mini public cloud" that consists of 2
> XenServer hosts and 1 management/nfs server.
>
>
> There is absolutely no need (at least on my end) for vlans or special
> isolation.
>
>
> Here is my setup:
>
>
> **Management / NFS Server**
> -> Ubuntu 12.04 LTS
> -> Two 1GB NICs assigned to br0 in a single bridge configured as
> -> 10.0.20.210/24 (saves me having to use another switch) One 1GB NIC
> -> configured with live IP of 63.135.177.210/28 (yes - that's the actual
> -> IP) and connected to public switch IP forwarding and MASQ enabled:
> -> 63.135.177.210 <--> 10.0.20.0/24 (tested, works) DNSMasq installed,
> -> configured and working Entries in /etc/hosts for mgmt.mycloud,
> -> xen1.mycloud and xen2.mycloud Management server completely configured
> -> and ready
>
>
> ** Two Physical Hosts**
> -> Each host has 2 GB NICs
> -> One NIC connected to public switch
> -> The other NIC connected to one of the two bridged ports on the
> -> management server XenServer 6.0.2 Management Network configured via
> -> the 10.0.20.0/24 interfaces
> -> xen1 is 10.0.20.211 and xen2 is 10.0.20.212 Neither xen host has a
> -> configured public facing IP, but each one IS connected to the switch
>
>
> **Physical Router**
> -> Configured gateway IP is 63.135.177.209/28 Connected [obviously] to
> -> public switch
>
>
> I initially did a very basic setup (basic networking) at first using only
> public IP addresses. Everything worked, but of coarse, it uses like 8 or 10
> IP's total.
>
>
> So I figured I would attempt a shot at advanced networking mode, with the
> following goals:
> -> No need for special isolation
> -> Desire to "share" NFS and Management network (10.0.20.0/24)
> -> Desire to provide VM's (instances) to the 63.135.177.208/28 network on
> an as-needed basis (not all will need access)
>
>
> My first issue I am having trouble coping with is getting a grasp on the
> "Physical Network" to actual NIC mapping. This seems almost nonexistent.
> When I add a zone, I select "advanced" and click next. I enter 10.0.20.210
> as [both] DNS servers and am imidiately confused by the "Guest CIDR". Still
> not sure what exactly this should be - and examples online have further
> added to this confusion.
>
>
> One example mentions using a arbitrary subnet (10.1.1.0/24 - the
> default), and this is what I have been doing thus far.. not sure if I am
> messing up at this point or not.
>
>
> Also, what is the "Public" checkbox for at this window?
>
>
> I click "next" and am brought to the Physical Network screen - with all
> the nice drag-and-drop jquery stuff I am so fond of (nice touch guys). But
> this is perhaps one of the most confusing parts there is. The documentation
> says each of these "Physical Networks" should "map" to an actual NIC port
> on each xen host. How? I see an option to provide a free-form name to each
> Physical Network (default for the first one is literally "Physical Network
> 1"). Where/how to I tell cloudstack that "Physical Network 1" belongs to
> (or should be "connected to") port1/eth1/xenbr1 of the host?
>
>
> Also, is this the point at which I should define 2 physical networks and
> drag the yellow and green icons to the bottom (Physical Network 2) and
> leave the blue one on "physical network 1"? I also assume I do not need to
> drag the red icon over into "Physical Network 1" since they are the same
> subnet - correct?
>
>
> Next, the "edit" button on each icon.. Mentions "XenServer traffic label"
> - is this the uuid, network-uuid or device value from "xe pif-list"? Or is
> this the actual device or bridge name such as eth1 or xenbr1? Or is this
> something entirely different?
>
>
> Before leaving this step, I also wonder: why does it make me choose
> VLAN/STT/GRE? Can I not have a simple non-vlan physical network? I am
> providing the isolation be means of the physical network itself. Am I gonna
> have to bite the bullet and use VLAN-enabled switches for this? Perhaps I
> can limit any VLAN-needs to trunk across the 10.0.20.0/24 network since
> that does not use an external switch and would be simple to mange?
>
>
> On the next screen that follows, it asks to set up the "public" network..
> **sigh** more confusion... Should I enter the 63.135.177.208/28 details
> here? Or should I be entering something from the 10.0.20.0/24 network?
>
>
> On the next screen, we configure the Pods.. I am pretty sure at this point
> I need to simply provide the 10.0.20.210 gateway and an un-used range on
> the 10.0.20.0/24 net - correct?
>
>
> The next screen takes me to a VLAN range window.. again - do I really need
> to? I am trying to avoid VLAN's like the plague .
>
>
> I understand "Adding a host" well enough, but if someone intemately
> familiar w/ CS could shed some light on the questions above, that would be
> excellent.
>
>
> One last consideration: not that I am anti-VLAN, but it is possible I will
> have to set up and semi-manage over 50 such "mini public cloud" deployments
> and therefore I really need to keep the overall deployment of each as
> simple as possible. I have a rather good understanding of networking and
> XenServer in general and would have typically done this via normal
> XenCenter, but rather have the CS GUI for end-users.
>
>
> Many thanks in advanced!
>
>
> - Dean
>
> Dean M. Rantala
> Upper Cumberland IT
> IT Consultant
> (931) 284-7384
> (931) 268-0037
> www.uppercumberlandit.com
>
>
>

RE: Understanding physical network mapping

Posted by Prachi Damle <Pr...@citrix.com>.
Hi Dean,

I can answer your question about the physical network mapping screen. 

>>I click "next" and am brought to the Physical Network screen - with all the nice drag-and-drop jquery stuff I am so fond of (nice touch guys). But this is perhaps one of the most confusing parts there is. The documentation says each of these "Physical Networks" should "map" to an actual NIC port on each >>xen host. How? I see an option to provide a free-form name to each Physical Network (default for the first one is literally "Physical Network 1"). Where/how to I tell cloudstack that "Physical Network 1" belongs to (or should be "connected to") port1/eth1/xenbr1 of the host? 

No the free form name is not used to map the physical network to the NIC. Read below on how to set the mapping.

>>Also, is this the point at which I should define 2 physical networks and drag the yellow and green icons to the bottom (Physical Network 2) and leave the blue one on "physical network 1"? I also assume I do not need to drag the red icon over into "Physical Network 1" since they are the same subnet - correct? 

Adding multiple physical networks is optional. You should create multiple physical networks in your setup, only if you want to have different network traffics  flow though separate NICs on the host , or you want to have two guest NICs in your setup.


>>Next, the "edit" button on each icon.. Mentions "XenServer traffic label" - is this the uuid, network-uuid or device value from "xe pif-list"? Or is this the actual device or bridge name such as eth1 or xenbr1? Or is this something entirely different?

To map the physical network to a NIC port on the host:
- Add network traffic types to the physical network as desired - these are the yellow/green/blue tec icons are the network traffic types
- Use "edit" button on each traffic type you add to the physical network and set the traffic label
- You then need to set the same label on the host manually - for Xen this is the name-label property 
- If traffic labels are not configured on the Xen backend, host connection will fail.

For example, if I set the traffic label to say ' cloud-private' then I should set it on my XenServer host as shown below: 

[root@xenprachi5 ~]# xe network-list bridge=xenbr0 
uuid ( RO) : 63b87536-8d88-1267-693b-d2cf6d89352d 
name-label ( RW):
name-description ( RW): 
bridge ( RO): xenbr0 

[root@xenprachi5 ~]# xe network-param-set name-label=cloud-private uuid=63b87536-8d88-1267-693b-d2cf6d89352d


Thanks,
Prachi

-----Original Message-----
From: dean@uppercumberlandit.com [mailto:dean@uppercumberlandit.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, November 21, 2012 9:44 AM
To: cloudstack-users@incubator.apache.org
Subject: Understanding physical network mapping




First a quick background: 


I am trying to build a small "mini public cloud" that consists of 2 XenServer hosts and 1 management/nfs server. 


There is absolutely no need (at least on my end) for vlans or special isolation. 


Here is my setup: 


**Management / NFS Server** 
-> Ubuntu 12.04 LTS
-> Two 1GB NICs assigned to br0 in a single bridge configured as 
-> 10.0.20.210/24 (saves me having to use another switch) One 1GB NIC 
-> configured with live IP of 63.135.177.210/28 (yes - that's the actual 
-> IP) and connected to public switch IP forwarding and MASQ enabled: 
-> 63.135.177.210 <--> 10.0.20.0/24 (tested, works) DNSMasq installed, 
-> configured and working Entries in /etc/hosts for mgmt.mycloud, 
-> xen1.mycloud and xen2.mycloud Management server completely configured 
-> and ready


** Two Physical Hosts** 
-> Each host has 2 GB NICs
-> One NIC connected to public switch
-> The other NIC connected to one of the two bridged ports on the 
-> management server XenServer 6.0.2 Management Network configured via 
-> the 10.0.20.0/24 interfaces
-> xen1 is 10.0.20.211 and xen2 is 10.0.20.212 Neither xen host has a 
-> configured public facing IP, but each one IS connected to the switch


**Physical Router** 
-> Configured gateway IP is 63.135.177.209/28 Connected [obviously] to 
-> public switch


I initially did a very basic setup (basic networking) at first using only public IP addresses. Everything worked, but of coarse, it uses like 8 or 10 IP's total. 


So I figured I would attempt a shot at advanced networking mode, with the following goals: 
-> No need for special isolation 
-> Desire to "share" NFS and Management network (10.0.20.0/24) 
-> Desire to provide VM's (instances) to the 63.135.177.208/28 network on an as-needed basis (not all will need access) 


My first issue I am having trouble coping with is getting a grasp on the "Physical Network" to actual NIC mapping. This seems almost nonexistent. When I add a zone, I select "advanced" and click next. I enter 10.0.20.210 as [both] DNS servers and am imidiately confused by the "Guest CIDR". Still not sure what exactly this should be - and examples online have further added to this confusion. 


One example mentions using a arbitrary subnet (10.1.1.0/24 - the default), and this is what I have been doing thus far.. not sure if I am messing up at this point or not. 


Also, what is the "Public" checkbox for at this window? 


I click "next" and am brought to the Physical Network screen - with all the nice drag-and-drop jquery stuff I am so fond of (nice touch guys). But this is perhaps one of the most confusing parts there is. The documentation says each of these "Physical Networks" should "map" to an actual NIC port on each xen host. How? I see an option to provide a free-form name to each Physical Network (default for the first one is literally "Physical Network 1"). Where/how to I tell cloudstack that "Physical Network 1" belongs to (or should be "connected to") port1/eth1/xenbr1 of the host? 


Also, is this the point at which I should define 2 physical networks and drag the yellow and green icons to the bottom (Physical Network 2) and leave the blue one on "physical network 1"? I also assume I do not need to drag the red icon over into "Physical Network 1" since they are the same subnet - correct? 


Next, the "edit" button on each icon.. Mentions "XenServer traffic label" - is this the uuid, network-uuid or device value from "xe pif-list"? Or is this the actual device or bridge name such as eth1 or xenbr1? Or is this something entirely different? 


Before leaving this step, I also wonder: why does it make me choose VLAN/STT/GRE? Can I not have a simple non-vlan physical network? I am providing the isolation be means of the physical network itself. Am I gonna have to bite the bullet and use VLAN-enabled switches for this? Perhaps I can limit any VLAN-needs to trunk across the 10.0.20.0/24 network since that does not use an external switch and would be simple to mange? 


On the next screen that follows, it asks to set up the "public" network.. **sigh** more confusion... Should I enter the 63.135.177.208/28 details here? Or should I be entering something from the 10.0.20.0/24 network? 


On the next screen, we configure the Pods.. I am pretty sure at this point I need to simply provide the 10.0.20.210 gateway and an un-used range on the 10.0.20.0/24 net - correct? 


The next screen takes me to a VLAN range window.. again - do I really need to? I am trying to avoid VLAN's like the plague . 


I understand "Adding a host" well enough, but if someone intemately familiar w/ CS could shed some light on the questions above, that would be excellent. 


One last consideration: not that I am anti-VLAN, but it is possible I will have to set up and semi-manage over 50 such "mini public cloud" deployments and therefore I really need to keep the overall deployment of each as simple as possible. I have a rather good understanding of networking and XenServer in general and would have typically done this via normal XenCenter, but rather have the CS GUI for end-users. 


Many thanks in advanced! 


- Dean 

Dean M. Rantala 
Upper Cumberland IT 
IT Consultant 
(931) 284-7384 
(931) 268-0037 
www.uppercumberlandit.com