5.6 Configuring Network Resources for Virtual Machines

The Networking tab is used to manage networks within the Oracle VM environment running on the Oracle PCA.

Caution

By default, a number of networks are defined during factory installation. These must not be altered as they are required for the correct operation of the Oracle PCA software layer.

The default networks are set up as follows:

192.168.140.0 : the management network
This is a private network used exclusively for Oracle VM management traffic. Both management nodes and all compute nodes are connected to this network through their bond0 interface.
192.168.40.0 : the storage network
This is a private IPoIB network used exclusively for traffic to and from the ZFS storage appliance. Both management nodes and both storage controllers are connected to this network through their bond1 interface.

Additionally, three networks are listed with the VM Network role:

vm_public_vlan
This default network is the standard choice for virtual machines requiring external network connectivity. It supports both tagged and untagged traffic. For untagged traffic it uses the Oracle VM standard VLAN 1, meaning no additional configuration is required.
If you prefer to use VLANs for your VM networking, configure the additional VLAN interfaces and networks of your choice as follows:
Note
When reprovisioning compute nodes or provisioning newly installed compute nodes, you always need to configure VLANs manually. The VLAN configuration is not applied automatically when the compute node joins an existing server pool.
1. Go to the Networking tab and select the VLAN Interfaces subtab.
  The process for creating VLAN Interfaces is described in detail in the Oracle VM Manager User's Guide in the section entitled Create VLAN Interfaces.
2. Click Create VLAN Interface. In the navigation tree of the Create VLAN Interfaces window, select the bond4 port of each compute node in the default Rack1_ServerPool.
3. In the next step of the wizard, add the VLAN IDs you require. When you complete the wizard, a new VLAN interface for each new VLAN ID is configured on top of each compute node network port you selected.
4. Create a new VLAN network with the VM role for each VLAN tag you added. Each new network should contain the VLAN interfaces associated with a particular VLAN ID; for example all VLAN interfaces with ID 11 on top of a bond4 port.
  Tip
  You can filter the VLAN interfaces by ID to simplify the selection of the VLAN interfaces participating in the new network.
  The process for creating networks with VLAN interfaces is described in the Oracle VM Manager User's Guide in the section entitled Create New Network.
5. Configure your data center network accordingly.
  For details, see Section 8.3, “Configuring Data Center Switches for VLAN Traffic”.
vm_private
This default network is intended for virtual machines requiring network connectivity to other virtual machines hosted on the appliance, but not external to the appliance. For untagged traffic it uses the Oracle VM standard VLAN 1. To use the VLANs of your choice, configure the additional VLAN interfaces and networks as follows:
Note
When reprovisioning compute nodes or provisioning newly installed compute nodes, you always need to configure VLANs manually. The VLAN configuration is not applied automatically when the compute node joins an existing server pool.
1. Go to the Networking tab and select the VLAN Interfaces subtab.
  The process for creating VLAN Interfaces is described in detail in the Oracle VM Manager User's Guide in the section entitled Create VLAN Interfaces.
2. Click Create VLAN Interface. In the navigation tree of the Create VLAN Interfaces window, select the bond3 port of each compute node in the default Rack1_ServerPool.
3. In the next step of the wizard, add the VLAN IDs you require. When you complete the wizard, a new VLAN interface for each new VLAN ID is configured on top of each compute node network port you selected.
4. Create a new VLAN network with the VM role for each VLAN tag you added. Each new network should contain the VLAN interfaces associated with a particular VLAN ID; for example all VLAN interfaces with ID 1001 on top of a bond3 port.
  Tip
  You can filter the VLAN interfaces by ID to simplify the selection of the VLAN interfaces participating in the new network.
  The process for creating networks with VLAN interfaces is described in the Oracle VM Manager User's Guide in the section entitled Create New Network.
mgmt_public_eth
This network is automatically created during the initial configuration of the appliance. It uses the public network that you configured in the Oracle PCA Dashboard. The primary function of this network is to provide access to the management nodes from the data center network, and enable the management nodes to run a number of system services. As long as you have not configured this network with a VLAN tag, it may also be used to provide external untagged network access to virtual machines. The subnet associated with this network is the same as your data center network.
Caution
Always use the vm_public_vlan network as your first VM network option. The mgmt_public_eth is unavailable for VM networking when configured with a management VLAN. When no management VLAN is configured, it is restricted to untagged VM traffic, and should only be considered if the circumstances require it.

For more information about Oracle PCA network configuration, see Section 1.2.4, “Network Infrastructure”.

Caution

Do not alter the internal appliance management network (192.168.4.0) connections on the compute nodes or any other rack components. The environment infrastructure depends on the correct operation of this network.

For example, if you configured networking for virtual machines in such a way that they can obtain an IP address in the 192.168.4.0 subnet, IP conflicts and security issues are likely to occur.

Note

If VM-to-VM network performance is not optimal, depending on the type of network load, you could consider increasing the guests' MTU from the default 1500 bytes to 9000. Note that this is a change at the VM level; the compute node interfaces are set to 9000 bytes already, and must never be modified. Connectivity between VMs and external systems may also benefit from the higher MTU, provided this is supported across the entire network path.

Do not edit or delete any of the networks listed here. Doing so may cause your appliance to malfunction. In an Oracle PCA context, use the Networking tab to configure and manage Virtual NICs and VLANs for use by your virtual machines.

Figure 5.2 A view of the Networking tab

Screenshot showing the Networking tab of the Oracle VM Manager user interface.