Integrating External Systems with Flex Networks

Optionally, Private Cloud Appliance can be integrated with external systems in the on-premises network using direct cable connections to reserved ports on the spine switches. Four 100Gbit ports per spine switch are reserved and split into 4x25Gbit breakout ports, providing a maximum of 32 total cable connections.

Private Cloud Appliance can be integrated with external systems, such as Oracle Exadata, Oracle ZFS Storage Appliance, Oracle Database Appliance, and so on. In this configuration, external components are directly connected to reserved ports on the spine switches of the Private Cloud Appliance. Four 100Gbit ports per spine switch are reserved and split into 4x25Gbit breakout ports, providing a maximum of 32 total cable connections. Each externally connected component is cabled directly to both spine switches, meaning up to 16 external connections of this type can be made. This feature was formerly called Exadata Networks.

When the cable connections are in place, the appliance administrator configures a Flex network, which enables traffic between the connected system(s) and a set of compute instances. These prerequisites apply:

• The Flex network must not overlap with any subnets in the on-premises network.

• The VCNs containing compute instances that connect to the external nodes, must have a dynamic routing gateway (DRG) configured.

• The relevant subnet route tables must contain rules to allow traffic to and from the Flex network.

The Flex network configuration determines which external components are exposed and which subnets have access to those components. Access can be enabled or disabled per connected system and per compute subnet. In addition, the Flex network can be exposed through the appliance's external network, allowing other resources within the on-premises network to connect to the external system through the spine switches of the appliance. The Flex network configuration is created and managed through the Service Enclave.