Creating and Managing Flex Networks

Direct connections between Private Cloud Appliance and external systems can be configured through Flex Networks. These also enable traffic for specific workloads to exit the rack through different physical ports on the spine switches.

You can create a Flex network in either Edge or Hub mode. The main difference between the modes is that you must configure a gateway for Hub mode.

Flex networks are managed from the Service Enclave. Before you can create a Flex network, you must physically connect your Private Cloud Appliance to an external system. For instructions, see Connecting External Systems to Private Cloud Appliance Using Flex Networks. For more general information about flex networks, see Integrating External Systems with Flex Networks.

In order to use a Flex network, the VCNs containing compute instances that connect to external system components must have a dynamic routing gateway (DRG) configured. The enabled subnet needs a route rule with the external system CIDR as destination and the DRG as target.

Note

If a Flex network is in the provisioning or updating or terminating state, then a user cannot attach or detach a DRG or IGW, or create a NAT gateway. These operations need to be done when the Flex network is in the available or terminated state.

You can configure up to 128 Flex networks per appliance, with a limit of 32 Flex networks per port.

Attention

This feature was formerly called Exadata Networks. The previous commands have been deprecated and replaced by Flex Network commands. The following table describes both sets of commands.

Flex Network Commands
Deprecated Commands	New Commands
`PCA-ADMIN> exaDataCreateNetwork ?` `cidr` `ports` `spine1Ip` `spine2Ip` `*spineVip` `advertiseNetwork` `exadataSpeed` `gatewayIp` `vlan`	`PCA-ADMIN> create FlexNetwork ?` `cidr` `ports` `spine1Ip` `spine2Ip` `*spineVip` `advertiseNetwork` `speed` `gatewayIp` `vlan`
`PCA-ADMIN> exaDataGetNetwork ?` `*exadataNetworkId`	`PCA-ADMIN> show FlexNetwork ?` `id=<object identifier>`
`PCA-ADMIN> exaDataListNetwork`	`PCA-ADMIN> list FlexNetwork`
`PCA-ADMIN> exaDataUpdateNetwork ?` `exadataNetworkId` `ports`	`PCA-ADMIN> edit FlexNetwork id=123 ?` `*ports`
`PCA-ADMIN> exaDataDeleteNetwork ?` `*exadataNetworkId`	`PCA-ADMIN> delete FlexNetwork ?` `id=<object identifier>`
`PCA-ADMIN> exaDataEnableAccess ?` `exadataNetworkId` `subnetId`	`PCA-ADMIN> flexNetworkEnableAccess ?` `flexNetworkId` `subnetId`
`PCA-ADMIN> exaDataDisableAccess ?` `exadataNetworkId` `subnetId`	`PCA-ADMIN> flexNetworkDisableAccess ?` `flexNetworkId` `subnetId`

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Documentation

Creating and Managing Flex Networks