ZStack ZSphere 4.10.6>ZStack ZSphere Documentation>ZStack ZSphere User Guide>Network Management

Network Management

This chapter mainly introduces how to use network virtualization resources and services, including distributed switches, distributed port groups, and security groups. This section covers the following topics on how to use network resources and services:

Network Resource

Network resources include distributed switches and distributed port groups. This section covers the following topics on how to use these two types of network resources:

Distributed Switch Basic Operations

Through distributed switches, you can set up and configure network connections in the ZStack ZSphere environment.

After the first host is added to the cluster, ZStack ZSphere automatically creates a default distributed switch, a default distributed port group, and a default Kernel adapter based on the host's related configuration. These are used for centralized management of the host's management network. Based on your network planning, you can flexibly reuse the default distributed switch or use a newly created distributed switch.

You can understand the basic operations supported by distributed switches from the perspective of creation, deletion, modification, and querying.

Create a Distributed Switch
Modify a Distributed Switch
Delete a Distributed Switch

Create a Distributed Switch

The platform provides multiple entry points for creating a distributed switch. You can create one or multiple distributed switches from the following two main entry points:

Navigate to Inventory > Network Resource, right-click the target data center, and then select New Distributed Switch.
Navigate to Inventory > Network Resource, select the target data center. Then, on the right side of the platform page, click Actions > New Distributed Switch, or on the Network sub-page under the Distributed Switch tab, click New Distributed Switch.

You can complete the configuration using the following example:

Basic Information

Name: Name of the distributed switch
Description: Description of the distributed switch
Data Center: The data center where the distributed switch resides
Cluster: Supports association with one or more clusters within the data center

Network Configuration

Addition Method: Supports Adding Individually, Bulk Aggregation, and Specifying the Same Network Interface. For Adding Individually and Bulk Aggregation, the following parameters need to be filled out.
Uplink Name: The name of the physical NIC aggregated for connection to the physical switch. By default, it is named in the format "Uplink + Suffix".
Bond Mode: The aggregation mode for the physical NIC, supporting Link Aggregation Mode (mode 4) and Active/Standby Mode (mode 1), with Link Aggregation Mode (mode 4) being the default.
- Link Aggregation Mode: The aggregated NIC share the same speed and duplex settings. Network traffic is evenly distributed across the interfaces to achieve load balancing. This mode supports aggregating 1-8 physical NIC, and it is recommended to aggregate at least 2 interfaces.
- Active/Standby Mode: The aggregated NIC operate in active/standby mode, where the active interface handles network traffic under normal conditions, and if it fails, the standby interface automatically takes over. This mode supports aggregating 1-8 physical NIC, and it is recommended to aggregate 2 interfaces.
Hash Policy: When choosing Link Aggregation Mode (mode 4), you can determine the network traffic exit point through hashing. Supports layer2+3, layer3+4, and layer2 hash policies, with layer2+3 being the default.
- Layer2+3: Hashes based on source MAC address, destination MAC address, and IP address to determine the sending interface for packets.
- Layer3+4: Hashes based on IP addresses and ports to determine the sending interface for packets. Supports TCP/IP protocol stack.
- Layer2: Hashes based on source MAC address and destination MAC address to determine the sending interface for packets.
Host NIC: The physical NIC to be aggregated.
- When creating individual host aggregation interfaces, the selected interfaces on the same host must have consistent speeds.
- When creating bulk host aggregation interfaces, only interfaces with consistent speeds can be selected.

Distributed Port Group Configuration: Choose whether to create a new distributed port group on this distributed switch, with the default being to create one.

Distributed Port Group Name: The name of the distributed port group.
VLAN Type: VLAN configuration for the distributed port group, with no VLAN set by default.
VLAN ID: When standard VLAN is chosen, the VLAN ID needs to be set.
DHCP Service: A service for automatically assigning IP addresses to internal platform resources, which is disabled by default. If enabled, refer to Create a Distributed Port Group for configuration.
DNS: DNS resolution service for the distributed port group.

After clicking OK, the creation process is completed.

Modify a Distributed Switch

If you need to modify the name and description of a distributed switch, you can do so by navigating to the target distributed switch page and clicking Action > Edit Name and Description.

You can view the uplink configuration of the distributed switch on the Overview page under the Uplink section. If you need to modify the uplink configuration, please refer to Uplink Basic Operations

If you want to use the distributed switch to provide networking capabilities for additional clusters and hosts in the data center, you can do so by navigating to the target distributed switch page and clicking Action > Attach Clusters. Select the target clusters and the physical host NIC to load. To unload clusters, click Action > Detach Clusters.

Note:

When attaching clusters, you cannot specify the aggregation mode; it directly inherits the aggregation mode of the distributed switch.
After detaching clusters, the NIC of the corresponding virtual machines will be unloaded. Please proceed with caution.
The default distributed switch does not support loading and unloading cluster operations.

Delete a Distributed Switch

If you are certain that you no longer need an existing distributed switch, you can delete it from the target distributed switch page by clicking Actions > Delete. You can also delete distributed switches in bulk from the data center resources page under Network > Network Resource > Distributed Switch.

Note:

Deleting a distributed switch will remove its distributed port groups and unload the NIC of the associated virtual machines. Please proceed with caution.
The default distributed switch does not support deletion.

Uplink Basic Operations

You can manage the uplinks of the hosts connected to the distributed switch.

Modify Uplink Configuration
Manage Joined Hosts
Configure Uplinks for Hosts

Modify Uplink Configuration

If you need to modify the uplink configuration of a switch, you can do so on the Uplink sub-page of the distributed switch details page by clicking Modify Configuration. This allows you to modify the aggregation mode and hash policy for the uplinks of this distributed switch.

Note:

When there are joined hosts and the default distributed switch only contain single NICs, you can modify the bond mode of the default distributed switch.
Where there are no joined hosts, you can modify the bond mode of the default distributed switch.

Manage Joined Hosts

You can manage the physical NIC of hosts that form the uplink.

Navigate to the Uplink sub-page of the switch details page.
On the Joined Host sub-page, select a host.
Click Actions, and in the expanded list of actions, choose the operation you want to perform.
- If you need to add a new network interface to this aggregated interface, select Add Physical Network Interface.
  Note:
  1. Only unaggregated NIC can be added.
  2. Only NIC with the same speed as those already in the aggregated interface can be selected.
  3. A single aggregated interface can support up to 8 physical NIC.
- If you need to remove a physical network interface from the aggregated interface, select Remove Physical Network Interface.
  Note: If there is only 1 physical network interface in the aggregated interface, it cannot be removed.
- If you need to remove the entire uplink from the host, select Disassociate Host Uplink.
  Note:
  1. Disassociating the host uplink will simultaneously delete the aggregated interface on this host. Proceed with caution.
  2. Disassociating the host uplink will cascade-unload the NIC of the virtual machines on this host. Proceed with caution.
  3. The default distributed switch does not support disassociating the host uplink.

Configure Uplinks for Hosts

When a new host is added to a cluster mounted with a distributed switch, you can configure uplinks for the new host.

If the new host's aggregated interface configuration matches the uplink configuration of the distributed switch associated with the host's cluster, the host will automatically join the uplink.
If the new host's aggregated interface configuration does not match the uplink configuration of the distributed switch associated with the host's cluster, the host will be displayed on the Unjoined Hosts sub-page. At this point, you can click Action > Join Uplink to connect the host to the distributed switch network. After joining, the host's aggregated interface configuration will be adjusted to match the uplink configuration of the switch.

Next Chapter: Resource Monitoring

Network Management

Network Resource

Distributed Switch Basic Operations

Create a Distributed Switch

Modify a Distributed Switch

Delete a Distributed Switch

Uplink Basic Operations

Modify Uplink Configuration

Manage Joined Hosts

Configure Uplinks for Hosts

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