how do i connect a provider vDC to external network and network pool

[anshumanmathur]

I have created provider vDCs, External Networks and netwoks pools in vCloud Director.

But i think the external network and network pools are not accessible to the PvDC. There are no networks listed in the 'External Networks' tab of the provider vDC i created.

Please Help..

[manythanks]

external network 'direct' , internal network 'PG-Backed' and internal network 'vlan-backed' are all the same (if all setting the same vlan)

meaning from pure networking perspective it is just a port-group with a vlan attached, so they are reacable to any that have an interface on that vlan or can route to that vlan.

[mreferre]

The only thing I can think of is that you created a Provider vDC on a different cluster where you created the External Networks.

Massimo Re Ferre'

VMware vCloud Architect

twitter.com/mreferre

www.it20.info

[gladind]

Hello Massimo,

  I am also facing the same problem. I have setup the vCD, however provder vDC dont have access to any external network and vice-versa. I did create a vDS with Zones and Edge installed and working properly. Any clues please on what could be going wrong? I am attaching a couple of screenshots of my vSS and vDS, i am suspecting some issue in here, please comment.

Regards

Amit

[mreferre]

Have you installed Edge/Zones as standalone products separately from the vCloud Director setup? Please roll back.

Avoid using Zones as there are a lot of caveats today with vCD (namely Zones/Apps do not support overlapping IP networks across different organization.... and this is usually a core scenario to vCD/Edge). I am not saying vCD/Zones won't work together if properly designed/configured and once you understand the limitation... but if you are just getting started with vCD.. just uninstall Zones.

Edge... this gets deployed as part of the vCD setup when attaching vCenter servers. You shouldn't enable Edge as a standalone product on your vSphere infrastructure. vCD will take care of it provided you have setup the vShield Manager and you give vCD the address of the vShield Manager.

Massimo.

[gladind]

Wow. That apparently didnt come out very well in the documentation or may be i went too far in setting up vShield.

So what you are saying is that i should -

- Install vShield Manager

- Configure vShield Manager in a seperate port group

- Sync vSM to the vCenter ?? Should i be doing this?

- Import plugin - is this required?

- I should stop at this and move onto vCD and let it take over

One more question - vCD also configured the licensing for Edge? Dont need to do anything manually for this?

Thanks for the tips Massimo. Appreciate and i will try this.

Regards

Amit

[mreferre]

Maybe our documentation is not gold standard but man... you went off-track big time! 🙂

- You need to import the vSM appliance (and connect it to a PG that has infrastructure connectivity including vCenter(s), ESX hosts etc etc).

- You should license vSM with the Edge licenses you get with vCD (Firewall/NAT/DHCP). VPN/LB are not included (but you can upgrade).

- You setup vCD.

- When you are done with the vCD basic you need to start adding resources and there is where you add the vCenter address + the vSM address. vCD will do the pairing and will do everything for you.

Massimo.  

[gladind]

Hi Massimo,

  I did this -

- installed vSM and configured using 'setup' command. Its reachable to esx vcenter etc.

- moved onto vCD and added vCenter and vSM.

- configured the Edge license after above step in Home --> licenses --> assets

but even after this i couldnt see external networks while creating provder VDC.

Kind of lost now. I am basically following (or trying to) the article published on hypervizor.com by Hany Michael. Its on a 8GB laptop with

workstation. Is it a must to have Cluster of esx configured with DRS and HA?

Regards

Amit

P.S: Vmware documentation is of high quality. I am fan of this company and its products and thats the reason i am hooked on to the extent of madness now

[mreferre]

DRS is a must yes (not HA).

Massimo.

[vjasper2]

Hello, I was experiencing a similar problem with director 1.5.1 (rev 622844) and port groups on my nexus1kv.. I confirmed and tried the following:

Symptoms..

1. When creating external networks and selecting a port group director shows no (or missing) PVDCs as available for the PG.

2. In vcenter Hosts will appear be connected to the dvs but missing from the port-profile in the "host' section..

I tried/confirmed the follow with no success (so don't waste your time..) :

- reconnecting hosts to dvs

- vsm was connected to director

- vsm registered with 1kv (dms connection)

- vsm restarted (no luck)

- director cell restarted (no luck)

- rebooted n1kv

- disconnected / reconnected svs connection to vcenter

- confirmed local dns etc..

- confirmed port-groups showing up in director -> manage & monitor -> switches / port groups

*Here is what solved this problem it for me*

1. go into n1kv CLI

2. go into port profile config "conf t -> "port-profile abc"

3. shutdown

4. no enable

5. no shutdown

6. enable

If you watch vcenter when you do that, you'll see it updates something, after that I was able to see the PVDCs as available for the port-profile I reset. If you are not using a 1kv it might be worth removing and re-adding the PG which should have the same affect.

I have a case open with vmware to see if its some kind of bug. I spent a bit of time trying to figure this out so hopefully this helps someone else!

-mike

[baskam]

I’m out of the office Thursday and Friday, and will be back in the office Monday 5/21/2012.

If you require immediate assistance please contact support at lw-support@logicworks.net

Thanks,

Baska Walsh,

SR NOC Engineer

Logicworks