Network resources

The Network Resources page of the Fabric Services System UI allows you to create and manage the set of IP pools and Autonomous System numbers (ASNs) available for use by fabric intents within a region.

As part of region creation, you configure a single, default instance of each of the following IP address pools (or in the case of Autonomous Systems, value ranges) for use with any fabrics within the region:
  • System IP pools
  • Inter Switch Link (ISL) IP pools
  • Out of Band Management IP pool
    Note: The option to configure Out of Band Management IP pools is only available if you configured your region to use an internal DHCP server.
  • Autonomous System pools

From the Network Resources page you can configure additional IP address pools. These additional pools are also associated with the region, and can be assigned to any fabric intent you create within the region.

From the same page you can view the set of available pools, including the default pool that is configured as part of the region. You can also modify and delete these pools, subject to some restrictions.

Note: All IP pools and ASN pools are specific to the region in which they are created. A pool that is created within one region is not visible within, or available to, other regions.

Despite this, there cannot be any overlapping management IP CIDR blocks across the IP management pools of all regions.

Overlapping IP pools and backbone fabrics

Every Management IP pool must be unique and must not overlap with any other Management IP pool. The Fabric Services System checks each Management IP pool that you create to ensure that it does not overlap with any other.

However, the Fabric Services System does not prevent you from creating different pools with overlapping IP addresses for the following pool types associated with the data plane:
  • System IP pools
  • ISL pools

Such overlapping pools can generally coexist without any issue. But when creating a backbone fabric, be sure to select only a non-overlapping System IP pool and a non-overlapping ISL pool.

Note: The overlaps described here are tolerated only for certain types of IP address pools; not for IP blocks within a pool. No IP address block within a pool of any type is permitted to overlap any other block in the same pool.

The Network Resources page

From the Network Resources page you can create and manage IP pools (or in the case of Autonomous System pools, ranges of numeric values):
  • review already-configured IP pools or ASN value ranges
  • add new IP pools or ASN value ranges
  • modify existing IP pools or ASN value ranges (with some restrictions)
  • delete existing IP pools or ASN value ranges (with some restrictions)
Table 1. Network Resources page elements
# Description
1 Current view: of the available views from this page, this identifies the view currently displayed.
2 Available views: several different views available from this page allow you to interact with different IP pools:
  • System IP Pools: the basic view showing a map of the fabric topology
  • Inter Switch Link IP Pools
  • Management IP Pools
  • Autonomous System Pools
3 The Create IP Pool action button allows you to create an IP pool of the type matching the current view.
4 Any selected IP pools of the current type display a check here.
5 The pool list displays information about each pool:
  • Name: the name configured when creating the pool.
  • IP Type: the type of IP address (IPv4 or IPv6) for the current pool. Does not apply to ASN pools.
  • IP Bocks or ASN Range Blocks: the blocks and their ranges currently configured within the pool.
  • In Use: Indicates the number of IP addresses or ASN values from the pool that are currently in use by fabrics managed by the system.
  • Description: the description configured when creating the pool.
  • Intents Associated: Displays the set of intents that use IP addresses from the pool.
6 Actions available from menu: you can perform one of the available actions on the currently selected IP pool or pools.

Network Resource properties

The Network Resources page allows you to configure a set of IP pools (or in the case of AS pools, numeric values) available to all fabric intents created within the associated region.

The properties that are available depend on which view is currently selected:
  • System IP Pools
  • Inter Switch Link IP Pools
  • Management IP Pools
  • Autonomous System Pools
Table 2. Network resource properties
Property

Description
System IP Pool Pool name: provides the name by which this pool will appear and be selected.
Description: optionally, describes the nature of the pool.
IP Type: set as "IPv4" and cannot be changed.

IP Blocks: Contains one or more CIDR blocks representing IP addresses that can be used for the system IP address or router ID for fabric nodes. Enter these blocks using CIDR notation; for example, 192.0.2.0/24.

If you need more IP addresses for devices in your fabrics than the current CIDR blocks support, you can modify the pool to add more CIDR blocks to the System IP pool.
Inter Switch Link IP Pool Pool name: specifies the name by which this pool will appear and be selected.
Description: optionally, describes the pool.
IP Type: set as "IPv4" and cannot be changed.
IP Blocks: Contains one or more CIDR blocks representing IP addresses that can be assigned to inter-switch links between devices in fabric intents throughout this region. Enter these blocks using CIDR notation. For example: 192.0.2.0/24.
Note: Each link within a fabric intent requires two IP addresses from this block; one for each endpoint.

If you create a fabric intent that requires more links than are available with the current pool, fabric generation fails. The event log for the fabric intent indicates that there are insufficient IP addresses for the required links, and shows the number of addresses required versus the number available.

If you need more IP addresses available to your fabrics than the current CIDR blocks support, you can modify the pool to add more CIDR blocks and thereby support additional links.
Management IP Pool Pool name: specifies the name by which this pool will appear and be selected.
Description: optionally, describes the pool.
IP Type: identifies the type of IP addresses included in the IP pool. For the Management IP pool, you can set this value to either IPv4 or IPv6.
Note: If you are using IPv6 management pools, a Router Advertisement daemon must be present on the IPv6 network. This function is not handled by the Fabric Services System itself.
CIDR Blocks: Contains a CIDR block representing the IP addresses that will be assigned to the management interfaces of devices. Enter these blocks using CIDR notation for either IPv4 or IPv6, depending on your selection.
Note: From the set of IP addresses within the specified CIDR block, two are reserved for use by the system to represent the network IP address and the broadcast address. These are unavailable for the out-of-band management IP pool.

If you need more links in your fabrics than the CIDR blocks you specified here support, you can modify the region to add more CIDR blocks to this pool.

Note: When you create individual CIDR blocks within a Management IP pool, the IsManaged property is enabled by default. This setting indicates that these IP addresses should be managed directly by the Fabric Services System.

If you are creating a fabric consisting of nodes managed by some process external to the Fabric Services System ("unmanaged nodes"), you must create a CIDR block of IP addresses intended for use by those unmanaged nodes; and for that block, you must disable the IsManaged property.
Autonomous System Pools

Contains a set of Autonomous System Numbers (ASNs) consisting of multiple blocks of numbers.

ASNs are used to uniquely identify a network with a unique routing policy. The ASN must be unique so that IP address blocks appear to originate from a unique location to which BGP can determine a route.

The single pool of numbers is assigned the label "default", and this cannot be altered.

Within the pool, you can define one or more blocks of contiguous ASNs by providing a start and end number for each block. ASNs can be any number from 0 to 4294967295.

Blocks of numbers within the same pool cannot contain overlapping values.

As one block of ASNs is exhausted, the system begins assigning values from whichever remaining, unexhausted block contains the highest available values. Even if some numbers from the first block become available, the system continues allocating numbers from this second block until the second block is exhausted. Then the system again looks for the block with the highest available values from which to allocate new ASNs, and so on.
Pool name: specifies the name by which this pool will appear and be selected.
Description: optionally, describes the pool.
Start: specifies the lowest permissible value in a range of a single block of ASNs.
End: specifies the highest permissible value within a block of ASNs.

Creating IP and Autonomous System pools

Follow this procedure to create a new, non-default pool of any of the following types:
  • System IP pools
  • Inter Switch Link (ISL) IP pools
  • Out of Band Management IP pool
  • Autonomous System pools
  1. Click the menu.
  2. Select Network Resources.
  3. Use the Region Selector at the top of the page to select the region whose IP pools you want to work with.
  4. From the View drop-down, select the type of IP pool you are going to create. The System IP Pool view is selected by default.
  5. Click the +CREATE A <pool type> POOL button, where <pool type> is the pool type for the currently selected view.
    Note: The option to configure Out of Band Management IP pools is only available if you configured your region to use an internal DHCP server. If you did not, the CREATE A MANAGEMENT IP POOL link is inactive.
  6. Enter values for the following parameters as described in Network Resource properties:
    • <pool type> Pool Name
    • Description
    • IP Type (either IPv4 or IPv6; configurable for Management IP pools only)
  7. Choose one of the following:
    • To create a System IP pool or ISL pool, go to step 8.
    • To create a Management IP pool, go to step 11.
    • If you are creating an ASN pool, go to step 14.
  8. Configure the System IP pool or ISL pool by creating one or more blocks of IP addresses:
    1. Click the +ADD button.
    2. Enter an IP address block in CIDR notation. For example: 192.0.2.0/24.
    3. Click ADD.
  9. Repeat step 8 until you have created all of the required IP address blocks.
  10. Go to step 16.
  11. Configure the Management IP pool by creating one or more blocks of IP addresses:
    1. Click the +ADD button.
    2. If you are creating a pool for use by unmanaged nodes (nodes that are not managed by the Fabric Services System), disable the Is Managed property. Otherwise, leave this property enabled.
    3. Enter an IP address block in CIDR notation. For example: 192.0.2.0/24.
    4. Enter a Gateway IP address.
    5. Click ADD.
  12. Repeat step 11 until you have created all of the required IP address blocks.
  13. Go to step 16.
  14. Configure one or more Autonomous System pools by doing the following:
    1. Click the +ADD button.
    2. Configure a Start value.
    3. Configure an End value.
    4. Click SAVE.
  15. Repeat step 14 until you have created all of the required ASN blocks.
  16. Click CREATE.
    The new pool is added to the system.

Managing Network Resources pools

Follow these steps to view, modify, or delete a Network Resources pool or a block within the pool.
Note: The following restrictions apply when deleting a pool or a block within a pool that is in use:
  • You cannot delete a pool if it is currently in use. To see whether a pool is in use, check the In Use column in the list of pools on the Network Resources page.
  • You cannot delete a block within a pool if it is in use.
Note: When editing a block within a pool that is in use, you can increase the block size but you cannot decrease it.
  1. Begin by accessing the appropriate pool within the Network Resources page:
    1. Click the menu.
    2. Select Network Resources.
    3. Use the Region Selector at the top of the page to select the region whose IP pools you want to work with.
    4. From the View drop-down, select the type of IP pool you are going to create. Choose from:
      • System IP Pools (selected by default)
      • Inter Switch Link IP Pools
      • Management IP Pools
      • Autonomous System Pools
  2. Choose the action you want to perform:
    • To view details about an individual pool, go to step 3.
    • To modify a pool, go to step 4.
    • To delete a pool, go to step 5.
  3. To view details about an individual pool, do the following:
    1. Select a row from the list of configured pools of the selected type and click at the end of the row.
    2. Select Open.
  4. To modify a pool, do the following:
    1. Select a row from the list of configured pools of the selected type and click at the end of the row.
    2. Select Open.
    3. Modify any of the following:
      • Description
      • Blocks (by adding a block, deleting a block, increasing or decreasing any block's size)
        Note: If a block is in use, you can increase its size but you cannot decrease its size or delete it.
    4. Click SAVE.
  5. To delete a pool, do the following:
    Note: You cannot delete a pool if it is currently in use.
    1. Find the pool in the list and click at the end of the row.
    2. Select Delete....
    3. Click OK in the confirmation form.