VMware vSphere network objects and IPAM recommendations

The VMware vSphere provider of Mirantis Container Cloud supports the following types of vSphere network objects:

  • Virtual network

    A network of virtual machines running on a hypervisor(s) that are logically connected to each other so that they can exchange data. Virtual machines can be connected to virtual networks that you create when you add a network.

  • Distributed port group

    A port group associated with a vSphere distributed switch that specifies port configuration options for each member port. Distributed port groups define how connection is established through the vSphere distributed switch to the network.

A Container Cloud cluster can be deployed using one of these network objects with or without a DHCP server in the network:

  • Non-DHCP

    Container Cloud uses IPAM service to manage IP addresses assignment to machines. You must provide additional network parameters, such as CIDR, gateway, IP ranges, and nameservers. Container Cloud processes this data to the cloud-init metadata and passes the data to machines during their bootstrap.

  • DHCP

    Container Cloud relies on a DHCP server to assign IP addresses to virtual machines.

Mirantis recommends using IP address management (IPAM) for cluster machines provided by Container Cloud. IPAM must be enabled for deployment in the non-DHCP vSphere networks. But Mirantis recommends enabling IPAM in the DHCP-based networks as well. In this case, the dedicated IPAM range should not intersect with the IP range used in the DHCP server configuration for the provided vSphere network. Such configuration prevents issues with accidental IP address change for machines. For the issue details, see vSphere troubleshooting.

Note

To obtain IPAM parameters for the selected vSphere network, contact your vSphere administrator who provides you with IP ranges dedicated to your environment only.

The following parameters are required to enable IPAM:

  • Network CIDR.

  • Network gateway address.

  • Minimum 1 DNS server.

  • IP address include range to be allocated for cluster machines. Make sure that this range is not part of the DHCP range if the network has a DHCP server.

    Minimal number of addresses in the range:

    • 3 IPs for management cluster

    • 3+N IPs for a managed cluster, where N is the number of worker nodes

  • Optional. IP address exclude range that is the list of IPs not to be assigned to machines from the include ranges.

A dedicated Container Cloud network must not contain any virtual machines with the keepalived instance running inside them as this may lead to the vrouter_id conflict. By default, the Container Cloud management cluster is deployed with vrouter_id set to 1. Managed clusters are deployed with the vrouter_id value starting from 2 and upper.