In this procedure, following on from the creation of the Datacenter_LN logical network and corresponding network site, you’ll create two static IP address pools for System Center Virtual Machine Manager to use when assigning IP addresses on this logical network. As mentioned
earlier, this network will be used for all datacenter traffic, including storage and live migration. In later chapters, you’ll assign IP addresses from these pools when provisioning the compute and storage nodes.
1. Right-click the Datacenter_LN logical network, select Create IP Pool, and then click Next.
2. On the Name page, enter Datacenter_LN_Pool1. Verify that it is being associated with the Datacenter_LN logical network by confirming that Datacenter_LN has been automatically selected in the logical networks drop-down list. It should be selected in this list because you right-clicked it to start the configuration. Set it if necessary, and then click Next.
3. On the Network Site page, ensure that Use An Existing Network Site is selected, as shown in Figure 3-11. The Datacenter_LN_0 site should automatically be selected, and it should reflect the first network (10.10.1.0/24) you provided in the previous step. If not, select 10.10.1.0/24. Click Next.
FIGURE 3-11 Network site, IP subnet, and VLAN configuration for the Datacenter_LN_Pool1 IP pool
4. On the IP Address Range page, set the starting IP address to 10.10.1.10 and the ending IP address to 10.10.1.250, and then click Next.
5. On the Gateway page, click Insert and enter 10.10.1.254 as the gateway, and then click Next.
6. On the DNS page, set the DNS addresses to 10.10.0.11 and 10.10.0.12. Select 10.10.0.11. Click Move Up to make it the first address in the list, and then click Next.
7. On the WINS page, leave WINS Server empty, and click Next.
8. On the Summary page, review your selections, and then click Finish.
9. The Jobs window opens. Monitor the job for successful completion. When the job is completed, close the Jobs window.
10. Right-click the Datacenter_LN logical network, and select Create IP Pool. You will now create the IP pool for the 10.10.2.0/24 subnet that you defined earlier in the Logical Network Creation Wizard.
11. On the Name page, enter Datacenter_LN_Pool2, and verify that it is associated with the Datacenter_LN logical network. Again, confirm that, because you right-clicked on it to start the configuration, Datacenter_LN has been automatically selected in the logical networks drop-down list. Set it if necessary, and then click Next.
12. On the Network Site page, ensure that Use An Existing Network Site is selected. The Datacenter_LN_0 site should automatically be selected. However, you need to use the IP Subnet drop-down list to select subnet 10.10.2.0/24, and then click Next.
13. On the IP Address Range page, set the starting IP address to 10.10.2.10 and the ending IP address to 10.10.2.250, and then click Next.
14. On the Gateway page, click Insert, enter 10.10.2.254 as the Gateway, and then click Next.
15. On the DNS page, set the DNS addresses to 10.10.0.11 and 10.10.0.12. Select 10.10.0.11, click Move Up to make it the first address in the list, and then click Next.
16. On the WINS page, leave WINS Server empty and click Next.
17. On the Summary page, review your selections, and then click Finish.
18. The Jobs window opens. Monitor the job for successful completion. When the job is completed, close the Jobs window.
You have now created all of the logical networks that are required for your POC, along with static IP address pools that System Center Virtual Machine Manager will use to supply the compute and storage nodes with IP addresses when you deploy them in subsequent chapters. With these logical networks successfully configured, you are prepared to define the logical switches that will be deployed specifically to your compute nodes in Chapter 5, "Configuring compute infrastructure."
Logical switches
Logical switches allow VMs to communicate out through the physical adapters and NIC teams configured on the Hyper-V host. Logical switches can also enforce standard configurations on Hyper-V host adapters and NIC teams to prevent workloads from experiencing downtime due to misconfigurations.
As Figure 3-12 shows, building a logical switch is like building a layer cake. You start with the Uplink Port Profile, which allows the logical network to communicate with the logical switch. You can configure the logical switch with switch extensions to add functionality, such as packet filtering, forwarding, and third-party management tool integration. You can also configure the logical switch for use with various port classifications. Port classifications allow you to define virtual port profiles for the VMs that use the switch. Settings include the configuration of offload settings such as IPSEC offloading, security settings such as DHCP guard and router guard, and quality of service (QoS) policies.
The logical switch has native uplink port profiles. These profiles add information about the teaming configuration, which logical networks and network sites are available on the physical network adapters, and whether network virtualization is allowed.
FIGURE 3-12 Building blocks of a logical switch
In Chapter 2, when you deployed and configured your management hosts, MGMT01 and MGMT02, several steps were associated with configuring the network cards on each of the hosts. Specifically, you combined the four 1-Gbps network adapters on each host and used Server Manager to create a NIC team called TenantNetwork Team. As part of this step, you specified a specific teaming mode and load-balancing algorithm. When that was completed, you used Hyper-V Manager on each host to create an external virtual switch (which, is a Hyper-V extensible switch). This external virtual switch was bound to TenantNetwork Team. This binding allows any VMs that are running on the management hosts to communicate out of the host via the external virtual switch, via TenantNetwork Team, onto the physical network. 88 CHAPTER 3 Configuring network infrastructure
During that process, all of the work was manual. Performing those actions on tens or hundreds of hosts would be a time-consuming exercise. You could use Windows PowerShell to script the process, but that would require additional time investment to write, test, and then run the scripts. Fortunately, there is a better way. That better way is to use logical switches.
Technically, a logical switch is still the same Hyper-V extensible switch (referred to as the external virtual switch above) that you deployed in the previous chapter. However, a logical switch is a System Center Virtual Machine Manager-only construct, and it wraps the underlying Hyper-V extensible switch with additional granular controls and policy and centralizes the management of the switch within System Center Virtual Machine Manager. This enables you to deploy a logical switch to one or many Hyper-V hosts within the environment from the System Center Virtual Machine Manager console.
Essentially, a logical switch acts as a container for the properties, settings, and capabilities that you want the underlying network adapters to have. In some ways, a logical switch is almost like a network adapter template. You specify the characteristics you’d like as part of the template, and when you deploy the switch, it matches the original template. Instead of configuring individual properties or capabilities for each network adapter, you can specify the capabilities in a logical switch and then apply those capabilities to the appropriate adapters. This can simplify the configuration process dramatically.
Logical switch creation, however, involves a fairly complex wizard, especially the first time you go through the process. One reason it is complex is because a logical switch is made up of building blocks that you must define in advance. Then, to create the logical switch itself, you combine these building blocks to form the logical switch, which you can then deploy to your Hyper-V hosts.
What are these building blocks? Four key building blocks are important to understand, and you will configure them for use in this POC configuration. The four key building blocks, which will be covered in detail in the step-by-step process, are:
Hyper-V port profile: Uplink port profile When you deploy a logical switch to a host (or hosts) you select which physical network adapter (or adapters) you want to bind the logical switch to. When you select the logical switch, System Center Virtual Machine Manager configures the settings for the physical network adapter based on your uplink port profile configuration.
Hyper-V port profile: Virtual network adapter port profile When you deploy a logical switch to a host, the logical switch will enable VMs on that host tocommunicate out to the physical network. These VMs have one or multiple virtual network adapters (vNICs) that will connect to the logical switch. With the virtual network adapter port profile, you can control the characteristics of that virtual network adapter, controlling the enablement of offload features such as Virtual Machine Queue (VMQ), IPsec Task Offload, and Network QoS, along with several security-specific features. By capturing these settings in a virtual network adapter port profile, in essence, you are creating a template of a vNIC. Upon VM deployment, you can quickly select the virtual network adapter port profile, and all of the relevant
settings for that vNIC will be quickly applied. By adding a virtual network adapter port profile as a building block within the logical switch, you’re controlling the network characteristics of the VMs that will attach to that logical switch.