What are Resources

Resources in the Apstra environment are identifiers of the following types:

• Autonomous system numbers (ASNs)

• Virtual network identifiers (VNIs)

• Integers (optional resource type for Freeform blueprints only)

• IPv4 addresses

• IPv6 addresses

Usually, it doesn't matter what the actual values of these resources are; you just care that some value has been assigned in your blueprint. These values come from resource pools. A resource pool contains one or more ranges of values of a specific resource type. In the Apstra GUI, you'll find resource pools by clicking Resources in the left navigation menu, then selecting a resource pool type. For more details about resource pools, see the individual resource pool pages (ASNs, VNIs, Integers, IPv4 Addresses, IPv6 Addresses).

When you're ready to assign resources in your blueprint, just tell Apstra which resource pool(s) to use. The required resources are automatically pulled and assigned. This means you can save time by assigning many resources in one quick transaction. If you find yourself short on resources while you're assigning them, you can create additional resource pools from your blueprint. For details about assigning resource in blueprints, see Assign ASNs and IP Addresses (Datacenter), Update Virtual Network Resource Assignments, Assign Routing Zone Resources, or Resource Management (Freeform), as applicable.

For those rare times when you do care what the actual value is, Apstra's got you covered. For details, see Change Assigned ASN (Datacenter), Change Assigned Loopback IP Address (Datacenter), and Change Assigned Link IP Addresses (Datacenter), or Change Routing Zone Details.