Managing Networks From Contrail Command and VMware vCenter User Interfaces

You can install Contrail to work with the VMware vCenter Server version 6.5. You use the Contrail Command user interface (UI) and the vCenter UI to configure and manage the integrated Contrail system.

These topics provide instructions on how to use the Contrail Command UI and the vCenter UI to configure and manage features of a Contrail VMware integrated system.

User Interfaces for Contrail Integration with VMware vCenter

The Contrail Command and VMware vCenter UIs are available after installing the integrated Contrail system.

After Contrail is integrated with VMware vCenter, you can use the UIs to manage and configure features of the system.

Contrail Administration User Interface

Contrail Command is an administrator’s user interface. It provides a view of all components managed by the Contrail controller.

To log in to Contrail Command, use your Contrail server main IP address URL as follows:

https://<contrail command ip>:9091
Then log in using your registered Contrail account administrator credentials.

Upon successful login, the Contrail vCenter UI is displayed. See Figure 1.

Figure 1: Contrail vCenter User Interface

Feature Configuration for Contrail vCenter

This section provides instructions on how to create, delete, and view virtual networks by using the Contrail Command UI. This section also provides instructions on how to create a virtual machine by using the vCenter client.

Create Virtual Network
Delete Virtual Network
Create a Virtual Machine – vCenter UI
View Virtual Machine

Create Virtual Network

Follow these steps to create a virtual network by using the Contrail Command UI.

Click Overlay > Virtual Networks to access the All Networks page.
Note:
Ensure that you are in the vCenter project.
Click Create.
The Network tab of the Create Virtual Network page is displayed.
Enter the name of the virtual network in the Name field.
Select a network policy from the Network Policies list.
Select an allocation mode from the Allocation Mode list.
Click + Add in the Subnets section and add the following information in the fields that are displayed.
1. Select a network IPAM service from the Network IPAM list.
2. Enter valid IPv4 subnet/mask in the CIDR field.
3. Enter allocation pool information in the Allocation Pools field.
4. Enter service IP address in the Service Address field.
5. Click Create to add subnet information.
Figure 2 shows the creation of a virtual network called Green-VN.

Figure 2: Create a Virtual Network
Click Create to create the virtual network.
The All Networks page is displayed as given in Figure 3.

Figure 3: All Networks Page

Delete Virtual Network

You can delete a virtual network from the Contrail Command UI.

Follow these steps to delete a virtual network.

Click Overlay > Virtual Networks to access the All Networks page.
Select the check box next to the virtual network you want to delete and move the mouse pointer to the end of the row.
Click the Remove icon to delete the virtual network. See Figure 4.

Figure 4: Delete a Virtual Network

Note:
No virtual machines or templates must be using this virtual network before it is deleted.

A delete confirmation message is displayed.
Click Delete to delete the selected network.
The virtual network is deleted.

Create a Virtual Machine – vCenter UI

Use the vCenter client interface to create a virtual machine for your VMware vCenter Contrail integrated system. This section describes how to create a virtual machine using a virtual machine template from the vCenter client interface.

From the vCenter UI, right-click on the cluster and select Deploy OVF Template.
Select the virtual machine name and click Next.
Select the compute resource on which you want to spawn the virtual machine and click Next.
Specify the storage location for the virtual machine and click Next.
Select the Destination Network, Green-VN, that you created by using the Contrail Command UI.
On the Ready to complete window, review all of the virtual machine definitions that you have selected for the template.
If all the selections are correct, click Finish.

This spawns the virtual machine.
You return to the main vCenter UI window. Navigate to the console of the VM (yVM) you just spawned to see that it has been assigned an IP address from the Green-VN you created in the Contrail UI.

Once the virtual machine is launched, you can view the virtual machine from the Contrail Command UI.