Practical online Neutron OVS Lab recording

This is worth re-posting. We learned in the previous post (Openstack Neutron architecture explained based on OVS and VMware NVP plugin comparison (*)) how does the Neutron architecture changes depending what plugins do we use.

In (*) the video #3 walks you through a live lab. Here you can find all the commands run.
https://github.com/rtomaszewski/experiments/blob/master/openstack_neutron_lab

VMware NSX network virtualization platform

VMware announced its new product NSX. In comparison it should be the same for network virtualization what flagship iESX product was for host virtualization.

This 2 links give a glimpse into the architecture design:

http://blogs.vmware.com/networkvirtualization/2013/08/vmware-nsx-network-operations.html
http://blogs.vmware.com/networkvirtualization/2013/08/vmware-nsx.html

These 2 pictures from the links above give a high level overview what it does and how it should work:

On the VMware page we can find as well as these two videos below that present the virtual network challenge for cloud deployments and shows how to solve it with the help of VMware NSX platform. 

http://bcove.me/idrpiovw
http://bcove.me/qe36t4fc

What do you need to implement virtual network and build hybrid cloud

To build an infrastructure that can be used to host a hybrid cloud environments or to benefit from the flexibility that a virtual networking provides we need software and hardware components. Below are couple of links I found when researching on this topic.

VMware ESXi/vSphere

• vSphere Distributed Switch
• Overview of vNetwork Distributed Switch concepts

Citrix XenServer

• Overview of XenServer Distributed Virtual Switch/Controller and Troubleshooting Network Issues

Opensource Linux alternatives

• Open vSwitch (IBM introduction and good overview of the product Virtual networking in Linux )
• Virtual Square / vde switch - Example how to use it with Rackspace Private Cloud Installing Rackspace Private Cloud - KVM or with  Virtualbox
• Linux bridge

Microsoft Hyper-V

• Hyper-V Virtual Switch Overview in Windows 2012

Vendors

• bigswitch networks
• nicira 
• 10 Next-Gen Networking Startups Ripe For The Plucking

Installing Rackspace Private Cloud (Alamo) on a single virtual server using VMware Workstation

If you are looking for info about installation on a physical server you may like this article instead: How to install Rackspace Private Cloud (Alamo) on a single physical server

VMware Workstation

The Openstack installation within a virtual server is almost identical like on a physical one. The main difference is that we have to create a virtual machine that emulated/simulate the CPU extension needed for the nested hypervisor [1]

Practically that means that  you have to enable this box in your VM config.

If you prefere editing of a config file this is the variable that you have to set in *.vmx file

 
.encoding = "windows-1252"
config.version = "8"
virtualHW.version = "8"
numvcpus = "4"
vcpu.hotadd = "TRUE"
scsi0.present = "TRUE"
scsi0.virtualDev = "lsilogic"
memsize = "4096"
mem.hotadd = "TRUE"
scsi0:0.present = "TRUE"
scsi0:0.fileName = "Ubuntu 64-bit.vmdk"
ide1:0.present = "TRUE"
ide1:0.fileName = "C:\Users\radoslaw\Downloads\alamo-v2.0.0.iso"
ide1:0.deviceType = "cdrom-image"
floppy0.startConnected = "FALSE"
floppy0.fileName = ""
floppy0.autodetect = "TRUE"
ethernet0.present = "TRUE"
ethernet0.virtualDev = "e1000"
ethernet0.wakeOnPcktRcv = "FALSE"
ethernet0.addressType = "static"
ethernet0.address = "00:50:56:25:71:FB"
usb.present = "TRUE"
ehci.present = "TRUE"
sound.present = "TRUE"
sound.fileName = "-1"
sound.autodetect = "TRUE"
serial0.present = "TRUE"
serial0.fileType = "thinprint"
serial1.present = "TRUE"
serial1.fileType = "file"
serial1.fileName = "test.py"
pciBridge0.present = "TRUE"
pciBridge4.present = "TRUE"
pciBridge4.virtualDev = "pcieRootPort"
pciBridge4.functions = "8"
pciBridge5.present = "TRUE"
pciBridge5.virtualDev = "pcieRootPort"
pciBridge5.functions = "8"
pciBridge6.present = "TRUE"
pciBridge6.virtualDev = "pcieRootPort"
pciBridge6.functions = "8"
pciBridge7.present = "TRUE"
pciBridge7.virtualDev = "pcieRootPort"
pciBridge7.functions = "8"
vmci0.present = "TRUE"
hpet0.present = "TRUE"
usb.vbluetooth.startConnected = "TRUE"
displayName = "Ubuntu 64-bit"
guestOS = "ubuntu-64"
nvram = "Ubuntu 64-bit.nvram"
virtualHW.productCompatibility = "hosted"
vhv.enable = "TRUE"
powerType.powerOff = "hard"
powerType.powerOn = "hard"
powerType.suspend = "hard"
powerType.reset = "hard"
extendedConfigFile = "Ubuntu 64-bit.vmxf"
vmci0.id = "-1561829832"
uuid.location = "56 4d 22 7e ee b5 2b 19-3e c1 5e 76 a2 e8 5e 38"
uuid.bios = "56 4d 22 7e ee b5 2b 19-3e c1 5e 76 a2 e8 5e 38"
cleanShutdown = "TRUE"
replay.supported = "FALSE"
replay.filename = ""
scsi0:0.redo = ""
pciBridge0.pciSlotNumber = "17"
pciBridge4.pciSlotNumber = "21"
pciBridge5.pciSlotNumber = "22"
pciBridge6.pciSlotNumber = "23"
pciBridge7.pciSlotNumber = "24"
scsi0.pciSlotNumber = "16"
usb.pciSlotNumber = "32"
ethernet0.pciSlotNumber = "33"
sound.pciSlotNumber = "34"
ehci.pciSlotNumber = "35"
vmci0.pciSlotNumber = "36"
usb:1.present = "TRUE"
vmotion.checkpointFBSize = "37748736"
usb:1.speed = "2"
usb:1.deviceType = "hub"
usb:1.port = "1"
usb:1.parent = "-1"
tools.remindInstall = "TRUE"
usb:0.present = "TRUE"
usb:0.deviceType = "hid"
usb:0.port = "0"
usb:0.parent = "-1"

References

1. Nested virtualization
   http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/cloud/library/cl-nestedvirtualization/ http://www.veeam.com/blog/nesting-hyper-v-with-vmware-workstation-8-and-esxi-5.html
   
   You can't use Oracle Virtual Box tool as it doesn't support nested virtualisation. https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/4032


2. http://www.rackspace.com/knowledge_center/article/installing-rackspace-private-cloud-vmware-fusion

What does Software Defined Data Center means

After the industry created a Software Defined Network (SDN) [1] term it is time for a new one. A new emerging IT buzz word is a Software Defined Data Center (SDDC) [2]. It appears that only VMware is marketing this extensively at the moment.

From a technical point of view its all makes sense: compute resources are already largely virtualized, virtual storage and virtual networks are following. Looking at the last VMware acquisition of Nicira [3] the company has many if not all necessary products to build such a SDDC Data Center.

Let's see how the market will respond to it and if other vendors start looking and using this as well in the near future.

References

1. SDN
http://rtomaszewski.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/software-defined-network-sdn-as-example.html
http://rtomaszewski.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/google-does-use-sdn-in-its-data-centers.html
http://rtomaszewski.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/emerging-of-virtual-network-aka-quantum.html


2. SDDC
http://www.networkcomputing.com/data-center/the-software-defined-data-center-dissect/240006848
http://www.vmware.com/solutions/datacenter/software-defined-datacenter/index.html
http://blogs.vmware.com/console/2012/08/the-software-defined-datacenter-meets-vmworld.html



3. Openstack, Nicira and VMware
http://www.infoworld.com/t/data-center/what-the-software-defined-data-center-really-means-199930

After server virtualization there is a time for network to be virtualized

Virtualization become today de facto a standard in almost every company. What about 10 years ago was a revolution in computing it has become a mature product for everyone. But when we look at the history how it was evolving we can see one component to remain unmodified: the network, one of the very few unvirtualized technology bastions.

But today the market is changing. To understand the changes and what all this means I recommend to read at least these 2 blogs:

VMWARE BUYS NICIRA: A HYPERVISOR VENDOR WOKE UP
VMware’s Acquisition of Nicira – VMware confirming the hypervisor is dead

The changes the blogs describe are already happening. As a practical example is a Rackspace Cloud Network product, a hybrid network that was created to leverage the potential in software defined network that data center provider can benefit from.

Further reading & references

1. http://www.chriscolotti.us/vmware/nicira-nvp/nicira-nvp-virtualized-networking-primer/
2. http://www.chriscolotti.us/vmware/nicira-nvp/the-nicira-nvp-component-architecture/
3. http://nicira.com/en/frequently-asked-questions 
4. http://www.rackspace.com/cloud/

TCP Source port change for the outgoing traffic from VM

When it comes to virtual  machines  (VM) management one of the big challenges to work with is the virtual network. When using VMware Workstation ( or Oracle VM VirtualBox) we can defined per VM how the added virtual network adapter should work.

There are multiple setting to choice for a single virtual network interface within VM:
 - Bridged
 - NAT
 - Host-only private network

Problem
Server received TCP network traffic has changed source port when comparing it to the original traffic that the VM sent out.

Impact
Applications that are port sensitive show wrong results (example: udptx )

Solution
By default a network adapter added to a VM uses NAT feature. It means that the outgoing traffic from the VM may be changed before it is going to be sent the next hope router in our real network. To overcome this behaviour we ave to change the network operational setting from NAT to Bridged.

If you lost the network connectivity after this change in your VM you have to additionally check and potentially change the default setting to what physical network device our default VMware bridge (VMnet0) is connected.

 - VMware workstation GUI -> Edit ->Virtual Network Editor : Vmnet0
 - Select the correct virtual network device (default is VMnet0)  from the list
 - Select a appropriate device from the device list under "Bridged to"

References
Workstation and Player Online Library
http://pubs.vmware.com/ws8/wwhelp/wwhimpl/js/html/wwhelp.htm#href=using_ws/GUID-BAFA66C3-81F0-4FCA-84C4-D9F7D258A60A.html

Workstation 8 doesn't work properly with bridge networking
http://communities.vmware.com/message/1843247

How to resize (increase) main NTFS system partition of your Windows base virtual mashine in VMware Workstation

Problem summary
When we create a VM we specify the various hardware component we want to virtualize. One of them is the HDD.  After some time you may find out that the hard drive your VM has is too small.

The VMware Workstation allows you to resize the disk (as long there are not snapshots).

Impact
You can't install any additional software because there is not enough free space.


Problem
Although there are many tools you can use to resize the NTFS file system many of them have some limitation (demo version doesn't write data to the disk) or require a comercial license to bought or can be use on the main partition (diskpart.exe) [2]



Solution
The task can be done with the help of [1]. We don't need license. It can resize the main NTFS partition.

Free EaseUS® Partition Master 9.1 Home Edition 

References
[1]
Free EaseUS® Partition Master 9.1 Home Edition
http://www.partition-tool.com/personal.htm

[2]

How to extend a data volume in Windows Server 2003, in Windows XP, in Windows 2000, and in Windows Server 2008
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/325590