RE: [Xen-users] [XCP] XCP network and VLAN by Open vSwitch

When somebody says "it would confuse xapi", they mean you should always go through the XAPI when configuring things on XenServer or XCP. If you try to go around the XAPI (using other tools or by editing configuration files directly), then it is possible to cause a lot of unpredictable problems to occur. For example, if you configure network outside of the XAPI, you may run into weird problems where the networking may not properly follow a VM when you live migrate a VM from one node to another. So as a general rule, you really want to be sure to do everything through the XAPI (or use a tool that goes through the XAPI).

-----Original Message-----
From: xen-users-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:xen-users-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Wei-Chih Chen
Sent: Friday, June 17, 2011 1:51 AM
To: Todd Deshane
Cc: xen-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [Xen-users] [XCP] XCP network and VLAN by Open vSwitch

Dear Todd and Everyone,

On Thu, Jun 16, 2011 at 11:28 PM, Todd Deshane <todd.deshane@xxxxxxx> wrote:

On Wed, Jun 15, 2011 at 11:34 PM, Wei-Chih Chen <wcchen.tw@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello Everyone,
>
> Citrix provides vSwitch Controller to manage network across hosts.
> However, it seems requiring XenServer Advanced edition, and downloading
> vSwitch Controller requires My Citrix account.
> Is vSwitch Controller essential for XCP to control and use full functions of
> Open vSwitch?
>

This is a commercial controller from Citrix. Open source controllers
based on NOX (http://noxrepo.org/) could provide similar
functionality.

NOX looks helpful. I will try this.
Is vSwitch Controller designed dedicatedly to Open vSwitch?
It seems that the term "vSwitch" means Open vSwitch in vSwitch Controller User Guide. Is this correct?

> The point is that I can not figure out the relationship of
>
> XCP vs XenServer Free/Advanced Edition

Basically XCP is an open source version of XenServer Free, but adding
additional functionality to XCP can and has been done.

> On XCP, original Linux network vs Open vSwitch

I think Open vSwitch is the default now right? There is a command to
switch to it, if not

Yes. Command "xe-switch-network-backend openvswitch" can enable it.

> For configuring network, XenCenter vs xe commands vs ovs- commands

XenCenter is a front end to xe, xe is a frontend to xapi. using ovs
commands directly is not a good idea if you want to use the frontends
since it would confuse xapi.

In the future, I may need to develop programs to automatically configure network through ovs command.
I would like to make sure that whether XCP 1.0 has completely integrated Open vSwitch.

What does "it would confuse xapi" mean?
Does it mean I may confuse between operations and results of ovs command and XenCenter?
Or it means that ovs command may affect xapi and cause some problems?

> For using Open vSwitch, ovs- commands vs vSwitch Controlle
>

ovs commands support a baseline of functionality for controlling
things, but if you want something more robust/advancded check out the
status of nox-based open source controllers or consider looking into a
commercial controller.

Accordingly, it is more convenient for me to control through open source/commercial controllers.
But if I work hard, I am still able to acquire the same features using ovs command only, without aid of these controllers, right?

The Open vSwitch users list is very responsive to questions.

OK!

XCP is very much evolving. Start with these:

http://www.xen.org/products/cloudxen.html

and
http://blog.xen.org/index.php/2011/06/05/xcp-on-ubuntu/

Hope that helps some.

Thanks,
Todd

Thanks for lots of information. :)

> Sorry for so many questions.
> Thanks!
>
> Regards,
>
> Wayne
>
> On Thu, Jun 16, 2011 at 9:53 AM, Wei-Chih Chen <wcchen.tw@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Jun 16, 2011 at 8:08 AM, Todd Deshane <todd.deshane@xxxxxxx>
>> wrote:
>>>
>>> On Wed, Jun 15, 2011 at 6:13 AM, Wei-Chih Chen (陳偉志)
>>> <wcchen.tw@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> > Hello Everyone,
>>> >
>>> > I am new with XCP.
>>> > I've setup several hosts with XCP 1.0 and manage it through XenCenter
>>> > and
>>> > command console.
>>> > Each host has two NICs, one (xenbr0) connected to a physical switch for
>>> > Internet (said sw1), the other (xenbr3) connected to a physical switch
>>> > for
>>> > internal network (said sw2).
>>> >
>>> > I am trying to setup VMs and VLANs on xenbr3.
>>> > I created a virtual bridge by "ovs-vsctl add-br brvlan2 xenbr3 2"
>>> > Then add a port (portvlan2) to brvlan2:
>>> > ovs-vsctl add-port brvlan2 portvlan2 tag=2
>>> > ifconfig vlan2 192.168.33.200
>>> > Now the problem is that I do know how to attach portvlan2 to VM.
>>> > Could someone give me simple steps to setup VLANs using Open vSwitch
>>> > and
>>> > attach them to VMs?

Sorry for back to my original question.
How to attach VLAN/virtual bridge to VMs on XCP?

>>> >
>>> > Moreover, the newly created bridges are not shown in XenCenter.
>>> > If I use xe network-create, the newly created network can be shown in
>>> > XenCenter.
>>> > Is this because XenCenter uses xe command and does NOT support to show
>>> > Open
>>> > vSwitch?
>>> > The question I wonder most is what is the difference to configure XCP
>>> > network using xe and ovs- commands?
>>> >

>>>
>>> You are going to want to use the xe commands related to networking.
>>>
>>> See
>>> http://docs.vmd.citrix.com/XenServer/5.6.0fp1/1.0/en_gb/reference.html#networking-concepts
>>>
>>> Hope that helps.
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>> Todd
>>>
>>>
>>> > Thanks a lot. :)
>>> >
>>> > Regards,
>>> >
>>> > Wayne
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > _______________________________________________
>>> > Xen-users mailing list
>>> > Xen-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>> > http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
>>> >
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Todd Deshane
>>> http://www.linkedin.com/in/deshantm
>>> http://www.xen.org/products/cloudxen.html
>>> http://runningxen.com/
>>
>> Thank you, Todd.
>> The document helps a lot for XenServer network concepts and xe command
>> control.
>>
>> However, I would like to try Open vSwitch because it supports more
>> features like OpenFlow, NetFlow.
>> It is possible for me to use these features in the future.
>> Is it able to use full features of Open vSwitch in XCP 1.0?
>> Or XCP has not included and combined Open vSwitch completely, and it is
>> not suggested to use Open vSwitch in XCP 1.0?
>>
>> Thanks.
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Wayne
>>
>

Regards,

Wayne

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RE: [Xen-users] [XCP] XCP network and VLAN by Open vSwitch