Pod management in BMC Network Automation
A Virtual Data Center (VDC) is referred to as a network container because it isolates or contains the data traffic within it. The network equipment used is called a pod. A given pod supports multiple containers on it, each with its own isolated data networks.
Pods can physically overlap, where devices involved are physically shared but logically separated via routing, to make efficient use of the hardware involved.
BMC Network Automation provides a user interface for creating and deleting pods. However, creation and deletion of containers on those pods, and the addition and removal of servers on those containers is done through a web service API.
The following figure shows the logical topology of a pod on which two containers have been created.
Single pod with two containers
Each container has one isolated data network shown in yellow and one isolated management network shown in green.
Each virtual machine (VM) has one data Network Interface Controller (NIC) and one management NIC. Client 1 can use only VMs 1 and 2, while client 2 can use only VMs 3 and 4. BMC Network Automation can talk to all VMs.
Layer 3 routing in each container is handled by virtual routing and forwarding (VRF) owned by that container.
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