Creating network containers

This topic describes the process for creating a network container. 

A network container is a data object that provides network isolation for tenants in the cloud. You must create and onboard a pod before you create a network container. You must have at least one network container in a pod. If you have multiple tenants, you might want to create a network container for each tenant. See Network resources overview for more information.

The configuration of a network container is specified in a network container blueprint. Network container blueprints are created in BMC Network Automation, as described in Creating-network-container-blueprints. You must create at least one network container in BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management.

• • Before you begin
  • To create a new network container
  • Pending activities
  • Where to go from here

Before you begin

• BMC Network Automation (BBNA) must be registered as a provider.
• One or more pods, created in BMC Network Automation, must exist on the network.
• One or more network container blueprints must exist within the registered BMC Network Automation provider.
• One or more network blueprints must have been imported, as described in Importing-network-container-blueprints.
• The cloud administrator should be sufficiently familiar with the network container blueprints to know which ones support dynamic network containers and Network Address Translation (NAT).

To create a new network container

To create a new network container, you launch a wizard that contains three dialog boxes. In the first dialog box, you specify the unique name of the container, its pod, network container blueprint, NAT range (if applicable), and any tags. In the second dialog, you specify networks, firewalls, and associated load balancers. In the third dialog, you enter any additional parameters.

1. From the BMC Cloud Lifecycle Management Administration Console, click the vertical Workspaces menu on the left side of the window and select Resources.
2. Under Quick Links on the left, click Network Containers under the Network section.
3. Click the Create Network Container icon 
   The Create Network Container wizard is displayed.
   

1. Complete the following fields:

   Field	Description
   Name	Required. Enter a unique name. The name can include only alphanumeric characters. It cannot include symbols or special characters such as a single quote (') or dollar sign ($).
   Description	Provide a description that helps to distinguish this container.
   Tags	Metadata that helps to define and classify the network container. Click the Add Tag icon to open the Tag Details dialog box from where you select or add a tag. See Creating-tag-groups-and-tags.
   Pod	Select an appropriate pod from the list of available ones.
   Container Blueprint	Select a network container blueprint from the list of available ones. The selection of the network container blueprint determines whether the container is dynamic and whether it supports Network Address Translation.
   NAT Address Pools	This table shows the pools of registered IP addresses to which Network Address Translation can map an unregistered IP address. This section is enabled if the selected container blueprint supports Network Address Translation.
   Add NAT Address Pools	Use the following fields to add a new NAT Address Pool: Address - Enter a single IP address to identify the starting point of the address range. Mask - 24\- or 32-bit mask that divides the IP address into subnets and identifies the available hosts in the network. Click Add to add the new NAT Address Pool. The Address in combination with the Mask defines the address range to be allocated for the network container. These fields are enabled if the selected container blueprint supports Network Address Translation.

2. Click Next to open the Dynamic Components dialog box. It displays the available networks and corresponding load balancers. For details, see Managing-dynamic-components-for-network-containers.

The container will be provisioned on the network by BMC Network Automation using the specified network container blueprint.

Pending activities

When background activity is required from a command issued in the user interface, the Pending Activity section opens to display the progress and status of the background activity. You can:

• Remove a completed activity record from the Pending Activity table by selecting the record and clicking the Delete Activity icon .
• Get detailed error information about a failed activity by selecting the record and clicking the Advanced Error Information icon .
• Display the Audit Trail workspace by clicking the Audit Trail icon .
• Click the Refresh icon in the Pending Activity section to refresh the table.

For information on purging, archiving, and managing pending activities, see Managing-pending-activity-records.

After the activity is marked as complete, you can click the Refresh icon in the upper-right corner of the window to refresh the Resources table so that the newly created network containers appear in the list of network containers.

Where to go from here

To continue with the next step of the wizard when creating or editing a network container, see Managing-dynamic-components-for-network-containers.

You can now:

• Onboard compute resources, as described Onboarding-and-offboarding-compute-resources.
• Manage firewalls, as described in Creating-and-editing-firewall-rules. 
• Manage load balancers, as described in Managing load balancers.

To view, create, or update network paths, see Managing-network-paths.