Managing dynamic components for network containers

This topic describes working with the dynamic components of a network container. It contains the following sections:

• • Dynamic components of a network container
  • To make dynamic component selections in list view
    • Networks
    • Load balancers
    • Firewalls
    • Distributed firewalls
    • Additional Parameters
  • To edit dynamic components of a network container
  • Where to go next

Dynamic components of a network container

The dynamic components of the container are the networks associated with its selected blueprint and the load balancers associated with the networks.

After you specify the name, pod, and container blueprint of the network container you are creating, you next enable or disable the associated networks and load balancers. You can add tag data to a selected network.

After you have provisioned a network container, you can perform the following:

• Edit the network address and mask of a selected network. To change the network address and mask of a network, you must first disable the network and then re-enable it and put in the new values. These tasks can take a significant amount of time (anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes} depending on how complex the network is and what is being changed. 

• Add tag data.

  Note

  If you want to provision a VM to a specific Virtual Cluster, and your environment contains more than one port group on the same VLAN, use a separate network tag for each port group to avoid random selection of a port group when the VM is provisioned.

  In BMC Network Automation, if multiple port groups belong to the same VLAN, they are viewed as being the same network. However, in BMC Cloud Lifecycle management, the port groups represent two different networks. Therefore, you must tag the port groups individually, to avoid random selection of a port group.

• Enable or disable associated networks, load balancers, and firewalls.

_{Back to top}

To make dynamic component selections in list view

These steps describe how to make selections when working in the list view. For guidelines on using the graphical view, see Working-in-the-graphical-view-of-dynamic-components-create-mode.

The following sections describe the tabs on the Dynamic Components dialog box.

Networks

These are the networks that are associated with the container blueprint selected in the General Information dialog box.

1. Review the list of available networks, and determine which one or ones you want to enable for the container.

   Field	Description
   Name	The name of the network.
   Enabled	Indicates whether the network is enabled or not.
   Tags	Metadata that is applied to the network description.
   Zone	The zone in which the network resides.
   Type	String description that denotes the network type: for example, Customer, External, and so forth.
   Address	The network address.
   Mask	The network mask for the network address.
   Network Label	The purpose of the network: for example, public, management, customer, data, application, and so forth.

2. Click the Enable or Disable icon.
3. To add tag metadata, click the Add Tag icon.

^{Back to top}

Load balancers

These are virtual load balancers associated with the networks specified under the Networks list.

1. Review the list of available load balancers, and determine which one or ones you want to enable for the container.
   

   Field	Description
   Name	The name of the load balancer.
   Client Networks	Network from where traffic is coming into the load balancer pool.
   Server Networks	Network to where traffic is going to from the load balancer pool.
   Enabled	Indicates whether the load balancer is enabled or not.

2. Click the Enable or Disable icon.

_{^{Back to top}}

Firewalls

The Firewalls tab is for the virtual, or perimeter, firewalls associated with the container.

1. Review the list of available firewalls, and determine which one or ones you want to enable for the container.

   

   Field	Description
   Name	The name of the firewall.
   Enabled	Indicates whether the firewall is enabled or not.
   Independent	Indicates that you can directly toggle the firewall, irrespective of the state of the serviced networks (enabled or disabled).

2. Click the Enable or Disable icon.

_{^{Back to top}}

Distributed firewalls

These are distributed firewalls associated with the container. Enable or disable the associated distributed firewalls.

1. Review the list of available distributed firewalls, and determine which one or ones you want to enable for the container.
   

   Field	Description
   Name	The name of the firewall.
   Enabled	Indicates whether the distributed firewall is enabled or not.
   Independent	Indicates that you can directly toggle the firewall, irrespective of the state of the serviced networks (enabled or disabled).

2. Click the Enable or Disable icon.

   Note

   The container blueprint includes a distributed firewall which is attached to a particular switch and secures a certain set of networks. The distributed firewall virtual machine (VM) is created by BMC Network Automation when the network container is created (if the distributed firewall is enabled) or modified to enable a previous disabled distributed firewall.

_{^{Back to top}}

Additional Parameters

1. Click Next to continue to the Additional Parameters dialog box, where you can add runtime parameters from the network container blueprint. The parameters are name-value pairs.
2. Click the Add Additional Parameters icon to add a row to the table.
3. In the Name column, enter a parameter name that matches a network container blueprint parameter.

4. In the Value column, enter a value for the parameter or select a value from the drop-down list that can be configured for the container.
   If there are parameters available in the network container blueprints, those parameters are pre-populated along with default values. You can modify values before submitting the create or modify container operations.
   
   
   
   

   Note

   Creating a network container from a previous version blueprint or modifying a network container created in a previous version do not support the pre-populated additional parameters. In these cases, you can add a parameter by clicking the Add button. 

5. Click Submit.

_{^{Back to top}}

To edit dynamic components of a network container

These steps describe how to edit selections when working in the list view. For guidelines on using the graphical view, see Working-in-the-graphical-view-of-dynamic-components-edit-and-view-modes.

1. On the main Edit Network Container: Dynamic Components dialog box, select the desired tab and then select a network, load balancer, or distributed firewall to enable or disable. Then click the corresponding toggle button.

   Note

   You can enable or disable networks on the main Edit Network Container: Dynamic Components dialog box only, not from the secondary Edit Network Details dialog box. shown below.
   

2. To add any new network tags, click the Add Tag icon on the Network tab.
3. To edit the network address or subnet mask of a selected network, click the Edit Network icon to display the Edit Network Details dialog box.
4. Update the network address and mask as needed.
5. Click Save.

_{^{Back to top}}

Where to go next

Managing firewalls.
Managing virtual load balancers.