Introduction
Networks, in general, are the core of connectivity between computer devices across the internet using blocks of IP addresses that are provided by Internet Service Providers (ISPs).
Think of networking in EVE-OS as the way your edge node and the applications running on it connect to the outside world. This isn't just about getting online; it's about creating a secure and structured environment for data to flow.
EVE-OS manages two primary types of network connections:
- Edge Node Connectivity (Network): This is the network connection EVE-OS uses to communicate with the ZEDEDA Cloud for management (for example). This is the "control channel" that lets you, as an administrator, remotely manage the edge node. The node can use multiple network adapters (like Wi-Fi and Ethernet) for this, and EVE-OS can fail over to a different adapter if one loses its connection, ensuring it always stays in contact with the cloud controller.
- Application Connectivity (Network Instances): These are virtual networks created inside the edge node for your applications (like VMs and containers). EVE-OS provides two types of network instances to give you flexibility. See Network Instance Overview if you are interested in connectivity and routing for your edge applications.
When you onboard an edge node, you can configure one or more networks for it. You assign an IP address to each of the edge node’s network ports using DHCP or static IP addresses. You then create and manage the network instances for your applications. By attaching the network instances to the physical ports, you control exactly how your applications connect and communicate.
EVE-OS Network Terminology
Terminology for the main components of the EVE-OS network.
Network
A network is a configuration for edge node connectivity (DHCP/static IP config, DNS, NTP config) that can be assigned to a network port to form a network adapter (the adapter then additionally defines logical attributes like "usage" and "cost"). The same network configuration can be used for multiple ports.
Network port
A network port is a physical network IO device (ethernet NIC, WiFi module, cellular modem) on an edge node.
Network adapter
A network adapter consists of a network configuration (MTU, MAC, IP, VLAN, etc.) and the logical attributes (logical & interface names, cost, usage, shared labels) attached to a physical network port. Inside the application configuration, the network adapter is also used to configure connectivity between the application and a network instance. However, here the focus is on edge node network connectivity.
Network Adapter Interface Usage
- Unused: Port unspecified.
- Management: Port used for management traffic and can be associated with network instances.
- App Direct: Port is directly used by one edge application (using PCI passthrough).
- App Shared: Port can be shared by different network instances.
- Disabled: Interface disabled.
- VLANs Only: Port is used only for segmentation of a physical adapter into multiple logical networks (VLANs). See VLANs for Logical Segmentation of a Physical Port: A Use Case for an example.
Network Adapter Labels
An adapter label is a free-form string that you can assign to one or more network ports. You can designate multiple ports into a group by assigning them the same adapter label. You can also assign multiple adapter labels to a port, so it can belong to multiple groups. For example, you could assign “internet” or “internet-access” or similar to every port with Internet access. You can use adapter labels for scenarios such as grouping management ports, grouping port forwarding ports, grouping internet ports, and more.
Static IP vs Static IP - Adapter Specific
You have multiple choices for how to configure your network static IP addresses:
- Static IP: Create specific Network objects per static IP address. Then when you onboard your edge node, you choose your network details from the pre-configured objects.
- Static IP - Adapter Specific: Create a general adapter-specific network. Then when you onboard your edge node, this allows you to manually enter IP details on-the-fly rather than choosing from pre-configured objects.
Which one you choose will depend how many static IP addresses you have and how often you reassign them. For example, if you have thousands of static IP addresses, you might prefer to reduce the number of Network objects and use adapter-specific configurations instead. No need to create a Network object that will never be reused.
Overview Diagram
The following diagram shows an edge node, highlighting a LAN-configured network assigned to a physical network port that's being used as the network adapter for management traffic.
See Network Instance Overview instead if you are interested in connectivity and routing for your edge applications.
Next steps
This is a series of articles. You will likely follow them in this order.