1. Introduction
In ZEDEDA, Network Instances reside on the edge nodes. The network configuration applied to the application is called a Network Instance. You can establish the connectivity through network instances for one of the following reasons:
- Communication between an application and another application.
- Communication between an application and the external world and visa versa.
A quick overview of How to Add Network Instance to ZedControl.
Let's get familiar with the navigation of the Network Instance screen before getting into the operational details.
1.1. List View
After you log in to ZedControl:
- Step 1 > Click on the 'Library' (
) icon from the left navigation.
- Step 2 > Select 'Network Instances' from the top navigation bar.
- Step 3 > Click on the expand (
) icon to view the summary panel.
Summary Panel shows the total number of Network Instances as 'Network Instance Kind Distribution' and 'Network Instance Addressing Distribution' widgets in donut view. You can hover around these donuts, to get the number in each distribution.
Note: The Network Instances list view shows a default (
) indicator on some Network Instances. This indicator indicates the default network instance for the edge node it resides on.
) indicator on some Network Instances. This indicator indicates the default network instance for the edge node it resides on.1.2. Detail View
- Step 1 > Click on any of the Network Instances in the list view to show the detailed view of the same.
- Step 2 > A temporary tab () is created navigating you to the detailed view of the selected Network Instance.
The detail view has tertiary navigation with Status and Basic info tabs.
2. Operations Using ZedUI
The following are the Network Instance operations:
2.1. Create
You can perform the create operation in the Network Instances list view only. After you log in to ZedControl, create a Network Instance using the following steps:
- Step 1 > Click on the Add (
) icon
- Step 2 > Populate the input field values for the 'Identity' section, as instructed in the table.
- Step 3 > Populate the input field values for the 'Details' section, as instructed in the table.
Identity section
Define the basic identification details of the Network Instance.
| Input Field | Value |
|
Name(*)
|
This is unique across the enterprise and cannot be changed.
|
| Title(*) |
This is user-defined and can be changed.
|
Details section
Define the details of the Network Instance.
| Input Field | Value |
| Kind(*) |
This is a type of network. Select one of the Network Instance from the following dropdown list:
 Local–A Local network is the simplest Layer 3 (L3) network. Remote access is available solely through the NAT. Switch–Layer 2 (L2) networks are straight bridged networks. Only one network port may be connected to the network at any time to avoid spanning tree issues. Cloud (Beta)–A Cloud network is an L3 network with a VPN connection. |
| Edge Node(*) | Select the appropriate edge node from the dropdown list. As you select a particular edge node, the 'Default Edge Node Network Instance' checkbox appears. |
| Default Edge Node Network Instance | If you check the 'Yes' checkbox, then this network Instance becomes 'Default' for the edge node selected. |
| Port | Select the appropriate option from the dynamic dropdown list, once you select the edge node. |
| Config |
You can use this optional field to provide a cloud-init-like functionality to the end-users.
You will get this option only when you select either 'Cloud' or 'Mesh' from the 'Kind' field.
|
| Addressing |
Select one of the IP Address formats from the following dropdown list:
|
- Step 4 > Select the appropriate option from the dynamic dropdown list, once you select the edge node.
For the IP configuration under the network section, the default selection is the Auto option. You can either use the Auto option (Step 5) or the Manual option (Step 6) as appropriate.
- Step 5 > Populate the input field values as mentioned in the 'Table for configuration using the 'Auto' option.'
- Step 6 > Click on 'Manual' and populate the input field values as mentioned in the 'Table for configuration using the 'Manual' option.'
- Step 7 > Click on the 'Add' button to complete the Network Instance creation process.
Network section
Table for configuration using the 'Auto' option:
| Input Field | Value |
| Hostnames | A valid Hostname and IP Address need to be populated. |
Table for configuration using the 'Manual' option:
| Input Field | Value |
| Subnet | A valid subnet is to be populated. |
| IP Address Range | Valid IP Address range needs to be populated. |
| Gateway | Valid gateway IP Address to be populated. |
| Name Server | Valid server name to be populated, separated by commas. |
| NTP Server | Valid NTP server name to be populated. |
| Domain | The Valid domain name is to be populated. |
- Step 8 > When you click on the 'Add' button, a toast message appears as shown below:
Network Instance: abcd has been added.
- Step 9 > You can see that the new Network Instance is added in the Network Instance list view, as shown below.
The Network Instance is created successfully!
2.2. Read
You can perform the read operation in the Network Instances detail view only. After you log in to ZedControl, click on the 'Library' menu from the left navigation and select 'Network Instances' to go to the list of already available Network Instances. Click on any of the Network Instances in the list view to show the detailed view of the same.
The read view shows two main sections, namely 'Status' and 'Basic Info.'
Status
The 'Status' section shows the reported status of the selected Network Instance and has three subsections as follows:
a) Information
This subsection shows an overview of the selected Network Instance such as the 'Run State,' 'Up TIme,' 'Kind,' 'Bridge Number,' 'Bridge Name,' and 'Bridge IP Address.'
b) IP Address Assignment
This subsection shows the IP Addresses assigned for the selected Network Instance. The table view shows columns like 'MAC Address,' 'IP Addresses,' 'Virtual Interface,' and 'Edge App Instance.'
c) Assigned Adapters
This subsection shows the assigned adapters for the selected Network Instance. The adapters are shown in a table view showing columns like 'Member,' 'Name,' 'Type,' and 'Edge App Instance.'
Basic Info
a) Identity
For information on the field values and their descriptions, refer to the tables under the create operation.
b) Details
For information on the field values and their descriptions, refer to the tables under the create operation.
2.3. Update (Edit)
You can perform the update/edit operation in the Network Instances detail view only. After you log in to ZedControl, click on the 'Library' menu from the left navigation and select 'Network Instances' to go to the list of already available Network Instances. Click on any of the Network Instances in the list view to show the detailed view of the same.
The update/edit view shows only the 'Basic Info' section.
Basic Info
Update/edit a Network Instance using the following steps:
- Step 1 > Click on the Edit (
) icon.
The 'Basic Info' section allows you to update/edit most of the fields. For information on the editable field values and their descriptions, refer to the tables under the create operation.
- Step 2 > Update the editable fields of 'Identity' section. For information on the editable field values and their descriptions, refer to the tables under the create operation.
- Step 3 > Update the editable fields of 'Details' section. For information on the editable field values and their descriptions, refer to the tables under the create operation.
- Step 4 > Click on 'Submit' button.
- Step 5 > When you click on the 'Submit' button, a toast message, announcing the successful submission of the network instance appears below:
Network instance: cloud-network-test has been updated.
The Network Instance is updated successfully!
2.4. Delete
You can perform the delete operation in both the Network Instances list view and detail view. After you log in to ZedControl, if you no longer require the Network Instance, you could delete it using the following steps:
Note: You can perform the delete operation on a single Network Instance or multiple Network Instances on either the ListView or Detail View screen. We will follow the multiple Network Instances workflow, which you can carry out from the list view for simplicity.
- Step 1 > Click on the checkboxes of the Network Instances list on which the required operation needs to be performed.
- Step 2 > Click on the More (
) icon on the top right corner.
- Step 3 > From the dropdown, select 'Delete'.
- Step 4 > Click the 'Confirm' button on the modal dialogue which appears as below:
Deleting these 4 Network Instance(s) will permanently remove the data about these network instance(s) from management platform. One of the Network Instance selected is default.
Note: There is no way to reclaim the data, after the delete operation is performed.
- Step 5 > When you click on the 'Confirm' button, a toast message, announcing the successful submission of the Network Instance's delete request appears.
3 Network Instances were successfully deleted.
- Step 6 > You can also see a toast message announcing that could not delete one of the Network Instances appears.
localTest-e300-1 could not be deleted.
Warning: Network Instances cannot be deleted when linked with more than one Edge Application Instance.
The selected Network Instances are deleted successfully!
3. Operations Using zCLI
3.1. Create
You can create a Network Instance using the following command:
zcli> zcli network-instance create <name> [--title=title] --edge-node=<edge-node> [--port=port] --kind=[transparent|switch|local|cloud|mesh|honeypot] --ip-type=[v4|v6|crypto-v4|crypto-v6] [--subnet=<subnet-id>] [--gateway=<gateway>] [--domain=<domain>] [--ntp=<ntp>] [--nameserver=<dns>...] [--dhcp-range=<range>] [--static-dns=<hostname:ip>...] [--config=<path>]
3.2. Read (Show)
You can use the following command to see the created Network Instances details:
zcli> zcli network-instance show [[[<name> | --uuid=<uuid>] [--detail]] | [[--project=<project>] [--edge-node=<edge-node>] [--state=<state>] [--name-pattern=<name-pattern>]]] [--raw]
For example, the show command for a Network Instances displays the following output:
zcli> zcli network-instance show
Network Instance kind Edge Node Iptype Run state
------------------------ -------------------- -------------------- ----------- ----------
defaultLocal-bg-supermicro-e50-1 NETWORK_INSTANCE_KIND_LOCAL bg-supermicro-e50-1 NETWORK_INSTANCE_DHCP_TYPE_V4 RUN_STATE_UNKNOWN
defaultLocal-cshari-intel-nuc NETWORK_INSTANCE_KIND_LOCAL cshari-intel-nuc NETWORK_INSTANCE_DHCP_TYPE_V4 RUN_STATE_UNKNOWN
defaultLocal-bg-advantech-ark-1124-00035 NETWORK_INSTANCE_KIND_LOCAL bg-advantech-ark-1124-00035 NETWORK_INSTANCE_DHCP_TYPE_V4 RUN_STATE_UNKNOWN
abcd NETWORK_INSTANCE_KIND_SWITCH bg-advantech-ark-1124-00035 NETWORK_INSTANCE_DHCP_TYPE_UNSPECIFIED RUN_STATE_UNKNOWN
switch-e300-eth2 NETWORK_INSTANCE_KIND_SWITCH blr-supermicro-e300-1 NETWORK_INSTANCE_DHCP_TYPE_UNSPECIFIED RUN_STATE_ONLINE
localTest-e300-1 NETWORK_INSTANCE_KIND_LOCAL blr-supermicro-e300-1 NETWORK_INSTANCE_DHCP_TYPE_V4 RUN_STATE_ONLINE
defaultLocal-bg-supermicro-zc2 NETWORK_INSTANCE_KIND_LOCAL bg-supermicro-zc2 NETWORK_INSTANCE_DHCP_TYPE_V4 RUN_STATE_UNKNOWN
zcli>
3.3. Update (Edit)
You can update a Network Instance using the following command:
zcli> zcli network-instance update <name> [--port=port] [--title=title] [--subnet=<subnet-id>] [--gateway=<gateway>] [--domain=<domain>] [--ntp=<ntp>] [--nameserver=<dns>...] [--dhcp-range=<range>] [--static-dns=<hostname:ip>...] [--config=<path>]
3.4. Delete
You can delete a Network Instance using the following command:
zcli> zcli network-instance delete <name> [-f]
Note: -f is to forcefully make the delete request to the ZedControl, without prompting the user.
The Network Instance operations are successfully executed!