Configuring the Network on Proxmox VE with ADVANCE Gen 3 Servers

Learn how to configure the network in Proxmox VE.

On an ADVANCE Gen 3 server, it is not possible to operate Additional IPs in bridged mode (via virtual MACs). Configuring Additional IPs via the vRack is necessary.

Requirements

• a public block of IP addresses in your account, with a minimum of four addresses, attached to the vRack
• your chosen private IP address range
• a vRack-compatible server
• a vRack service activated in your account
• access to the OVHcloud Control Panel

Instructions

Gather information

From the OVHcloud Control Panel:

1. Select Bare Metal Cloud from the top navigation bar.
2. On the left-hand menu, select Dedicated servers and choose your server.
3. Click the Network interfaces tab.
4. Locate the Private interface and take note of the MAC address.

SSH into your dedicated server and run the following command to list all interfaces:

ip a

Example result:

Reserved and usable IP addresses

In an IP block, the first IP address is the network address. The second to last is the network gateway and the last is the network broadcast.

For example, the IP block XXX.XXX.78.244/30 breaks down like this:

XXX.XXX.78.244  #Reserved: Network address
XXX.XXX.78.245  #Usable IP
XXX.XXX.78.246  #Reserved: Network gateway
XXX.XXX.78.247  #Reserved: Network broadcast

Configure an Additional IP block on a vRack

In your OVHcloud Control Panel, go to the Bare Metal Cloud section and click on Network. Next, open the vRack menu.

Select your vRack from the list to display the list of eligible services. Click the IP block you wish to add to the vRack and click on the Add button.

Configure the routing table

Open the /etc/iproute2/rt_tables configuration file.

Add the last line of the following example file to yours:

/etc/iproute2/rt_tables

#
# reserved values
#
255 local
254 main
253 default
0   unspec
# local
#
#1  inr.ruhep
1 vrack

Configure the private virtual interface

Edit the network configuration file /etc/network/interfaces based on the following template:

/etc/network/interfaces 

#Public Interface - do NOT change

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

iface enp8s0f0np0 inet manual

auto vmbr0
iface vmbr0 inet static
    address XXX.XXX.46.178/32
    gateway XXX.XXX.0.1
    bridge-ports enp8s0f0np0
    bridge-stp off
    hwaddress AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF

iface vmbr0 inet6 static
    address XXXX:XXXX:204:b200::/56
    gateway XXXX::1

#Private Interface

auto <private_VIRTUAL_interface_id> #Choose a name for your virtual private interface
iface <private_VIRTUAL_interface_id> inet static
    address <usable_ip>/CIDR
    gateway <network_gateway>    
    broadcast <network_broadcast>
    bridge-ports <private_interface> #NOT the virtual interface
    bridge-stp off
    bridge-fd 0
post-up ip route add <network_address> dev <private_VIRTUAL_interface_id> table vrack
post-up ip route add default via <network_gateway> dev <private_VIRTUAL_interface_id> table vrack
post-up ip rule add from <network_address> table vrack
post-up ip rule add to <network_address> table vrack

Configuration example

File contents /etc/network/interfaces:

#Public Interface - do NOT change

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

iface enp8s0f0np0 inet manual

auto vmbr0
iface vmbr0 inet static
    address XXX.XXX.46.178/32
    gateway XXX.XXX.0.1
    bridge-ports enp8s0f0np0
    bridge-stp off
    hwaddress AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF

iface vmbr0 inet static
    address XXXX:XXXX:204:b200::/56
    gateway XXXX::1

#Private Interface

auto vmbr1
iface vmbr1 inet static
    address XXX.XXX.78.245/30
    gateway XXX.XXX.78.246
    broadcast XXX.XXX.78.247
    bridge-ports enp8s0f1np1
    bridge-stp off
    bridge-fd 0
post-up ip route add XXX.XXX.78.244/30 dev vmbr1 table vrack
post-up ip route add default via XXX.XXX.78.246 dev vmbr1 table vrack
post-up ip rule add from XXX.XXX.78.244/30 table rack
post-up rule add to XXX.XXX.78.244/30 table rack

Restart and verification

Restart the network services:

systemctl restart networking.service

When creating the VM in Proxmox (e.g. vmbr1), select the network interface ID under the Network tab. From this point, you will be on the new VM's interface block that you configured above, which will be using the Additional IP configured in vRack.

Verify that the private interface has been successfully configured:

ip a

Example output:

enp8s0f1np1: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc mq master vmbr1 state UP group default qlen 1000
    link/ether <VRACK_MAC_ADDRESS> brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff

Configuring the VM network on Proxmox

Log in to Proxmox using the credentials sent to you via email.

Select local (ns xxxxx), then ISO Images, and then Download from URL.

Find, copy, and paste the URL for the ISO image you want to upload to the Proxmox library.

Select Query URL and then Download.

You will see the progress of your download.

Create a new VM and, in the Network tab, use the private interface you configured above by clicking the Bridge dropdown menu and selecting that interface (e.g. "vmbr1".)

Click Next to continue.

Verify the configuration settings for your VM and click Finish to create it.

Boot the VM and go through the OS install configuration in Proxmox while ensuring that you use the private interface networking information that was configured in the previous steps.

Configuration example of a client VM on Ubuntu

Create a vrack.yaml file under /etc/netplan/vrack.yaml.

Content of the file:

network:
        version: 2
        ethernets:
                eth0: #physical public interface
                        dhcp4: no
                        addresses:
                                - XXX.XXX.78.245 #Any usable IP
                        nameservers:
                                addresses:
                                        - 213.186.33.99 #DNS - you must include this
                        routes:
                                - to: default
                                  via: XXX.XXX.78.246 #Network gateway
                                  on-link: true

For the netplan configuration changes to take effect, you must reboot the VM or run this command:

sudo netplan apply

The configuration file for your Additional IP addresses is located in /etc/netplan/. In this example, it is called "50-cloud-init.yaml". Before making changes, verify the actual file name in this folder. Each Additional IP address will need its own line within the file.

Step 1: Disable automatic network configuration

Open the following file path with a text editor:

sudo nano /etc/cloud/cloud.cfg.d/99-disable-network-config.cfg

Enter the following line, then save and exit the editor.

network: {config: disabled}

Creating this configuration file will prevent changes to your network configuration from being made automatically.

Step 2: Apply the new network configuration

You can test your configuration using this command:

sudo netplan try

If it is correct, apply it using the following command:

sudo netplan apply

Repeat this procedure for each Additional IP address.

Go further

For more information and tutorials, please see our other Dedicated Servers support guides or explore the guides for other OVHcloud products and services.