How to Configure vRack on Public Cloud Using the OVHcloud API

Learn how to configure Public Cloud instances within your vRack using the OVHcloud APIv6.

OVHcloud vRack is a private network solution that enables you to route traffic between OVHcloud dedicated servers as well as other OVHcloud services. At the same time, it allows you to add Public Cloud instances to your private network to create an infrastructure of physical and virtual resources.

Requirements

• A Public Cloud project in your OVHcloud account
• An OpenStack user account
• Basic networking knowledge
• Consulting the guide Configuring the vRack on Public Cloud (to understand the different methods to manage the vRack with the Public Cloud)
• Consulting the guide First steps to use the OVHcloud API (to familiarize yourself with the OVHcloud API)

Instructions

Step 1: Activate and manage a vRack

Connect to the OVHcloud API using the following guide First steps with the OVHcloud API.

Once logged in, follow the steps described below:

Create a cart

Obtaining required information to order the vRack

Adding the vRack to the cart

Once you have added the vRack to the cart, you should receive an itemID. Copy this, it will be useful for making modifications before checking out.

Validating the cart

Once the items have been placed in the card, you will need to checkout:

Final validation of the order

To validate the order, there are two possible methods:

• Go to the URL given when checking out.

• Validate using the following API call: POST /me/order/{orderId}/payWithRegisteredPaymentMean

Once the free order has been validated, it may take a few minutes for the vRack to be activated.

Step 2: Add your Public Cloud project to the vRack

Once the vRack is active, you will need to assign your Public Cloud projects to the vRack.

Connect to the OVHcloud API using the following guide: First steps with the OVHcloud API.

If you do not know your Public Cloud project ID, the following calls will allow you to obtain it.

Identifying the project

Adding the project to the vRack

Once you have identified the project and vRack, you can associate them with the following API call:

Fill in the fields with the information previously collected: 

serviceName: name of the vRack in the form "pn-xxxxxx"

project: The Public Cloud project ID, in a string of 32 characters.

Checking the progress of the task

You can view the progress of the task with the help of the following API call:

Step 3: Create a VLAN on the vRack

A VLAN (Virtual Local Area Network) will need to be created so that your instances can communicate with each other over the vRack.

With the Public Cloud, you can create up to 4,000 vLANs in a single vRack. This means that you can use each private IP up to 4000 times. Thus, for example, the IP 192.168.0.10 on VLAN 2, will be different than 192.168.0.10 on vLAN 42.

This can be useful for segmenting your vRack between multiple virtual networks.

From the OVHcloud API, you can customize the settings: IP range (e.g. 10.0.0.0/16), deployment zones, DHCP, Gateway, etc.

Once logged into the API, execute the calls the following in order:

Retrieving the required information

Public Cloud Project

vRack

Creating a private network

The creation will take a few minutes.

To verify the details of your VLANs, you can use the following API call:

Creating a subnet

By default, if you do not specify a subnet, the IP range used is the following:

10.0.0.0/16

If you want to manage the IP assignments yourself, you will need to create a subnet.

To do this, once the VLAN is created, you will need to create the subnet for each affected area using the following API call:

You can fill out the fields according to the following:

Step 4: Adding an instance to the vRack

Two situations may exist:

• The instance does not exist yet.
• The instance already exists and you must add it to the vRack.

In case of a new instance

Once connected to the API, execute the following commands in order.

Retrieving required information

Retrieving project ID:

Retrieving the public networkID (EXT-NET)

Retrieving the network ID from the private network (previously created vRack interface)

Retrieving the ID of the chosen instance type (flavorId)

Retrieving the ID of the chosen image (imageId)

Retrieving your OpenStack SSH Key ID (sshKeyId)

If you haven’t added an SSH key to your client space yet, you can do so through the following API:

Deploying the instance

Once all the elements necessary for the deployment are gathered, you can use the following call:

You will need to enter at least the following fields:

Once the call is executed, if all information is correctly filled in, the instance will be created with one or more network interfaces.

In case of an existing instance

If you need to integrate an existing instance into vRack, you will not be able to do so from your OVHcloud client space. To do this, you will have to go through Horizon, the OpenStack APIs, or the OVHcloud API.

The action will simply be to add a new network interface to your server, in addition to the existing one.

So, for example, if you have a public interface eth0, you will add the eth1 interface.

The steps below describe how to manage your instances’ network interfaces.

Retrieving required information

Retrieving project ID:

# Retrieving Instance ID:

Retrieving the public networkID (EXT-NET):

Retrieving the network ID from the private network (previously created vRack interface):

Adding an interface to your instance

Once all the necessary information is retrieved, you can use the following call:

You will need to enter at least the following fields:

Once the call is complete, if all information is correctly filled in, a new interface will be added to your instance.

Removing an interface from your instance

Once all the necessary information is retrieved, you can use the following call to remove an interface:

You will need to enter at least the following fields:

Go further

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