Flow Network

A flow network is a dedicated network for port mirroring, and can be used to mirror the network traffic of a NIC remotely. A flow network cannot be used as other networks and cannot be used to create VM instances.

Create Flow Network

In the navigation pane of the ZStack Private Cloud UI, choose Network Service > Flow Network. On the Flow Network page, click Create Flow Network. On the displayed Create Flow Network page, set the following parameters:
  • Name: Enter a name for the flow network.
  • Description: Optional. Enter a description for the flow network.
  • L2 Network: Select an L2 network that corresponds to the flow network.
    Note: ZStack Private Cloud allows you to create multiple L3 networks by using an L2 network. However, we do not recommend to do so unless you have special business requirements.
    Click the Plus sign (⊕) under the L2 Network field. Then, the Select L2 Network page is displayed on the right. This page has the following two tabs:
    • Default: Display a list of L2 networks that do not have an L3 network attached in the current zone.
    • All: Display a list of all L2 networks in the current zone, including the L2 networks that have or not have an L3 network attached.
  • Add IP Range: Select a method to add an IP range. Options: IP range | CIDR.
    • If you select IP range, set the following parameters:
      • Start IP: Enter the start IP address, for example, 172.20.108.100.
      • End IP: Enter the end IP address, for example, 172.20.108.120
        Note: The IP range specified within the start IP address and end IP address cannot contain IP addresses of the link-local address (169.254.0.0/16).
        .
      • Netmask: Enter a netmask, for example, 255.255.0.0.
      • Gateway: Set a gateway, for example, 172.20.0.1.
    • If you select CIDR, set the following parameters:
      • CIDR: Enter a CIDR, for example, 192.168.1.1/24.
        Note: The IP range specified in the CIDR cannot contain IP addresses of the link-local address (169.254.0.0/16).
      • Gateway: Set a gateway, for example, 192.168.1.1.
        Note:
        • The first or last IP address in CIDR can be used as the gateway.
        • If not specified, the first IP address in the CIDR is used as the gateway by default.
As shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Create Flow Network




Flow Network Operations

You can perform the following operations on a flow network:
  • Create flow network: Create a new flow network.
  • Add IP range: Add a new IP range to the flow network.
  • Delete: Delete the flow network.
    Note: Deleting a flow network will also delete the port mirroring that is using this network.