Virtual Wire Setup and Use#
A virtual wire provides a tenant the ability to access a VLAN outside the VergeOS environment without going through routing steps.
Prerequisite Steps#
- Add the desired VLAN(s) to the appropriate switch ports so they are accessible to the nodes running the VergeOS environment.
- Determine whether the tenant will need access to a single VLAN or multiple VLANs. This will determine the virtual wire configuration.
Warning
VLANs 1 & 100-102 cannot be used in a virtual wire capacity. These VLANs are reserved for internal traffic. They can, however, be remapped to another VLAN for tenant consumption.
Info
If a tenant requires access to more than 1 or 2 VLANs, it is recommended to configure the virtual wire in Trunk Mode.
Creating a 1:1 Virtual Wire#
- Ensure the VLAN(s) have been created in the VergeOS UI. If not, follow the steps to create VLAN(s) here.
- From the Main Dashboard, select Networks in the left menu to open the Networks Dashboard.
- Select Virtual Wires in the left menu to view all virtual wires in the environment.
- Select New to create a new virtual wire.
- Enter the following settings:
Info
- The Network dropdown will list all networks inside the environment. Choose the network with the corresponding VLAN to pass into the tenant.
- The Destination Wire dropdown will automatically select Empty List if no unconnected virtual wires are detected.
- Leave the PVID field set to 1.
- Submit your changes and return to the virtual wires list view.
- Select New to create the second half of the virtual wire.
- Enter the following settings:
Info
- In the Network dropdown, select the tenant network that the VLAN will be passed to, typically named
tenant_'$TENANTNAME'
. - The Destination Wire dropdown will automatically select the other half of the virtual wire created earlier.
- Change the PVID field to the actual VLAN ID of the network being attached.
- Submit your changes.
- Navigate to the Networks Dashboard, select Networks, and apply the rules for the networks connected by the virtual wires.
Creating a Trunk Mode Virtual Wire#
Warning
To use Trunk Mode Virtual Wires, the corresponding "Physical Network" (tied to node NICs) must be set to bridge mode.
Warning
If the external network is in a VLAN and the physical NIC that the external network references is in bridge mode, trunking a virtual wire from the bridge will not work.
Setting a Physical Network to Bridge Mode#
- Navigate to Networks in the left menu to access the Networks Dashboard.
- Select Networks again to view all networks in the environment.
- Double-click the Physical Network (NIC) that the VLANs are trunked to on the physical switch. !!! info A "Physical Network" typically has "Switch" appended and represents a physical NIC on a node.
- Select Edit to enter the network configuration page.
- In the configuration page, enable Physical Bridged to activate Bridge Mode.
The "On Power Loss" setting can remain as Last State or Power On.
- Submit your changes.
- Reboot the necessary nodes for Bridge Mode to become active.
Configuring a Trunk Mode Virtual Wire#
- Ensure the "Physical Network" is set to Bridged Mode and is powered on.
- From the Main Dashboard, select Networks and then Virtual Wires.
- Select New to create the first half of the virtual wire.
- Enter the following settings:
Info
- Select the corresponding Physical Network in the Network dropdown.
- Set the PVID field to 0.
- Enter the allowed VLANs in the Allowed VLAN List, comma-delimited and with ranges as necessary.
- Submit your configuration.
- Select New to create the second half of the virtual wire.
- Enter the following settings:
Info
- Select the tenant network in the Network dropdown.
- Set the PVID field to 0.
- Enter the allowed VLANs in the Allowed VLAN List.
- Submit your changes.
- Apply the rules for the connected networks as described above.
Adding VLANs Inside the Tenant#
- Navigate to the tenant UI and log in.
- From the Main Dashboard, navigate to Networks, then select New External.
- Enter the following settings:
For the interface network, select Physical.
- Submit your configuration.
- Attach workloads to the network for Layer 2 access to networks outside of Verge.io.
Troubleshooting Steps#
Traffic is not reaching the virtual machine#
- Confirm firewall rules related to the virtual wire have been applied.
- Verify the destination tenant network and VLAN network are in the "Running" state and reside on the same physical node.
- Ensure VLANs are trunked to the correct physical node ports.
Document Information
- Last Updated: 2024-09-03
- VergeOS Version: 4.12.6