Contents

Overview·· 1

Preparing for installation· 2

SDN network requirements· 2

Server requirements· 2

Hardware requirements· 2

Software requirements· 3

Client requirements· 3

Pre-installation checklist 3

Deployment procedure at a glance· 4

Installing SNA Center 5

Deploying the controller 6

Preparing for deployment 6

Enabling NICs· 6

Planning the network· 6

Deploying the controller 8

Accessing the controller 12

Registering and installing licenses· 13

Registering and installing licenses for SNA Center 13

Registering and installing licenses for the controller 13

Installing the activation file on the license server 13

Obtaining licenses· 13

Backing up and restoring the controller configuration· 14

Upgrading the controller 15

Uninstalling the controller 16

Overview

Software-defined networking (SDN) is a new networking architecture that implements unified and flexible traffic management by separating the control plane and the forwarding plane. It offers a platform for core network and application innovations.

VCFC-DC is an H3C-proprietary SDN controller that provides a platform for users to develop and run SDN applications. The VCFC-DC controller can control the network resources on the SDN network and provide interfaces for applications to implement specific packet forwarding.

The controller has the following features:

·     It supports OpenFlow 1.3 and provides built-in services and device driver framework.

·     Provides a distributed platform with high availability and scalability.

·     Provides scalable management interfaces for REST API, GUI, and IMC.

·     Supports standalone mode and team mode.

Preparing for installation

SDN network requirements

Before you install the controller, plan your SDN network and configure the SDN switches that will be connected to the controller.

The controller can directly access and operate the forwarding plane of SDN switches to control packet forwarding on the SDN switches. The control packets between the controller and SDN switches are mainly defined by the OpenFlow protocol. The controller supports OpenFlow 1.3.

All SDN switches connected to a controller form a controller domain. When you plan and configure an SDN network, make sure no loops exist between the SDN switches inside and outside the domain to avoid broadcast storms.

Server requirements

Hardware requirements

Table 1 describes the hardware requirements for installing the controller on SNA Center..

Table 1 Hardware requirements

Software requirements

SNA Center must be deployed on the H3Linux operating system. This operating system is contained in the SNA_CENTER-PACKAGE-version.iso image with the installation packages of SNA Installer, SNA Center, and license server. You can install the operating system from this image file.

Client requirements

You can access SNA Center from a Web browser without installing any client. As a best practice, use a Google Chrome 60 or later Web browser.

Pre-installation checklist

Table 2 Pre-installation checklist

Deployment procedure at a glance

Use the following procedure to deploy the controller:

1.     Prepare for installation.

Prepare three physical servers. Make sure the physical servers meet the hardware and software requirements as described in "Server requirements."

2.     Deploy the H3Linux operating system and SNA Installer.

For the deployment procedure, see H3C SNA Center Installation and Component Deployment Guide.

3.     Install SNA Center.

For the SNA Center installation procedure, see H3C SNA Center Installation and Component Deployment Guide.

4.     Deploy the controller.

Installing SNA Center

The controller must be deployed on SNA Center. To deploy the controller, first install SNA Center. For the SNA Center installation procedure, see H3C SNA Center Installation and Component Deployment Guide.

Deploying the controller

Preparing for deployment

Enabling NICs

The procedure is the same for all NICs. The following procedure enables NIC ens34.

To enable a NIC:

1.     Access the server that hosts SNA Center.

2.     Access the NIC configuration file.

[root@sna001 /]# vi /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-ens34

3.     Set the BOOTPROTO field to none to not specify a boot-up protocol and set the ONBOOT field to yes to activate the NIC at system startup.

Figure 1 Modifying the configuration file of a NIC

4.     Execute the ifdown and ifup commands in sequence to reboot the NIC.

[root@sna001 /]# ifdown ens34

[root@sna001 /]# ifup ens34

5.     Execute the ifconfig command to verify that the NIC is in up state.

Planning the network

Network planning

You are required to plan for the Calico network, MACVLAN network, and OVS-DPDK network.

The Calico network is an internal network used for container interactions. The network segment of the Calico network is the IP address pool set for containers when the SNA Installer cluster is deployed. The default network segment is 177.177.0.0. You do not need to configure an address pool for the Calico network when installing and deploying the controller. The Calico network and MACVLAN network can use the same NIC.

Before deploying the controller, plan the address pools for the MACVLAN and OVS-DPDK networks in advance. Both networks are used as management networks. The MACVLAN network is the management network of the VCFC-DC and vDHCP components. The OVS-DPDK network is the management network of the vBGP component.

vBGP is an optional component. To not deploy vBGP, configure only the MACVLAN network as shown in Figure 2. To deploy vBGP, configure both MACVLAN and OVS-DPDK networks as shown in Figure 3.

Figure 2 Data center scenario

IP address planning

To calculate the IP addresses required for a MACVLAN or OVS-DPDK subnet.

1.     Use Table 4 as a best practice to calculate the number of IP addresses required for each component team.

Table 3 Number of IP addresses required for each component team

2.     Calculate the number of IP addresses required for the subnet.

For example, if the VCFC-DC controller team has 3 members, the vDHCP team has 2 members, and the vBGP team has 2 members, the number of required IP addresses is as follows: MACVLAN subnet: (1*3+1)+ (1*2+1) = 7.

Table 5 shows an example for IP address planning.

Table 4 IP address planning

Deploying the controller

1.     Log in to SNA Center. Click System > Settings.

2.     On the top navigation bar, click Components, and then select Components from the navigation pane.

3.     Click Upload to upload the installation package and then click Next.

4.     Select Cloud DC and then click Next. vBGP is not selected.

Figure 3 Selecting components

5.     Configure the MACVLAN network and add the uplink interfaces according to the network plan in "Planning the network."

If vBGP is not to be deployed, you only need to configure the MACVLAN network.

Figure 4 Configuring the MACVLAN network

6.     Bind networks to the components, assign IP address to the components, and then click Next.

Figure 5 Binding networks to components (1)

Figure 6 Binding networks to components (2)

7.     Verify the configuration and then click Deploy.

A component automatically obtains an IP address from the IP address pool of the subnet bound to it. To modify the IP address, click Modify and then specify another IP address for the component. The IP address specified must be in the IP address range of the subnet bound to the component.

Figure 7 Verifying the configuration (1)

Figure 8 Verifying the configuration (2)

8.     Click Deploy.

Figure 9 Components in deployment

Accessing the controller

The controller runs on SNA Center. To access the controller, first log in to SNA Center.

To log in to the controller:

1.     Enter the address for accessing SNA Center in the address bar and then press Enter.

By default, the login address is https://sna_center_ip_address:10443/portal. However, if you have specified the HTTP login protocol during the SNA Center deployment process, the login address is http://sna_center_ip_address:10080/portal.

¡     sna_center_ip_address represents the northbound virtual IP address of the SNA Installer cluster.

¡     10443 and 10080 are port numbers.

2.     Enter the username and password, and then click Log in.

The default username is admin and the default password is admin@123.

Figure 10 SNA Center login page

3.     On the SNA Center home page, click Application-Driven DataCenter.

Figure 11 SNA Center home page

 Registering and installing licenses

Registering and installing licenses for SNA Center

For the SNA Center license registration and installation procedure, see H3C SNA Center Installation and Components Deployment Guide.

Registering and installing licenses for the controller

After you install the controller, you can use its complete features and functions for a 180-day trial period. After the trial period expires, you must get the controller licensed.

Installing the activation file on the license server

For the activation file request and installation procedure, see H3C Software Products Remote Licensing Guide.

Obtaining licenses

1.     Log in to SNA Center and click Application-Driven DataCenter.

2.     Click Settings in the System area. From the navigation pane, select License.

3.     Configure the parameters for the license server as described in Table 11.

Table 5 License server parameters

4.     Click Connect to connect the controller to the license server.

The controller will automatically obtain licensing information after connecting to the license server.

Backing up and restoring the controller configuration

You can back up and restore the controller configuration on SNA Center. For the procedures, see H3C SNA Center Installation and Component Deployment Guide.

Upgrading the controller

The controller can be upgraded on SNA Center with the configuration retained.

To upgrade the controller:

1.     Log in to SNA Center. Click System > Settings.

2.     On the top navigation bar, click Components, and then select Components from the navigation pane.

3.     Click the right chevron button  for the controller to expand controller information, and then click the upgrade icon .

4.     Upload the installation package.

5.     Select the installation package and then click Deploy.

6.     If the upgrade fails, click Roll Back to roll back to the previous version.

Uninstalling the controller

1.     Log in to SNA Center. Click System > Settings.

2.     On the top navigation bar, click Components, and then select Components from the navigation pane.

3.     Select the controller and then click .