Cloud-type IP resources in UCSD

[zaleski.krzysztof]

Hello,

I am trying to understand how network policy works regarding cloud-based type of resources. Dependency in UCSD looks like this (at least how I understand it):

- Virtual Data Center has the Network Policy assigned

- Network Policy has VM Networks assigned (VM's virtual interface)

- VM Network is assigned to Port Group (note 1)

- Port Group consists of a ESX's Port Group and Static IP Pool policy (Note 2)

Note 1: You can assign multiple Port Groups to the single VM interface - why whould you do that? how is port group choosen? randomly or you pick one during deployment? can it be assigned in some predictible way?

Note 2: You can assign multiple IP Pools to a single IP Pool Policy, but that I assume is for creating non-contiguous assignments within a single IP subnet assigne to the VLAN, or maybe I am wrong. If the idea is to assign another IP subnet, it somehow breaks the simplicity rule, and multiple IP subnets are assigned to the same VLAN.

The problem I am actually struggling with, is that when I assign the IP Pool to the Port Group, and that IP Pool gets out of resources (all IPs are used), how UCSD selects another Pool. I would like it to be transparent to the user, like in cloud? I can imagine, that the workflow can fail due to insufficient resources, so I know the IP Pool is full. But that's not how I want the cloud to work. I want to be able to assign additional resouerces, without asking the user to select another workflow or evenr Port Group, I want UCSD to select the resources dynamically, but in somehow predictible manner (if one IP Pool is full, select another one, but if the previous has freed resources, select the first one). Is UCSD capable of doing that by itself, or I have to create specific Custom Tasks and Workflows to manage such resources?

Cheers,

Krzysztof

[zaleski.krzysztof]

I did some additional tests, and it seems that IP management in UCSD is somehow incomplete or at least non-intuitive. First, if I create a Network Policy where I add an interface, to which I assign two Port Groups with dedicated IP Pool assigned to each, even if I check "Allow end user to choose portgroups", there is no option in the Workflow where I can allow users to choose that Port Group. There is of course an input or event a task, where I can select a Port Group, but the list consists of all available Port Groups in vCenter, and there is no direct relation to the Network Policy, it's just a list of VMware's Port Groups. The solution is to create two Network Policies, each with own interface, Port Group and IP Pool, and allow users to select that policy during workflow execution. However, if I want to assign IP address from selected Network Policy's IP Pool, there is no way to get that IP Pool ID inside the Workflow, and the task "Get Resolved IP Address From Pool" requires the IP Pool ID, nothing else.

So, how can I get the IP Pool ID from selected, by the user, Network Policy? Does this require a Custom Task? If so, does aonyone have an example? I went though UCSD Workflow Index page, but couldn't find any matching my case.

To sum up, I have two issues with IP management in UCSD. First, how to choose IP Pool/Port Group with free IP addresses, and second, how to get IP Pool ID from the Network Policy.