How to Configure Network Settings on a Citrix XenServer Host

 

Updated: May 13, 2016

Applies To: System Center 2012 SP1 - Virtual Machine Manager, System Center 2012 R2 Virtual Machine Manager, System Center 2012 - Virtual Machine Manager

You can use the following procedures to configure network settings on a Citrix XenServer host in Virtual Machine Manager (VMM), and to view compliance information for physical network adapters on the host.

To make logical networks available to virtual machines on an external virtual network, you must configure virtual network settings and associate logical networks with the physical network adapter. Compliance information indicates whether all IP subnets and VLANs that are included in the network site that is associated with a logical network are assigned to the physical network adapter.

Prerequisites

Before you begin these procedures, make sure that the following prerequisites are met:

  • You must create external virtual networks through Citrix XenCenter. VMM recognizes and uses the existing external virtual networks for virtual machine deployment.

    Note

    VMM uses a single virtual switch to represent all XenServer switches with different VLAN IDs that are bound to a single physical network adapter.

  • In the VMM console, you must have already configured the logical networks that you want to associate with the physical network adapter. If the logical network has associated network sites, one or more of the network sites must be scoped to the host group where the XenServer host resides. For more information, see How to Create a Logical Network in VMM.

Note

By default, when you add a host to VMM management, VMM automatically creates logical networks on host physical network adapters that do not have logical networks defined. For a XenServer host, the default behavior is to create logical networks that match the virtual network switch name. For more information about the default behavior, see How to Configure Global Network Settings in VMM.

To associate logical networks with a physical network adapter (for an external virtual network)

  1. Open the Fabric workspace.

  2. In the Fabric pane, expand Servers, expand All Hosts, and then click the host group where the host resides.

  3. In the Hosts pane, click the XenServer host that you want to configure.

  4. On the Host tab, in the Properties group, click Properties.

  5. In the Host Name Properties dialog box, click the Hardware tab.

  6. Under Network Adapters, click the physical network adapter that you want to configure.

  7. Under Logical network connectivity, select the check box next to each logical network that you want to associate with the physical network adapter.

    Note

    Be aware that all logical networks are listed here; not just the logical networks that are available to the host group where the host resides.

    For example, if you configured the BACKEND logical network in the Preparing the Fabric in VMM section, and the BACKEND logical network is available to the host group where the host resides, select the check box next to BACKEND.

  8. To configure advanced settings, click Advanced. In the Advanced Network Adapter Properties dialog box, you can view and modify the IP subnets and VLANs that are available for a given logical network on the network adapter. By default, for a selected logical network, the IP subnets and VLANs that are scoped to the host group or inherited through the parent host group are assigned to the network adapter.

    Note

    If no IP subnets or VLANs appear in the Available or Assigned columns, this indicates that no network site exists for the selected logical network that is scoped to the host group or inherited by the host group. For more information about network sites, see How to Create a Logical Network in VMM and How to Modify or Delete a Logical Network in VMM.

    To modify the available IP subnets and VLANs, click a logical network in the Logical network list. Then, use the Add and Remove buttons to configure which IP subnets and VLANs are assigned to the adapter.

    Important

    Before you enable logical networks with VLANs (other than VLAN 0) on the network adapter, make sure that you have at least one other network adapter that is available for communication between the host and the VMM management server.

    In the Logical network list, if the Unassigned option is available, you can view any VLANs that the physical network adapter is connected to, but are not included in a network site. You can either remove these VLANs from the network adapter, or you can define them in a network site.

  9. When you are finished, click OK to apply any changes.

To verify or configure virtual networking settings

  1. Open the Fabric workspace.

  2. In the Fabric pane, expand Servers, expand All Hosts, and then click the host group where the host resides.

  3. In the Hosts pane, click the host on which you want to verify the virtual network settings.

  4. On the Host tab, in the Properties group, click Properties.

  5. In the Host Name Properties dialog box, click the Virtual Networks tab.

  6. Under Virtual Networking, do either of the following:

    • Click an external virtual network that you want to view the properties of. To verify the logical network settings, next to Logical network, verify that the logical networks that you associated with the physical network adapter in the previous procedure are listed.

    • Click Add to add a new private virtual network. In the Name box, enter a name for the virtual network or accept the default, enter an optional description, and then click OK.

      Note

      A private virtual network allows communication between virtual machines on the same host but not with the host or with external networks. A private virtual network does not have a virtual network adapter in the host operating system, nor is it bound to a physical network adapter. You can use a private virtual network when you want to isolate virtual machines from network traffic in the host operating system and in the external networks.

Tip

For a graphical overview of the networking configuration on a host, right-click the host, and then click View networking. Hover over an item to view additional information.

To view compliance information for a physical network adapter

  1. Open the Fabric workspace.

  2. In the Fabric pane, expand Networking, and then click Logical Networks.

  3. On the Home tab, in the Show group, click Hosts.

  4. In the Logical Network Information for Hosts pane, expand the host, and then click a physical network adapter.

  5. In the Compliance column, view the compliance status.

    • A value of Fully compliant indicates that all subnets and VLANs that are included in the network site are assigned to the network adapter.

    • A value of Partially compliant indicates that there is only a partial match between the IP subnets and VLANs that are included in the network site and what is assigned to the network adapter.

      In the details pane, the Logical network information section lists the assigned IP subnets and VLANs for the physical network adapter. If an adapter is partially compliant, you can view the reason why in the Compliance errors section.

    • A value of Non compliant indicates that there are no corresponding IP subnets and VLANs that are defined for the logical network that are assigned to the physical adapter.

See Also

Configuring Networking in VMM