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    Rename Networks on XO Hosts

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Xen Orchestra
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    • BenjiReisB Offline
      BenjiReis Vates 🪐 XCP-ng Team
      last edited by

      Hi!

      In your Pool view there's a network tab where you can rename your networks by clicking on their name and enter a new one.

      Regards.

      G 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 3
      • G Offline
        guiltykeyboard @BenjiReis
        last edited by

        @BenjiReis Thanks! I was looking in host-view and couldn't find this.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
        • olivierlambertO Online
          olivierlambert Vates 🪐 Co-Founder CEO
          last edited by

          Remember a network is a pool wide object 🙂 That's why it's in Pool view 🙂

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • ForzaF Offline
            Forza
            last edited by

            Can we have a network name assigned to different pifs on different hosts?

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • olivierlambertO Online
              olivierlambert Vates 🪐 Co-Founder CEO
              last edited by

              @S-Pam not sure to get it. A network is a shared object between hosts in a pool (like a shared SR if you like).

              A network is connected to each host via a PIF (or a bond).

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              • ForzaF Offline
                Forza
                last edited by Forza

                What I mean is this:

                Host1:
                eth0: management
                eth1: lan
                eth2: dedicated application 1 (not available on host 2)
                eth3: dedicated application 2 (not available on host 2)

                Host2:
                eth0: management
                eth1: lan
                eth2: not-used
                eth3: local storage-network (not available on host 1)

                However, at the moment it is not possible to name the networks like that.

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                • olivierlambertO Online
                  olivierlambert Vates 🪐 Co-Founder CEO
                  last edited by

                  Because you are asking for an anti-pattern.

                  If a network is meant to be only available on one host, create an host internal network instead. It won't be attached to any real PIF, so you can name it as you like.

                  ForzaF 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                  • ForzaF Offline
                    Forza @olivierlambert
                    last edited by

                    Those applications need access to those physical networks.

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • olivierlambertO Online
                      olivierlambert Vates 🪐 Co-Founder CEO
                      last edited by olivierlambert

                      If you use a pool, it's for sharing a network and/or a storage.

                      If you don't want to share a network across PIFs between hosts, then don't use a pool 🙂

                      ForzaF 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • ForzaF Offline
                        Forza @olivierlambert
                        last edited by Forza

                        @olivierlambert said in Rename Networks on XO Hosts:

                        If you use a pool, it's for sharing a network and/or a storage.

                        If you don't want to share a network across PIFs between hosts, then don't use a pool 🙂

                        I get it. Though I would prefer not having to buy another server when I can run a VM. And in fact it works fine, just naming networks is a little odd at the moment.

                        What I would like to see is that networks can be connected to different physical nics on different hosts.

                        I.e. something like this:

                        Network Management:
                        Host 1: eth0
                        Host 2: eth1
                        Host 3: eth0
                        Host 4: eth4

                        Network Someother:
                        Host 1: eth1
                        Host 2: n/a
                        Host 3: eth1
                        Host 4: eth1

                        Network Another:
                        Host 1: eth2
                        Host 2: eth2
                        Host 3: eth2
                        Host 4: eth2

                        Then in the VM you can assign the "Network" as normal. If the VM is migrated to another host, then XCP-ng would choose the correct PIF/NIC. This can be an advantage where one or several hosts have extra NICs, maybe with higher speeds. But during migration (rolling upgrades, service, or whatnot), the VMs still work but with reduced performance when moved to another host.

                        Another example would be if we have a spare host off-site/another building where the network layout cannot be fully replicated as in the datacenter.

                        eda84dcd-ba54-419f-83a1-3b37bc62ae94-image.png

                        JoeyDee518J 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • olivierlambertO Online
                          olivierlambert Vates 🪐 Co-Founder CEO
                          last edited by

                          I have hard time to follow your idea, at least it's completely alien to the concept of pool. Maybe @fohdeesha can help in there.

                          fohdeeshaF 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • fohdeeshaF Offline
                            fohdeesha Vates 🪐 Pro Support Team @olivierlambert
                            last edited by

                            @olivierlambert I believe he means be able to rename / map a hosts physical interfaces to different namings. For instance on host 1, "network 0 / eth0" would be mapped to the physical eth0 interface, but on another host in the pool with a different NIC configuration, he could map the same pool "network 0 / eth0" to the server's physical eth1.

                            @S-Pam this certainly isn't currently supported, I believe it would take a lot of rewriting the network backend to make it possible.

                            ForzaF 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                            • ForzaF Offline
                              Forza @fohdeesha
                              last edited by

                              @fohdeesha Yes, you are right. That's what precisely what I meant.

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • JoeyDee518J Offline
                                JoeyDee518 @Forza
                                last edited by JoeyDee518

                                @s-pam said in Rename Networks on XO Hosts:

                                @olivierlambert said in Rename Networks on XO Hosts:

                                If you use a pool, it's for sharing a network and/or a storage.

                                If you don't want to share a network across PIFs between hosts, then don't use a pool 🙂

                                I get it. Though I would prefer not having to buy another server when I can run a VM. And in fact it works fine, just naming networks is a little odd at the moment.

                                What I would like to see is that networks can be connected to different physical nics on different hosts.

                                I.e. something like this:

                                Network Management:
                                Host 1: eth0
                                Host 2: eth1
                                Host 3: eth0
                                Host 4: eth4

                                Network Someother:
                                Host 1: eth1
                                Host 2: n/a
                                Host 3: eth1
                                Host 4: eth1

                                Network Another:
                                Host 1: eth2
                                Host 2: eth2
                                Host 3: eth2
                                Host 4: eth2

                                Then in the VM you can assign the "Network" as normal. If the VM is migrated to another host, then XCP-ng would choose the correct PIF/NIC. This can be an advantage where one or several hosts have extra NICs, maybe with higher speeds. But during migration (rolling upgrades, service, or whatnot), the VMs still work but with reduced performance when moved to another host.

                                Another example would be if we have a spare host off-site/another building where the network layout cannot be fully replicated as in the datacenter.

                                eda84dcd-ba54-419f-83a1-3b37bc62ae94-image.png

                                Did you ever find a solution to this? I'm literally trying to do the same thing because I have hosts with uneven numbers of NICs...

                                ForzaF 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • ForzaF Offline
                                  Forza @JoeyDee518
                                  last edited by

                                  @joeydee518 no.

                                  JoeyDee518J 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • JoeyDee518J Offline
                                    JoeyDee518 @Forza
                                    last edited by

                                    @s-pam Yikes, thanks for the reply!

                                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • olivierlambertO Online
                                      olivierlambert Vates 🪐 Co-Founder CEO
                                      last edited by

                                      Any idea @fohdeesha ?

                                      fohdeeshaF 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • fohdeeshaF Offline
                                        fohdeesha Vates 🪐 Pro Support Team @olivierlambert
                                        last edited by

                                        @olivierlambert like I said in my previous reply I believe this would take quite a bit of rewriting in XAPI to accommodate pools with mismatched hardware. The interface rename tool might work in the meantime? https://xcp-ng.org/docs/networking.html#renaming-nics

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                                        • ben20benB Offline
                                          ben20ben
                                          last edited by

                                          I came across this and the solution I upvoted i.e. renaming in pool view, works for me. However, I would like to +1 the idea @Forza put in his post. Cause organizing it all can get quite confusing. XOA being the excellent tool that it is, has this lacking.

                                          For those who come across this and feel discouraged? Do please mention your needs to the team here! They are VERY good at putting these kinds of things on the roadmap if there is a need/want for it!

                                          For myself, I use a spreadsheet to keep track of networks, hosts and pools. I do not rely on XOA alone. Which tbh is probably best practice anyway, in case a backup fails or the world blows up.

                                          👽

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