XOA Host PIF management interface clarification

wilsonqanda

Hello All, Thanks first of all for helping.

I attach an example of the management interface and was wondering about the MODE. It seem XOA instance can connect to xcp-ng server as long as its on same DHCP network as the XCP-ng server and if the Mode is DHCP or Static. Also only the "management" PIF is able to get console display in XOA for vm or host. Is this normal or purposely done like that?

So if it is set to none does that mean the ssh, xoa connnection to that xcp-ng is disable. Is this how we would control access to xcp-ng instance from XOA or the network? There wasn't a good explanation on how None, DHCP, and Static work. But from testing my conclusion is None lock you out of the host on that PIF & vlan but if it is set to DHCP or Static you can access the host but only the one designated as "management" has xapi or console display access in XOA:

None: When the network mode is set to "None" for a PIF, it means that no network configuration is applied to that interface. This effectively disables network connectivity for the PIF. It is typically used when you want to temporarily or permanently disconnect a physical network interface from the host's networking infrastructure.

DHCP: When the network mode is set to "DHCP," the PIF is configured to obtain its network settings dynamically from a DHCP server. The host will send a DHCP request to the network, and if a DHCP server is present, it will assign an IP address, subnet mask, default gateway, and other necessary network parameters to the PIF. This mode is convenient if you have a DHCP server available and want the host to automatically obtain its network configuration.

Static: When the network mode is set to "Static," you manually configure the network settings for the PIF. This includes specifying the IP address, subnet mask, default gateway, DNS servers, and other relevant parameters. By using static configuration, you have full control over the network settings of the host. It is commonly used when you want to assign specific IP addresses or need to configure more complex networking setups, such as VLANs or bonding.

By selecting the appropriate network mode (None, DHCP, or Static) for a PIF in the host network section, you can control how the host obtains or sets its network configuration. The selection depends on your network environment, requirements, and the level of control you need over the host's networking behavior.

olivierlambert

"None" means your VMs can use this network, but you don't want the PIF to have any IP connectivity for the host (Dom0 to be more precise) itself. Eg: you have a public network on a specific network for your VMs, you won't configure any IP address on this physical address.

Remember: this is for your host/Dom0 to have an address, it makes sense for storage or management only. VMs can live on top of a network from a PIF without any IP configured in the Dom0.

wilsonqanda

Separate question I added eth2 back in but can't seem to change eth2 back to eth0 to keep consistency with all my other xcp-ng servers. Note this was after removing it from passthru to a vm.

I tried rebooting XOA & xcp-ng and this command and looking through it

nano /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/interface-rename.py

but could find the location to change eth2 to eth0...

wilsonqanda

@olivierlambert Thanks I see that clarifies things. Took me a while to realize that this is to change the management xcp-ng connection to the network and not the VMs.