Using OpenStack Dashboard to manage Neutron networks

The OpenStack Dashboard has the ability to view, create, and edit Neutron networks, which makes managing complex software-defined networks much easier. Certain functions, such as creating shared networks and provider routers, require a user to be logged into the OpenStack Dashboard as a user with admin privileges, but any user can create private networks. To help with managing complex software-defined networks, the OpenStack Dashboard provides an automatically updating network topography.

Getting ready

Load a web browser, point it to our OpenStack Dashboard address at http://192.168.100.200/, and log in as a user, such as the demo user created in the Adding users to Keystone recipe of Chapter 1, Keystone – OpenStack Identity Service, with the password openstack.

How to do it...

In this section, we will learn the following topics:

  • Creating networks
  • Deleting networks
  • Viewing networks

Creating networks

To create a private network for a logged in user, carry out the following steps:

  1. To manage networks within our OpenStack Dashboard, select the Networks tab:
    Creating networks
  2. When this has been selected, we will be presented with a list of networks that we can assign to our instances:
    Creating networks
  3. To create a new network, click on the Create Network button.
  4. We are presented with a dialog box that first asks us to name our network:
    Creating networks
  5. After choosing a name and keeping the Admin State set to UP (which means our network will be on and available for instances to connect to), we then assign a subnet to it by selecting the Subnet tab:
    Creating networks
  6. After filling in details for our subnet, we select the Subnet Detail tab that allows us to configure details such as Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) range, Domain Name System (DNS), and any additional routes we want when a user chooses that network:
    Creating networks
  7. After filling in all the details, clicking on the Create button makes this network available to users of our tenant and returns us to the list of available networks:
    Creating networks

Deleting networks

To delete a private network for a logged in user, carry out the following steps:

  1. To manage networks within our OpenStack Dashboard, select the Network tab:
    Deleting networks
  2. When this has been selected, we will be presented with a list of networks that we can assign to our instances:
    Deleting networks
  3. To delete a network, select the checkbox next to the name of the network we want to delete, and then click on the Delete Networks button:
    Deleting networks
  4. We will be presented with a dialog box asking us to confirm the deletion:
    Deleting networks
  5. Clicking on the Delete Networks button will remove that network and return us to the list of available networks.

    Note

    You can only remove a network that has no instances attached to it. You will be warned that this isn't allowed if there are instances still attached to that network.

Viewing networks

The OpenStack Dashboard gives users and administrators the ability to view the topology of our environment. To view the topology, carry out the following steps:

  1. To manage networks within our OpenStack Dashboard, select the Network tab:
    Viewing networks
  2. Clicking on the Network Topology tab launches a rich interface that gives an overview of our networks and instances attached to them:
    Viewing networks
  3. From this interface, we can click on various parts of this interface such as the networks (which takes us to the manage network interface) and the instances (which takes us to the instances interface); we can also create new networks and routers, and launch new instances.

How it works...

The ability to view and edit Neutron networks is a feature introduced in the Grizzly release of OpenStack. Managing Neutron networks can be quite complicated, but having a visual aid such as the one provided by the OpenStack Dashboard makes this much easier.

As an administrator (a user with the admin role), you can create shared networks. The same process applies in the preceding recipes, but you are presented with an extra option to allow any created networks to be seen by all tenants.

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