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Contents
Overview
This chapter contains the following sections:
- Information About vCloud Director
- Information About Network Segmentation Manager
- Information About How vCloud Director Creates Networks
Information About vCloud Director
VMware’s vCloud Director provides an abstraction layer that enables cloud service providers to provide an infrastructure as a service (IaaS) to various tenant organizations. vCloud Director also allows the tenant organizations to manage resources such as virtual data centers (vDCs), vApps, networks, and network pools
Cloud Resources in vCloud Director
vCloud Director includes the following cloud resources:
- Virtual data centers (vDCs)—Enables IT organizations to combine compute, storage, and networking resources to a vDC and deliver these resources to the users. There are two types of vDCs: provider vDCs and organization vDCs.
- Networks—Defines the boundaries and the respective service level for each function within a given cloud’s network architecture. vCloud Director supports three types of networks: external networks, organization networks, and vApp networks. These networks are created as port profiles on the Cisco Nexus 1000V.
- Network pools—Provides a mechanism for dynamic provisioning of networks within an organization vDC. The three different types of network pools are VLAN-backed, network isolation-backed, and port group-backed. All the types of network pools can be backed by using the Cisco Nexus 1000V.
See the Cisco Nexus 1000V and VMware Compatibility Information for information on the supported network pool in vCloud Director with Cisco Nexus 1000V.
See the VMware vCloud Director Administrator’s Guide and vCloud Director User’s Guide for more information about vCloud Director.
Information About Network Segmentation Manager
Cisco Network Segmentation Manager (NSM) integrates VMware's vCloud Director with Cisco Nexus 1000V for networking management. As the figure shows, NSM communicates with vShield Manager to integrate with the vCloud Director, enabling you to use the Cisco Nexus 1000V for backing all types of network pools supported by vCloud Director.
See the Cisco Nexus 1000V and VMware Compatibility Information for information on the supported network pool in vCloud Director with Cisco Nexus 1000V.
Information About How vCloud Director Creates Networks
The following figure shows the Cisco Nexus 1000V network topology with vCloud Director.
See the Cisco Nexus 1000V and VMware Compatibility Information for information on the version compatibility of the vCloud Director and vShield Manager for Cisco Nexus 1000V.
When a cloud administrator creates networks on demand within the vCloud Director, vShield Manager issues requests to NSM to create networks based on network pools in the vCloud Director. NSM exposes a set of APIs which enables vShield Manager to create a port profile on the Cisco Nexus 1000V.
The network administrator creates network segmentation policies that contain a tenant ID retrieved from vCloud Director, a backing type (Segmentation or VLAN), and a reference to a port profile that may contain policies for various Cisco Nexus 1000V features. These network segmentation policies are inherited on a port profile as a result of a network that is created in the vCloud Director. For more information on network segmentation policies, see Creating Network Segmentation Policies.
When networks are created in the vCloud Director, the tenant ID of the Organization and the relevant network pool parameters are sent to the vShield Manager. The vShield Manager then issues a request create networks to the Network Segmentation Manager comprising with these parameters and then, the appropriate network segmentation policy is applied.
