Citrix SD-WAN

Deploy Citrix SD-WAN Standard Edition in OpenStack using CloudInit

March 12, 2021

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With 11.1.0 release, you can deploy Citrix SD-WAN Standard Edition (SE) in an OpenStack environment. For this, Citrix SD-WAN image must support config-drive functionality.

NOTE

Create Citrix image to support config-drive functionality.

Config-drive functionality supports the following parameter configuration to establish communication with Citrix Orchestrator via the management network:

Mgmt. ipv4 address
Mgmt. gateway
Name-server1
Name-server2
Serial number - Used for authentication and it must be reused for the new instance. Serial number passed in clouding must overwrite the autogenerated trial number in the VPX instance.

Note

To reuse the serial number, an init script is incorporated in SD-WAN that run on an OpenStack and change the serial number in /etc/default/family.

Orchestrator must have a unique serial number with SD-WAN appliances to work.

Cloudinit script supports contextualization for SD-WAN deployment in OpenStack with config-drive.

In the process of contextualization, the infrastructure makes the context available to the virtual machine and the virtual machine interprets the context. On contextualization, the virtual machine can start certain services, create users, or set networking and configuration parameters.

For an SD-WAN instance in OpenStack, the inputs needed for Management IP, DNS, and serial number from the users. The Cloudinit script parses these inputs and provision the instance with the given information.

While launching instances in an OpenStack cloud environment, Citrix SD-WAN appliance need to support two technologies that are User Data and CloudInit to support automated configuration of instances at boot time.

Perform the following steps to provisioning SD-WAN SE in an OpenStack environment:

Pre-requisites

Go to Images and click Create Image.

Create image

Image Name - Provide the image name.
Image Description – Add an image description.
File - Browse for the kvm.qcow2 image file from your local drive and select it.
Format – Select the QCOW2 – QEMU Emulator disk format from the drop-down list.

Click Create Image.

Both Network and network port must create initially and predefined. To create network port:

Select Networks under Network and go to Port tab.
Click Create Port and provide the necessary detail and click Create.

If you select Fixed IP Address, then you must provide the subnet IP address for the new port.

The port is created and as it is not attached to any device, the current status shows Detached.

Create OpenStack instance to enable config-drive and pass the user_data.
Log in to OpenStack and configure Instances.
Download the kvm.qcow2.gz file and untar it.
Go to Instances and click Launch Instance.

NOTE

You can go back to Instances and click Launch Instance or from the Images screen click Launch once the image is created.
Under the Details tab, provide the following information:
- Instance Name – Provide the host name for the instance.
- Description – Add description for the instance.
- Availability Zone – Select the availability zone from the drop-down list where you want to deploy the instance.
- Count – Enter the instance count. You can increase the count to create multiple instances with the same settings. Click Next.
In Source tab, select No under Create New Volume and clickNext. Instance source is the template used to create an instance.
Select Flavour for the instance and click Next. The flavour you select for an instance manages the amount of compute, storage, and memory capacity of the instance.

NOTE

The flavour you select must have enough resources allocated to support the type of instance you are trying to create. Flavours that do not provide enough resources for your instance are identified on the available table with a yellow warning icon.

Administrators are responsible for creating and managing flavours. Click the arrow (at the right side) to allocate.
Select the network and click Next. Networks provide the communication channels for instances.

NOTE

An Administrator is created the Provider networks and these networks are map to an existing physical network in the data center. Similarly Project networks are created by Users and these networks are fully isolated and are project-specific.
Select a network port for the instance and click Next. Network ports provide additional communication channels to the instances.

NOTE

You can select ports instead of networks or a mix of both.
Go to Configuration and click Choose file. Select the user_data file. You can view the Management IP, DNS, and Serial Number information in the user_data file.
Enable the Configuration Drive check box. By enabling the configuration drive you can put the user metadata inside the image.
Click Launch Instance.

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Deploy Citrix SD-WAN Standard Edition in OpenStack using CloudInit

March 12, 2021

Contributed by:

March 12, 2021

Contributed by:

Deploy Citrix SD-WAN Standard Edition in OpenStack using CloudInit

Pre-requisites

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