How to Create IP Address Pools for Logical Networks in VMM

Updated: May 13, 2016

Applies To: System Center 2012 SP1 - Virtual Machine Manager, System Center 2012 R2 Virtual Machine Manager, System Center 2012 - Virtual Machine Manager

You can use the following procedure to create a static IP address pool for a logical network in Virtual Machine Manager (VMM). With static IP address pools, IP address management for the virtual environment is brought within the scope of the VMM administrator.

Account requirements To complete this procedure, you must be a member of the Administrator or Delegated Administrator user role.

Before you begin this procedure, make sure that a logical network exists, ideally with one or more associated network sites (which are part of the logical network). The network sites must have at least one IP subnet or IP subnet/VLAN pair assigned. For more information about creating a network site, see How to Create a Logical Network in VMM. If you do not already have network sites defined, you can create a network site when you create the static IP address pool.

To create static IP address pools for logical networks

1. Open the Fabric workspace.

2. In the Fabric pane, expand Networking, and then click Logical Networks.

3. On the Home tab, in the Show group, click Fabric Resources.

4. In the Logical Networks and IP Pools pane, click the logical network where you want to create the IP pool.

   For example, click BACKEND.

5. On the Home tab, in the Create group, click Create IP Pool.

   The Create Static IP Address Pool Wizard opens.

6. On the Name page, do the following, and then click Next.

   1. Enter a name and optional description for the IP address pool.

   2. In the Logical network list, make sure that the correct logical network is selected.

   For example, enter the following name and description for the BACKEND logical network, and then click Next.

   Name:	BACKEND – Seattle IP pool
   Description:	IP addresses for internal application and database servers - Seattle

7. On the Network Site page, select an existing network site or create a new one. Alternatively, starting with VMM in System Center 2012 SP1, if you want to use multicasting or broadcasting, skip to the next numbered step.

   If you select Use an existing network site, select the network site and the IP subnet that you want to create the IP address pool from, and then click Next.

   Note

   You cannot change the virtual local area network (VLAN) or the assigned host groups for an existing network site from this page. If you try to change the host groups that can use the network site from this page, the value will revert to the original value when you continue to the next page of the wizard. To modify these values, you must modify the properties of the logical network. For more information, see How to Modify or Delete a Logical Network in VMM.

   If you select Create a network site, do the following, and then click Next:

   1. In the Network site name box, enter a name for the network site.

   2. In the IP subnet box, enter the IP subnet that you want to assign to the network site. Later in this procedure you can assign a range of IP addresses from the subnet to the pool. You must specify the IP subnet by using Classless Inter-Domain Router (CIDR) notation, for example 10.0.0.0/24.

   3. If you are using VLANs, in the VLAN box, enter the VLAN ID. A VLAN of 0 indicates to VMM not to use VLANs. In trunk mode, VLAN 0 indicates native VLAN.

   4. Under Host groups that can use this network site, select the check box next to each host group to which you want to make the network site and the associated logical network available.

8. Starting with VMM in System Center 2012 SP1, if you want to use multicasting or broadcasting, follow this step. Otherwise, skip to the next numbered step.

   Starting with System Center 2012 SP1, if the logical network on which you are creating the IP address pool is configured to use network virtualization, you can use this pool to support broadcasting or multicasting. To do this, on the Network Site page, click Create a multicast IP address pool, select the IP subnet that you want to use for multicasting or broadcasting, and then click Next. If you select this option, also see the requirements in “Creating an IP address pool to support multicasting or broadcasting” in Configuring Logical Networking in VMM Overview.

9. On the IP address range page, do the following, and then click Next:

   1. Under IP address range, enter the starting and ending IP addresses from the subnet that will make up the managed IP address pool. The beginning and ending IP address must be contained within the subnet.

      Note

      Be aware that you can create multiple IP address pools within a subnet. If you create multiple IP address pools within a subnet, the ranges cannot overlap.

      For example, add the following information for the BACKEND – Seattle network site, and then click Next.

      Starting IP address:	10.0.0.10
      Ending IP address:	10.0.0.99

      Tip

      The Total addresses field displays the total number of IP addresses in the specified IP address range.

   2. Under VIPs and reserved IP addresses, specify IP address ranges that you want to reserve, such as a range for load balancer virtual IP addresses (VIPs). The IP addresses that you want to reserve must fall within the IP address range that you specified in step 8a.

      For example, in the IP addresses reserved for creating load balancer VIPs box, enter the address range 10.0.0.25–10.0.0.35, and then click Next.

      Note

      During deployment of a service with a load-balanced service tier, VMM automatically assigns a virtual IP address to the load balancer from the reserved range of VIP addresses. After the DNS administrator registers the assigned VIP address in DNS, clients can access the service by connecting through its registered name in DNS.

10. Optionally, on the Gateway page, click Insert, and then specify one or more default gateway addresses and the metric. The default gateway address must fall within the same subnet range as the IP address pool. It does not have to be part of the IP address pool range.

    For example, enter the default gateway address 10.0.0.1, accept the default of Automatic as the metric, and then click Next.

    Note

    The metric is a value that is assigned to an IP route for a particular network interface that identifies the cost that is associated with using that route. If you use the automatic metric, the metric is automatically configured for local routes based on the link speed.

11. Optionally, on the DNS page, specify Domain Name System (DNS)-related information, such as the list of DNS servers and their order, the default DNS suffix for the connection, and the list of DNS search suffixes.

    Important

    For virtual machines that will join an Active Directory domain, we recommend that you use Group Policy to set the primary DNS suffix. This will ensure that when a Windows-based virtual machine is set to register its IP addresses with the primary DNS suffix, a Windows-based DNS server will register the IP address dynamically. Additionally, the use of Group Policy enables you to have an IP address pool that spans multiple domains. In this case, you would not want to specify a single primary DNS suffix.

    For example, enter the DNS server address 10.0.0.2, the connection-specific DNS suffix contoso.com, and then click Next.

12. Optionally, on the WINS page, click Insert, and then enter the IP address of a Windows Internet Name Service (WINS) server. You can also select the check box that indicates whether to enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP. Be aware that enabling NetBIOS over TCP/IP is not recommended if the address range consists of public IP addresses.

    For example, enter the WINS server address 10.0.0.3, and then click Next.

13. On the Summary page, confirm the settings, and then click Finish.

    The Jobs dialog box appears. Make sure that the job has a status of Completed, and then close the dialog box.

14. To verify that the IP address pool was created, in the Logical Networks and IP Pools pane, expand the logical network where you created the pool.

    The IP address pool appears under the logical network.

15. Optionally, repeat this procedure to add IP address pools for other logical networks.

    Note

    Throughout the example scenarios, the BACKEND logical network is used as an example. Therefore, the example IP addresses are provided only for the BACKEND logical network.

From time to time, you might need to release IP addresses that are in the pool but that are marked by VMM as “inactive.” Releasing them makes them available for reassignment. For more information, see How to Release Inactive IP or MAC Addresses in VMM.

As of System Center 2012 R2, after a virtual machine has been deployed in VMM, you can view the IP address or addresses assigned to that virtual machine. To do this, right-click the listing for the virtual machine, click Properties, click the Hardware Configuration tab, click the network adapter, and in the results pane, click the Connection details button.

How to Release Inactive IP or MAC Addresses in VMM
Configuring Logical Networking in VMM Overview
Configuring Networking in VMM
How to Create a Logical Network in VMM
How to Create IP Address Pools for VM Networks in VMM
How to Create Custom MAC Address Pools in VMM