How to connect MAAS networks

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Network discovery

Network discovery scans your environment to identify all connected devices, including non-deployable devices such as routers and switches. To enable or disable discovery:

  • In the MAAS 3.4 UI, select Networking > Network discovery > Configuration; in the Network discovery drop-down, choose “Enabled” or “Disabled”; Save your changes.

  • For all other MAAS UI versions, select Canonical MAAS > Configuration; in the Network discovery drop-down, choose “Enabled” or “Disabled”; Save your changes.

  • In the MAAS CLI, enter the following command:

    maas $PROFILE maas set-config name=network_discovery value="enabled"
    

Managed allocation

Allocation of IP addresses and subnet routes can be MAAS-managed or manual.

  • For the MAAS UI, choose Subnets > > Edit > Managed allocation > Save.

  • Using the CLI to toggle subnet management, enter this command, using the subnet ID in place of CIDR, if desired:

    maas $PROFILE subnet update $SUBNET_CIDR managed=false|true
    

Network panel (UI only)

In the MAAS UI, the network dashboard displays everything MAAS knows about its connected networks:

  • In the 3.4 UI, select Networking > Subnets to access the dashboard. This view can also be filtered with the ‘Filters’ drop-down.

  • For all other MAAS versions, select Subnets to access the dashboard. This view can also be filtered via the Group by drop-down.

While in the network panel:

  • Select a subnet to view its details.

  • Subnet utilisation figures are near the bottom.

  • Near the bottom of the Subnet summary, you can manage reserved IP ranges.

  • At the very bottom of the Subnet summary, you can track DHCP snippets and used IP addresses.

Static routes

You can create static IP routes as desired.

  • With the MAAS 3.4 UI, select Networking > Subnets > > Subnet summary > Add static route; enter a Gateway IP address, Destination subnet, and routing Metric. Don’t forget to Save.

  • Using the UI for all other MAAS versions, choose Add static route; enter a Gateway IP address, Destination subnet, and routine Metric; click ‘Add’ to activate the route. Routes can be edited and removed using the icons to the right of each entry.

  • With the CLI, it’s simple create a static route between two subnets:

    maas admin static-routes create source=$SOURCE_SUBNET destination=$DEST_SUBNET \
    gateway_ip=$GATEWAY_IP
    

Bridging

To configure a bridge with the MAAS UI, select Machines > machine > Network > hosting network > Create bridge > details > Save interface. You can then deploy machines using this bridge. Note that you can create an “Open switch” bridge if desired, and MAAS will create the netplan model for you.

You can also use the MAAS CLI/API to configure a bridge via the following procedure:

  1. Select the interface on which you wish to configure the bridge. This example uses the boot interface, since the boot interface must be connected to a MAAS controlled network – but any interface is allowed:

     INTERFACE_ID=$(maas $PROFILE machine read $SYSTEM_ID | jq .boot_interface.id)
    
  2. Create the bridge:

      BRIDGE_ID=$(maas $PROFILE interfaces create-bridge $SYSTEM_ID name=br0 parent=$INTERFACE_ID | jq .id)
    
  3. Select the subnet where you want the bridge (this should be a MAAS controlled subnet):

     SUBNET_ID=$(maas $PROFILE subnets read | jq -r '.[] | select(.cidr == "10.0.0.0/24" and .managed == true).id')
    
  4. Connect the bridge to the subnet:

       maas $PROFILE interface link-subnet $SYSTEM_ID $BRIDGE_ID subnet=$SUBNET_ID mode="STATIC" ip_address="10.0.0.101"
    

Bridging with Netplan

Building a bridge with netplan is independent of MAAS UI or CLI. You can configure a bridge like this:

  1. Open your netplan configuration file. This should be in /etc/netplan. It could be called 50-cloud-init.yaml, netplan.yaml, or something else.

  2. Modify the file to add a bridge, using the following example as a guide:

    network:
        bridges:
            br0:
                addresses:
                - 10.0.0.101/24
                gateway4: 10.0.0.1
                interfaces:
                - enp1s0
                mac address: 52:54:00:39:9d:f9
                mtu: 1500
                name servers:
                    addresses:
                    - 10.0.0.2
                    search:
                    - maas
                parameters:
                    forward-delay: 15
                    stp: false
        Ethernet's:
            enp1s0:
                match:
                    mac address: 52:54:00:39:9d:f9
                mtu: 1500
                set-name: enp1s0
            enp2s0:
                match:
                    mac address: 52:54:00:df:87:ac
                mtu: 1500
                set-name: enp2s0
            enp3s0:
                match:
                    mac address: 52:54:00:a7:ac:46
                mtu: 1500
                set-name: enp3s0
        version: 2
    
  3. Apply the new configuration with netplan apply.

Find fabric IDs (CLI)

You’ll need the “fabric ID” to manipulate some networking parameters in the CLI. To determine a fabric ID based on a subnet address:

```nohighlight
FABRIC_ID=$(maas $PROFILE subnet read $SUBNET_CIDR \
    | grep fabric | cut -d ' ' -f 10 | cut -d '"' -f 2)
```

This may come in handy when you need a fabric ID for other CLI calls.

Set the default gateway (CLI)

To set the default gateway for a subnet, just use this command:

maas $PROFILE subnet update $SUBNET_CIDR gateway_ip=$MY_GATEWAY

Set up DNS (CLI)

You can set the DNS server for a subnet very easily, with the CLI, like this:

maas $PROFILE subnet update $SUBNET_CIDR dns_servers=$MY_NAME SERVER

List subnets (CLI)

From time to time, you may want to view the list of available subnets. Do that with the following command:

maas admin subnets read | \
jq -r '(["FABRIC", "VLAN", "DHCP", "SUBNET"]
| (., map(length*"-"))),
(.[] | [.vlan.fabric, .vlan.name, .vlan.dhcp_on, .cidr])
| @tsv' \
| column -t

View subnet details (CLI)

Via the CLI, you can view the details of an individual subnet with the command:

maas $PROFILE subnet read $SUBNET_ID \
| jq -r '(["NAME","CIDR","GATEWAY","DNS","DISCOVERY","FABRIC","VLAN"]
| (., map(length*"-"))), ([.name,.cidr,.gateway_ip // "-", .allow_dns,.active_discovery,.vlan.name,.vlan.fabric]) | @tsv' | column -t

Look up the subnet ID like this:

maas $PROFILE subnets read \
| jq -r '(["NAME", "SUBNET_ID"]
| (., map(length*"-"))), (.[] | [.name, .id]) | @tsv' \
| column -t | grep $SUBNET_NAME

For example, using the “admin” profile with a subnet name containing “192.168.123,” find the subnet ID with this command:

maas admin subnets read \
| jq -r '(["NAME", "SUBNET_ID"]
| (., map(length*"-"))), (.[] | [.name, .id]) | @tsv' \
| column -t | grep 192.168.123

Edit machine interfaces

To edit a machine interface via the 3.4 UI, select Machines > machine > Network > interface > Actions > Edit physical > edit parameters > select IP mode > Save interface.

To edit a machine interface with the UI for all other MAAS versions, select Machines > machine > Interfaces > interface icon > Edit Physical > IP mode > Save.

To edit the IP assignment mode of a network interface with the CLI, perform the following steps:

  1. Find the interface ID and subnet link ID with the command:

    maas $PROFILE node read $SYSTEM_ID
    
  2. Unlink the old interface:

    maas $PROFILE interface unlink-subnet $SYSTEM_ID $INTERFACE_ID id=$SUBNET_LINK_ID
    
  3. Link the new interface:

    maas $PROFILE interface link-subnet $SYSTEM_ID $INTERFACE_ID mode=$IP_MODE subnet=$SUBNET_CIDR [$OPTIONS]
    

See the glossary for the definitions of reserved range types.

Create bonds

To create bonds with the MAAS UI, select more than one interface > Create bond > rename bond > select mode as follows:

  • balance-rr: Transmit packets in sequential order from the first available follower through to the last. This mode provides load balancing and fault tolerance.

  • active-backup: Only one follower in the bond is active. A different follower becomes active if, and only if, the active follower fails. The bond’s MAC address is externally visible on only one port (network adaptor) to avoid confusing the switch.

  • balance-xor: Transmit based on the selected transmit hash policy. The default policy is simple, which means that an XOR operation selects packages. This XOR compares the source MAC address and the resultant XOR between the destination MAC address, the packet type identifier, and the modulo follower count.

  • broadcast: Transmit everything on all follower interfaces. This mode provides fault tolerance.

  • 802.3ad: Creates aggregation groups that share the same speed and duplex settings. This mode utilises all followers in the active aggregation, following the IEEE 802.3ad specification.

  • balance-tlb: Adaptive transmit load balancing, channel bonding that does not require any special switch support.

  • balance-alb: Adaptive load balancing, includes balance-tlb plus receive load balancing (rlb) for IPV4 traffic. This mode does not require any special switch support. ARP negotiation achieves load balancing in this case.

Having selected a mode, to finish up, assign a MAC address > attach Tags > select Primary > Save.

The MAC address defaults to the MAC address of the primary interface.

To create a bond with the MAAS CLI, execute the following command:

maas $PROFILE interfaces create-bond $SYSTEM_ID name=$BOND_NAME \
parents=$IFACE1_ID mac_address=$MAC_ADDR \ 
parents=$IFACE2_ID bond_mode=$BOND_MODE \
bond_updelay=$BOND_UP bond_downdelay=$BOND_DOWN mtu=$MTU

Note that:

  • The parents parameters define which interfaces form the aggregate interface.

  • The bond_updelay and bond_downdelay parameters specify the number of milliseconds to wait before either enabling or disabling a follower after a failure has been detected.

  • There are a wide range of bond parameters you can choose when creating a bond:

Parameter Type and description
mac_address Optional string. MAC address of the interface.
tags Optional string. Tags for the interface.
vlan Optional string. VLAN the interface is connected to. If not provided then the interface is considered disconnected.
parents Required integer. Parent interface ids that make this bond.
bond_miimon Optional integer. The link monitoring frequency in milliseconds. (Default: 100).
bond_downdelay Optional integer. Specifies the time, in milliseconds, to wait before disabling a follower after a link failure has been detected.
bond_updelay Optional integer. Specifies the time, in milliseconds, to wait before enabling a follower after a link recovery has been detected.
bond_lacp_rate Optional string. Option specifying the rate at which to ask the link partner to transmit LACPDU packets in 802.3ad mode. Available options are fast or slow. (Default: slow).
bond_xmit_hash_policy Optional string. The transmit hash policy to use for follower selection in balance-xor, 802.3ad, and tlb modes. Possible values are: layer2, layer2+3, layer3+4, encap2+3, encap3+4. (Default: layer2)
bond_num_grat_arp Optional integer. The number of peer notifications (IPv4 ARP or IPv6 Neighbour Advertisements) to be issued after a failover. (Default: 1)
mtu Optional integer. Maximum transmission unit.
accept_ra Optional Boolean. Accept router advertisements. (IPv6 only)
autoconf Optional Boolean. Perform stateless autoconfiguration. (IPv6 only)
bond_mode Optional string. The operating mode of the bond. (Default: active-backup).
  • Supported bonding modes include:
Mode Behaviour
balance-rr: Transmit packets in sequential order from the first available follower through the last. This mode provides load balancing and fault tolerance.
active-backup Only one follower in the bond is active. A different follower becomes active if, and only if, the active follower fails. The bond’s MAC address is externally visible on only one port (network adaptor) to avoid confusing the switch.
balance-xor Transmit based on the selected transmit hash policy. The default policy is a simple [(source MAC address XOR’d with destination MAC address XOR packet type ID) modulo follower count].
broadcast Transmits everything on all follower interfaces. This mode provides fault tolerance.
802.3ad IEEE 802.3ad dynamic link aggregation. Creates aggregation groups that share the same speed and duplex settings. Uses all followers in the active aggregator according to the 802.3ad specification.
balance-tlb Adaptive transmit load balancing: channel bonding that does not require any special switch support.
balance-alb Adaptive load balancing: includes balance-tlb plus receive load balancing (rlb) for IPV4 traffic, and does not require any special switch support. The receive load balancing is achieved by ARP negotiation.

Create bridges

To create a bridge interface via the MAAS UI:

  1. Select Machines > machine > Network > interface > Create bridge.

  2. Define Bridge type, MAC address, Fabric, and VLAN.

  3. Optionally define Bridge name, Subnet, Tags and turn on STP.

  4. Register your new bridge by selecting Save interface.

To create a bridge interface with the CLI:

maas $PROFILE interfaces create-bridge $SYSTEM_ID name=$BRIDGE_NAME \
parent=$IFACE_ID

Use parent to define the primary interface used for the bridge:

maas admin interfaces create-bridge 4efwb4 name=bridged0 parent=4

The following parameters may be applied when creating a bridge:

  • name: Optional string. Name of the interface.

  • mac_address: Optional string. MAC address of the interface.

  • tags: Optional string. Tags for the interface.

  • vlan: Optional string. VLAN the interface is connected to.

  • parent: Optional integer. Parent interface id for this bridge interface.

  • bridge_type: Optional string. The type of bridge to create. Possible values are: standard, ovs.

  • bridge_stp: Optional Boolean. Turn spanning tree protocol on or off. (Default: False).

  • bridge_fd: Optional integer. Set bridge forward delay to time seconds. (Default: 15).

  • mtu: Optional integer. Maximum transmission unit.

  • accept_ra: Optional Boolean. Accept router advertisements. (IPv6 only)

  • autoconf: Optional Boolean. Perform stateless autoconfiguration. (IPv6 only)

Delete an interface (CLI)

Interfaces can only be deleted via the CLI. The “delete” command can be used to delete a bridge interface, a bond interface or a physical interface:

maas $PROFILE interface delete $SYSTEM_ID $IFACE_ID

For example:

maas admin interface delete 4efwb4 15

The following is output after the successful deletion of an interface:

Success.
Machine-readable output follows:

Note that while the label is presented, there is no machine-readable output expected after the successful execution of the delete command.

Assign an interface (CLI)

You can only assign an interface to a fabric with the MAAS CLI. This task is made easier with the aid of the jq utility. It filters the maas command (JSON formatted) output and prints it in the desired way, which allows you to view and compare data quickly. Go ahead and install it:

sudo apt install jq

In summary, MAAS assigns an interface to a fabric by assigning it to a VLAN. First, we need to gather various bits of data.

List some information on all machines:

maas $PROFILE machines read | jq ".[] | \
    {hostname:.hostname, system_id: .system_id, status:.status}" --compact-output

Example output:

{"hostname":"machine1","system_id":"dfgnnd","status":4}
{"hostname":"machine2","system_id":"bkaf6e","status":6}
{"hostname":"machine4","system_id":"63wqky","status":6}
{"hostname":"machine3","system_id":"qwkmar","status":4}

You can only edit an interface when the corresponding machine has a status of ‘Ready’. This state is numerically denoted by the integer ‘4’.

List some information for all interfaces on the machine in question (identified by its system id ‘dfgnnd’):

maas $PROFILE interfaces read dfgnnd | jq ".[] | \
    {id:.id, name:.name, mac:.mac_address, vid:.vlan.vid, fabric:.vlan.fabric}" --compact-output

Example output:

{"id":8,"name":"eth0","mac":"52:54:00:01:01:01","vid":0,"fabric":"fabric-1"}
{"id":9,"name":"eth1","mac":"52:54:00:01:01:02","vid":null,"fabric":null}

List some information for all fabrics:

maas $PROFILE fabrics read | jq ".[] | \
    {name:.name, vlans:.vlans[] | {id:.id, vid:.vid}}" --compact-output

Example output:

{"name":"fabric-0","vlans":{"id":5001,"vid":0}}
{"name":"fabric-1","vlans":{"id":5002,"vid":0}}
{"name":"fabric-2","vlans":{"id":5003,"vid":0}}

This example will show how to move interface ‘8’ (on machine ‘dfgnnd’) from ‘fabric-1’ to ‘fabric-0’. Based on the gathered information, this will consist of changing the interface’s VLAN from ‘5002’ to ‘5001’:

maas $PROFILE interface update dfgnnd 8 vlan=5001 >/dev/null

Verify the operation by relisting information for the machine’s interface:

maas $PROFILE interfaces read dfgnnd | jq ".[] | \
    {id:.id, name:.name, mac:.mac_address, vid:.vlan.vid, fabric:.vlan.fabric}" --compact-output

The output shows that the interface is now on fabric-0:

{"id":8,"name":"eth0","mac":"52:54:00:01:01:01","vid":0,"fabric":"fabric-0"}
{"id":9,"name":"eth1","mac":"52:54:00:01:01:02","vid":null,"fabric":null}

Discover identifiers (CLI)

Interface identifiers can only be discovered via the MAAS CLI. The MAAS CLI uses a numeric interface identifier for many interface operations. Use the following command to retrieve the identifier(s):

maas $PROFILE interfaces read $SYSTEM_ID

Look for either id or the number at the end of an interface’s resource URI, such as 15 in the following example output:

"id": 15,
"mac_address": "52:54:00:55:06:40",
...
"name": "ens9",
...
"resource_uri": "/MAAS/api/2.0/nodes/4efwb4/interfaces/15/"

Create VLANs (CLI)

VLAN interfaces can only be created via the MAAS CLI. To create a VLAN interface, use the following syntax:

maas $PROFILE vlans create $FABRIC_ID name=$NAME vid=$VLAN_ID

For example, the following command creates a VLAN called 'Storage network:

maas admin vlans create 0 name="Storage network" vid=100

The above command generates the following output:

Success.
Machine-readable output follows:
{
    "vid": 100,
    "mtu": 1500,
    "dhcp_on": false,
    "external_dhcp": null,
    "relay_vlan": null,
    "name": "Storage network",
    "space": "undefined",
    "fabric": "fabric-0",
    "id": 5004,
    "primary_rack": null,
    "fabric_id": 0,
    "secondary_rack": null,
    "resource_uri": "/MAAS/api/2.0/vlans/5004/"
}

Be aware that the $VLAN_ID parameter does not indicate a VLAN ID that corresponds to the VLAN tag. You must first create the VLAN and then associate it with the interface:

maas $PROFILE interfaces create-vlan $SYSTEM_ID vlan=$OUTPUT_VLAN_ID \
parent=$IFACE_ID

OUTPUT_VLAN_ID corresponds to the id value output when MAAS created the VLAN.

The following example contains values that correspond to the output above:

maas admin interfaces create-vlan 4efwb4 vlan=5004 parent=4

The above command generates the following output:

Success.
Machine-readable output follows:
{
    "tags": [],
    "type": "vlan",
    "enabled": true,
    "system_id": "4efwb4",
    "id": 21,
    "children": [],
    "mac_address": "52:54:00:eb:f2:29",
    "params": {},
    "vlan": {
        "vid": 100,
        "mtu": 1500,
        "dhcp_on": false,
        "external_dhcp": null,
        "relay_vlan": null,
        "id": 5004,
        "secondary_rack": null,
        "fabric_id": 0,
        "space": "undefined",
        "fabric": "fabric-0",
        "name": "Storage network",
        "primary_rack": null,
        "resource_uri": "/MAAS/api/2.0/vlans/5004/"
    },
    "parents": [
        "ens3"
    ],
    "effective_mtu": 1500,
    "links": [
        {
            "id": 55,
            "mode": "link_up"
        }
    ],
    "discovered": null,
    "name": "ens3.100",
    "resource_uri": "/MAAS/api/2.0/nodes/4efwb4/interfaces/21/"
}

Deleting VLANs (CLI)

VLAN interfaces can only be deleted via the MAAS CLI. The following command outlines the syntax required to delete a VLAN interface from the command line:

maas $PROFILE vlan delete $FABRIC__ID $VLAN_ID

Using the values from previous examples, you executed this step as follows:

maas admin vlan delete 0 100

Set up proxies

MAAS lets you set up a proxy for managed machines to access web resources. Your choices:

  1. Internal proxy (default)
  2. External proxy
  3. No proxy

Toggle these options and control proxy use by subnet. This section will show you how.

To toggle the proxy in the MAAS UI, go to Settings > Network services > Proxy, and choose:

  • To enable the internal proxy, ensure that the checkbox adjacent to ‘MAAS Built-in’ is selected. This internal proxy is the default configuration.

  • To enable an external proxy, activate the ‘External’ checkbox and use the new field that is displayed to define the proxy’s URL (and port if necessary).

  • An upstream cache peer can be defined by enabling the ‘Peer’ checkbox and entering the external proxy URL into the field. With this enabled, machines will be configured to use the MAAS built-in proxy to download cached APT packages.

  • To prevent MAAS machines from using a proxy, enable the ‘Don’t use a proxy’ checkbox.

You can also toggle proxies with the CLI. Enabling and disabling proxies in the CLI is done via a Boolean option (‘true’ or ‘false’). The following command will disable proxying completely:

maas $PROFILE maas set-config name=enable_http_proxy value=false

To set an external proxy, ensure proxying is enabled (see above) and then define it:

maas $PROFILE maas set-config name=http_proxy value=$EXTERNAL_PROXY

For example,

maas $PROFILE maas set-config name=enable_http_proxy value=true
maas $PROFILE maas set-config name=http_proxy value=http://squid.example.com:3128/

Enabling and disabling proxying per subnet is also done via a Boolean option (‘true’ or ‘false’). Here is how you can disable proxying on a per-subnet basis:

maas $PROFILE subnet update $SUBNET_CIDR allow_proxy=false

For example,

maas $PROFILE subnet update 192.168.0.0/22 allow_proxy=false

NOTE that the proxy service will still be running.

Sync time with NTP

MAAS provides managed NTP services (with Chrony^) for all region and rack controllers. This arrangement allows MAAS to both keep its controllers synchronised, and keep deployed machines synchronised as well. You can configure NTP on the ‘Network services’ tab of the ‘Settings’ page.

The region controller configures the NTP service to keep its time synchronised from one or more external sources. By default, the MAAS region controller uses ntp.ubuntu.com. Rack controllers also configure the NTP service, synchronising their time with the region controllers. Rack controllers also configure DHCP with the correct NTP information, so that the DHCP servers can manage the NTP clients for the rack. Any machine on the network that obtains a DHCP lease from MAAS will benefit from NTP support.

External NTP

External sites, such as an existing NTP infrastructure, can be used directly as a time source for both rack controllers and machines.

You can specify an external NTP site site with the MAAS UI by choosing the NTP server(s) and selecting the External Only option. To do so, go to Settings > Network services > NTP and enter the address of the desired NTP server.

Note that the region controller always uses an external site.

You can specify an external NTP server via the CLI, with two successive commands:

maas $PROFILE maas set-config name=ntp_servers value=$NTP_IP_ADDRESS

followed by:

maas admin maas set-config name=ntp_external_only value=true

This topic was automatically closed 365 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.

I’m not sure if this is the right place to ask for this. Would it be possible to have some documentation on managing network spaces in terms of VLANs and subnets, primarily with the web UI? In particular, how to set up multi-subnet spaces. Thank you!