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Creating and managing network routes in IBM Power Virtual Server workspaces

Creating and managing network routes in IBM Power Virtual Server workspaces

IBM Power Virtual Server in IBM data center

A network route is a defined path that data packets follow to travel from a source to a destination across a network. You can use the routes feature in the IBM® Power® Virtual Server to view implicit network routes and to create or manage static routes within your Power Virtual Server workspaces. Static routes are custom routes that control where the network packets are sent, depending on the destination Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR) and the specified next hop address. The next hop is the IP address to which you want to route the network packet.

With static routes, you can build an overlay network by using CIDRs that are not associated with subnets in your Power Virtual Server workspace to implement high availability (HA) and disaster recovery (DR) strategies. You can also view external network routes to identify which external destinations are accessible from your Power Virtual Server workspace.

The routes feature is available only on the PER-enabled Power Virtual Server workspaces. For more information, see Getting started with the Power Edge Router.

Creating static routes

To create a static route in your Power Virtual Server workspace, complete the following steps:

  1. Open the Power Virtual Server user interface in IBM Cloud.

  2. Click Workspaces in the left navigation menu.

  3. Select a workspace in which you want to create the static route. The "Workspace details" panel is displayed.

  4. Click View virtual servers.

  5. In the navigation pane, click Networking > Routes. The Routes page is displayed with a list of any existing static routes on the Static routes tab.

  6. Click Create static route to create a static route. The "Create static route" panel is displayed.

  7. Enter a name in the Name field.

  8. Optional: Enter user tags in the User tags (optional) field.

  9. Enter the destination IP address in the Destination field and the next hop IP address in the Next hop field.

  10. Set one of the following values for Advertise:

    • Enabled: Default. If Advertise is set to Enabled, the static route is advertised to the external connections.
    • Disabled: If Advertise is set to Disabled, the static route is not advertised to the external connections.

  11. Set one of the following values for Status:

    • Enabled: Default. If Status is set to Enabled, the static route is enabled within the network fabric.
    • Disabled: If Status is set to Disabled, the static route is disabled within the network fabric.

    If you set Status to Disabled, the static route is not advertised to the external connections, even if Advertise is set to Enabled.

  12. Click Create route.

The static route destination is currently limited to a single IP address (/32 CIDR) and must not overlap with the local subnet or any subnets that are derived from it.

The static route that you created is displayed on the Static routes tab. The State column indicates one of the following operational statuses of each static route:

  • Deployed: Indicates that the static route is active and the next hop IP address exists within a subnet that is defined in the Power Virtual Server workspace. Routes in the deployed state are advertised externally when Advertise is set to Enabled.

  • Defined: Indicates that the static route is configured but not yet deployed or active. A static route might be in the defined state when the specified next hop IP address does not currently exist in any subnet within the Power Virtual Server workspace.

    Routes in the defined state are not used for forwarding network traffic and are not advertised externally even if Advertise is set to Enabled. However, after a subnet that includes the next hop IP address is created, the static route automatically becomes active and the status changes to Deployed.

  • Disabled: Indicates that the static route is manually disabled by setting Status to Disabled. Routes in the disabled state are not used for forwarding traffic and are not advertised externally.

Modifying static routes

You can edit an existing static route to modify its name, destination IP address, next hop IP address, and the advertise and status options. To modify a static route in your Power Virtual Server workspace, complete the following steps:

  1. Open the Power Virtual Server user interface in IBM Cloud.
  2. Click Workspaces in the left navigation menu.
  3. Select a workspace in which you want to create the static route. The "Workspace details" panel is displayed.
  4. Click View virtual servers.
  5. In the navigation pane, click Networking > Routes. The Routes page is displayed with a list of any existing static routes on the Static routes tab.
  6. Click the overflow menu (icon with 3 vertical dots) on the static route entry that you want to modify and select Edit. The "Edit static route" panel is displayed.
  7. Modify the route details and click Edit route.

You can modify the static routes by using the GUI, API, CLI, and Terraform interfaces.

Deleting static routes

To delete a static route in your Power Virtual Server workspace, complete the following steps:

  1. Open the Power Virtual Server user interface in IBM Cloud.
  2. Click Workspaces in the left navigation menu.
  3. Select a workspace in which you want to create the static route. The "Workspace details" panel is displayed.
  4. Click View virtual servers.
  5. In the navigation pane, click Networking > Routes. The Routes page is displayed with a list of any existing static routes on the Static routes tab.
  6. Click the overflow menu (icon with 3 vertical dots) on the static route entry that you want to delete and select Delete. The "Delete static route" dialog is displayed.
  7. Click Delete to delete the static route.

You cannot recover a static route after it is deleted.

When you delete a workspace, all the static routes that were created within that workspace are also deleted.

Viewing external routes

The external routes tab displays all external networks and subnets with which your Power Virtual Server workspace can communicate through the connected infrastructure, such as IBM Cloud Transit Gateway. The external routes are learned from external sources, such as other Power Virtual Server workspaces, VPCs, or other on-premises networks. You can use the external routes information to identify the external destinations that are accessible from your Power Virtual Server workspace.

To view the external routes, complete the following steps:

  1. Open the Power Virtual Server user interface in IBM Cloud.
  2. Click Workspaces in the left navigation menu.
  3. Select a workspace in which you want to create the static route. The "Workspace details" panel is displayed.
  4. Click View virtual servers.
  5. In the navigation pane, click Networking > Routes. The Routes page is displayed with a list of any existing static routes on the Static routes tab.
  6. Click the External routes tab. The available external routes are displayed.