You can easily manage the basic networking elements of MAAS, including subnets, fabrics, VLANs, spaces, IP ranges, machine interfaces, and proxies.
This article will help you learn:
Feel free to review some of the theory first.
How to manage MAAS network elements
This section will show you:
How to enable network discovery
To enable network discovery:
Select Networking > Network discovery in the left navigation panel.
Select the Configuration tab at the top of the Network discovery panel.
In the Network discovery drop-down, select "Enabled".
Select Save to register your changes. To enable network discovery:
Click on "Canonical MAAS" at the top left of the screen.
Click on "Configuration".
In the drop-down labelled "Network discovery", choose "Enabled" or "Disabled".
How to toggle subnet management
To toggle subnet management:
Select Subnets from the left navigation panel.
Select the subnet you wish to change by clicking on its address.
Select Edit in the upper right of the Subnet summary panel.
Select Managed allocation to toggle between enabled and disabled.
Select Save to register your changes.
You can (re)enable subnet management at any time by checking Managed allocation.
How to access the main networking view
To access the main networking view, select Networking > Subnets.
This main view can also be filtered through the use of the 'Filters' drop-down.
How to display the subnet window
Selecting a subnet will display its detail screen.
How to view subnet utilisation
This section of the subnet page presents networking metrics.
How to manage static routes between subnets
To create a static route:
Select Networking > Subnets.
Select the Subnet you want to change by clicking on its IP address.
In the Subnet summary pane, scroll down to Add static route and select it.
Enter a Gateway IP address.
Select a Destination subnet from the drop-down.
Enter a routing Metric value, if desired.
Select Save to register your changes.
The reserved ranges section of the subnet screen contains information on defined IP ranges.
The "Used IP addresses" section displays hosts (including controllers) associated with the used addresses along with related bits of host information.
How to set up a bridge with MAAS
To configure a bridge with the MAAS UI:
Select Machines.
Select the machine you want to bridge.
Select Network.
Checkbox the network where you want to create the bridge.
Select Create bridge.
Fill in the bridge details in the form which appears.
Optionally include the bridge in the spanning tree protocol by selecting the slider under Advanced options.
Optionally set the Forward delay in milliseconds.
Select Save interface to register your changes.
You can then deploy machines using this bridge.
[note] You can create an "Open switch" bridge if desired, and MAAS will create the netplan model for you. [/note]
How to set up a bridge with netplan
To use netplan to configure a bridge:
Open your netplan configuration file. This should be in /etc/netplan. It could be called 50-cloud-init.yaml, netplan.yaml, or something else.
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
netplan apply.How to manage machine interfaces
This section will explain the following procedures related to machine interfaces:
How to edit machine interfaces
To edit a machine interface:
Select Machines.
Select the machine in question by clicking on its name.
Select Network.
Checkbox the interface in question.
Click the Actions drop-down at the right end of row for that interface.
Select Edit physical.
Change any of the desired parameters in the form which appears.
Select an IP mode.
Select Save interface to register your changes.
See the glossary for the definitions of reserved range types.
How to create a bond interface
Select more than one interface.
Select Create bond; the bond configuration pane will appear.
Rename the bond, if desired.
Select a bond mode:
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.
Assign a MAC address to the aggregate device.
Attach one or more Tags, if desired.
Select the Primary device.
Select Save to register your changes.
[note] The MAC address defaults to the MAC address of the primary interface. [/note]
How to create a bridge interface
To create a bridge interface:
Select Machines.
Select a machine.
Select Network.
Select an interface by choosing its checkbox.
Select Create bridge.
Optionally enter a unique Bridge name.
Choose a Bridge type.
Enter a valid MAC address.
Choose a Fabric.
Choose a VLAN.
Optionally choose a Subnet.
Optionally enter Tags.
Optionally turn on STP.
Register your new bridge by selecting Save interface.
An interface can only be deleted via the MAAS CLI. Choose the "CLI" drop-down above to see how.
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.
How to assign a network interface to a fabric
A network interface may be assigned to a fabric with the MAAS CLI only. Choose the "CLI" drop-down above to see how.
How to discover interface identifiers
Interface identifiers can only be discovered via the MAAS CLI. Choose the "CLI" drop-down above to see how.
How to create a VLAN interface
VLAN interfaces can only be created via the MAAS CLI. Select the "CLI" drop-down above to see how.
How to delete a VLAN interface
VLAN interfaces can only be deleted via the MAAS CLI. Select the "CLI" drop-down above to see how.
MAAS provides a way for its managed machines to use a proxy server when they need to access HTTP/HTTPS-based resources, such as the Ubuntu package archive.
There are three possible options:
Configuring a proxy with MAAS consists of enabling/disabling one of the above three options and enabling/disabling proxying on a specific subnet. This article will help you learn:
How to create an external proxy
In the web UI, visit the 'Settings' page and select the 'Network services' tab.
Modify the 'Proxy' section at the top, as desired:
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.
NOTE that the proxy service will still be running.
How to set up Network Time Protocol (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.
Setting an external NTP server
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 site by choosing the NTP server(s) and selecting the 'External Only' option. The region controller always uses an external site.
On the 'Settings' page, select the 'Network services' tab and scroll down to the 'NTP' section.
Enter the address of the desired NTP server.