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Megaport ONE Documentation
Azure MVE Connections

Creating an Azure Connection for an MVE with Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN

You can create a network connection from an MVE (an Aruba EdgeConnect) to Azure ExpressRoute with Virtual Cross Connections (VXCs). You can create either a private connection or a public (Microsoft) connection.

Important

Before you begin, create an MVE in Aruba Orchestrator. For details, see Creating an MVE.

There are three parts to adding an ExpressRoute connection to your MVE and Aruba SD-WAN.

  1. Set up your ExpressRoute plan and deploy the ExpressRoute circuit in the Azure console. When deployed, you get a service key. For additional details, see the Microsoft ExpressRoute documentation.

  2. In the Megaport ONE Portal, create a connection (VXC) from your MVE to your ExpressRoute location.

  3. In Aruba Orchestrator, add the ExpressRoute connection details to a LAN interface.

The instructions in this topic step through the second and third parts.

Note

MVE for Aruba SD-WAN requires configuration steps in both Orchestrator and the Megaport ONE Portal for all cloud connections.

Adding the ExpressRoute connection in the Megaport ONE Portal

To set up the ExpressRoute connection, you need to create the connection in the Megaport ONE Portal. If you haven’t already created an MVE, see Creating an MVE.

To create a connection to ExpressRoute from the Megaport ONE Portal

  1. In the Megaport ONE Portal, choose Networking > Services.
  2. Click the gear icon Gear icon next to the MVE you want to use.
  3. Select Add Connection.
    Add Connection
  4. Specify the General connection details:
    • Connection Type – Select Cloud VXC.
    • Cloud Provider – Select Microsoft Azure. New Connection
  5. Specify the Azure Configuration details:
    • Azure ExpressRoute Service Key – Add the ExpressRoute service key.
      The Portal verifies the key and then displays the available port locations based on the ExpressRoute region. For example, if your ExpressRoute service is deployed in the Australia East region in Sydney, you can select the Sydney targets.
    • Available Azure Ports – Select the connection point for your first connection. To deploy a second connection (and this is recommended), you can create a second VXC - enter the same service key and select the other connection target.
      Configuration details

  6. Specify the VXC Configuration details:

    • VXC Name – The name of your VXC to be shown in the Megaport ONE Portal.
    • Rate Limit – The speed of your connection in Mbps. The rate limit for the VXC will be capped at the maximum allowable based on the ExpressRoute service key.

    • A-End VLAN (optional) – Specify an unused VLAN ID for this connection (for ExpressRoute this is the S-Tag).
      This must be a unique VLAN ID on this MVE and can range from 2 to 4093. If you specify a VLAN ID that is already in use, the system displays the next available VLAN number. The VLAN ID must be unique to proceed with the order. If you don’t specify a value, Megaport ONE will assign one.

      Important

      If you do not enable this option, the VXC appears active but it does not recognize traffic.

    • Single Azure peering VLAN (optional) – This option provides a single tag VLAN solution. You configure peering in Azure with the MVE VLAN (A-End) and the peer VLAN set in Azure (B-End). Note, you can have only one peering type (Private or Microsoft) per VXC with this option. This value must match the A-End VLAN. To set up an inner VLAN and Q-n-Q, turn off this option.
      New Connection

  7. Specify the Billing Details:

    • Service Level Reference (optional) – Specify a unique identifying number for the VXC to be used for billing purposes, such as a cost center number or a unique customer ID. The service level reference number appears for each service under the Product section of the invoice. You can also edit this field for an existing service.

      Note

      Partner-managed accounts can apply a Partner Deal to a service.

    • Monthly Price – The monthly rate is based on location and size.

    • Promo Code – If you have a promotional code, enter it and click Add Code.

  8. Click Create Connection.

  9. Review the new configuration and pricing then click Confirm.

When the VXC configuration completes, the VXC status is green (Service Is Up).

New VXC

In the Azure Resource Management console, the provider status will be Provisioned.

Azure Provider Status

When provisioned, you need to configure peerings. You can configure private and Microsoft peering. Click the peer to configure and provide these details:

  • Peer ASN – Enter the ASN for the MVE.
  • IPv4 Subnets – From each of these subnets, MVE uses the first usable IP address and Microsoft uses the second usable IP for its router.
  • VLAN ID – Enter the A-End VLAN from the MVE. (Note, the VLAN ID in the Azure console can be different from the A-End VLAN.)
  • Shared Key (optional) – Enter an MD5 password for BGP.

Azure Peering Configuration

Adding the ExpressRoute connection to Aruba Orchestrator

After you create the connection from your MVE to Azure and set up the connection in the Azure console, you need to configure it in Aruba Orchestrator. This involves creating a LAN interface and configuring BGP settings, ASNs, VLANs, and MD5 values.

To add the Azure Cloud connection in Aruba Orchestrator

  1. Collect the connection details from the Azure console.
    Note the values for the Peer ASN, Shared Key, VLAN ID, and IPv4 Primary Subnet.

  2. Collect the connection details from the Megaport ONE Portal.
    Click the gear icon Gear icon for the Azure connection from your MVE, select Edit, and select the Details tab. Note the value for the A-End VLAN.

  3. Log in to Aruba Orchestrator.

  4. Go to Configuration > Networking | Deployment.

  5. Locate the appliance by the hostname and click the Edit (pencil) icon.

    Edit appliance

  6. If you do not have a wan0 LAN side interface: Click +Add next to LAN Interfaces and in the Interface dropdown menu, choose wan0.
    If you already have a wan0 LAN interface, click +IP to add a new configuration.

  7. In the VLAN field, enter the A-End VLAN for the Azure connection (found in the Megaport ONE Portal in Step 2).

  8. Optionally, select a preconfigured Label or select None.

  9. In the IP/Mask field, enter the IP address and mask for the MVE side of the Azure connection.
    This value is available in the Azure console. The IP addresses and CIDR appear in the IPv4 Primary Subnet field; MVE uses the first usable IP address and Azure uses the second usable IP for its router. For this field, enter the MVE (first usable) IP address.

  10. For the Next Hop, enter the IP address for the Azure side of the connection.
    From the IPv4 Primary Subnet field in the Azure console, use the second usable IP for the Azure router.

  11. Specify in and out bandwidth values.
    The bandwidth must be equal to or less than the MVE bandwidth limit.
    This image shows sample configuration values (in this example, the Azure interface is added by clicking the +IP link).

    Aruba LAN interface details

  12. Click Apply.

  13. If prompted, reboot the appliance.
    A reboot is required only when adding the first LAN interface, as the system switches the appliance from server mode to router mode.

After the device is reachable from Orchestrator, you can configure a BGP session.

  1. In Orchestrator, go to Configuration > Networking | Routing | BGP.
  2. Click the Edit (pencil) icon for the appliance.
  3. Move the slider to Enable BGP.

  4. Provide the Autonomous System Number.
    This is the Peer ASN (for the MVE), collected in Step 1.

  5. In the Router ID field, enter a system IP as required by your network design.
    You can use any IP address on the MVE, such as the loopback 0 IP specified during the initial acceptance of the appliance, the interface IP on the MVE side of the VXC, or the transit IP address.

    Aruba enable BGP

  6. In the BGP Peers section, click Add and provide the following information:

    • Peer IP – This is the Azure IP address. From the IPv4 Primary Subnet field in the Azure console, use the second usable IP for the Azure router.
    • Local Interface – Choose the associated LAN interface (the interface is in the format wan0+VLAN).
    • Peer ASN. Enter the Azure-side ASN of 12076. This is a fixed value, and appears in the connection details on the Azure console.
    • Peer Type - Choose Branch.
    • Enable MD5 Password - If required, select this and then enter and confirm your MD5 password.

    Add BGP peer for Aruba

  7. Click Add.

  8. Click Apply.

It takes several seconds for the configuration to be pushed to the appliance. Click the refresh icon to update the data from the appliance.

When successful, the Peer State indicates Established:

BGP peer state for Aruba

You can also check the BGP status for the connection in the Azure console and verify the BGP session is up.

Validating your Azure connection

You can review connection details, including the connection state, from the CLI with these commands:

  • show interface wan0.<subinterface id> – Displays configuration details and current status for the appliances.
  • show bgp neighbors or show bgp summary – Displays configuration details and current status for the BGP neighbors.

To start a CLI session from Orchestrator

  1. In Orchestrator, use the mouse to hover over the appliance and click the Appliance Menu icon to the right of the appliance name.
    BGP peer state for Aruba

  2. Choose CLI Session from the menu.
    BGP peer state for Aruba

  3. Enter enable mode to use the recommended CLI commands to display configuration details.

Last update: 2023-09-22