How to use Private Networks with your Instances

Private Networks allow your Instances to communicate in an isolated and secure network without needing to be connected to the public Internet. Each Instance can be connected to one or several Private Networks, letting you build your own network topologies.

Private Networks are LAN-like layer 2 ethernet networks. A new network interface with a unique media access control address (MAC address) is configured on each Instance in a Private Network.

How to create a Private Network

1. Click Instances (A) in the Compute section of the side menu. The Instances page displays.
2. Click the Instance you want to add a Private Network to.
3. Click the Private Networks tab.

4. Click the Create a Private Network button (C). The creation wizard displays.
5. Select Create and attach a new Private Network
6. Enter a Name for your Private Network, or leave the randomly-generated name in place.
7. Click Create a Private Network to finish. Your Private Network is created. You are taken back to the Private Networks tab, where your new Private Network is now displayed in the list.

How to attach Instances to a Private Network

1. Navigate to the Private Networks tab (click Instances in the Compute section of the side menu, then click Private Networks)

2. Click the Private Network you want to add Instances to (A). Alternatively, click the … icon next to the Private Network in question and select More Info from the dropdown list (B).

   

   You are taken to the Overview page for that network.

   

3. Click the Instances tab (A).

4. Use the drop down menu to select an Instance to add to your Private Network (B), then click Add Instance.

   Note:

   Only Instances from the same Availability Zone as your Private Network will be available in the drop down menu.

   You are taken back to the Instance tab, where the Instance you just added displays in the list along with its associated MAC address.

How to detach Instances from a Private Network

1. Navigate to the Instances tab of the Private Network in question (see steps 1-3 above). The list of Instances attached to this Private Network displays.

   

2. Click the unlink button next to the Instance you wish to detach from the Private Network. A pop up displays, asking you to confirm.

3. Click Detach this Instance.

   You are taken back to the Instances tab, where the Instance you just detached is now removed from the list.

How to configure the Private Network interface on your Instances

Once you have added all the required Instances to a Private Network, you should configure the virtual network interface on each one.

1. Connect to the Instance using SSH.

2. Find the virtual interface corresponding to the Private Network using the ip link show command:

   root@virtual-instance:~# ip link show
   1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN mode DEFAULT group default qlen 1000
       link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
   2: ens2: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc fq_codel state UP mode DEFAULT group default qlen 1000
       link/ether de:1c:94:64:20:44 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
   3: ens5: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc fq_codel state UP mode DEFAULT group default qlen 1000
       link/ether 02:00:00:00:1a:ae brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ffCopy

   The Private Network interface can be identified by its associated MAC address, which always begins with 02:00:00:xx:yy:zz.

   Note:

   The network interface names may be different, depending on the operating system and the release you use.

3. For convenience, give a more significant name (e.g. priv0) to the Private Network interface. Configure the new interface name as follows:

   root@virtual-instance:~# ip link set down dev ens5
   root@virtual-instance:~# ip link set name priv0 dev ens5
   root@virtual-instance:~# ip link set up dev priv0Copy

4. Make these changes persistent at reboot to ensure the Private Networks interface always gets the same name based on its MAC address. This is done by adding the following rule to the /etc/udev/rules.d/75-persistent-net-generator.rules file:

   SUBSYSTEM=="net", ACTION=="add", DRIVERS=="?*", ATTR{address}=="02:00:00:00:1a:ae", NAME="priv0"Copy

   Note:

   If you want to attach a server to multiple Private Networks, create a rule for each network by replacing the MAC address and the interface name priv0 by priv1, priv2 and so on.

How to configure the Private Networks IP address

Once you have brought up the Private Network via the previous steps, you need to configure its IP address. The steps required to configure the IP address change depending on your Linux distribution:

IP Configuration on Debian & Ubuntu (up to 16.04) Distributions

1. On one of the Instances attached to the Private Network, open the file /etc/network/interfaces in a text editor and add an interface configuration for the Private Network interface (called priv0) as follows:

   # interfaces(5) file used by ifup(8) and ifdown(8)
   # from Scaleway
   # The loopback network interface
   auto lo
   iface lo inet loopback
   # Network configuration for Private Network "pvn-hungry-albattani":
   auto priv0
   iface priv0 inet static
           address 192.168.42.2
           netmask 255.255.255.0
   # Include all other interfaces from /etc/network/interfaces.d:
   source /etc/network/interfaces.d/*.cfgCopy

   In this example the IP subnet 192.168.42.0/24 is being used. The IP address of the Instance is set to 192.168.42.2 and the corresponding netmaks is configured as 255.255.255.0.

   Once the interface is configured, save the file and exit the text editor.

2. Restart the network service using the following command to bring the configured network up:

   root@virtual-instance:~# systemctl restart network.serviceCopy

3. Repeat these steps on the other Instances attached to the Private Network.

IP Configuration on Ubuntu (18.04 and 20.04) Distributions using Netplan

1. To configure a static IP address on the Private Network interface (previously named priv0), open the Netplan configuration file and configure the interface as follows:

   Note:

   The location of the Netplan configuration file varies depending on the Ubuntu release:

   • Ubuntu 20.04: /etc/netplan/00-installer-config.yaml
   • Ubuntu 18.04: /etc/netplan/01-netcfg.yaml

   network:
     version: 2
     renderer: networkd
     ethernets:
       priv0:
         addresses: [192.168.42.2/24]Copy

   In this example the IP subnet 192.168.42.0/24 is being used.

   Once the interface is configured, save the file and exit the editor.

2. Bring the interface up using the command netplan apply.

3. Repeat these steps on the other Instances that will communicate within the Private Network.

IP Configuration on CentOS

1. Open the file /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-priv0 (replace priv0 with the name of the private interface) and configure the virtual network interface as follows:

   DEVICE=priv0
   BOOTPROTO=none
   ONBOOT=yes
   USERCTL=no
   IPV6INIT=no
   TYPE=Ethernet
   # configure the IPADDR and NETMASK towards the parameters of your Private Network
   NETMASK=255.255.255.0
   IPADDR=192.168.43.4
   ARP=yes
   # replace HWADDR with the MAC address assoicated to the interface
   HWADDR=02:00:00:00:1a:aeCopy

   In this example the IP subnet 192.168.42.0/24 is being used. The interface uses the MAC address (02:00:00:00:1a:b0) assigned to the Instance as it was attached to the Private Network.

   Once the interface is configured, save the file and exit the text editor.

2. Restart the network service to bring the configured interface up:

   • On CentOS 7 use the following command:

   root@virtual-instance:~# systemctl restart network.serviceCopy

   • On CentOS 8 use the following command:

   root@virtual-instance:~# systemctl restart NetworkManager.serviceCopy

3. Repeat these steps on the other Instances that will communicate within the Private Network.

How to test your Private Network configuration

After you followed the steps above, you can test the connection between the Instances.

Enter the ping command, pinging the relevant IP address for your Instances/Private Network.

root@virtual-instance:~# ping 192.168.42.3
PING 192.168.42.3 (192.168.42.3): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 192.168.42.3: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=0.824 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.42.3: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=1.180 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.42.3: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=0.852 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.42.3: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=0.871 ms
--- 192.168.42.3 ping statistics ---
4 packets transmitted, 4 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 0.824/0.932/1.180/0.144 msCopy

When configured properly, the Instance should reply to the ping command. The Private Network is working and you can start to configure your services.

How to delete a Private Network

1. Navigate to the Private Networks tab (click Instances in the Compute section of the side menu, then click Private Networks)

2. Click … next to the Private Network you wish to delete, and select Delete. A pop up displays asking you to confirm the action

   

3. Confirm by typing DELETE in the box, and clicking Delete this Private Network

   You are taken back to the Private Networks tab, where the network you just deleted no longer displays.