IP pools are a collection of available IP addresses used for dynamic IP assignment in databases. They facilitate efficient distribution and management of IP resources. A vSphere administrator is responsible for regulating database IP assignment.

IP Pool Capacity Planning

You must size the VMware Data Services Manager IP pool to support the permanent address requirements of the database clusters that are going to use it.

You must also consider the reserve capacity which is requred temporarily during cluster maintenance.

While a database cluster operates within a topology, it permanently requires one IP address for each node, as well as two additional cluster-level IP addresses for the database and control plane access. For example, a one-node cluster requires three IP addresses and a three-node cluster requires five IP addresses.

During maintenance operations such as database engine upgrades or changes to cluster topology, additional IP addresses are required. They serve to support the start of new nodes while the previous nodes are still running. The specific extent of such temporary address requirement depends on the number of parallel maintenance operations. For planning purposes, you can calculate the size of the pool based on a higher number of clusters. For example, to support 100 three-node clusters and allow for 10 of them to undergo simultaneous maintenance, you can size the IP pool to contain 110*5 IP addresses.

When an IP pool is exhausted you can no longer create new clusters that use this IP pool. Scaling or upgrading existing clusters might lead to database unavailability.

Configuring IP Pools

As a vSphere administrator, use the vSphere Client to create IP pools.

Procedure

  1. In the vSphere Client, navigate to vCenter Server, click the Configure tab, and click IP Pools under Data Services Manager.
    This action displays the IP Pools view that you use to create and manage the IP pools.
  2. Click Create.
    The Create IP Pool form opens.
  3. Enter appropriate parameters.
    Property Name Value
    IP Pool Name The name of the IP Pool.
    IP Ranges Comma separated IP ranges and addresses. IP addresses can be specified as individual IPs (10.10.10.10, 10.10.10.11, 10.10.10.12) or a range (10.10.10.10-10.10.10.12).
    Note: You cannot add a range of IP addresses that use a different gateway or subnet mask.
    Subnet Prefix CIDR prefix for this IP Pool.
    Gateway Gateway address for this IP Pool.
  4. Click Create.
    The new IP pool appears on the list of available IP pools. You can see its details by expanding it.

Results

You can later edit or delete an IP pool. When editing or deleting the IP pool, follow these guidelines:

  • You can edit or delete the IP pool that is not associated with any infrastructure policies.

  • If the IP pool is associated with the infrastructure policy, but is not used by a database, you can edit the IP pool, but you cannot delete it.

  • When the IP pool is associated with the infrastructure policy and is used by the database, you can only add new IP ranges to the pool, but you cannot change any other parameters. You cannot delete this type of IP pool.