VMware Telco Cloud Automation provides custom workflows to reference external networks.

You can reference externally created networks when creating network functions. When instantiating a network function, use preinstantiated network workflows to map between the connection points and external network IDs. When network instantiation starts, the preinstantiated network workflow obtains the network information, which VMware Telco Cloud Automation uses for creating the virtual machines.

Ensure that the pre-instantiation workflow returns correct Network ID. Every unique network ,that is used as part of the VNF, must have a unique output at the pre-instantiation workflow.

The value of the Network ID (output field) must map to any of the following:

  • For VMware vSphere (vCenter) based Clouds

    • MoRef (Managed Object Reference ID) of a Standard Portgroup . For example: network-26.

    • MoRef (Managed Object Reference ID) of a Distributed Virtual Portgroup. For example: dvportgroup-39.

    • MoRef (Managed Object Reference ID) of a NSX-T segment within vCenter. For example: network-o45554.

  • For VMware Cloud Director (vCD) based Clouds

    • vCD UUID of a Routed Org VDC Network. For example: a36b7c8d-1a2a-477e-884b-44ac5b735f9b.

    • vCD UUID of a Direct Org VDC Network. For example: 3b77e367-fa9e-4eba-b590-765afc0bbec6.

    • vCD UUID of an Isolated Org VDC Network. For example: f978b866-395f-435a-940d-4f0b9e10b203.

  • For VMware Integrated OpenStack (VIO) based Clouds

    • UUID of Provider / Tenant network to which VMs will connect. For example: 46947191-e484-4dcc-adea-3b31a850a7d1.

For detailed procedure on network referencing and instantiation, see Instantiate a Virtual Network Function