5.5

Table Of Contents
Create a Network Pool
Network pools provide support for isolated and routed networks in organization VDCs. Although every
Provider VDC includes a VXLAN network pool that can support most networking use cases, a system
administrator can create other types of network pools if they are needed.
A network pool object represents a collection of vSphere network resources that are contained by a Provider
VDC and available to the organization VDCs backed by that Provider VDC. Traffic on each network in a
pool is isolated at layer 2 from all other networks.
Only a system administrator can create a network pool. A system administrator can modify a network pool
to change properties such as its description, but cannot change the network resources, such as virtual
switches or portgroups, that provide backing for it. After a network pool has been associated with an
organization VDC (typically when the VDC is created), network resources from the pool are consumed as
needed to create isolated or routed organization VDC networks or vApp networks in the VDC.
NOTE When you create a Provider VDC, a VxlanPoolType network pool is created automatically on the
vCenter server that backs the Provider VDC. This pool is given a name derived from the name of the
containing Provider VDC and attached to it at creation. You cannot delete or modify this network pool. You
cannot create aVxlanPoolType network pool by any other method. If you rename a Provider VDC, its
VxlanPoolType network pool is automatically renamed.
vSphere VXLAN networks are based on the IETF draft VXLAN standard. These networks support local-
domain isolation equivalent to what is supported by vSphere isolation-backed networks. In addition, they
provide:
n
logical networks spanning layer 3 boundaries
n
logical networks spanning multiple racks on a single layer 2
n
broadcast containment
n
higher performance
n
greater scale (up to 16 million network addresses)
All network pools are defined by a VMWNetworkPool element. The contents of this element depend on its type,
which is specified in its xsi:type attribute. The following values of xsi:type are supported for pools created
by a system administrator.
VlanPoolType
This pool type is based on ESXi VLANs on the vCenter server that backs the
Provider VDC, and is backed by a range of VLAN IDs.
FencePoolType
This pool type is backed by one or more vCenter isolated networks, and
provides traffic isolation from other hosts. The system provisions isolated
networks automatically. Before creating an isolation-backed network pool,
consider using the VXLAN pool that is created automatically when you
create a Provider vDC
PortGroupPoolType
This pool type is based on distributed port groups of a vSphere distributed
switch or third-party distributed switch on the vCenter server that backs the
Provider VDC.
Prerequisites
Verify that you are logged in to the vCloud API as a system administrator.
vCloud API Programming Guide
264 VMware, Inc.