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Megaport Documentation
Creating an MVE Manually

Creating an MVE Integrated with Aruba Manually

This topic describes how to manually create and configure a Megaport Virtual Edge (MVE) with Aruba EdgeConnect SD-WAN. Before you begin, you need user accounts with ordering permissions that provide access to the Megaport Portal and to Aruba.

For more information on setting up a Megaport account, see Creating an Account.

For more information on creating an MVE integrated with Aruba using a system tag, see Creating an MVE Using a System Tag.

Tip

Aruba provides documentation for their SD-WAN product, including Orchestrator and cloud connections, at Aruba (SilverPeak) Documentation Library.

Basic steps

This section provides an overview of the configuration steps in Aruba Orchestrator and the Megaport Portal. The basic steps are:

  • Obtain a license from Aruba.
  • Create the Aruba MVE in the Megaport Portal.
  • View the MVE public IP address assignment in the Megaport Portal.
  • Configure the Aruba EdgeConnect (EC-V) in Aruba Orchestrator.
  • Apply the license to the EC-V.

The next sections provide details.

Licensing

Before you create an MVE in the Megaport Portal, you need to buy a valid EdgeConnect SD-WAN license from Aruba. All licenses are managed by the Aruba Cloud Portal.

Creating an MVE in the Megaport Portal

Before you create an MVE in the Megaport Portal, you need to determine the best location - one that supports MVE and one that is in the most compatible metro area. You can connect multiple locations to an individual MVE. For location details, see Planning Your Deployment.

You can deploy multiple MVEs within the same metropolitan area for redundancy or capacity reasons.

To create an MVE

  1. In the Megaport Portal, go to the Services page.

  2. Click Create MVE.
    Create MVE button

  3. Select the MVE location.

    Select a location geographically close to your target branch and/or on-premises locations.

    The country you choose must be a market in which you have already registered.

    If you haven’t registered a billing market in the location where you will deploy the MVE, follow the procedure in Enabling Billing Markets.

    To search for your local market in the list, enter a country in the Country Filter or a metro region detail in the Search filter.

  4. Select a diversity zone.
    You can select either Red or Blue, or select Auto and have Megaport select the zone for you. The selected or allocated diversity zone will be displayed on the location details through the rest of the provisioning, and on the summary page at the end.
    For more information, see MCR and MVE Diversity.

    Select MVE location

  5. Click Next.

  6. Select Aruba EC-V and the software version.
    MVE requires Aruba Orchestrator version 9 or later. If you create an MVE with an earlier version of EC-V, you must immediately upgrade to version 9.

  7. Specify the MVE details:

    • MVE Name – Enter a name for the MVE that is easily identifiable, particularly if you plan on provisioning more than one. This name appears in the Megaport Portal.

    • Size – Select a size from the drop-down list. The list displays all sizes that match the CPU capacity at the selected location. The sizes support varying numbers of concurrent connections, and individual partner product metrics vary slightly. For sizing details, see Planning Your Deployment.

      Note

      Partner-managed accounts can associate a Partner Deal to a service with a minimum 12-month subscription. For more information, see Associating a Deal With a Service.

    • Service Level Reference (optional) – Specify a unique identifying number for the MVE 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.

    • Orchestrator Account Name – Enter the Account Name from Aruba Orchestrator. To view your Account Name, log in to Orchestrator and choose Orchestrator > Licensing | Cloud Portal.

    • Account Key – Enter the Account Key from Aruba Orchestrator. The key is linked to the Account Name. To view your Account Key, log in to Orchestrator and choose Orchestrator > Licensing | Cloud Portal. If a key isn’t visible in Orchestrator, click Generate Account Key.
      Account Name and Account Key

    • System Tag (optional) – Aruba Orchestrator System Tags and preconfiguration templates register the EC-V with the Cloud Portal and Orchestrator, and enable Orchestrator to automatically accept and configure newly discovered EC-V appliances. If you created a preconfiguration template in Orchestrator, enter the System Tag you specified here.

    • Virtual Interfaces (vNICs) – Each MVE is configured with one vNIC named Data Plane by default. To change the name, you can simply type over the Data Plane text.

      You can add a total of five vNICs to the MVE, including the one added by default. For more information, see Types of vNIC Connections.

      To add a vNIC:

      • Click + Add.

        Add vNIC

      • Enter a name for the vNIC.

        Add name for vNIC

      Note

      If you want to increase or decrease the number of vNICs on this MVE after it has been deployed, you will have to delete the entire MVE and recreate it. You can’t add or delete vNICs on a deployed MVE.

    • Minimum Term – Select No Minimum Term, 12 Months, 24 Months, or 36 Months. Longer terms result in a lower monthly rate. 12 Months is selected by default.
      For more information on contract terms, see MVE Pricing and Contract Terms.

      Note

      Partner and partner-managed accounts select MVE subscriptions instead of MVE contract terms.

    MVE details

  8. Click Next to view the Summary page.
    The monthly rate is based on location and size.
    MVE summary

  9. Confirm the configuration and pricing then click Add MVE.
    You are prompted to create a Megaport Internet connection. A Megaport Internet connection provides connectivity and allows MVE to register and communicate with the Aruba SD-WAN overlay network.
    Create Megaport Internet

To create the Megaport Internet connection

  1. Click Create Megaport Internet to proceed (recommended), or click Not now to provision internet access at a later time.

    Note

    MVE requires connectivity to the internet. You can either provision a Megaport Internet connection or provide your own internet access.

  2. Select the target Port (the internet router).
    The B-End of a Megaport Internet connection can be anywhere in the same country as the originating MVE.
    You can filter by diversity zone, or select to view all.

  3. Click Next.

  4. Specify the connection details:

    • Connection Name – The name of your Megaport Internet connection to be shown in the Megaport Portal.

    • Service Level Reference (optional) – Specify a unique identifying number for the Megaport Internet connection 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.

      Tip

      Use the same Service Level Reference numbers for the Megaport Internet connection and MVE to help identify the matching pair in your invoice.

    • Rate Limit – The speed of your connection in Mbps. The rate limit is adjustable from 20 Mbps to 10 Gbps in increments of 1 Mbps. You can change the speed as needed after you create the Megaport Internet connection. Monthly billing details appear based on location and rate limit.

    • VXC State – Select Enabled or Shut Down to define the initial state of the connection. For more information, see Shutting Down a VXC for Failover Testing.

      Note

      If you select Shut Down, traffic will not flow through this service and it will behave as if it was down on the Megaport network. Billing for this service will remain active and you will still be charged for this connection.

    • A-End vNIC – Specify a vNIC from the drop-down list. The list reflects the vNICs that you defined when you created the MVE.

    • Preferred A-End VLAN (optional) – Specify an unused VLAN ID for this connection.
      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 will assign one.

      Alternatively, you can click Untag. This selection removes the VLAN tagging for this connection and it will be configured without a VLAN ID.

    • Minimum Term – Select No Minimum Term, 12 Months, 24 Months, or 36 Months. Longer terms result in a lower monthly rate. 12 Months is selected by default.
      Take note of the information on the screen to avoid early termination fees (ETF). See Megaport Internet Pricing and Contract Terms and VXC, Megaport Internet, and IX Billing for more information.

    Megaport Internet connection details

  5. Click Next to proceed to the connection detail summary.

  6. Click Add VXC to order the connection.
    Configured services

  7. Click Order.
    Order services

  8. If you have a promotional code, click Add Promo Code, enter it, then click Add Code.

  9. Click Order Now.
    Order services

Ordering MVE provisions the appliance and assigns IP addresses from the Megaport SDN. The MVE provisioning takes only a few minutes to complete. The provisioning process spins up an Aruba EdgeConnect (EC-V).

Viewing the MVE

You can view the MVE in Orchestrator and the Megaport Portal.

Viewing in Orchestrator

The MVE is now managed via Aruba Orchestrator and you can view it in the list of Discovered Devices.

To view an MVE in Orchestrator

  1. Log in to Orchestrator.
  2. Choose Orchestrator > Configuration > Deployment.

  3. Click the Edit icon next to the appliance.

    MVE preconfiguration deployment

As you add to your network, you can clone and modify the template for reuse with other EC-V deployments, assigning each EC-V a unique system tag.

Viewing in the Megaport Portal

After creating the MVE, you can view it in the Megaport Portal on the Services page. You can also view the public IP addresses assigned.

To view an MVE in the Megaport Portal

  • Go to the Services page.

MVE and Megaport Internet connection in the Megaport Portal

The Megaport Internet icon differs from a standard VXC icon in the Megaport Portal, as shown in the image.

For more information on the Services page, see Understanding the Services Page.

Updating the Megaport Internet connection

  • Click the gear icon next to the Megaport Internet connection in the Megaport Portal to make changes.

    Updating icons

You can modify the Megaport Internet connection details including the connection name, rate limit, VLAN ID, invoice reference, connection state, and contract terms. Once submitted, those changes take effect in a few minutes.

To delete the Megaport Internet connection, click the trash icon. For more information, see Terminating a Megaport Internet Connection.

To lock or unlock the Megaport Internet connection, click the padlock icon.

To view the public IP addresses assigned to the MVE

  1. Click the gear icon Gear icon next to the Megaport Internet connection.
    The Connection Configuration screen appears. From here, you can modify any of the Megaport Internet connection details.
    Megaport Internet connection details
  2. Click the Details tab.
    Megaport Internet details
  3. Locate the public IP address (IPv4 or IPv6).
    These are the public IP addresses assigned to the MVE.

Approve and upgrade the MVE EC-V appliance

After you create the new EC-V appliance, it will be visible under Discovered Appliances in Aruba Orchestrator. Next, you will accept it as a new appliance and upgrade its software to version 9.1.0.0_91199.

To approve and upgrade the new EC-V appliance

Before Aruba Orchestrator adds the EC-V to its list of managed appliances, you need to manually approve it.

  1. Log in to your enterprise Aruba Orchestrator system.

  2. Choose Configuration > Discovery | Discovered Appliances or click Appliances Discovered on the upper right of the screen.
    You’ll see a new device awaiting approval.
    Discovered appliances

  3. Click Approve next to the new device.
    The Upgrade Appliance screen appears. MVE requires that you upgrade Aruba Orchestrator to a minimum of version 9 or later.
    Upgrade Appliance
  4. Choose a 9.x software version from the drop-down list that is compatible with your version of Orchestrator.
  5. Click Upgrade & Reboot Appliance.
    The upgrade and reboot process takes approximately 5 to 10 minutes.
  6. Click Close when the upgrade is complete.
  7. Click Refresh Discovery Information in the Discovered Devices screen to verify the new software version.
    Refresh Discovery Information
  8. Click Approve.
    The Upgrade Appliance screen shows that no upgrades are available, confirming that Orchestrator is up to date.
  9. Click Skip.
  10. Click Run Manual Configuration Wizard in the Apply Appliance Preconfiguration screen.
    You can also select a preconfiguration template, if available.
  11. Provide the appliance details:
    • Hostname – Megaport assigns a hostname by default, however this is a free text field allowing you to assign an easily identifiable name for this appliance.
    • Group – As required for your network, specify a group name for the appliance.
    • Admin Password – Specify and confirm a secure password.
    • Serial Number – This number is assigned by default.
      The rest of the fields are optional.
  12. Click Next.
    Appliance details
  13. Select a profile in the Deployment Profile drop-down list, or click Next to skip.
    Deployment profile
  14. (Optional) Click Add to add a loopback interface and IP address that meet your network requirements, or click Next.
    Loopback interface
  15. As required for your network, select Use SD-WAN Fabric Learned Routes and/or Automatically include local subnets and click Next.
    Add local routes
  16. As required for your network, select or deselect the appropriate options under Add Business Intent Overlays to this Site and Select Template Groups to be applied to this Site.
    Note that improper configuration of overlays and/or labels can result in Orchestrator communication errors. See the Aruba documentation for more information.
    Business Intent Overlays and Template Groups
  17. Click Apply.
    The Appliance Wizard applies the configuration updates to the MVE EC-V appliance.
    Applying configuration
  18. Click Close.

The appliance is now managed via Aruba Orchestrator and you can view it in the list of Discovered Devices.

Next steps

Now that you’ve deployed an MVE, the next step is to connect a VXC to a CSP, a local port, or a third-party network. You can optionally connect a physical Port to the MVE through a private VXC or connect to a service provider in the Megaport Marketplace.

Last update: 2024-04-15