Overview

This guide goes over the specifics of creating and managing Edge Routers in the NetFoundry Console. You may also go back to Create and Manage Your Network. 

 

Create Your Edge Router

To create your Edge Router, go to Network Settings → Edge Routers to get the process started. Click the blue plus-sign in the upper right corner to create a new Edge Router. 

On the 'Create a New Edge Router' screen, you'll see options for name, attributes, and hosting. A unique name is needed to create an Edge Router. Next, either select from your list of already created attributes, or create a new one. If you have service attributes already created, you'll need to click on the field to populate the list of attributes to choose from. When creating a new attribute, hit ENTER to populate the attribute. The Edge Router role attributes you assign here are potential matches for Edge Router Policies. A matching role attribute causes the matched policy to apply to this Edge Router.

 

NetFoundry-Hosted Edge Router

You will need at least one of these hosted Edge Routers, and preferably one per geography where you have an Endpoint or a Service. Hosted edge routers or customer hosted edge routers with link listeners form the fabric. 

 

After Selecting the CREATE button, the console will display the Manage Edge Routers list page.  The hosted Edge Router will be created automatically in the background and will show PROVISIONED status when completed.

Customer Edge Router:

For all network versions starting from 7.3.28, a router endpoint will be automatically created and registered for every customer edge router that is created and registered. This release was published on June 29th 2021. Select the customer hosted option under the edge router details window to create and host an edge router in your environment. 

 

 

After Selecting the CREATE button, the console will display the information page. Customer edge Routers are typically self-hosted. The easiest way to self-host is to launch or download our cloud gateway VM. The VM may be deployed by following the DOWNLOAD button and enrollment instructions will be made available via the VIEW (instructions) button. After enrollment, Console will show statuses PROVISIONED and REGISTERED.

If you plan on creating a publicly accessible customer hosted edge router (which becomes part of the fabric along with or without NF hosted edge routers), you should enable the link listener option when creating the router in the console:

Edge Router - Created and registered:

The corresponding endpoint is auto-created and provisioned on the same edge router

Note that this endpoint cannot be edited or deleted. You can also note that for the endpoint that's created, the App ID is ziti-router, and the endpoint type is Router.

Manage Your Edge Routers 

To manage your existing Edge Router, navigate to the Edge Routers page.  You can click on an Edge Router row to edit it or use the ellipsis menu at the end of each row to take actions on the individual Edge Router. Use the select bubbles in the first column of the table to select multiple Edge Routers for bulk delete.

When editing an existing Edge Router, the screen will look the same as the 'Create a New Edge Router' screen, except that you'll click 'Update' to finish editing your Edge Router, instead of create. 

Important:

If the IP address of the edge router interface is changed post the router registration, it is important to know that the router may not be able to connect to the controller and it is mandatory to re-register the Edge router.

To Re-Registration the ER click here

Firewall Requirements

• Most people will register the NetFoundry VM as an Edge Router. This is your "customer-hosted Edge Router": How to Register the NetFoundry VM
• Few people will bring their own Ziti router software or operating system or both. This is your "customer-installed Edge Router": How to Self-install an Edge Router