Introduction

Micron21’s mCloud network is designed to provide customers with high-performance, secure, and scalable networking solutions. From BGP support and software-defined networking (SDN) to advanced VPN connectivity and firewall services, mCloud enables businesses to tailor their cloud networking to their specific needs.

This article explores the core features of mCloud networking, ensuring that your cloud infrastructure is accessible, flexible, and secure.

mCloud BGP and Bring Your Own IPv4/IPv6 Address Space Support

Organizations with their own IPv4 and IPv6 address space can fully integrate with mCloud’s BGP support, allowing them to advertise their own AS through Micron21 via BGP or have Micron21 advertise their IP space via AS38880.

Key Features:

✔ Full BGP Support: Customers can advertise their own AS number using a hardware or virtual BGP-supported device.
✔ Colocation & Virtual Support: Hardware devices can be colocated in Micron21’s Tier IV data centre, or a virtual appliance can run within mCloud.
✔ DDoS Protection: All advertised IP addresses automatically receive Micron21’s base DDoS protection service (paid service, pricing based on routable IP ranges).

For pricing details, contact sales@micron21.com.

mCloud Software-Defined Networking (SDN)

mCloud provides advanced SDN capabilities, offering features such as:
✔ Distributed Firewall as a Service (FWaaS)
✔ Layer 4 Load Balancing
✔ Native IPsec VPN for Site-to-Site Connections
✔ Floating IPs for Dynamic Address Mapping

These services enable efficient traffic management, high availability, and enhanced security across cloud instances.

Distributed Firewall Service (FWaaS)

mCloud users gain access to a robust distributed firewall, fully integrated into OpenStack’s Neutron networking services. This approach filters traffic as close to the VM as possible, reducing network bottlenecks and avoiding single points of failure.

Key Features:

✔ Instance-Level Security: Security groups enforce stateful filtering directly at the VM level.
✔ Customizable Rules: Users can add, edit, or delete firewall rules based on protocol, source/destination IPs, and port ranges.
✔ Dynamic Security: Rules can be updated in real-time, ensuring adaptability to evolving security needs.

Distributed Layer 4 Load Balancer (LBaaS)

mCloud provides a built-in Distributed Layer 4 Load Balancer, ensuring scalable and fault-tolerant network operations.

Benefits:

✔ Protocol-Agnostic: Supports TCP and UDP traffic at the transport layer.
✔ Traffic Distribution: Dynamically distributes requests to backend VMs, ensuring reliability and reducing latency.
✔ Failover Mechanism: Redirects traffic to healthy instances in case of failure.

Layer 7 Advanced Enterprise Load Balancing

For customers requiring Advanced Layer 7 Load Balancing, mCloud supports dedicated A10 virtual appliances, providing enhanced routing, SSL offloading, and global server load balancing (GSLB).

Features & Benefits:

✔ Application-Aware Routing: Makes traffic decisions based on HTTPS headers, cookies, and application content.
✔ Advanced Health Checks: Verifies service availability at the application level.
✔ SSL Offloading: Frees up server resources, improving performance.
✔ Connection Persistence: Supports session stickiness using IP, cookies, or headers.
✔ Global Traffic Distribution: Routes traffic based on latency, geography, or server health (ideal for disaster recovery scenarios).

Licensing is based on total appliance throughput (Mbps).

IPsec mCloud VPN

Micron21’s IPsec VPN service provides secure and seamless connectivity between on-premises networks and mCloud instances.

Key Benefits:

✔ Encrypted Data Transmission: Ensures data confidentiality and integrity.
✔ Seamless Integration: Extend on-premises VPN solutions to access mCloud resources.
✔ Hardware VPN Support: Enables stable, high-performance connections with lower latency.
✔ M21 Direct Connect: Layer 2 interconnect service for private, dedicated connections to mCloud VDCs.

mCloud’s control panel allows easy VPN configuration and management, ensuring quick deployments and centralized network monitoring.

Making Your mCloud Services Accessible & Secure

Floating IPs & Virtual Routers

Floating IPs act as a bridge between private VMs and the internet, ensuring seamless external access while maintaining security.

✔ Flexible IP Assignment: Assign, remove, or move IPs without restarting VMs.
✔ Virtual Routers: Manage inbound/outbound data securely and efficiently.

VLAN Services in mCloud

Micron21 offers Private VLANs, External VLANs, and Public VLANs, providing complete control over internal and external cloud networking.

1. Private VLANs (VM-to-VM communication within mCloud)

✔ Internal VLAN: Secure communication between cloud instances without external exposure (included with all mCloud VDCs).
✔ External Private VLAN: Allows direct connectivity between mCloud and colocated/dedicated servers (paid service).

2. Public VLANs (Direct Public IP Addressing)

✔ Shared VLAN: Assigned public IPv4/IPv6 address within a shared range.
✔ Dedicated VLAN: Exclusive routable subnets for direct public access.
✔ Cisco AnyCast Gateway: Enables instant failover between physically diverse data centres.

3. Public VLAN with Advanced Hardware Firewall Filtering

For enhanced security, mCloud integrates Advanced Hardware Firewall Filtering via Juniper SRX clustered firewalls: ✔ Granular Traffic Control: Allows only approved traffic based on TCP/UDP ports and source locations.
✔ State-of-the-Art Security: Filters ingress and egress traffic to prevent unauthorized access.

Conclusion

Micron21’s mCloud network is engineered for flexibility, security, and high availability. With features like BGP support, SDN, load balancing, VPN connectivity, VLAN configurations, and advanced firewall filtering, mCloud enables seamless cloud networking tailored to enterprise needs.

For more details on custom networking solutions, contact sales@micron21.com.