Introduction

In today’s digital landscape, businesses need their cloud-based applications to be accessible over the internet while ensuring robust security against unauthorized access. Micron21’s mCloud platform provides two key features to achieve this balance:
✔ Floating IPs
✔ Virtual Routers

These tools, easily managed through the mCloud portal, enhance both the accessibility and security of cloud services by supporting port forwarding and Network Address Translation (NAT).

Floating IPs: Connecting Private VMs to the Internet

By default, mCloud virtual machine (VM) instances are placed in a private network, ensuring security but preventing internet access. However, for public-facing services, businesses can use Floating IPs as a bridge between private VMs and the public internet.

Key Benefits of Floating IPs:

✔ Public Internet Access: Assign a Floating IP to provide external connectivity.
✔ Non-Disruptive Configuration: Assign/remove Floating IPs without restarting the VM.
✔ Flexibility: Move a Floating IP between instances as needed.

Virtual Routers: Managing Secure Traffic Flow

Virtual Routers act as traffic controllers for mCloud networks, ensuring secure and efficient data flow between private networks and the internet.

✔ Directs inbound and outbound traffic securely.
✔ Prevents unauthorized access to private resources.
✔ Easily configurable via the mCloud portal.

Private VLANs: Secure Internal Communication

Private VLANs (Virtual Local Area Networks) allow internal communication between VMs, ensuring secure data exchange within a controlled environment.

✔ Isolates internal traffic from external threats.
✔ Prevents unnecessary exposure to public networks.
✔ Ensures private VMs can communicate securely.

Types of Private VLANs in mCloud:

1. External Private VLAN (Paid Add-On)

✔ Provides a dedicated private VLAN that spans Micron21 infrastructure or connects different services.
✔ Enables direct communication with colocated/dedicated servers, firewalls, and switches.
✔ Supports Layer 2 point-to-point connections to office networks.

2. Internal Private VLAN (Included in mCloud VDC)

✔ Allows VM-to-VM communication within the mCloud environment.
✔ Is isolated from external networks, ensuring private, secure data transfer.
✔ Free with all mCloud Virtual Data Centres (VDCs).

Public Access VLAN: Direct Public IP Assignment

For applications requiring direct public IP access, Micron21 offers Public Access VLANs. These provide a directly assigned public IP address to VM network interfaces.

✔ Options for IPv4 & IPv6 assignment:

• Shared VLAN: Assigns a single /32 IPv4 or /128 IPv6 address.

• Dedicated VLAN: Provides a routable IPv4/IPv6 subnet within a dedicated VLAN.
  ✔ Cisco AnyCast Gateway: Ensures high availability by making public IPs accessible across multiple availability zones.
  ✔ Seamless Failover: Public IPs can instantly failover between physically diverse data centres.

Public Access VLAN with Advanced Hardware Firewall Filtering

To enhance security, businesses can combine Public Access VLANs with Advanced Hardware Firewall Filtering, leveraging Juniper SRX clustered hardware firewalls for strict access control.

✔ Ingress & Egress Filtering: Controls inbound and outbound traffic.
✔ Customized TCP/UDP Port Rules: Allows only authorized traffic.
✔ Prevents Unwanted Access: Blocks unauthorized connections while ensuring seamless access for approved users.

Conclusion

Micron21’s mCloud platform provides businesses with secure, scalable, and flexible networking options through Floating IPs, Virtual Routers, and VLAN services. Whether you need public access for cloud applications or private VLANs for secure internal networking, mCloud offers the tools to optimize accessibility while maintaining security.

For more information on configuring your mCloud network, contact sales@micron21.com.