IMPORTANT: This article only applies to RackConnect customers that were upgraded from RackConnect 1.0!  If your RackConnect account was not originally configured with RackConnect 1.0 before being upgraded, then please disregard this article! 

What functionality do I have now that my RackConnect 1.0 configuration has been upgraded?

• You can now access the RackConnect Management Interface in the MyRackspace Portal to view and manage your RackConnect configurations and Network Policies.  Take advantage of this by logging into MyRackspace Portal, selecting "Network", and then selecting "RackConnect".  You can also navigate directly via this link: RackConnect Management Interface.
• Automation of your network device configuration when cloud servers are spun up in new huddles, including the addition of the VLAN and Gateway IP information associated with the new huddles.  When you spin up a Cloud Server, your network device will now be automatically updated.
• A RackConnect API, accessible from within each of your Cloud Servers, which provides basic details such as RackConnect automation status and Gateway IP.  Documentation of this API is available in the RackConnect API article.
• Improved automation responsiveness to cloud server events. This means that changes in your Cloud environment are picked up by RackConnect much faster, providing improved performance.
• This upgrade will enable you to use Next Generation Cloud Servers.

What's the difference between this upgrade and the full RackConnect 2.0 feature set?

There are 3 Automation Features that were not included in this original 1.0 upgrade that will complete the RackConnect 2.0 feature-set:

• Automatic assignment and provisioning of a public IP address, translated through your dedicated network device, per cloud server
• Automatic configuration of the cloud server network stack
• Configuration and ongoing management of the cloud server software firewall, including ACL management of cloud-specific traffic

The reason that these features were not included in this upgrade is because of their potential to disrupt functionality that many RackConnect 1.0 users have taken advantage of.  Due to the features that are not currently available to customers upgraded from 1.0, you will only be able to create the following types of Network Policies:

• Cloud to Dedicated
• Cloud to Internet

When and how can I opt-in to these features?

We anticipate that these features will be available on an opt-in basis in Q4 2012.  We will send you a communication once they are available and you will be able to request these features by contacting your Rackspace Support team.

How do I modify a cloud server’s network configuration for use with RackConnect?

After the upgrade, when you provision a new Cloud Server, you will need to do the following to configure the network:

Note: that the RackConnect Gateway IP will be automatically configured on your network device.

If you are creating a Windows Cloud Server, use the API (details below) to retrieve the appropriate gateway IP address for your server.  If you are creating a Linux Cloud Server, use the following modified network configuration script, which now includes functionality to contact the API and retrieve your Gateway IP.  Please select the version that matches your Cloud account's service level:

• Managed service level:
  rshybridnetworkconfig-managed-v2.sh
• Core service level:
  rshybridnetworkconfig-v2.sh

RS Hybrid Network Configuration script usage:

$ bash <filename>.sh 'REGION CODE'

# Region codes:
# LON = LON Region
# DFW = DFW Region
# ORD = ORD Region

Alternatively, you can use the API (details below) to retrieve the appropriate gateway IP address for your server.  Note that this gateway will be automatically configured on your network device, and a gateways.txt file is no longer needed to run the scripts.

What does the RackConnect API provide and how can I take advantage of it?

The RackConnect API provides a way for you to programmatically access certain read-only information about your Cloud Server and RackConnect configuration from within your Cloud Servers.  The API provides the following information:

1. When you are scripting or automating any post-server build server configuration tasks, you can query the API to learn when RackConnect automation has completed configuring your server, so that any tasks you wish to perform don't conflict with the automation being performed by RackConnect.
2. When you are setting up the network configuration manually on your Cloud Server (when the "Configure Network Stack" automation feature is disabled on your Cloud account) the API will return the Gateway IP address to be used as the default gateway on your Cloud Server, which you can then use to correctly configure the Cloud Server’s network stack.
3. When you wish to determine the specific actions the automation will take against one of your Cloud Servers you can view the status of each automation feature for a specific Cloud Server.

Full documenation about the RackConnect API can be found in the RackConnect API article.

Who can I contact if I have additional questions?

Please contact your Rackspace Support team with any additional questions.

IMPORTANT: This article only applies to RackConnect customers that were upgraded from RackConnect 1.0!  If your RackConnect account was not originally configured with RackConnect 1.0 before being upgraded, then please disregard this article!