Adapter Groups

An adapter group is a logical grouping of physical network adapters across your cluster. It provides the underlying connectivity that VM networks use. Because the group spans the whole cluster, you assign adapters to it on every hypervisor. You manage adapter groups from the Adapter Groups tab in the Gallium Console.

info

The cluster's infrastructure adapter group, which carries cluster communication and storage traffic, is configured during installation and is not managed from here. This page covers the adapter groups you create for virtual machine networking.

Create an Adapter Group

1. Open your Cluster deployment in the Gallium Console.
2. Select the Adapter Groups tab.
3. Click Create Adapter Group.
4. Enter a Name for the adapter group.
5. Click Create.

The adapter group is created with no adapters assigned. Before it can be used by networks, you need to assign physical adapters on each hypervisor in the cluster.

Assign Physical Adapters

An adapter group must have adapters assigned on every hypervisor in the cluster. The adapter group's detail page lists each hypervisor, and you edit the assigned adapters for each one from that list.

1. Click on the adapter group to open its detail page.
2. In the Network Adapters section, find the hypervisor you want to configure and click Add (or Edit if it already has adapters assigned).
3. The Console lists that hypervisor's physical adapters, each showing one of three statuses:
   • Assigned — Already part of this adapter group.
   • Unassigned — Available to be added.
   • In Use — Assigned to a different adapter group.
4. Click Add next to each unassigned adapter you want to include.
5. Click Submit to apply your changes.
6. Repeat for every hypervisor in the cluster.

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Assign adapters on every hypervisor in the cluster. A virtual machine can only use a network if the underlying adapter group has adapters assigned on the hypervisor where the VM is running.

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Assigning two adapters on a hypervisor provides active/failover redundancy. If the active adapter fails, traffic automatically switches to the second adapter.

To change the adapters on a hypervisor that already has some assigned, click Edit instead of Add. From there you can add or remove adapters using the same interface.

Rename an Adapter Group

1. Click on the adapter group to open its detail page.
2. Click Rename.
3. Enter the new name and click Submit.

Delete an Adapter Group

An adapter group can only be deleted if it has no networks associated with it.

warning

You must delete or move all networks from an adapter group before it can be deleted. See Networks.

1. Click on the adapter group to open its detail page.
2. In the Delete Adapter Group section, click Delete.
3. Type the adapter group name to confirm, then click Delete.