Aviatrix Sandbox Starter Tool - Spin up Cloud Networks in Minutes
Introduction
Aviatrix Sandbox Starter Tool (SST) is a community-based and community-supported tool that deploys a small test/lab cloud network environment in minutes.
This SaaS like lightweight automation tool first deploys an Aviatrix Controller in AWS. Once the Controller is up, the tool uses Terraform to create Aviatrix transit (Hub and Spoke) topology in AWS.
Two EC2 test instances will be deployed with proper connectivity, that can be used to run test cases, POC or SRE work using the Aviatrix platform with simplicity, automation, visibility, and control.
The tool also has an option to automatically build a network in Azure and join clouds together. Additional use-cases can then be added directly from Controller UI or Terraform following step by step tool user guide.
SST itself can be deployed using three different options
This document uses the Cloud AMI Option#1 to deploy the SST and Cloud Networks.
Cost
The cost estimation is based on standard and current price modeling from AWS and Azure. Depending on your enterprise or partner agreement, reserved instance, and CSP credits, you could be paying around $0.56 cents per hour or even less than that in AWS.
For a detailed cost breakdown, please click here.
Before You Begin
- You must have AWS Access Key ID and Secret Access Key
- Create EC2 Key Pair name for AWS Ohio and N. Virginia regions
- Subscribe to Aviatrix metered software from AWS Marketplace
Note:
This tool works the best for a brand new Aviatrix Controller deployment. If you previously deployed Aviatrix Controller, make sure Aviatrix EC2 roles and policies are deleted.
Launch Sandbox Starter AWS EC2 Instance
You can deploy this tool in any AWS region. Make sure you have a proper EIP and VPC quota for your region. In our example, we will be deploying the Sandbox Starter tool in the N. Virginia region (us-east-1).
- Click here for the N. Virginia region EC2 setting
- Click here to search for the Sandbox Starter Public AMI under the Images section and select the latest Sandbox Starter AMI
- Click the Launch button and select t3.micro instance size
- Click Configure Instance Details and provide the following information. Leave everything else as default
- Network: Select the default VPC.
- Subnet: Select the public subnet
- Auto-assign Public IP: Enable
- Click Add Storage button. Do not change anything here
- Click Add Tags. Do not change anything here
- Click Configure Security Group
- Create a new security group with the following information
- Security Group Name: Aviatrix_Sandbox_Starter_SG
- Delete the SSH TCP 22 rule and add a new HTTPS TCP 443 rule as shown in the following screenshot
- Ignore the warning
- Review and launch now
- Select the Key Pair and Launch
- Click on the instance ID to show the details and copy the Public IPv4 address
- Once the instance "Running", browse to https://<Public IPv4 address>
- In our example it is https://54.173.15.154/
- The tool uses a self-signed certificate
- Accept the warning and proceed
- If using Chrome and you get a connection error message, you can bypass that by clicking anywhere and typing thisisunsafe
You should see the "Aviatrix Sandbox Starter" user interface (UI) now.
Standard Mode Wizard with AWS
Standard is the recommended workflow. This will deploy the controller and topology in the regions specified in the diagram.
Provide AWS Credentials
You can get the Access Key under the "Security Credential" area in AWS console. If you don't have one, you should create one.
Launch the Controller in AWS
Notes
- It is recommended to provide a corporate email address to request for Aviatrix CoPilot test license
- In the future, we might add the option to launch Controller in other Clouds
Launch Global Transit (Hub) and two Spokes in AWS
Launch Test EC2 instances
Test EC2 (Amazon Linux VMs) will be launched in their respective Spoke VPCs
Provide an Existing Key Pair Name
This must be configured in your AWS account in us-east-2 (Ohio) region as per-requisite. You will need this Key Pair to login to test EC2 instances to verify the end-to-end connectivity.
Select No for "Launch Aviatrix Transit in Azure"
Success Message
Upon success, you will receive the necessary public and private IP addresses. The entire process should take somewhere between 22-30 minutes.
Now you can log in to Aviatrix Controller UI by clicking the controller URL. The user name is admin and the password is the one you selected earlier in the process.
Experience the Platform and Deploy Use Cases
Follow the instructions in the Test Plan to experience the Aviatrix Multi-Cloud platform and deploy recommended use-case.
- Aviatrix CoPilot - Advance visibility, monitoring, and Observability
- Multi-Account / Multi-Region Capabilities for AWS, Azure, GCP, and OCI
- FlightPath - Transit (Hub-Spoke) architecture advance verification
- Packet Capture - Troubleshooting
- Network Validation - Application Availability
- Create Multi-Region VPC
- Track Rogue VPC using VPC Tracker - Compliance
- Egress FQDN Filtering - Secure Egress Traffic
- User / Client VPN - Policy-Based Access for Employees, Developers, and Partners
Besides that, users are highly encouraged to deploy more use-cases based on their needs and requirement by following the official documentation at https://docs.aviatrix.com
Standard Mode Deployment with AWS and Azure
Azure deployment is optional. You must have an Azure subscription and related information if you are planning on extending the network in Azure.
For Sandbox deployment both in AWS and Azure, follow the video here
Advance Mode Wizard
Advance mode is for users who would want to change the region, naming convention, and subnet scheme.
Provide AWS Credentials
Before launching the controller, you can change the region and subnet details as shown in the following screenshot
Notes
- It is recommended to provide a corporate email address to request for Aviatrix CoPilot test license
- In the future, we might add the option to launch Controller in other Clouds
Launch Global Transit (Hub) and two Spokes in AWS
Launch Aviatrix Global Transit (Hub) and two Spokes in the AWS region as per your requirement
Launch Test EC2 instances
Test EC2 (Amazon Linux VMs) will be launched in their respective Spoke VPCs
Provide an Existing Key Pair Name
This must be configured in your AWS account in us-east-2 (Ohio) region as per-requisite. You will need this Key Pair to login to test EC2 instances to verify the end-to-end connectivity.
This concludes the deployment in AWS. Optionally you can also deploy Aviatrix Transit network in Azure and provide connectivity between AWS and Azure clouds.
Launch Aviatrix Transit in Azure
Connect AWS and Azure with a Single Click
Success Screen
You should log in to the Controller IP address and start testing.
Detailed Cost Breakdown
| Description |
Unit Cost |
Quantity |
Hourly Cost |
Cost for 8 hours |
Cost for 24 hours |
| Aviatrix Controller in AWS (t3.large) |
$0.09 |
1 |
$0.09 |
-- |
-- |
| Aviatrix Gateway in AWS (t2.micro) |
$0.01 |
3 |
$0.03 |
-- |
-- |
| Test instances in AWS (t2.micro) |
$0.01 |
2 |
$0.02 |
-- |
-- |
| Aviatrix Encrypted Peering (AWS) |
$0.21 |
2 |
$0.42 |
-- |
-- |
| Cost for resources deployed by Wizard Tool (including minimal network egress charges) |
-- |
-- |
$0.56 |
$4.48 |
$13.44 |
Note
- The estimated cost is around 0.56 cents per hour in AWS
- If you extend the network in Azure, then add $1.09/hour to the cost
- Aviatrix Gateways in Azure (B1s): 0.01/hour x 3 = $0.03/hour
- Aviatrix Encrypted Peering (Azure): $0.21/hour x 2 = $0.42/hour
- Aviatrix Transit Peering (between AWS and Azure): $0.64/hour
- Customers/students/partners are responsible for paying all the cost for running the instances in the Cloud (AWS/Azure/GCP/OCI/etc) and Aviatrix license cost
- Additional use-cases/labs would require additional cost depending on the instances deployed and Aviatrix tunnel build
- The Aviatrix cost breakdown is also listed on the AWS marketplace when you subscribe to the Aviatrix Controller
Further Cost Saving
- You may shut down the entire setup when not using it. That could also significantly bring the cost down
- Make sure to disable Aviatrix's "Single AZ HA" feature, otherwise, the Controller will power on the Aviatrix Gateways automatically
Destroy / Delete the entire LAB
Once you are done testing and validating Cloud Networks, you may destroy or delete the entire lab. Use the "Destroy" option on the top right of the browser UI.
Note that if you deployed CoPilot, it must be deleted manually by logging into AWS/Azure Console.
Support Model
This community-based and open-source tool is NOT supported by the Aviatrix Enterprise support team. For any questions or issues related to this tool, please use the Aviatrix Community platform.
Open Source
- Code for this open-source tool is available at https://github.com/AviatrixSystems/sandbox-starter
- Terraform module for Sandbox Starter launch is available here at https://github.com/terraform-aviatrix-modules/terraform-aviatrix-aws-sandbox-starter
- The container code is available here
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Amazing, Shahzad Ali, I really enjoyed this post
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Rolando Kohl Thanks!
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Shahzad Ali can the controller for the sandbox be deployed in Azure or only in AWS? Everything seems to reference AWS for the controller and only Azure for additional gateways.
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Raphael Evans With this tool, the controller can only be deployed in AWS. For Azure controller, follow this procedure please https://docs.aviatrix.com/StartUpGuides/azure-aviatrix-cloud-controller-startup-guide.html
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Great tutorial; the sandbox build and use case testing went well. Now I'm trying to figure out how to destroy the build; I get "this site can't be reached". The controller and all the gateways are up, but I can't get back to the Sandbox Starter screen to click the "Destroy" button. I try to manually shutdown the instances, but they auto start. How do I run the Destroy command from the Docker CLI?
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Mike Arnold You should be able to get to the UI if you reboot. If not, then try this manual method. https://community.aviatrix.com/t/g9htn2y/aviatrix-kickstart-cli
Your terraform state should be there in the Docker. The terraform destroy should destroy it all.
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Shahzad Ali I'm not sure, but I think my issue may be that I ran the sandbox startup from a cloud9 instance; I can't find the terraform files, so it looks like I may need to shut everything down manually from AWS console.
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Mike Arnold From your screenshot, it looks like you're just at the root of your cloud9 ec2 instance itself. Since you can't get to the UI, I'm guessing that the sandbox-starter docker container isn't running anymore. You could check with the following command.
docker psIf there's nothing listed, you could try to start it with this command.
docker start $(docker container ls -aq)If that doesn't get you the UI (to try and execute the 'destroy' button), but the container is running (verified from the output of 'docker ps'), then you could try this - from your bash prompt (as shown in your screenshot) execute this command:
docker exec -it <container_id> /bin/bash..where <container_id> is the id of your container as shown from the 'docker ps' command. This puts your bash prompt inside the container. Then
cd controller terraform destroyIf your terraform state is still available, you'll get a listing of all the infrastructure you provisioned and be able to reply yes to have it destroyed. I'm making assumptions as to the current state of your environment, so you may run into issues with these commands.
If you want to destroy you environment manually, you'll need to start with the controller first. It's the one that is restarting other instances.
Let us know how it goes
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John, thanks for the tips
I was able to start the container after running the image; however, it looks like I need to re-initialize the terraform script.
NOTE: because I was getting billed to my personal account, I used the controller to detach and delete all the gateways; this gave me a little breathing room to play with this. I configured backups to an S3 bucket before I deleted the gateways. I'm wondering if I performa a restore if I would be able to run the destroy command; or, if it even matters. Can I run the destroy command if some objects have been removed manually?
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Mike Arnold I wouldn't expect destroy via the tool to be an option based on your screenshot. Having removed the gateways via the controller, the only objects left are the controller ec2 instance, 2 iam roles, 2 iam policies, and the ec2 keypair. Once you remove those, you'd be able to run the tool again if you want.
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John Smoker yep, gotcha. I could run a restore then a destroy, but to tell you the truth, I'm getting a little bored with this; I'll go ahead and do the cleanup manually.
I'm not sure if my reasoning for using cloud9 is valid, but it was quick and easy to get sandbox started; docker was pre-installed. I just had to run the commands.
I think my first mistake was setting a 30min time for sleep mode; it made since at the time. I didn't realize that the container wouldn't startup automatically
Thanks for your help; I have a much better understanding of how this process works. I'm going to dig a little more into the terraform scripts then clean it all up manually
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Mike Arnold Yeah, the starter is really just that - a jumpstart to demo the product. Once you're looking at the terraform code itself, you've got the tool and patterns for deploying the infrastructure directly (no docker required). Good luck!
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