Virtual Cloud Network for Autonomous Driving Simulations on OCI

Question

Pulumi · Accepted Answer

To create a Virtual Cloud Network (VCN) for autonomous driving simulations on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), you'll need a network that can securely host the simulation services and possibly connect to other services in OCI. I'll guide you through the process of setting up a VCN along with its sub-components like subnets, security lists, route tables, and an internet gateway to provide external connectivity if needed.

Here's how we can construct this setup using Pulumi with the OCI provider in Python:

1. **Virtual Cloud Network (VCN)**: The base level of the network where subnets reside. It's like a container providing a private space in OCI.
2. **Subnets**: Partitions within the VCN, each subnet can contain multiple simulation instances and can represent different zones or environments.
3. **Route Table**: Contains rules to route traffic from the subnet to destinations outside the VCN, typically to an internet gateway or other OCI services.
4. **Internet Gateway**: Allows resources in the VCN to access the internet.
5. **Security Lists**: Act like a firewall for associated subnets, controlling ingress and egress traffic.

Let's write the Pulumi program to set this up.

```python
import pulumi
import pulumi_oci as oci

# Configure the OCI provider with compulsory input properties like region, tenancy, etc.
# These configurations can be set in various ways but it is assumed they are already set for the purpose of this example.

# Create a new Virtual Cloud Network (VCN)
vcn = oci.core.VirtualNetwork("autonomousDrivingVCN",
                              cidr_block="10.0.0.0/16",  # This is the IP address range for the VCN
                              compartment_id="ocid1.compartment.oc1..exampleUniqueId",  # Your Compartment's OCID
                              display_name="AutonomousDrivingVCN",
                              dns_label="autodrivevcn")

# Create a public Subnet; this assumes you're setting up an instance that requires external access, like an API service.
public_subnet = oci.core.Subnet("publicSubnet",
                                compartment_id="ocid1.compartment.oc1..exampleUniqueId",
                                vcn_id=vcn.id,
                                cidr_block="10.0.1.0/24",
                                display_name="PublicSubnet",
                                dns_label="public",
                                route_table_id=vcn.default_route_table_id,  # You can use the default Route Table
                                dhcp_options_id=vcn.default_dhcp_options_id,
                                security_list_ids=[vcn.default_security_list_id])  # You can use the default Security List

# Optionally, create an Internet Gateway to enable access to the Internet for the VCN
internet_gateway = oci.core.InternetGateway("vcnInternetGateway",
                                            compartment_id="ocid1.compartment.oc1..exampleUniqueId",
                                            vcn_id=vcn.id,
                                            display_name="InternetGateway",
                                            enabled=True)

# Create a Route Table that directs internet-bound traffic to the Internet Gateway
# This is a more explicit example if you want to customize your Route Table
route_table = oci.core.RouteTable("routeTable",
                                  compartment_id="ocid1.compartment.oc1..exampleUniqueId",
                                  vcn_id=vcn.id,
                                  display_name="RouteTable",
                                  route_rules=[
                                      oci.core.RouteTableRouteRuleArgs(
                                          cidr_block="0.0.0.0/0",
                                          network_entity_id=internet_gateway.id
                                      )
                                  ])

# If you have created a specific Route Table, associate it with the Subnet
# Update the public_subnet's route_table_id to use the new Route Table
# public_subnet.route_table_id = route_table.id

# Export the VCN id as an output
pulumi.export("vcn_id", vcn.id)
# Export the public subnet id as an output
pulumi.export("public_subnet_id", public_subnet.id)
```

In the above program, we begin by importing the necessary Pulumi modules for creating resources in OCI. We then establish a Virtual Cloud Network with a CIDR block of `10.0.0.0/16`, which provides us with a private networking space in OCI. The compartment ID is a unique identifier that specifies the compartment within which we're creating resources. You'll need to replace "exampleUniqueId" with the actual OCID of the compartment you're working with.

We create a public subnet with a smaller CIDR block of `10.0.1.0/24` within the VCN to host our public-facing resources. This would be appropriate if your autonomous driving simulation requires external connectivity, such as for pulling updates or for a web-based simulation interface.

We also demonstrate how to create an Internet Gateway and a Route Table to allow outbound internet access. The Route Table contains a rule that directs all outbound traffic (0.0.0.0/0) through the Internet Gateway, effectively giving internet access to resources within the subnet.

Finally, we export the VCN and public subnet ID so they can be used or referenced in other parts of the stack, or for other purposes such as providing output to operators or for use in scripts or CI/CD pipelines.

You can deploy this Pulumi program using the Pulumi CLI by running `pulumi up` in your terminal. Once executed, Pulumi will show you a preview of the resources that will be created and prompt you for confirmation before making any changes to your OCI environment. After you confirm, Pulumi will provision the resources as defined in this program.