What does the CloudStack Virtual Router actually do?

CloudStack
1

Technically it’s a VM, but operationally it is much more important than a normal workload VM.

Depending on the network offering, it can provide services such as:

  • DHCP

  • DNS

  • NAT

  • Routing

  • Port forwarding

  • Load balancing

  • Firewall-related functionality

So if a Virtual Router is unhealthy, multiple customer VMs on that network can potentially be affected.

That’s why Virtual Router health should be one of the first things checked during a network incident.