Networking service overview
Provides network-connectivity-as-a-service between interface
devices that are managed by other OpenStack services, usually
Compute. Enables users to create and attach interfaces to
networks. Like many OpenStack services, OpenStack Networking is
highly configurable due to its plug-in architecture. These
plug-ins accommodate different networking equipment and software.
Consequently, the architecture and deployment vary
dramatically.
Includes the following components:
neutron-server.
Accepts and routes API requests to the appropriate OpenStack
Networking plug-in for action.
OpenStack Networking plug-ins and agents. Plugs and
unplugs ports, creates networks or subnets, and provides IP
addressing. These plug-ins and agents differ depending on the
vendor and technologies used in the particular cloud.
OpenStack Networking ships with plug-ins and agents for Cisco
virtual and physical switches, NEC OpenFlow products, Open
vSwitch, Linux bridging, Ryu Network Operating System, and
the VMware NSX product.
The common agents are L3 (layer 3), DHCP (dynamic host IP
addressing), and a plug-in agent.
Messaging queue. Most OpenStack Networking installations
make use of a messaging queue to route information between the
neutron-server and various agents as well as a database to
store networking state for particular plug-ins.
OpenStack Networking interacts mainly with OpenStack Compute,
where it provides networks and connectivity for its
instances.