Networking architecture¶

Overview¶

Networking is a standalone component in the OpenStack modular architecture. It is positioned alongside OpenStack components such as Compute, Image service, Identity, or Dashboard. Like those components, a deployment of Networking often involves deploying several services to a variety of hosts.

The Networking server uses the neutron-server daemon to expose the Networking API and enable administration of the configured Networking plug-in. Typically, the plug-in requires access to a database for persistent storage (also similar to other OpenStack services).

If your deployment uses a controller host to run centralized Compute components, you can deploy the Networking server to that same host. However, Networking is entirely standalone and can be deployed to a dedicated host. Depending on your configuration, Networking can also include the following agents:

These agents interact with the main neutron process through RPC (for example, RabbitMQ or Qpid) or through the standard Networking API. In addition, Networking integrates with OpenStack components in a number of ways:

• Networking relies on the Identity service (keystone) for the authentication and authorization of all API requests.
• Compute (nova) interacts with Networking through calls to its standard API. As part of creating a VM, the nova-compute service communicates with the Networking API to plug each virtual NIC on the VM into a particular network.
• The dashboard (horizon) integrates with the Networking API, enabling administrators and project users to create and manage network services through a web-based GUI.

VMware NSX integration¶

OpenStack Networking uses the NSX plug-in to integrate with an existing VMware vCenter deployment. When installed on the network nodes, the NSX plug-in enables a NSX controller to centrally manage configuration settings and push them to managed network nodes. Network nodes are considered managed when they are added as hypervisors to the NSX controller.

The diagrams below depict some VMware NSX deployment examples. The first diagram illustrates the traffic flow between VMs on separate Compute nodes, and the second diagram between two VMs on a single compute node. Note the placement of the VMware NSX plug-in and the neutron-server service on the network node. The green arrow indicates the management relationship between the NSX controller and the network node.