Networking service overview

OpenStack Networking (neutron) allows you to create and attach interface devices managed by other OpenStack services to networks. Plug-ins can be implemented to accommodate different networking equipment and software, providing flexibility to OpenStack architecture and deployment.

It 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

Plug and unplug ports, create networks or subnets, and provide 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 Open vSwitch, Linux bridging, Open Virtual Network (OVN), SR-IOV and Macvtap.

The common agents are L3 (layer 3), DHCP (dynamic host IP addressing), and a plug-in agent.

Messaging queue

Used by most OpenStack Networking installations to route information between the neutron-server and various agents. Also acts as a database to store networking state for particular plug-ins.

OpenStack Networking mainly interacts with OpenStack Compute to provide networks and connectivity for its instances.