Book Image

Learning OpenStack Networking (Neutron)

By : James Denton
Book Image

Learning OpenStack Networking (Neutron)

By: James Denton

Overview of this book

OpenStack Neutron is an OpenStack component that provides networking as a service for other OpenStack services to architect networks and create virtual machines through its API. This API lets you define network connectivity in order to leverage network capabilities to cloud deployments. Through this practical book, you will build a strong foundational knowledge of Neutron, and will architect and build an OpenStack cloud using advanced networking features. We start with an introduction to OpenStack Neutron and its various components, including virtual switching, routing, FWaaS, VPNaaS, and LBaaS. You’ll also get hands-on by installing OpenStack and Neutron and its components, and use agents and plugins to orchestrate network connectivity and build a virtual switching infrastructure. Moving on, you’ll get to grips with the HA routing capabilities utilizing VRRP and distributed virtual routers in Neutron. You’ll also discover load balancing fundamentals, including the difference between nodes, pools, pool members, and virtual IPs. You’ll discover the purpose of security groups and learn how to apply the security concept to your cloud/tenant/instance. Finally, you' ll configure virtual private networks that will allow you to avoid the use of SNAT and floating IPs when connecting to remote networks.
Table of Contents (21 chapters)
Learning OpenStack Networking (Neutron) Second Edition
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

Summary


Neutron routers are a core component of networking in OpenStack and provide tenants with the flexibility to design a network best suiting their application. The use of floating IPs allows tenants to quickly and programmatically provide direct connectivity to applications while preserving limited IPv4 address space through the use of network address translation.

Standalone routers may be easy to implement, but they are a single point of failure in any network design. In the event of an L3 agent failure, all routers scheduled to the agent may become unavailable or unreliable. In the next chapter, we will discuss how Neutron implements highly available routers using Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol, or VRRP, to solve many of the shortcomings of standalone routers.