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<div style="direction: ltr;font-family: Tahoma;color: #000000;font-size: 10pt;">Ć!!<br>
<br>
@Sumit, I think we want to keep as it is because it makes sense for quantum to have one backend implementing the main APIs.<br>
<br>
@Dan, "backend" solves the name confusion IMHO.<br>
<br>
The name backend feels right to me because Quantum is not so useful without a backend, is just incomplete.
<br>
Quantum itself will be the front end for what should be done on the backend. <br>
<br>
I just think we should move from the name "plugin" because it causes a lot of confusion for new contributors,<br>
is difficult to understand its main idea. We felt this confusion when we started developing our plugin.<br>
<br>
As Dan said, this is not the first time it was discussed, and I think some name changing would be beneficial.<br>
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<div class="PlainText">--<br>
Willian Molinari<br>
(a.k.a PotHix)<br>
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<div style="direction: ltr;" id="divRpF560944"><font color="#000000" face="Tahoma" size="2"><b>From:</b> Dan Wendlandt [dan@nicira.com]<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Tuesday, July 31, 2012 3:46 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> Sumit Naiksatam (snaiksat)<br>
<b>Cc:</b> Yong Sheng Gong; Willian Molinari; OpenStack Development Mailing List; netstack@lists.launchpad.net<br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [Netstack] [Quantum] plugin -> backend<br>
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<div>Yes, we've had this discussion many times :) I agree that people find the term "plugin" confusing, but each time we've talked about it, we've failed to find a single term that is substantially better to warrant the confusion likely to be caused by renaming.
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<div>In some cases I've started using the term "engine" when describing the plugin concept to people, since its really about a "pluggable backend" that powers the generic quantum API layer. The name "driver" was very intentionally not chosen, as driver implies
that it is specific to a particular type of back-end device, whereas a Quantum plugin is really more about an overall strategy of creating logical networks, etc. For example, you could have a generic VLAN plugin that has drivers to talk to many different
types of switches. </div>
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<div>Dan<br>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Jul 30, 2012 at 7:55 PM, Sumit Naiksatam (snaiksat)
<span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:snaiksat@cisco.com" target="_blank">snaiksat@cisco.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1f497d">Hi,<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1f497d">I believe there are two topics of discussion here, one of which is the terminology. The way things are implemented today, I agree that the “plugin” terminology
seems a bit confusing. However, probably the bigger topic of discussion is what kind of a design is preferable, “backend” versus “plugin”? As Yong points out, today’s Quantum service completely relies on the plugin for providing all functionality, including
functionality that is probably common across plugins (like state management of logical resources, IPAM, etc.). Going forward, would it make sense to push some of the common functionality into the Quantum service, and have plugins which actually behave like
the name suggests?<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1f497d">Thanks,<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1f497d">~Sumit.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"">From:</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif""> netstack-bounces+snaiksat=<a href="mailto:cisco.com@lists.launchpad.net" target="_blank">cisco.com@lists.launchpad.net</a>
[mailto:<a href="mailto:netstack-bounces%2Bsnaiksat" target="_blank">netstack-bounces+snaiksat</a>=<a href="mailto:cisco.com@lists.launchpad.net" target="_blank">cisco.com@lists.launchpad.net</a>]
<b>On Behalf Of </b>Yong Sheng Gong<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Monday, July 30, 2012 7:05 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> Willian Molinari<br>
<b>Cc:</b> OpenStack Development Mailing List; <a href="mailto:netstack@lists.launchpad.net" target="_blank">
netstack@lists.launchpad.net</a><br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [Netstack] [Quantum] plugin -> backend<u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">Hi,<br>
Add it into openstack-dev and [quantum] into the subject.<br>
<br>
Yes, 'backend' seems better than 'plugin' for our case here.<br>
<br>
Our plugin is a must for quantum server to work, while 'plugin' tends to make us think it will provide more functionalities if we plug it in.<br>
And I don't think our plugin is 'pluggable backend'. I prefer to call it 'replaceable or configurable' 'backend' or 'dirver'.
<br>
<br>
Thanks<br>
Yong Sheng Gong<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<span style="color:#990099"><a href="mailto:-----netstack-bounces+gongysh=cn.ibm.com@lists.launchpad.net" target="_blank">-----netstack-bounces+gongysh=cn.ibm.com@lists.launchpad.net</a> wrote: -----</span><u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"">To:
<a href="mailto:netstack@lists.launchpad.net" target="_blank">"netstack@lists.launchpad.net"</a>
<a href="mailto:netstack@lists.launchpad.net" target="_blank"><netstack@lists.launchpad.net></a><br>
From: Willian Molinari <br>
Sent by: <a href="mailto:netstack-bounces+gongysh=cn.ibm.com@lists.launchpad.net" target="_blank">
netstack-bounces+gongysh=cn.ibm.com@lists.launchpad.net</a><br>
Date: 07/31/2012 07:26AM<br>
Subject: [Netstack] plugin -> backend<u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"">Ć!!<br>
<br>
Hi folks!<br>
<br>
I was concerned to bring the "plugins" discussion because it looks like a bikeshedding
<br>
and it probably was discussed before, but I think it will be beneficial at all.<br>
<br>
What motivated me to bring the discussion was the Metaplugin implementation <br>
(<a href="https://review.openstack.org/#/c/10181/" target="_blank">https://review.openstack.org/#/c/10181/</a>) that looks like a quantum backend implementing<br>
support for plugins.<br>
<br>
When we first looked into quantum we thought that quantum plugin was following the same
<br>
concept of all other plugins (ie we should install a lot of plugins to enhance the application)<br>
but we found that this is not the concept of quantum plugins, talking to Dan about this at<br>
the openstack summit I found the real concept of quantum plugins and I heard some people<br>
saying that plugins should be something like a "pluggable backend", so why not to call the
<br>
plugin just "backend"?<br>
<br>
Looks natural to have just one backend at time and this backend should handle multiple<br>
plugins if needed (the metaplugin case).<br>
<br>
Sorry for bringing a non-technical discussion like this but every time someone asks me to
<br>
explain what quantum does I need to show plugins as "backends" to make sense.<br>
<br>
I'm the only guy that think it's confusing? :P<br>
<br>
Just want to hear your ideas about this topic. <u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"">--<br>
Willian Molinari<br>
(a.k.a PotHix)<u></u><u></u></span></p>
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-- <br>
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Dan Wendlandt
<div>Nicira, Inc: <a href="http://www.nicira.com" target="_blank">www.nicira.com</a><br>
<div>twitter: danwendlandt<br>
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