Open Stack

I want to proclaim a new networking project that we plan to start:
It's called 'networking-macvtap'.

This project will contain a neutron ml2 driver and an corresponding
neutron l2 agent. It's aim is to allow instance network attachments via
macvtap in bridge mode independent of the physical network adapter used. 

I posted a detailed spec on github. See [1]

@Kyle: I wonder if I can start this project directly under the big tent
(in the openstack namespace)? The initial idea was stackforge (request [2]), 
but Andreas Jaeger from the infra team convinced me not to
do this, as moving projects from stackforge to openstack is a huge
effort. Either put it directly into the openstack namespace or start it on github.
What's your recommendation? 

Thanks!



A brief summary of what we want to achieve:

There is already some support for macvtap in the sriovnic driver/agent.
But this support is totally integrated into PCI, using PCI addresses and
programming vlans into the PCI VF. So it relies on hardware support.
It's also using passthrough mode (1:1 relationship between macvtap and
PCI VF). 

The approach we're heading to is to offer macvtap attachments independent
of the underlying adapter. It's more like a vswitch, where multiple
guests share the backing interface (1:n relationship). 

Why using macvtap agent?
+ Performance: Compared to ovs default vswitch, it offers a much higher
  throughput and lower latency to instances (measurements indicated up to
  50% both)
+ CPU consumption: Compared to ovs default vswitch the cpu consumption
  in the hyperviros per throughput is much lower (measurements indicated
  up to 50% both)
+ Built into kernel: No additional software packages required, comes
  with every linux
+ Manageability: Very less configuration needed (in fact only 1)
+ Hardware independent: No special network adapters required
+ No promisc mode required on host adaptors


To mention in addition:
- In the first stage only compute attachments are supported (extensions
  to support also dhcp, routing and so on will follow later on)
- Security Groups: NoopFirewallDriver in first Stage only




[1] https://github.com/scheuran/networking-macvtap/blob/bp/initial-macvtap-support/specs/liberty/macvtap-ml2.rst
[2] https://review.openstack.org/#/c/189644/

-- 
Andreas
(IRC: scheuran)