Quantum plugin comparison

Quantum plugin comparison

Folsom has been released, it’s probably time for some of you to deploy OpenStack. This is a follow up to the article titled From nova-network to Quantum. One of the main question with Folsom is: which Quantum plugin should I use? The answer could be in this article! Another article co-written with Emilien Macchi. Deep dive into the available plugins in Quantum for OpenStack Folsom.

First, the big picture of the plugins available.

Overview

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Then a comparison between all features:

FEATURES

Networking Solution
Quantum Plugin
Company / Organization
License
Essex ready
Folsom ready
Plugin available via
Floodlight OpenFlow ControllerrestproxyBigSwitch + CommunityApache 2.0
git
BigSwitch ControllerrestproxyBigSwitchCommercial
?
git
Midonetmidonet openstackMidokuraCommercial
Soon
git
Network Virtualization PlateformNiciraNicira / VMwareCommercial
git / ubuntu-repo
Open-vSwitchOVS PluginCommunityApache 2.0
git / ubuntu-repo
Cisco Nexus, Cisco UCS blade ServerCisco PluginCiscoCommercial
git / ubuntu-repo
Linux BridgeLinuxBridgeCommunityGPL
git / ubuntu-repo
Trema with Sliceable Switch or any OpenFlow ControllerNECNECApache 2.0
git / ubuntu-repo
Ryu Operating SystemRYU PluginOSRGApache 2.0
git / ubuntu-repo
Networking Solution
Quantum Plugin
Use OpenFlow
Overlay tunneling
L2 Isolation
L3 routing
Load Balancing
High Availability
Firewalling
QoS
Rate limiting
Metering
Monitoring
IDS / IPS
Floodlight OpenFlow Controllerrestproxy
with OpenFlow
BigSwitch Controllerrestproxy
with OpenFlow
Midonetmidonet openstack
Speaks to the OVS kernel module directly
Network Virtualization PlateformNicira
with OpenFlow
Open-vSwitchOVS Plugin
with OpenFlow or VLAN
static
limited to one VIF per VM
Manually
Manually
Cisco Nexus, Cisco UCS blade ServerCisco Plugin
(not yet)
with VLAN
?
?
Linux BridgeLinuxBridge
with VLAN
Trema with Sliceable Switch or any OpenFlow ControllerNEC
with OpenFlow
only NEC product OpenFlow controller
only NEC product OpenFlow controller
packetfilter extension API
manually
manually
Ryu Operating SystemRYU Plugin
with OpenFlow

More information:

  • About Big Switch: there is a support for applications beyond network virtualization, Open APIs northbound, and support for physical switches.

As you can see some cell are filled with question mark. It’s because we didn’t find any information. We appreciate any input, which helps to entirely fulfill this table. Don’t hesitate to leave a comment!


This article showed a large panel of plugins for Quantum. I didn’t really follow the Quantum development. To be honest it was a little bit unclear for me. Writing this table with my French friend Emilien gave me a good understanding of the topic. We expect that this will be the same for you readers ;-). Finally we sincerely hope that this article will help anyone who wants to go with Folsom + Quantum to choose the plugin which best suit their needs.