Cisco VPNaaS with in-band Cisco CSR router

Include the URL of your launchpad blueprint:

https://blueprints.launchpad.net/neutron/+spec/cisco-vpnaas-with-cisco-csr-router

Enhance the Cisco IPSec site-to-site VPNaaS solution, by integrating it with a Cisco Cloud Services Router (CSR) running as a Neutron router.

Problem description

In the current Proof of Concept Cisco VPNaaS, a Cisco CSR VM runs out-of-band from OpenStack, and parallel to a reference Neutron router. The Cisco CSR is started manually, and independently of OpenStack. the router is statically provisioned and information on the Cisco CSR is stored in an .ini file for use by the Cisco VPNaaS driver.

When a VPN IPSec site-to-site connection is established, the VPNaaS drivers use the .ini information to communicate with the Cisco CSR and configure the VPN IPSec site-to-site connection. A packet redirect is configured on the Neutron router, to send all packets for the remote end, to the Cisco CSR.

The issues with this are: * Cisco CSR is manually started and provisioned for use. * Static configuration of all Cisco CSRs is established before Neutron startup. * We are effectively using two routers to provide VPNaaS capability.

Proposed change

A separate blueprint, cisco-routing-service-vm [2], will be providing a Cisco CSR VM as a Neutron router, dynamically creating and provisioning the Cisco CSR when a router specifying this type is created.

This blueprint proposes to update the Cisco VPNaaS driver to work with this “in-band” Cisco CSR. The VPNaaS driver will obtain information (user, password, mgmt IP, etc.) on the Cisco CSR dynamically, instead of statically from a config file, as done currently, so that VPN IPSec connections can then be provisioned.

Combined, these two blueprints will allow automatic creation and provisioning of Cisco CSRs, dynamic provisioning of VPNaaS connections, and eliminate the need for a second router and packet redirection.

Specifically, in the context of VPNaaS, the user can create a CSR1kV VM based Neutron router, and then create a VPN service with IPsec site-to-site connections, which will use that router.

To mitigate the risk of the dependency on the Cisco Routing Service VM blueprint [2], the VPN implementation can be phased. In the first phase, the code would attempt to obtain information on the CSR from the L3 plugin, but if not available, could read the config from an INI file (as done currently in the device driver).

The user could setup a CSR out-of-band manually (as done today), udpate the INI file, and then proceed to create the VPN service and connections. When the cisco-routing-service-vm [2] is upstreamed, the VPN code that does the fallback INI file reading could be removed.

Alternatives

With the current out-of-band Cisco CSR, the VPNaaS driver could re-read the .ini file whenever it changes to obtain updated router information. That allows dynamically creating VPNaaS connections, but still requires manual start-up and provisioning of the CSR (and use of dual routers).

Data model impact

None.

REST API impact

None.

Security impact

None.

Notifications impact

None.

Other end user impact

Eliminates the need for operator to manually start and provision the Cisco CSR and create the .ini file.

Performance Impact

No effect to the VPNaaS performance.

Other deployer impact

Deployment becomes much easier.

Developer impact

None.

Implementation

Assignee(s)

Primary assignee:

pmichali

Work Items

  • Removal of device driver code that reads the .ini file with Cisco CSR info.

  • Modification of service driver to obtain Cisco CSR info and pass to device driver.

  • Modification of the device driver to use the passed information, instead of .ini file info.

  • Update unit tests to reflect changes made.

Dependencies

Requires the cisco-routing-service-vm blueprint implementation, which provides the Cisco CSR as a Neutron router and manages the life-cycle of the router.

Testing

Unit tests will be updated accordingly. The cisco-routing-service-vm BP will have Tempest tests. Currently, there are no Tempest fucntional tests for VPNaaS, but as they become available, third-party tests will be created for the Cisco CSR implementation.

Documentation Impact

None.

References