Automatic Configuration of Opaque Network Functions in CMS

Cloud Management Systems (CMS) such as OpenStack are commonly used to manage IT resources such as computing and storage in large datacenters. Recently, CMS are starting to offer customers also the possibility to customize their network infrastructure, allowing each tenant to build his virtual network made of elementary blocks such as traffic monitors, switches, routers, firewalls, and more. However, tenants have to choose those network services among the list of services made available by the CMS and have no possibilities to customize the applications they want. This paper examines some of the modifications required in CMS to support a tenant-centric network service model, in which each tenant can install and configure their preferred network functions, without being limited to use only the list provided by the CMS. A prototype implementation validates the proposed approach and demonstrates the extent of the modifications in terms of languages and software components.