From 803a9691334beb75d61522c9099e1baf4d0c5ab1 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Julia Kreger Date: Wed, 12 Mar 2025 10:24:02 -0700 Subject: [PATCH] docs: detail network switch simulator support Adds documentation around support for switch simulators to the contributor documentation to appropriately scope aspects as to why the support has been added for the devstack plugin. Change-Id: Ic141804e6adc8d08957875e1b169dca52c99e448 --- .../ironic-multitenant-networking.rst | 33 +++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 33 insertions(+) diff --git a/doc/source/contributor/ironic-multitenant-networking.rst b/doc/source/contributor/ironic-multitenant-networking.rst index 8f34070376..fdcfd6b97d 100644 --- a/doc/source/contributor/ironic-multitenant-networking.rst +++ b/doc/source/contributor/ironic-multitenant-networking.rst @@ -129,3 +129,36 @@ configured in Neutron. LOGFILE=$HOME/devstack.log LOGDIR=$HOME/logs IRONIC_VM_LOG_DIR=$HOME/ironic-bm-logs + +Use of Switch Simulators +------------------------ + +The devstack plugin has logic to enable to exercising of simulated network +switches. This support in devstack exists to aid developers in verification +of networking-generic-switch or other ML2 plugin behavior, and is *not* +intended to be used to actually exercise the end behavior of the virtalized +switch. + +To be very specific: This is not for Continuous Integration. Switch simulators +are exceptionally slow and are designed largely for users to ping across, +not attempt to perform deployments of machines across. + +Generally, the starting point is to leverage the ``IRONIC_NETWORK_SIMULATOR`` +setting and set it to a supported value. However, due to vendor limitations +on accessing product firmware artifacts, you may need to perform some initial +downloads of artifacts and even update filenames in the devstack plugin if +you need to leverage a different version. Thinking of the simulator, +you should mentally model it as an appliance. + +Currently supported by the devstack plugin: + + * force10_9 - Dell Force10 OS9 based switches utilizing the OS9 simulator + installation ISO image. + * force10_10 - Dell Force10 OS10 (SmartFabric) switches utilizing a user + downloaded switch simulator zip file. + +The plugin generally work by attempting to plug the Virtual Machines used +for CI testing through to networking for the virtual switch appliance, while +also attaching the switch to the general networking of the host devstack is +running on, and establishing the necessary configuration so +networking-generic-switch may access the device and assert configuration.