Managing network ports in OpenStack

A port in Neutron is a logical connection of a virtual network interface to a subnet and network. Ports can be associated with virtual machine instances, DHCP servers, routers, firewalls, load balancers, and more. Ports can even be created simply to reserve IP addresses from a subnet. Neutron stores port relationships in the Neutron database and uses that information to build switching connections at the physical or virtual switch layer through the networking plugin and agent.

The primary commands associated with port management are listed in the following table:

Port Commands	Description
port create	Creates a new port
port delete	Deletes a port(s)
port list	Lists ports
port set	Sets port properties
port show	Displays port details
port unset	Unsets port properties

 

When a port is created in OpenStack and associated with an instance or other virtual network device, it is bound to a Neutron agent on the respective node hosting the instance or device. Using details provided...