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OpenStack Tricircle

OpenStack Tricircle is an OpenStack project that provides centralized networking automation and orchestration (multi‑cloud networking) across multiple OpenStack clouds or regions to support unified L2/L3 network management.

  • Multi-region and multi-cloud network orchestration (multi‑cloud networking)
  • Centralized Application Programming Interface (API) gateway for cross-region Neutron networking (network virtualization)
  • Support for tenant-level network connectivity across OpenStack regions (cloud networking)
  • Integration with OpenStack Neutron and Keystone services (cloud infrastructure platform)
  • Network provisioning workflows for distributed OpenStack deployments (infrastructure automation)

More About OpenStack Tricircle

OpenStack Tricircle addresses networking management for deployments that span multiple OpenStack clouds or regions (multi‑cloud networking). In a standard OpenStack environment, Neutron networking is scoped to a single region or cloud, which creates complexity when operators need L2 or L3 connectivity across geographically distributed or logically separated OpenStack deployments. Tricircle introduces a centralized service layer that coordinates Neutron resources across regions so tenants and operators can provision and manage multi-region networks through a unified interface.

The project delivers a centralized API gateway (network virtualization) that exposes Neutron-compatible APIs while proxying and orchestrating network requests to multiple backend OpenStack regions. This gateway maintains mappings between top-level (central) network objects and per-region network resources, allowing the creation of cross-region virtual networks, routers, and subnets. By leveraging OpenStack Keystone (identity and access) for authentication and multi-region service discovery, Tricircle integrates into standard OpenStack control plane patterns and tenant models.

Tricircle focuses on scenarios such as cross-region tenant network connectivity, stretched L2 networks, and coordinated L3 routing across OpenStack regions (cloud networking). It can be used in enterprise or service provider environments where multiple OpenStack installations operate under a single administrative domain, but need shared networking constructs for workloads, Disaster Recovery (DR), capacity expansion, or data localization. Tenants interact with the central Tricircle endpoint, while the project coordinates resource creation and synchronization across participating Neutron backends.

Architecturally, Tricircle introduces central controllers and region-side agents or plugins (infrastructure orchestration) that maintain state consistency between the central API layer and individual OpenStack regions. It interoperates with Neutron plugins and drivers through standard Neutron abstractions, so underlying physical or virtual network technologies remain pluggable where supported by the deployed Neutron backends. This approach allows operators to use Tricircle for network-wide orchestration while continuing to rely on existing Neutron integrations, such as Software Defined Networking (SDN) controllers or vendor-specific drivers, where those are supported in the regions.

For enterprises, Tricircle positions as an enabling component for multi-region OpenStack network design (cloud infrastructure platform). It supports centralized policy and configuration of tenant networks while delegating region-specific implementation to each OpenStack deployment. This pattern helps maintain common network models, simplifies cross-region connectivity, and provides a consistent API surface for higher-level automation tools and cloud management platforms that consume OpenStack networking services across distributed environments.