Designing a Plug&Play interconnection system to connect different datacenters with pure L2 links

In the last decade, the field of cloud computing has experienced rapid growth, witnessing the introduction of numerous innovative services each year. However, the market is currently dominated by a few major players who continue to consolidate their power. This dominance poses challenges, including the difficulty of countering vendor lock-in and the limited competitiveness of smaller cloud service providers. To address this issue, there are initiatives at the European level aimed at establishing an alternative or complementary cloud solution that empowers minor providers to reach a wider customer base. The concept revolves around the creation of a federated cloud and network infrastructure through a distributed approach, involving European Internet Exchange Points and Cloud Service Providers. This approach brings forth both political and technical challenges. While it is important to acknowledge the broader political context, this thesis focuses primarily on the technical aspects. Within this federated infrastructure initiative, a significant number of members are actively working towards the development of an initial, simplified solution to validate the concept of a distributed cloud and network infrastructure across Europe. The first milestone in this journey was reached at the end of 2022, with the presentation of a proof-of-concept for the Structura-X Lighthouse project at the Gaia-X summit. The Structura-X PoC provided valuable insights into possible infrastructural solutions, highlighting the need for a novel approach to cross-network automation that can enhance the speed and reliability of processes. Within the realm of automation, there exist multiple layers, each serving a specific purpose. This thesis will primarily delve into the layer 3 automation problem, which revolves around addressing cross-network layer 3 reachability challenges. By thoroughly examining this issue, the thesis aims to propose an engineering solution that can effectively mitigate the challenges associated with achieving seamless layer 3 connectivity across a distributed cloud and network infrastructure. The automated layer 3 negotiation enables a scalable and rapid setup, replacing inefficient and time-consuming manual processes. Layer 3 connectivity plays a crucial role in enabling seamless communication between different networks, as more than 90% of cloud services rely on layer 3 protocols. The proposed solution outlined in this thesis strives to offer the necessary flexibility to accommodate diverse network topologies among participating partners. This fully functional project serves as a practical demonstration of the solution's viability and practicality in real-world scenarios. The final solution comprises two components, each serving a specific purpose. One key aspect is the implementation of a fixed and standardised interface that triggers the negotiation process. This interface provides a consistent and predictable means of initiating the negotiation procedure across different deployments. Furthermore, a highly customisable component is incorporated into the solution, responsible for handling the network configuration based on specific details of the network topology. Thanks to this component, the solution offers high adaptability and can be applied to various network topologies. This thesis focuses on designing, implementing, and testing components for the layer 3 negotiation process. The solution will be part of a larger federated network infrastructure and efficient cloud ecosystem.