def _build_netengine_arguments(self):
        """
        returns a python dictionary representing arguments
        that will be passed to a netengine backend
        for internal use only
        """
        arguments = {
            "host": self.host
        }

        if self.config is not None:
            for key, value in self.config.iteritems():
                arguments[key] = value

        if self.port:
            arguments["port"] = self.port

        return arguments