School of IT and Engineering
Introduction
Traditional Networks
Current network designs are not well enough to fulfill all necessities of today’s corporates, service providers and end users (Bernstein, Rajagopalan and Saha, 2004). Open Networking Foundation (ONF) has come up with new networking standard i.e. Software-Defined Networking (SDN). SDN architecture has enhanced data planes and control planes capability with its intelligence and logically centralized data. In SDN underlying network infra is recondite from the applications.
With the help of SDN now ISPs and Corporates gain remarkable automation, programming and more control over the networks also help in building highly secure, scalable and flexible n/w’s that can adapt to growing industry requirements.
The ONF is a nonprofit institute confederation leading to betterment of SDN and regulating important fundamentals of the Software Defined n/w such as Open-Flow protocol, which build connectivity among control and data planes of networking nodes. Open Flow is the first edge for SDN, provides high enactment, smooth traffic flow control among different vendor’s network platforms (ITU-T, 2000).
Scope of Project
There is a scope of fulfilling the gap of the previous studies which have been done on the same topic. With the initial research work, it has been found that the competition in today’s market has been accelerating in a rapid manner. Thus, the study creates an opportunity to enhance the knowledge regarding the network designs required in the corporate world.
It can be assumed as well as expected that the scope brings a chance to help the future researches if done on the similar field. The essential information would be provided with effective analysis of academic sources.
Software-Defined Networking
Software Defined Networking (SDN) is developing network platform where network and its components have been enhanced from forwarding and directly programmability (Bernstein, Rajagopalan and Saha, 2004).
SDN helps in migration, previously firmly connected to individual n/w devices, into available computing units enable the essential infra to be preoccupied for apps and network features, which can be treated this network as a logical unit (Krzyzanowski, 2016).
Diagram shows SDN Platform:
(SDX Central, n.d.)
Network control is openly accessible and programmable as it’s enhanced from forwarding jobs.
Forwarding control lets admins with dynamism modify network-traffic flow to meet challenging requirements (Krzyzanowski, 2016).
Network is rationally centralized in SDN and controller which manage a complete setup of network, where all the requests and policies see it as a single switch (Bernstein, Rajagopalan and Saha, 2004).
SDN helps to modify, organize and achieve, secured and optimized n/w in very active way with the help of automated SDN programs, these programs are intelligent enough to programs themselves as they don’t depend on any proprietary software’s.
SDN makes design and work simple as per directions by SDN controllers (Rexford, 2005).
Project Plan and design
SDN has different planes which work for different functions:
Forwarding Plane – Forwarding plane handles packets of data as per commands by control plane. Forwarding plane actions do not limit forward, drop or change packets and is generally the termination point for applications and control plane features. Forwarding plane contains classifiers and also stated as the “data path” (Sandgathe, 2016).
Operational Plane – Operational plane manages current working state of the network and its device, i.e. health of the devices whether they are active, their interface availability, their status etc.
It is generally closing point for management-plane. It communicates all the related details to resources such as interfaces, status of memory etc (Krzyzanowski, 2016).
Control Plane – It works for making judgments on forwarding packets for the network and its devices and impose its results for execution. The control plane generally attentions on forwarding plane and comparatively less on operational plane.
The control plane can be involved in operational-plane details and can contain current details of a specific port or its capability. Its main function is to modify forwarding tables which are in the forwarding plane, as per network design or external requirements (Bernstein, Rajagopalan and Saha, 2004).
Management Plane – It participates in management functions such as configuration and checking/monitor network and maintains network components, i.e. taking resolutions of a network component. It focuses on the operational plane primarily of network device and not on the forward plane.
Management plane can help in setting up rules at the same time, while these acts would be likely to be taken carefully (Bernstein, Rajagopalan and Saha, 2004).
Application Plane – Applications and all other features that explain network performance comes under application plane (Sandgathe, 2016).
There are mainly two types of SDN controllers:
NFV Infrastructure of a media datacenter
Historical SDN controllers
Cisco NFV Infrastructure for Media Data Center
Virtual Data Center for Media Workloads:
Media industry is facing burdens to speedily produce content and Need to do it in different formats and further deal out them to diversity of devices and for that they need to follow different models. To achieve their goals, industry has to transform how they produce and issues their contents. With cloud-based virtual data center models, broadcasters and content providers can automatically provision, manage, and scale physical and virtual resource pools for media applications and workloads (Bernstein, Rajagopalan and Saha, 2004).
Cisco Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) Infrastructure for Media Data Center is a solution which enables broadcasters and content providers to form their private cloud-based virtual data center infrastructure and which can be up and start working in seconds, as an alternative of days or months. It creates a common pool of compute, network, and different required resources such as storage and eliminates today’s media application storage towers while avoiding over provisioning and underutilization of data center properties. It permits broadcasters and content providers to rapidly reply to changing content production and distribution requirements with dynamic resource allocation (Krzyzanowski, 2016).
Cisco NFV Infrastructure for Media Data Center is an on-premise, cloud-based virtual data center solution. It is based on the Cisco NFV Infrastructure Solution, an Open Stack platform for implementing virtualized network functions, and includes media optimization, providing a high-performance, high-availability, and highly scalable Open Stack platform for running Cisco and third-party video and media applications in a software-defined, fully automated solution (Sandgathe, 2016).
(Sandgathe, 2016)
Features and Functionality
The Cisco NFV Infrastructure for Media Data Center Solution includes:
Infrastructure:- Network: Cisco 9000 Nexus Series Switches
Compute: Cisco UCS
B-Blade and C- Rack Servers, and M-Series Modular Servers
Storage: integrated Cisco UCS C240 M4 Rack Server; in the future,
integrated Cisco UCS C3160 Rack Server and Cisco cloud object
storage that is currently available in a manual configuration mode (Sandgathe, 2016).
Red Hat Open Stack distribution
- Accelerate time to revenue with an agile infrastructure that rapidly
responds to dynamic business requirements (Bernstein, Rajagopalan and Saha, 2004).
- Experience simplified deployment and operation with automated discovery,
provisioning, configuration, and management.
- Lower risk with an automated solution, validated and certified with Cisco®
and independent software vendor (ISV) applications.
- Cisco Virtual Infrastructure Management (VIM) for Open Stack
management and operation software, including automated installer,
provisioning, and monitoring system (Krzyzanowski, 2016)
- Cisco media optimizations
- ISV partner certification program
- Single point of contact for full solution support from Cisco Technical
Assistance Center (TAC)
Open and community driven initiatives:
Open Day light
ODL provides modifying and automating n/w of different extent and measure. ODL helps in n/w programmability.
ONOS
ONOS is SDN OS for ISPs, who provides scalable solution with HA and faster enactment and concepts to mark it easy to create applications.
Project Calico
Calico eliminates difficulty, with a streamlined n/w design for the requirements of current apps.
The Fast Data Project
Fido is a combined OS scheme which objects to expressively create a high-performance IO services outline for current vibrant environments (Sandgathe, 2016).
Project Floodlight
Project Floodlight, OpenFlow can cope-up with physical- and virtual- switches.
Open vSwitch
Open vSwitch or OVS works as an alternate to Linux bridges and Vlans. Open vSwitch provides feature like a network switch, example RSTP, VXLANs etc (Krzyzanowski, 2016).
Few other SDN controllers are listed below:
vneio/sdnc
Ryu Controller
Cherry
Faucet OpenContrail
OpenFlow-Based SDN’s
For corporates and provides, SDN creates it for the network to be a reasonable differentiator. OpenFlow-based SDN’s allow Infrastructure to report high bandwidth applications, adapts the system to growing business requirements and reduces processes and management difficulty (Bernstein, Rajagopalan and Saha, 2004).
Benefits of OpenFlow-based SDN design:
- Centralized mechanism for different vendors Platforms.
- Minimize complications by automation.
- Advanced rate of improvement.
- Improved network consistency and security.
- More granulated control for networking devices.
- Improved client experience (Sandgathe, 2016).
By consolidating control over the network and constructing material accessible to applications, an SDN platform can improve access to dynamic user requirements. E.g. A provider could announce a video service that proposes superior subscribers the uppermost probable purpose in an automated and clear manner.
Now-a-days, Clients clearly choose a resolution situation, which networks may or may not be able to support, causing in interruptions and disruptions that reduce the client experience (Krzyzanowski, 2016).
Conclusion
Current trends like client’s movements, server virtualization, IAAS, and essential quickly to react to varying business circumstances place important demands on the n/w. Difficulties that traditional or orthodox network designs can’t manage. SDN offers fresh, dynamic n/w design that converts traditional n/w strengths into rich service-delivery stages.
By enhancing the network control planes and data planes, OpenFlow-based SDN platform conceptualizes the essential infra from the apps which use it, permitting the network to develop as programmable and suitable at measure as the computer organization that it gradually resembles.
Open N/w Foundation has adopted a energetic ecosystem with SDN that distances structure vendors big and minor, counting application admins, software enterprises, organizations and semiconductor producers, and computer corporations, with different users. Network features and business apps already edge with SDN-controllers, provides improved incorporation and management among them.
SDN abilities to convert today’s traditional n/w into robust, programmable stages with its intelligence to assign assets with dynamism. It has capacity to support vast data centers and the virtualization required to provision dynamic, extremely programmed, and protected cloud platforms. With lots of benefits and amazing industry momentum, SDN is becoming new standard for networks.
Bibliography:
- Bernstein, B. Rajagopalan and D. Saha, Optical network control. Boston: Addison Wesley Professional, 2004.
ITU-T. SERIES G: TRANSMISSION SYSTEMS AND MEDIA, DIGITAL SYSTEMS AND NETWORKS, 2000. [online] Available at: https://www.itu.int/rec/dologin_pub.asp?lang=e&id=T-REC-G.805-200003-I!!PDF-E&type=items [Accessed 12 Aug. 2017]
Krzyzanowski, P., Understanding Autonomous Systems, 2016. [online] Available at https://www.cs.rutgers.edu/~pxk/352/notes/autonomous_systems.html [Accessed 12 Aug. 2017]
Rexford, J, Evolving Towards a Self Managing Network. Self Managing Networks Summit. June 2005. [online] Available at: http://research.microsoft.com/en-s/um/redmond/events/smnsummit/techprogram.aspx [Accessed 12 Aug. 2017]
“Understanding the SDN Architecture – Definition -“, SDxCentral, 2017. [Online]. Available: https://www.sdxcentral.com/sdn/definitions/inside-sdn-architecture/. [Accessed: 13- Aug- 2017].
Sandgathe, J., What is Cisco NFV Infrastructure Software? 2016. [online] Available at https://blogs.cisco.com/enterprise/what-is-cisco-nfv-infrastructure-software[Accessed 12 Aug. 2017]