Network infrastructure has traditionally posed barriers to cloud computing goals of flexibility, efficiency and scale. Specifically, network configurations are rigid and manually configured, providing no support for dynamic VM placement or IP mobility. This limits server utilization rates in clouds. Moving networking functions to the hypervisor level and using network virtualization allows for more flexible VM placement, higher server utilization, and improved scalability - meeting the key expectations of cloud computing. CloudStack integrates with network virtualization solutions like Nicira NVP to provide an automated network infrastructure that removes barriers posed by traditional network approaches.

1. Network
is
the
barrier
to
Cloud
Somik
Behera
Twi6er:
@StrikesMe
Open
vSwitch

2. Acknowledgements:
• Mar>n
Casado,
Founder
&
CTO
–
Nicira
Inc/VMware
• James
Hamilton,
VP
&
Dis>nguished
Engineer,
Amazon
Web
Services
Open
vSwitch

3. Agenda
• Datacenter
Economics
• Cloud
Expecta>ons
• You
would
ask
“Why
is
Network
the
barrier”?
– Dynamics/Inflexibility
–
NW
aren’t
built
for
flexibility
– Efficiency
–
Cloud
DC
economics
– Scale
–
NW
scale
limits
cloud
scale.
• The
only
Solu>on
–
Move
networking
to
edge.
• Benefits
• CloudStack
&
Network
Virtualiza>on
Open
vSwitch

4. Cloud
Datacenter
Economics
Open
vSwitch

5. Cloud
Expecta>ons
Dynamic
Environment
Dynamic
• VMs
come
and
go
anywhere
in
the
datacenter.
• Tenants
with
differing
network
requirements
come
and
go.
High
Efficiency
Efficient
• Cloud
==
Cheaper
than
dedicated
• Cheaper
==
High
infrastructure
u>liza>on.
Scalable
yet
performant
&
efficient
Scalable
• Single
cloud
across
many
physical
pods
or
even
datacenters.
• High
efficiency
and
high
performance
even
at
large
scale
Open
vSwitch

6. Cloud
Dynamics
–
Network
is
the
barrier
• Network
gear
weren’t
built
to
have
config
state.
• Network
configura>on
is
a
mess
– Manual
configura>on
– CLI,
screen-­‐scaping
etc,
very
bri6le,
not
cloud
friendly.
• No
support
for
IP
mobility
• Today’s
NW
oversubscrip>on
limits
VM
placement.
Open
vSwitch

7. Cloud
Dynamics
–
Network
is
the
barrier
Credit:
Borrowed
from
h6p://perspec>ve.mvdirona.com
Open
vSwitch

8. Cloud
Expecta>ons
High
Efficiency
Efficient
• Cloud
==
Cheaper
than
dedicated
• Cheaper
==
High
infrastructure
u>liza>on.
Open
vSwitch

9. Cloud
Efficiency
–
Network
is
the
barrier
• Datacenter
Economics
-­‐
Network
– 8%
of
of
monthly
cost
-­‐
Network
gear
– 5.2%
of
power
–
Network
gear
• Datacenter
Economics
–
Server
– 57%
of
monthly
cost
–
Server
gear
– 64%
of
power
cost
–
Server
gear
– Server
u>liza>on
–
10-­‐30%
even
aler
virtualiza>on,
in
cloud
environments.
• Network
HW
cost
not
the
dominant
factor.
Open
vSwitch

10. Cloud
Efficiency
–
Network
is
the
barrier
• Biggest
op>miza>on
opportunity
in
DC
cost
model.
– Improve
server
u>liza>on!
• Biggest
hurdle
to
improving
server
u>liza>on
in
cloud?
– Find
out
in
Next
slide
;)
Open
vSwitch

11. Cloud
Efficiency
–
Network
is
the
barrier
Virtual
Machines
VM
VM
VM
VM
Physical
Server
Workloads
are
>ed
to
the
Network!
Open
vSwitch

12. Cloud
Expecta>ons
Scalable
yet
performant
&
efficient
Scalable
• Single
cloud
across
many
physical
pods
or
even
datacenters.
• High
efficiency
and
high
performance
even
at
large
scale
Open
vSwitch

13. Cloud
Scalability–
Network
is
the
barrier
• Size
limita>on
of
a
single
broadcast
domain
– Workload
mobility
&
placement
challenges
• VLAN
Limita>on
– Spec.
limita>on
-­‐
4096
limit
– Implementa>on
-­‐
Server
CPU
u>liza>on
issues.
• Scale
up
get
expensive
before
reliable
– “Asympto>cally
approaches
unaffordable
but
never
gets
to
good
enough”
–
James
Hamilton
• Tradi>onal
NW
management
&
opera>ons
tool
breakdown
–
can’t
run
a
cloud
without
ops!
Open
vSwitch

14. Network
Sucks
-­‐
So…
what
do
we
do?
• What
do
we
do
– Pull
networking
to
the
edge
–
i.e.
Server/Hypervisor.
• Benefits
– Simplify
physical
Network
–
Cloud
NW
complexity
not
exposed
to
physical
network
– Richer
seman>cs
at
edge
– Distributed
–
less
aggregate
processing
at
a
single
point
– Solware
is
more
flexible
than
hardware.
Open
vSwitch

15. How
does
this
work?
VM
VM
VM
VM
VM
VM
VM
VM
VM
Open
vSwitch
Physical
Network
Internet
Open
vSwitch

16. Benefits
of
this
paradigm
shil
• Flexible,
efficient
and
be6er
scalable
“cloud”
networks!
• Network
Hardware
independent
and
non
disrup>ve.
• Mul>-­‐hypervisor
support
• Place
and
move
any
workload,
anywhere
• Supports
both
physical
and
virtual
workloads
• Programma>c
network
infrastructure
control
• VLAN
and
MAC
scalability
• Secure
tenant
isola>on
on
share
physical
infrastructure
Open
vSwitch

17. This
new
world
and
CloudStack
• CloudStack
has
a
pluggable
architecture.
• CloudStack
offers
support
for
many
NW
models
– Use
tradi>onal
physical
networking
– Use
Network
Virtualiza>on
non
disrup>vely
• Nicira
NVP
(
this
new
architecture)
is
a
fully
integrated
Network
Virtualiza>on
solu>on
for
CloudStack
• Running
in
Produc=on
today
@
Schuberg-­‐Phillis
today!
Open
vSwitch

18. Thanks!
Q&A
Its
>me
to
Virtualize
the
Network!
Open
vSwitch