2. Biography
• Technology Strategist for Universal Data, Inc.
• Over 25 years of Industry Experience
• Industry Certifications include:
Cisco CCNP, CCDP, Voice and Wireless
Specializations, Microsoft MCSE, Novell Master CNE, HP
ASE, Marconi ATM IOM, Extreme and Juniper Design
Certifications, and more than 20 others
Richard Tando
Chief technology Officer
Universal Data, Inc.
3. • Founded over 30 years ago and built on the principle as
technology changes UDI will adapt while helping our
clients realize change
• New Orleans owned and operated
• Single source provider of IT solutions and services
• UDI is not identified by a single product but by the
adaptability and the strength of our team
Universal Data Overview
4. Universal Data has over 30 years of experience in providing
World Class Service to our community while strengthening
their ability to manage and access their business
information continuously and securely, today and in the
future, by utilizing existing and emerging technologies. For
3 consecutive years, UDI has been selected as the top 1%
of technology companies in North America for both its
deep technical expertise and premier certifications
As an established, experienced technology provider to state and local
governments, schools, and institutions, we work with leading IT
manufacturers to maximize discounts for government and nonprofit clients.
Universal Data is experienced in the E-Rate process. We can also work with
you to identify, solicit, and obtain grants or other alternative
funding, enabling you to deploy technology that your principal revenue
sources could not otherwise support.
5. SDN agenda
SDN Defined1
SDN Drivers and Impact2
State of the Industry3
Where do we go from here?
Where do we go from here?4
6. Myth 1
FACT: Like most new technologies, SDN is somewhat misunderstood
and over-hyped! However, it does offer substantial benefits for dynamic
virtual networks.
10. • BYOD
• Increased use of Mobile Devices and Tablets
• Increased demand for applications and services
• Growing Use of Cloud Computing
• Need for more granular control
• Security and Compliance Requirements
• Big Data and growing Data Stores
• Desktop and Application Virtualization
Drivers
11. What brings the two world together?
Objective: An Open, Programmable, Application-Aware Network
Network
Programmability
THE APPLICATION WORLD THE NETWORK WORLD
Inform application of data intrinsically in
the network
Inform network of desired behavior
VPN/mobile/security gateways
Billing profile
Business edge service profileEnterprise edge
Hypervisor stack
User service profile
CDN
Programmable
Touch points
12. SDN Architecture
APPLICATION LAYER
CONTROL LAYER
INFRASTRUCTURE LAYER
Business Applications
API API API
NETWORK DEVICES
NETWORK DEVICES
NETWORK DEVICESNETWORK DEVICES
NETWORK DEVICES
Network Services
Control Data Plane Interface
13. Basic SDN Operation
Data PlaneControl Plane
Switching
Device
Switching
Device
Switching
Device
Switching
Device
SDN
Controller
14. Where did the protocols go?
Switch Control Plane
OpenFlow Controller
Switch
Switch
Switch
Switch
Switch
Switch
• Switches do not run any
protocols besides OpenFlow
Switch Control Plane:
• Switching and Routing protocols
are run from a central controller
• xSTP, LACP, Ethernet OAM
• OSPF, IS-IS, BGP, etc.
OpenFlow
Protocol
LACP RSTP OSPF …
15. SDN agenda
SDN Defined1
SDN Drivers and Impact2
State of the Industry3
Where do we go from here?
Where do we go from here?4
16. Myth 3
FACT: HAH! Software has to run on something! A common corollary
to this myth is that SDN deployments will consist of cheap minimalist
platforms in the field. This too is highly unlikely. Intelligence will still be
necessary to communicate with the controller and manage the device.
SDN is likely to fuel new hardware innovation.
17. SDN drivers and impact
Private cloud is not
just about cost
reduction.
will be a key
benefit.
By 2020,
devices
will be connected
to wireless
networks.
SDN market will grow to
by 2016…
driven by the growing
need for scalability and
network programmability.
HUMAN MIDDLEWARE DEVICE PROLIFERATRATION MARKET GROWTH
Gartner G00238288, Five Things That
Private Cloud Is Not, 3 August 2012,
Thomas J. Bittman
Ericsson white paper, “More Than 50
Billion Connected Devices,” February
2011
IDC #235074, “Technology Assessment:
The Impact of OpenFlow on Data Center
Network Architecture” June 2012
18. What are the benefits of SDN?
• Agility and Manageability
• Scalability
• Optimal Path Computation
• Network Function Virtualization
22. • Virtualization will be a huge consumer of SDN but
it also makes it possible. Virtual Servers present
an ideal platform for Network Functions
• Standards are getting better
• Open source is a strong and respected
development process
• Technological advancements like programmable
Asics and the fact that many vendors have
already started down these paths on their own
has paved the road to SDN
SDN enablers
23. SDN agenda
SDN Defined1
SDN Drivers and Impact2
State of the Industry3
Where do we go from here?
Where do we go from here?4
24. YOU USED TO GET EXCITED
ABOUT NETWORKING?
For the first time in years,
networking is driven by new ideas
and new technologies. SDN
promises to end the stagnation of
legacy networking.
“Game
Changer”
25. SDN Offerings can be divided into 4 segments
• Pure ApproachPure Approach1
Overlay Approach2
Management Approach3
Component Approach4
27. Logical “switch” devices
overlay the physical
network
Logical switches
define their own
topology
Underlying physical network
carries data traffic for overlay
network
OVERLAY APPROACH
28. Centralized Management System
Interface to existing control planes
SDN Capabilities are achieved by
centrally managing existing individual
devices
Control
Forwarding
Control
Forwarding
Control
Forwarding
Control
Forwarding
Control
Forwarding
Global Network View
MANAGEMENT APPROACH
31. SDN agenda
SDN Defined1
SDN Drivers and Impact2
State of the Industry3
Where do we go from here?
Where do we go from here?4
32. Myth 4
FACT: SDN is in its infancy. Standards are going to be debated,
defined, and re-defined. Many more test beds will be necessary.
It will be adopted step-by-step. “Prime time” is still a couple of years away.
33. Top Barriers of SDN Adoption
41%
32%
23%
22%
18%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%
Concern that the technology won’t scale to support enterprise-class networks
Confusion and lack of definition in terms of vendors’ strategies
We don’t see a compelling value proposition
Immaturity of current products
Lack of resources to evaluate SDN
Data: Information Week 2012 Software-Defined Networking Survey of
250 business technology professionals, July 2012
34. 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%
2013
2014
2015
2016 or Later
Not Sure
Never
2%
11%
32%
36%
18%
2%
When will SDN Be Widely Adopted to the Point That It Significantly
Impacts the Competitive Landscape for Services?
Source: Heavy Reading
35. • Large distributed Data Centers- Cloud
Providers, ISPs, Large enterprises.
• Network Function Virtualization as a
component replacement.
• Hybrid Cloud and Disaster Resilient Designs
• BYOD and Context Based Networking
Where do we expect to see SDN first?
36. SDN is the new network BUT SDN is in its infancy-don’t
overact to the hype and don’t assume that all information is
entirely accurate.
As you deal with the issues that SDN addresses make a
point to check up on it over time. The environment is ripe for
some very quick development cycles. After all if you are
developing solutions designed to help companies react and
change quickly you should be able to develop quickly
Unless you are in one of the groups we listed as the initial
adopters consider approaching SDN in a functional manner.
Purchasing solutions designed for SDN to solve specific
needs you have today such as network functions and
adopting SDN as your needs and SDN functionality match
up
Recommendations
37. • If you are in one of those early adopter
categories or you are just a progressive thing
organization with some good ambitions talent.
Grab an overlay solution, jump in and get your
feet wet.
And keep in touch with UDI.
Recommendations (continued)
Just like Voice over IP, Cloud computing and BYOD the marketing departments have learned that buzzwords sell products. Ten years ago I did lectures on VoIP. Every voice vendor called their system a voice over IP system but what they were actually selling could be drastically different.There is a lot of confusion and assumptions surrounding SDN and we are hoping to clear some of those up today, but the best way to clarify misconceptions about SDN are to identify them.
This is the same type of pattern as we experienced with VoIP. Depending on which vendor you have been talking to your definitions and experiences could be worlds apart.
The traditional network is a hierarchy with routing and filtering being performed at certain points on the network and traffic typically runs North to South between clients and servers in the data center. With Virtualization, distributed applications and big data we have new data flows. Two virtual servers in different VLANs may reside on the same host but their traffic ends up leaving the host going out to the router and then returning back to the same host. When traffic that needs to go east to west is forced into the traditional topology we get a trombone effect. An additional difficulty which especially stands out on a WAN is that redundancy today is managed by redundancy protocols. These protocols focus on choosing which redundant path to take from a physical point of view. They do not take into consideration any of the characteristics of the data itself. As an example if you had two patch one providing a Gigabit of bandwidth but because of hops at 100MS latency and the other only 1Mb of bandwidth but at 5MS latency, a big FTP job is going to want the second but a Voice stream would by far prefer the first. Traditional methods would choose one or the other. But there is a better way.
No where does the significance of virtualizing servers stand out than in cloud computing. In a hybrid cloud the goal is to totally separate the physical from the logical. Accordingly we want the same features and functionality no matter where the server or more importantly the application is located. In addition we want these servers to be able to communicate with one another in the same way they would if they were next to one another no matter where they are. Today we can do just about everything involved except with the network. We need all of the network features and capabilities to flow seamlessly through the topology.
Additional drivers include:BYOD- The tough thing about BYOD is that you may trust the users but you don’t necessarily trust their device. You also trust some users and devices more than others. So you need the ability to define a variable set of policies that follow the user and device rather than any specific physical layout.The increase in devices and systems either within an enterprise or at a service provider level simply runs into scaling issues. There are only 4000 or so possible VLANs. Anything that requires manual interventions slows you down and gets expensive.Cloud computing has introduced the need for self service provisioning and for transparent functionality and has opened up a whole new list of security and compliance issues.Big Data and Desktop Virtualization change the data flow models in our network. Traffic is flowing east-west rather than north south and at significant volumes but still with the need for controls and security.
When we normalize the needs of these different drivers to a set of requirements we find that we need a network that is managed not based on the physical connections and needs of individual devices but on the needs of applications and their functionalities across the whole ecosystem.
SDN’s favorite word is Decouple. The strategy is to decouple the control plane from the forwarding plane. In other words decouple the actual forwarding of traffic from one device to another or one interface to another from the decision process that decides where to forward the traffic. Once that is done the decision process can be centralized and as such be able to make decisions for all of the components in the network not just one. This also gives us the ability to make better decisions using more information and lastly to tie this controller to management systems using standardized API’s.
In the basic form here is what we have. A controller thinking for all of the network devices able to make better decisions taking into count the nature of the data and the entire network including functions like security.
The myth is that with SDN since the switches no longer need to do the thinking we can get away with purchasing the cheapest “Whitebox” switches out there. I don’t think this is going to be the case either. If you have really pushed network equipment you are probably aware that not all asics are equal and not all switch designs are the same. One vendor out there make a ten Gig card where certain ports are circled. If you want the card to actually provide 10G throughput on the ten gig ports the instructions tell you to only use those specific ports. I think we will see switches that work well with SDN and others that tolerate SDN.
These are some basic press items. Agility seems to be the one benefit of SDN that everyone is jumping on. And the driver to agility is simply volume, Ive seen a recent white paper that estimate 3.7Billion by 2016.
I’ve broken the benefits down two four key areas.By centralizing the control plane and defining Paths based on application characteristics and all of the capabilities of the network we can first do away with traditional protocols and their limits and second make better decisions for path computations.An inherent component of this strategy which in itself I am pretty excited about is the virtualizing of Network Functions. Lets get rid of those standalone boxes that perform specific functions like the firewall and make it another virtual server. This trend will happen either with or without SDN though you can expect any vendor who virtualizes their equipment to call it SDN. SDN will provide rules and standards to make those new Virtual devices more effective.
Agility and Manageability- The ability to instantly deploy network topology changes and functionality. Jaguar an ISP in Europe has Deployed SDN in order to build self service network functionality into their self service portal for their cloud offering. The ability to virtualize network control and management allows for easy management and provisioning. Like most other virtualization strategies SDN has a great story when it comes to scalability. What does it take to deploy a new VM that is exactly the same as one you already have? If the management is centralized the components just provide capacity.This means that from central management systems or even self service portals that are connected to the central management. Complete network topologies can be dynamically spun up.
Currently because each network device is essentially an island of control to itself, if we need the decisions to be made on our network we need the traffic to flow through the device or devices that know how to make those decisions. It is not uncommon at all to bounce traffic into and out of a box just to have it be able to make decisions. Once we have separated the decision process from the traffic forwarding process we can find the more optimal forwarding paths for the traffic and basically have an out of band decision process.
In 1994 The Network Computing Reference Architecture was introduced. The concept was that all data and applications would exist in centralized data centers and users would access both their applications and data via a simple web browser. Sound familiar. Why didn’t this idea take off in the 1990’s. The enablers weren't there. At that time we were fighting to get a single OS to access more than one 100Mhz CPU so this model would have required huge data centers with an incredible number of servers. Today we have servers with 12 2.6Ghz CPUs and we use Virtualization just to put it all to use. Other advancements like the ready availability of high bandwidth connections make Cloud computing happen today when it couldn’t back then.
From a strategic point of view SDN enables significant advancements but it also requires some significant enablers. Several Technologies are fueling this process.Virtual Servers offer the performance and reliability like never beforeIn the past you could buy to devices from the same manufacturer and discover that even though they both supported a standard the two product teams each chose not to support the whole standard.Coming from such a cutthroat world to one where major competitors work together on open source projects is astounding
When my marketing department asked me what topic to talk about in this lecture I could have said; BYOD or Cloud computing because those are hot topics that everyone is talking about. I chose SDN instead because it is a fledgling topic that many have heard about but it hasn’t gotten enough attention to be on most people’s radar. Since we were granted this topic there has been at least one major announcement a week. With big players, VMWare, Juniper and IBM all making anouncements.The most simple definition of software-defined networking (SDN), given by the Open Networking Foundation, is that SDN “brings direct software programmability to networks worldwide.” OpenFlow, a protocol that enables software-defined networking, is the result of a six-year collaboration between Stanford University and the University of California at Berkeley and was borne out of the desire to find a way to program switches and routers without accessing them directly. The resulting protocol separates switches and routers from their hardware, allowing them to be programmed by a controller. While OpenFlow is the most common protocol for enabling software defined networks, some companies are working to create their own initiatives to support SDN. In an anpuncement about two weeks ago a vendor released an SDN approach that uses XMPP as the out of band communication protocol between controller and switches.
The purist view is a strict separation of control plane and data plane. SDN = OpenflowTo fully achieve Optimal Path Calculations we need the Pure approach where traditional routing functionality gives way to Open flow at all levels of the architecture.The Pure approach is the furthest off today. Basically every hurdle possible needs to be jumped to achieve this approach.
An overlay approach uses GRE Tunnels, essentually VPNs to build an SDN logical network on top of an existing IP network topology. This strategy allows us to realize the Agility and Manageability pieces of SDN quickly without the added complexity of figuring out all of the details of changing how switches and routers think today. Using this approach a cloud vendor can provide a customer service portal to configure network functionality just like they provide a portal for provisioning and managing servers. Check the boxes and answer the questions and your topology is dynamically created.The drawback to an overlay approach is that it doesn’t necessarily provide optimal path flows as a matter of fact it may vary well sacrifice optimal path flow.
Network functions that in the past ran on purpose built appliances often sized based on throughput capacity get virtualized in the SDN model. Things like, routing, firewalling, WAN and Application Accelerating, Content Filtering, Policy Management and Network Access Control all basically become virtual machines in the environment that can be positioned and controlled as needed by the central director. Each of these components however can generally stand alone as well. We have seen some vendors making Network Function Virtualization their first step into SDN.
Others who have made recent announcements include:IBM, eBay, GE and Citi
Like many new concepts and standards their will be competing standards, draft standards, there will be vendors who fully support the standards and those who will only partially support them
As I mentioned earlier Agility is the key benefit that most manufacturers are jumping on. They are doing this in response to demands from ISP’s, Cloud providers and very large enterprises where the IT department is essentially a cloud provider to a captured set of customers. Solutions for large, distributed Data Centers will be first. A close second and possibly one that will be more widely embraced because of the wider market for it will be Network Function Virtualization as a first step to SDN. If I told you that there is a Virtual Appliance based firewall that costs $4000 and had the same specs as a $50,000 appliance based firewall would you be interested? Next after some continued development and standards adoption I would expect to see SDN adopted to provide network federation in a Hybrid Cloud strategy or to provide an easier to manage Disaster replication and Business continuity strategy. As BYOD continues to impact businesses the need for the ability to apply policies to individual sessions will continue to grow. As vendors integrate standards SDN may provide a fantastic approach to these need as network paths can be built and torn down automatically to accommodate specific use cases.
