1.8 - Software Defined Networking

SDN (Software Defined Networking)

• Networking devices have different

functional planes of operation

– Data, control, and management planes

• Split the functions into separate logical units

– Extend the functionality and management

of a single device

– Perfectly built for the cloud

• Infrastructure layer / Data plane

– Process the network frames and packets

– Forwarding, trunking, encrypting, NAT

• Control layer / Control plane

– Manages the actions of the data plane

– Routing tables, session tables, NAT tables

– Dynamic routing protocol updates

• Application layer / Management plane

– Configure and manage the device

– SSH, browser, API

– Extend the physical architecture

SD-WAN

• Software Defined Networking in a Wide Area Network

– A WAN built for the cloud

• The data center used to be in one place

– The cloud has changed everything

• Cloud-based applications communicate directly

to the cloud

– No need to hop through a central point

SD-WAN characteristics

• Application aware

– The WAN knows which app is in use

– Makes routing decisions based on the application data

• Zero-touch provisioning

– Remote equipment is automatically configured

– Application traffic uses the most optimal path

– Can change based on traffic patterns and

network health

• Transport agnostic

– The underlying network can be any type

– Cable modem, DSL, fiber-based, 5G, etc.

– Pick the best choice for the location

• Central policy management

– Management and configuration on a single console

– One device to configure

– Changes are pushed to the SD-WAN routers

Data center interconnect (DCI)

• Connect multiple data centers together

– Device networks seamlessly span across these

geographic distances

• Connect and segment different customer networks

– Across multiple data centers

– All customers share the same core network

• Distribute applications everywhere

– Increase uptime and availability

– Workload can be moved to the best location

Scaling across data centers

• IP addressing is different across data centers

– Challenging to manage dynamically created

virtual systems

• Data centers can be connected in different ways

– MPLS, high speed optical, Metro Ethernet, etc.

• Applications shouldn’t have to worry about

– IP addressing, routing, or connectivity

– Applications should work regardless of physical location

• Extend networks across physical locations

– Encapsulate, send the data, decapsulate

– Tunnel the data

Virtual Extensible LAN (VXLAN)

• Designed for large service providers

– Hundreds or thousands of tenants

• VLANs

– Maximum of about 4,000 possible virtual networks

– Fixed layer 2 domain

– Not designed for large scale and dynamic

movement of VMs

• VXLAN support

– Over 16 million possible virtual networks

– Tunnel frames across a layer 3 network

– Built to accommodate large virtual environments