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PATH TO
AUTOMATING
APPLICATION
NETWORKS
SDN moves into the realm of the practical, as standards and
interoperability ease efforts to automate networks
Software Defined Networking (SDN) has been heralded as the long-term solution for dynamically
provisioning and automatically configuring network resources as applications are deployed. SDN,
though, has moved beyond theory to practical reality, as open standards and growing interoperability among vendors are driving rollouts of new capabilities.
The ongoing virtualization of data center infrastructure and integration of cloud computing
resources make it imperative to be able to dynamically shift and monitor workloads across those
environments. As data center networks have grown to encompass thousands of devices, existing
architectures have proven inadequate for rapid deployment of applications and unable to keep
up with the agility requirements of todays business environment.
This paper reviews the state of SDN today, including key factors in its evolution. It also reviews
the development of standards such as OpenFlow and the more recent OpFlex open policy
protocol that complements it. We will then look at how the Application Centric Networking
model from Cisco has developed to create a more complete solution for SDN that combines
L4 7 services from Citrix using the NetScaler ADC.
SDN TODAY
While virtualization of compute and storage have made those infrastructures more efficient, the network has not kept pace, leaving
data centers struggling to leverage such advances. Proprietary legacy
networking solutions make it difficult for organizations to adapt new
technologies needed to create innovative services and are barriers to
achieving the full potential of enterprise cloud computing.
Computer networks are complex and difficult to manage, say the
authors of an ACM SIGCOMM Computer Communication Review
paper tracing the history and evolution of SDN. These networks have
many kinds of equipment, from routers and switches to middleboxes
such as firewalls, network address translators, server load balancers,
and intrusion detection systems. Routers and switches run complex,
distributed control software that is typically closed and proprietary.1
In a legacy network, adding new functions typically requires installing
new equipment or contracting a vendor to reprogram old equipment
for new use. In an SDN, the network control and forwarding functions
are decoupled from hardware. Those functions are then directly
programmable so that network architects can dynamically manage
and control the network devices. Thus the network can be virtualized and delivered as a service much as data centers are doing with
compute and storage resources.
The roots of SDN traced back more than 20 years to research efforts
on active networking and evolved into an industry-wide effort to build
a more open, programmatic approach to network architecture. But
the proprietary locks that network equipment vendors asserted over
their system software stymied researchers attempting to move in that
direction. A group of computer scientists at the University of Stanford
in 2008 proposed the catalyst that would push vendors in a more
open direction.
Many believe SDN will accelerate the merging of software development and IT operations into a modern enterprise DevOps function
that can more quickly create, refine and fix applications. With an SDN
infrastructure enabling dynamic provisioning, developers can rapidly
prototype, build and migrate applications to production mode. This
is why SDN is seen as the key to an automated, application-centric
infrastructure.
SDN allows AT&T and its customers to create products and services
quicker than before, with more control and the ability to add services
on-demand and in near real-time, says AT&T. SDN was a key element in
AT&Ts 2014 rollout of its self service network solution for businesses.
Services providers such as AT&T represent one class of SDN
adopters, according to a Network World reality check. Hyperscale
operations such as Google are another. Large financial firms such as
JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs represent a third class of potential SDN
consumer,3 writes Jim Metzler in a Sept. 9, 2014 Network World article.
DEPLOYMENT-READY OPTIONS
ACI moves beyond SDN theory to advanced implementation, while
accommodating existing infrastructure. On a practical level, virtual or
physical servers on existing Cisco Nexus networks can participate in
the ACI fabric using the Cisco APIC to provision policies and enable ACI
forwarding mechanisms across both the new ACI (Nexus 9000-based)
and existing Nexus fabrics (Nexus 3000-7000).
Nick Feamster, et al, The Road to SDN: An Intellectual History of Programmable Networks, April 2014. ACM SIGCOMM Computer Communication Review.
www3.cs.stonybrook.edu/~phillipa/CSE534/sdnhistory.pdf
2
Jim Metzler, SDN and Network Virtualization: A Reality Check, Sept. 9, 2014. Network World.; www.networkworld.com/article/2604023/sdn/sdn-and-network-virtualization-a-reality-check.html
Arthur Cole, SDN: The Key to Computing in the Cloud, April 4, 2014. Enterprise Networking Planet.
www.enterprisenetworkingplanet.com/datacenter/datacenter-blog/sdn-the-key-to-computing-in-the-cloud.html
5
Sean Michael Kerner, Cisco Opflex Protocol Moves Forward at OpenStack and OpenDaylight, May 5, 2014. Enterprise Networking Planet.
www.enterprisenetworkingplanet.com/netsp/cisco-opflex-protocol-moves-forward-at-openstack-and-opendaylight.html