What Is Software Defined Networking

Software Defined Networking (SDN) is an emerging network architecture where network control
is decoupled from forwarding and is directly programmable. SDN is essentially moving from
distributed configuration to controlling the network from a logically centralized high level
program i.e. Controller.

Separation of control-plane and data-plane.

Controls the entire network by governing all the flows on the network elements. Intended
to make NEs dumb (having only Data Plane) by moving the logic to Controller Layer. So
controller computes the logic of how traffic will be forwarded.
Thus, Data Plane consists of programmable devices and Control Plane consists of
Controller & Apps.
SDN requires some method for the control plane to communicate with the data plane.
One such mechanism is OpenFlow.
 Networks that are configured/reconfigured via software tools.
Networks defined according to the needs of software/applications using them.
Can support multi-layer provisioning.
The term SDN was coined in year 2009.

Difference between Software Defined Networking and Network Virtualization

Posted by Kanika

Software Defined Networking

A way to controlling the network from a logically centralized high level program i.e.
Controller.
Decouples control plane from data plane.
Network Virtualization is one of the application of SDN Software defined networking
can be leveraged as a tool to achieve Network Virtualization.

Network Virtualization

Carving out multiple virtual network from a single physical network

Administration of each virtual network is delegated to same or different entity
Administrator of one virtual network doesnt have access to the traffic flowing through
other virtual networks even if they are sharing the same physical link
 Virtualization can happen at many levels/layers e.g. at Routers (L3), Ethernet (L2), OTN
(L1) or Wavelength (L0)
Better utilization of network resources

Why Software Defined Networking?

Posted by Kanika

As we read in the previous post on what is software defined networking, we understood that it is
a technology that separates control plane from data plane and allows network administrators to
have programmable central control of network traffic via a controller. But why do we really need
to have a centralized controller??

Well, a one line answer is that it allows us to easily shape the traffic in real time depending on
current needs. How?

Controller provides a single interface to configure all the network elements on the network. So
instead of going into the command line for each individual network device, you can send out a
command from controller which gets propagated to all the network devices and change the traffic
shaping in real time.

Also, it enables software control of the network to evolve independent of hardware.

Example 1

Consider a network on which data is being routed using FTP and VOIP both. Now at times, FTP
traffic has higher priority than VOIP and at other times, VOIP traffic has higher priority than
FTP. Now to achieve this, we got to tell each switch/router that Hey..!! Traffic priority has
changed, lets change your setting. Whoa, what if there 100s of network devices? Thats one
place SDN saves our lives using SDN Controller, we can shoot out a command that FTP traffic
has taken precedence over VOIP traffic and thats it. This command gets propagated to all the
network elements.
Example 2

Consider a network which is divided into 2 sub-networks. Sub-Network 1 is providing a

dedicated bandwidth of 10 Gbps and Sub-Network 2 is providing a dedicated bandwidth of 20
Gbps. Now there will be times when bandwidth requirement from Sub-Network 1 is just 5 Gbps
but from Sub-Network 2, it is 25 Gbps. SDN will enable dynamic allocation of bandwidth based
on current needs which is not possible to achieve today. Hence comes the definition, SDN allows
us to easily shape the traffic.

Example 3

Consider an organization, which needs low bandwidth, good latency pipe at one point of time but
high bandwidth, poor latency pipe at another point of time. Well achieving good latency is
highly expensive so when they are not doing any time sensitive operations, they would want to
have a poor latency pipe which is relatively cheaper. SDN will help in achieving this.

Difference Between Control Plane & Data Plane

Posted by Kanika

Control Plane

Makes decisions about where traffic is sent

Control plane packets are destined to or locally originated by the router itself
The control plane functions include the system configuration, management, and exchange
of routing table information
The route controller exchanges the topology information with other routers and
constructs a routing table based on a routing protocol, for example, RIP, OSPF or BGP
Control plane packets are processed by the router to update the routing table information.
It is the Signalling of the network
Since the control functions are not performed on each arriving individual packet, they do
not have a strict speed constraint and are less time-critical

Data Plane

Also known as Forwarding Plane

 Forwards traffic to the next hop along the path to the selected destination network
according to control plane logic
Data plane packets go through the router
The routers/switches use what the control plane built to dispose of incoming and
outgoing frames and packets

Example 1

The protocol or application itself doesnt really determine whether the traffic is control,
management, or data plane, but more importantly how the router processes it. Consider a 3 router
topology with routers R1, R2 and R3. Lets say a Telnet session is established from R1 to R3. On
both of these routers the packets need to be handled by the control/management plane. However
from R2s perspective this is just data plane traffic that is transiting between its links.

Example 2

Control Plane => Learning what we will do

Our planning stage, which includes learning which paths the buses will take, is similar to the
control plane in the network. We havent picked up people yet, nor have we dropped them off,
but we do know the paths and stops due to our plan. The control plane is primarily about the
learning of routes.

Data Plane => Actually moving the packets based on what we learned.

The data plane is the actual movement of the customers data packets over the transit path we
learned in the control plane stage.
Understanding the differences between Software Defined Networking, network
virtualization and Network Functions Virtualization

The network team is being bombarded with configuration requests that

can take days or weeks to handle, but luckily several approaches are
emerging that promise to increase network agility, chief among
them Network Virtualization (NV), Network Functions Virtualization
(NFV), and Software Defined Networking (SDN).

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The alphabet soup may seem overwhelming at first, but each of these
approaches is trying to solve different subsets of the macro issue of
network mobility. In this article well examine how NV, NFV and SDN
differ and how each moves us down the path toward programmable
networks.

Network Virtualization

Enterprise networking administrators cant keep up with requests for

network changes. There needs to be a way to automate the network to
improve ITs responsiveness to change. In this use case, we are
typically trying to solve one problem: How do I move VMs across
different logical domains? Network virtualization literally tries to create
logical segments in an existing network by dividing the network
logically at the flow level (it is similar to partitioning a hard drive).
NV is an overlay; its a tunnel. Rather than physically connecting two
domains in a network, NV creates a tunnel through the existing network
to connect two domains. NV is valuable because it saves administrators
from having to physically wire up each new domain connection,
especially for virtual machines that get created. This is useful because
administrators dont have to change what they have already done. They
get a new way to virtualize their infrastructure and make changes on top
of an existing infrastructure.

+ ALSO ON NETWORK WORLD Understanding SDN +

NV runs on high-performance x86 platforms. The goal is to allow

people to move VMs independently of their existing infrastructure and
not have to reconfigure the network. Nicera (now VMware) is one
vendor selling NV equipment. NV is for anybody whos using virtual
machine technology.

Network Functions Virtualization

If NV offers the capability to create tunnels through a network and use

per-flow service thinking, the next step is to put a service on a tunnel.
NFV is virtualizing Layer 4-7 functions such as firewall or IDPS, or
even load balancing (application delivery controllers).

If administrators can set up a VM by pointing and clicking, why cant

they turn up a firewall or IDS/IPS in the same way? This is what NFV
enables. NFV uses best practices as base policies and configurations for
different network elements. If you have a specific tunnel youre
punching through the infrastructure, you can add a firewall or IDS/IPS
to just that tunnel. The popular functions for this are firewalls and
IDS/IPS systems from companies like PLUMgrid or Embrane.

NFV runs on high-performance x86 platforms, and it enables users to

turn up functions on selected tunnels in the network. The goal is to
allow people to create a service profile for a VM, or flow, and leverage
x86 muscle to build an abstraction on top of the network (the tunnel)
and then build virtual services on that specific logical environment.
Once in place, NFV saves a lot of time on manual provisioning and
training.

NFV also reduces the need to overprovision: rather than buying big
firewall or IDS/IPS boxes that can handle a whole network, the
customer can buy functions for the specific tunnels that need them. This
reduces initial Capex, but the operational gains are the real advantage.
NFV can be thought of as a parallel to VMware, with a few boxes
running a lot of virtual servers, and a point and click provisioning
system.
Customers understand the difference between NV and NFV, but they
may not want to go to two different vendors to get them. Thats why
VMware now offers NV and NFV security functions in VMware NSX.

Software Defined Networking

SDN uses canned processes to provision the network. For example,

instead of building a network tap using an appliance, users should be
able to program the network when they want to build a tap.

SDN makes the network programmable by separating the control plane

(telling the network what goes where) from the data plane (sending
packets to specific destinations). It relies on switches that can be
programmed through an SDN controller using an industry standard
control protocol, such as Open Flow.

While NV and NFV add virtual tunnels and functions to the physical
network, SDN changes the physical network, and therefore is really a
new externally driven means to provision and manage the network. A
use case may involve moving a large "elephant flow" from a 1G port to
a 10G port, or aggregation of lot of mice flows to one 1G port. SDN
is implemented on network switches, rather than x86 servers. BigSwitch
and Pica8 are examples of companies selling SDN-related products.

All three types of technology are designed to address mobility and

agility. We need to find a way to program the network, and there are
different approaches to that: NV, NFV, and SDN.

NV and NFV can work on existing networks because they reside on

servers and interact with "groomed" traffic sent to them; SDN requires a
new network construct where the data and control planes are separate.