Software Defined Networking From Blue Sky to Solid Ground CURT BECKMANN EMEA CTO and Chair of ONF Forwarding Abstractions WG BROCADE 30 October 2014 Sequence • A quick review of SDN • What has changed for SDN in the past few months • What to expect in 2015 © Hitachi Data Systems Corporation 2014. All rights reserved. Definitions of Software Defined Networking What is a technical definition of SDN?  “A network where the control and data planes are separated.”  Misses the main point… because it answers the wrong question A better question is: Why SDN?  “An open and interoperable network architecture / market ecosystem that allows control plane products to be purchased independently of data plane products.”  This answer clarifies the need for buyer choice, which will drive competition and innovation © Hitachi Data Systems Corporation 2014. All rights reserved. Early Milestones OpenStack OpenFlow 0.2 ONF founded Mar 2011 2010 2008 • … What has happened since then? © Hitachi Data Systems Corporation 2014. All rights reserved. OpenFlow Disillusionment © Hitachi Data Systems Corporation 2014. All rights reserved. 4 OpenFlow Disillusionment © Hitachi Data Systems Corporation 2014. All rights reserved. 5 Key Related Topic: Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV) (http://portal.etsi.org/NFV/NFV_White_Paper.pdf) Classical Network Appliance Approach Message Router CDN Session Border Controller WAN Acceleration Orchestrated, automatic & remote install DPI Firewall Carrier Grade NAT Tester/QoE Monitor Standard High Volume Servers SGSN/GGSN PE Router BRAS Radio/Fixed Access Network Nodes  Fragmented non-commodity hardware.  Physical install per appliance per site.  Hardware development large barrier to entry for new vendors, constraining innovation & competition. Figure 1: Vision for Network Functions Virtualisation © Hitachi Data Systems Corporation 2014. All rights reserved. Standard High Volume Storage Standard High Volume Ethernet Switches Network Functions Virtualisation Approach 6 Major Milestones OPNFV OpenDaylight NFV Nicira bought ONF founded OpenStack OpenFlow 0.2 Mar 2011 2010 2008 © Hitachi Data Systems Corporation 2014. All rights reserved. Mar 2013 Sep 2012 July 2012 Oct 2014 Important Points of Understanding • SDN / NFV is very disruptive, moving to ECOSYSTEM model  So disruptive that vendor-buyer partnership needed • Disruption driven by huge needs of key buyers: SPs/Web2.0  SPs / Web2.0 buy a lot, but huge needs take time to solve  Smaller needs (of SPs or Enterprise) don’t drive the change • But! Smaller needs can leverage the SDN progress  I.e. technology built for huge tasks can solve smaller tasks NOW • This is where we are now © Hitachi Data Systems Corporation 2014. All rights reserved. THE LAST 6 MONTHS © Hitachi Data Systems Corporation 2014. All rights reserved. ONF Forwarding Abstractions (my) WG TTP Spec © Hitachi Data Systems Corporation 2014. All rights reserved. 10 The Brocade Vyatta Controller • Commercially Supported Version of the OpenDaylight Project Brocade Applications Licensed Separately OpenStack and OpenDaylight, two key open source SDN communities, are becoming increasingly more aligned. Network Applications Orchestration & Services 3rd-Party Partner Applications Licensed Separately OpenDaylight APIs (REST) Base Network Service Functions Brocade Contributions To Open Source Controller Platform Service Abstraction Layer (SAL) OVSDB Brocade Plugins Contributed © Hitachi Data Systems Corporation 2014. All rights reserved. Southbound Interfaces & Protocol Plugins Brocade Packaged Solutions Licensed Separately Brocade Routers and Switches 11 Other important changes Real progress on southbound interfaces (OF and others) Convergence in OS controllers, with supported distributions  Model driven, agile build, scalable and performant Many SDN and NFV trials are (quietly) underway OPNFV formed Many product and system test tools now available Perhaps most important:  Maturity of mindset and perspective across the industry © Hitachi Data Systems Corporation 2014. All rights reserved. What to expect in 2015 2015 will be the year of the “SDN part number”  Many GA products will ship  “Open Vertical” (bundled but standards-based) solutions  Partner bundles will also be available  SDN Technologies aimed at SPs are getting mature  But the technologies are not specific to SP problems  Many Enterprise trials and deployments will also occur © Hitachi Data Systems Corporation 2014. All rights reserved. Other thoughts Many storage-oriented challenges can benefit from SDN  Cloud was main driver of SDN  Cloud also requires storage But main focus of SDN (and NFV) has naturally been on IP  As IP use cases stabilize, adaptation to storage will come fast © Hitachi Data Systems Corporation 2014. All rights reserved. THANK YOU © Hitachi Data Systems Corporation 2014. All rights reserved. 15