SDN presentation based on personal assessments on the virtual networking world

1. Edgar Magana, PhD
Cloud Operations Architect
September, 2015
SDN Symposium

2. Key Factors
 Data Plane
– OVS, LB, vRouter, IOVisor
 Performance, Scalability and HA
 OpenStack – Neutron API & Extensions Compatibility
– Core Resources (networks, ports, subnets)
– Extensions (routers, sec groups, metadata, quotas, etc.)
– Experience in deployments
 Network Model
 Hypervisor Support (CentOS*)
 VNFs Availability
 No Vendor Lock-in
 Maturity

3. Current Assessment
 SDN invested for companies is considered as high risk
– SDN is “generally” new technology
– Understand that SDN engagement as “early adopter”
– However, recent issues and fixes have eroded our confidence
– Almost out of runway to achieve production quality
– Many players: 42 available SDN options
– Most of them are “start-ups”
– Big players equal to potential vendor lock-in
– New technologies are difficult to test (performance and scalability)
– Let’s narrow down those SDN players …

4. Neutron ML2 Plugin – OVS GRE/VXLAN Tunnels
source: Red Hat

5. SDN Options
 Neutron
 Juniper (OpenContrail)
 Cisco
 Midokura
 VMware
 Nuage
 PLUMgrid
 Melanox
 Bigswitch
 IBM
Note: Filtered based on their integration with OpenStack and VNI Delivering

6. Operators Survey May - 2014
source: Ops Survey (OpenStack Foundation)

7. Operators Survey May - 2014
source: Ops Survey (OpenStack Foundation)

8. Nov - 2014
source: Ops Survey (OpenStack Foundation)

9. May - 2015
source: Ops Survey (OpenStack Foundation)

10. Few initial thoughts
• VMware (Nicira - NSX)
• VNI
• Integrated services (vCNS & vShield Edge)
• Large scale (5000+) & perceived as solid
product
• Strong OpenStack knowledge
• Alcatel (Nuage)
• VNI
• No services story
• Heavy presence in financials
• Medium OpenStack knowledge
• Cisco (APIC)
• Hybrid VNI/PNI
• Customers like the visibility/analytics aspect
• Cisco support
• Strong OpenStack knowledge
• Not Open Source
• Juniper (OpenContrail)
• Hybrid VNI/PNI
• Natural integration with existing fabric via BGP
• Perceived as not same quality as Juniper products
• OpenSourced
• Midokura
• VNI
• Medium services story
• OpenSourced Technology
• Strong OpenStack knowledge
• PLUMgrid
• VNI
• Heavy services story
• Good analytics and visualization
• Only kernel module is open sourced

11. OpenContrail SDN-B SDN-B SDN-C SDN-D
Hypervisor Agnostic Y
VNI/PNI Y
Data Plane vRouter
Performance & HA ?
Network Model Policy-based
Topology Management Policy-based
(deny & complex)
Neutron APIs 50%
Distributed Virtual Switch Y
Distributed Virtual Router Y
Distributed Virtual Firewall N
Distributed Virtual LB (L2-L4) N
3rd Party Services VM-based
User Experience 3 over 5
Virtual Link Tap (VTAP/VTEP) WIP
Fabric Health Map N
Advanced Analytics Y
SDK, Language & Compiler N
Vendor Lock-in N (?)
Distro/Product Integration None
DB Integration (Neutron) Y
OpenSource Y