SDN/Openflow Sandbox - Mininet

[System Error Message]

SDN as in ISDN like stuff :O
This thread seems to have turned into an a private argument between @sfx2000 and @L&LD lol
Perhaps some humour and cat pics?

 

[L&LD]

SDN as in ISDN like stuff :O
This thread seems to have turned into an a private argument between @sfx2000 and @L&LD lol
Perhaps some humour and cat pics?

Where do you see an argument? I'm trying to learn something new, sfx2000 is doing his best to teach.

 

[System Error Message]

Where do you see an argument? I'm trying to learn something new, sfx2000 is doing his best to teach.

Well you were both hogging the thread that i think we need more people to discuss this topic and provide input. Although sfx2000 does provide a really good video and information about this we just need more people talking about this.

 

[L&LD]

Well you were both hogging the thread that i think we need more people to discuss this topic and provide input. Although sfx2000 does provide a really good video and information about this we just need more people talking about this.

I already asked for further input from others. Please, provide away.

Nobody stopped you from adding your viewpoint? The conversation between me and sfx2000 wasn't planned; it just turned out that way (no hogging occurred).

 

[System Error Message]

I've seen SDN discussed in other forums. Is SDN implemented via openflow?

 

[sfx2000]

I've seen SDN discussed in other forums. Is SDN implemented via openflow?

Towards the Network Elements south from the Control Plane - north from the control plane is the application layer, which in many setups use OpenStack to provide the API's to drive SDN/NFV...

SDN ties into NFV - NFV virtualizes the functions, SDN ties them together in a coherent manner...

 

[sfx2000]

Anyways - Mininet is a fun sandbox to play in with a VM, just to get a basic feel for what SDN can offer..

There's another sandbox - GNS3 - nice walkthru here on that - https://www.howtoforge.com/tutorial/gns3-emulating-network-infrastructure-on-debian-linux/

There's a lot of good stuff happening in the Router space right now - the OpenSource community is totally in with it, and there's a tremendous amount of investment from the big IT and Telecom players.

 

[sfx2000]

The issue is I don't see what it will do for me or my customers (in any way, shape or form). Further, if it can do what I'm doing already, what are the benefits to either me or them?

At some point - a friendly rep from one of the Big Telco's/CableCo's is going to reach out to your customers directly.

They're going to have a very convincing argument for managed LAN/WLAN services, including VPN services site to site - and it will be centrally managed, and it will leverage into their backbone and service oriented architectures.

Best to get ahead of that bus before it runs you over - know about it, and how it can help your customers - you might have to move up the stack a bit, and focus on applications...

 

[sfx2000]

What I get from the link above is a way to make networking harder, not easier, for any normal human.

Granted, it may make it easier for your (obviously) much larger customers than who I normally deal with, but the really big companies that will use tools like this would not be roaming these forums, I don't think?

Curious if anyone else is interested (or even has a clue) in making this work for their home network?

You were asking for a use-case - as a consultant, sometimes you have customers that want to link two sites together...

With a non-SDN solution, it's a bit of work, but not impossible - install a router on both ends (if not already there), or replace if their current gear doesn't do VPN - configure them (at each site), set up the VPN credentials on each site, and bring things up - it's a bit work, but it's billable hours, and one still has to monitor each router in turn...

With SDN - you ship an SDN router to each site - it's preconfigured to "phone home" to your SDN controller - and you just send down configs to each SDN enabled router from your own SDN controller (and that controller can be at the home office, in a cloud instance, or where ever you want it to be).

The upside here is if you need to make changes to the site configurations - before one would have to perhaps go to the site directly, or remote login to the router (if enabled), and make changes (remember, this might have to happen two or more times)... with SDN, you make the changes, push it to the SDN enabled routers, and you're done.

Same would apply to switches inside the network, Access Points, etc... as a consultant, this allow you to perhaps even move from a tradition time-based business model and more into a managed services model that you offer to your customer - peer up with a business broadband provider, and you can now be that one-stop shop..

Another way of visualizing SDN/NFV that some folks might have seen is business class Access Points with a centralized Wireless LAN controller - it's similar, but at the moment, it tends to be a vertical solution, in that the WLC and the AP have to come from a single vendor, and as such, you can run into vendor lock in..

With SDN, this is all standardized, and all gear speaks the same language - so you can get switches from vendor A, routers from vendor B, and Access Points from Vendor C, and it will all work together, and your SDN controller might either be something open source (OpenDaylight for example) or a software package you buy over the counter.

The costs for those SDN enabled devices likely will be lower, as at the networking layer, they just move packages, all the control logic (or most of it) is removed and sent up to the SDN controller itself.

It's cool stuff, very powerful technology, and it's actually in play now... I suspect that the Surfboard Routers/AP's and end points that @thiggins recently reviewed on the main site, there is a good possibility that there's some SDN inside them (or can be) given Arris relationship with the broadband operators, and those operators are keen into offering better services through "management" of those elements.

There will always be a place for the traditional all-in-one router/ap's - but technology is moving forward, and accelerating...

So just to recap - you have the network/data plane, an SDN controller (or controllers) that manage those elements via OpenFlow, the controller itself can be opensource, like OpenDaylight, and then you have the application layers that are part of the OpenStack concepts with Cloud - so once you're into the customer - you can easily build compute, storage, and network services - and one doesn't have to be a Facebook or Google engineer to do this - grasping these concepts, it's easy to do it in your own instance and offer services to your customers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenStack

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenDaylight_Project

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenFlow

Not saying this will all be rainbows and unicorns, as it will bring in some new security challenges perhaps, but at the same time, many of those old security concerns are now negated, and nice thing with this stuff, it will be much easier to roll the fixes in...

 

[sfx2000]

As a consultant, this opens up a whole new realm of possibilities - wholesale broadband is cheap - so you work with an office building or apartment/townhome - have the broadband provider drop in a couple of broadband pipes, and you work with building management to offer services to the tenants directly... it's value add for the building owner, you get a piece of the action, and happy tenants..

The whole OpenStack concept enables and empowers - and, yes, new business opportunities...