SDN: DevOps for Networks

These slides introduce the concept of software-defined networking (SDN), an emerging technology that applies the DevOps paradigm to network management.

Transcript

1. SDN: DevOps for Networks BarCamp Orlando 2014 Craig Finch craig@rootwork.it
2. The Essence of DevOps It is not my job to build and manage servers. It is my job to build and maintain a system that builds and manages servers.
3. Principle of Statistical Quality Control: Don’t blame the workers for variability that is built into the system.
4. Why DevOps? Humans are good at strategy, but bad at repetitive tasks Computers are good at repetitive tasks
5. Server Maintenance • We have a wiki full of server configurations • Instead of a wiki, write a spec • Write a program to build and configure servers per the spec
6. Two Ways to Scale 1. Build more web servers 2. Build a system to deploy more web servers for i in 1:N { deploy_server(web_server_template, i) } DevOps is sometimes described as “Infrastructure as Code.”
7. Server Drift • Identical servers will become less identical over time • Staging environment should match production environment • Redundant environment should match primary environment
8. Configuration Management • Popular tools - Ansible - Chef - Puppet - Salt
9. Advantages • Prevent configuration drift • Know what was changed when • Archive previous configurations
10. Softare-Defined Networking
11. Software Defined Networking (SDN) is a DevOps approach to networking.
12. It is not my job to build and manage servers switches. It is my job to build and maintain a system that builds and manages servers switches.
13. Control  Plane Data  (Forwarding)  Plane Inside a Switch Management  Plane Command-­‐line  interface Web  interface CPU ASIC
14. Enterprise Network Edge\Access Core Backbone Router
15. Network management In a large organization: - Hundreds of edge/access switches - Dozens of core switches How do you deploy and manage all those devices?
16. Software-Defined Networking Software-Defined Networking (SDN) separates the forwarding plane from the control and management planes.
17. Enterprise Network Edge\Access Core Controller   (cluster)
18. Data  (Forwarding)  Plane A Dumb Switch ASIC  (Flow  Table) Commands from controller
19. SDN Controller Controller Northbound API Southbound Interface (e.g. OpenFlow protocol)
20. SDN: DevOps for Networks SDN simplifies management of network devices: - Make changes in ONE place - Simplify deployment - Enforce configurations
21. Other advantages • Simpler, cheaper switches • Mix and match switch vendors - Avoid vendor lock-in • Centralized traffic control - Ability to schedule capacity for large flows - Avoid congested nodes/segments
22. Is SDN production-ready? YES! • SDN is a critical part of operations for hyperscale operators • Used in major cloud installations NO! • SDN-capable switches are available • Controllers are immature • Need a management plane
23. SDN in Orlando The University of Central Florida is deploying a dedicated research network - SDN-capable - Linked to Internet2 via Florida LambdaRail - Soon accepting applications for a research network engineer position https://www.jobswithucf.com/
24. Craig Finch craig@rootwork.it Principal Consultant Rootwork InfoTech LLC http://www.rootwork.it