The Road to Software Defined Networking

Presented at Papers We Love, Hyderabad, 12 July 2015
From the paper's abstract -

Software Defined Networking (SDN) is an exciting technology that enables innovation in how we design and manage networks. Although this technology seems to have appeared suddenly, SDN is part of a long history of efforts to make computer networks more programmable. In this paper, we trace the intellectual history of programmable networks, including active networks, early efforts to separate the control and data plane, and more recent work on OpenFlow and network operating systems. We highlight key concepts, as well as the technology pushes and application pulls that spurred each innovation. Along the way, we debunk common myths and misconceptions about the technologies and clarify the relationship between SDN and related technologies such as network virtualization.

http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2602219

Transcript

1. The Road to Software Defined Networking Nick Feamster, Jennifer Rexford, Ellen Zegura 2013 Papers We Love, Hyderabad - 12 July 2015
2. Agenda Some Networking Basics The Paper Demo
3. Some networking basics
4. and a few definitions Decides how to forward packets (Routing, Dropping, Firewall Rules) Does the actual forwarding (or dropping, or filtering) of the data packets Control Plane Data Plane
5. The Road to SDN
6. Defining Characteristics • Separation of the control and the data planes • Control Plan Consolidation - single CP controls multiple DPs
7. The Roots of SDN • Ideas in early telephone networks • Initially used to describe Stanford’s OpenFlow project
8. Timeline Active Networking Data and Control Plane Separation OpenFlow and Networking Operating System 1995 2001 2007
9. Active Networking Vision
10. Active Networking Models In-band code Out-of-band code
11. Active Networking Driving Factors Technology - Cheaper computing, Virtual machines (sandboxes), WORA, security, a la Java Users - Faster new service deployment, Finer control to dynamically meet app/network needs, platforms for scalable research
12. Active Networking Legacy Programmable functions in the network Network virtualization Unified architecture for "middlebox" orchestration
13. Control & Data Plane Separation Vision - Conventional routing protocols were primitive for traffic engineering - Data and control planes are tightly coupled in conventional routers
14. Control & Data Plane Separation Driving Factors Technology - Vendors built packet forwarding logic in data plane hardware Users - Increased size and complexity of service providers
15. Control & Data Plane Separation Legacy - Open interface between control and data planes (ForCES, Netlink) - Logically centralized control of the network (RCP, SoftRouter) - Further clean-slate architectures - 4D, Ethane (set the stage for OpenFlow)
16. OpenFlow & the NOS Vision (and Reality) - Campus networks @Stanford - Right balance between full programmability & real world deployment - Followed by controllers like NOX
17. OpenFlow & the NOS Driving Factors Technology - Gradual opening up of switch chipset vendor APIs, Industry demand for more network device control Users - People getting together - Equipment vendors, chipset designers, network operators, networking researchers
18. OpenFlow & the NOS And after OpenFlow - Conceptual unification of network devices/functions - Rise of network operating systems - Distributed state management techniques (e.g. the Onix controller)
19. Myths about SDN First packet of every traffic should go to the controller Controller must be physically centralized (e.g. Google's WAN) OpenFlow == SDN
20. Network Virtualization Pre SDN Packet encapsulation with custom protocols (overlay networks)
21. Network Virtualization SDN Enables Network Virtualization Network Virtualization can be used to test and evaluate SDNs
22. Pox SDN Controller Demo
23. References The paper itself - http://queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?id=2560327 Enabling Innovation in Campus Networks - http://archive.openflow.org/documents/openflow-wp-latest.pdf POX Controller - http://www.noxrepo.org/pox/about-pox/ OpenFlow - https://www.opennetworking.org/sdn-resources/openflow Coursera SDN course - https://class.coursera.org/sdn1-001 An attempt to motivate and clarify Software-Defined Networking - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVs7Pc99S7w
24. Image Credits Switch - By Geek2003 (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons Router - https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en Others are public domain
25. Thank You