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© 2015 NoviFlow, Inc. The OpenFlow based Scale-Out Router Confidential – DO NOT COPY – Hard copies of this document are for reference only Version 1.0 The latest approved version is located under version control 1 / 15
TheOpenFlowbasedScale-OutRouter
DocumentVersion1.02015-11-30
S D N m a d e s m a r t e r
© 2015 NoviFlow, Inc. The OpenFlow based Scale-Out Router Confidential – DO NOT COPY – Hard copies of this document are for reference only Version 1.0 The latest approved version is located under version control 2 / 15
LegalInformationCopyright2015NoviFlowAllRightsReservedNoticeInformationinthisdocumentationissubjecttochangewithoutnotice.Unauthorizeduse,copying,ortranslationofthisdocumentationcanresultincivilorcriminalpenalties.AnyexportofNoviFlowproductsissubjecttotheexportcontrolsofCanadaandtheothercountrieswhereNoviFlowhasoperations.Nopartofthisdocumentationmaybereproduced,translated,ortransmittedinanyformorbyanymeans,electronicormechanical,includingphotocopyingorrecording,foranypurposewithouttheexpresswrittenpermissionofanauthorizedrepresentativeofNoviFlow.Otherproductnamesusedhereinareforidentificationpurposesonly,andmaybetrademarksoftheirrespectivecompanies.TrademarksNoviFlow,NoviWare,NoviSwitch,NoviRouter,NoviConnect,NoviNID,NoviAppsaretrademarksofNoviFlow.Allothertrademarksarethepropertyoftheirrespectiveowners.PatentsThisproductmaybecoveredbyoneormorepatents.NoviFlowInc.780BrewsterAve.,Suite02--200Montréal(QC)H4C2K1Tel:+1(438)807-4360Fax:+1(514)221-3590http://www.noviflow.com
© 2015 NoviFlow, Inc. The OpenFlow based Scale-Out Router Confidential – DO NOT COPY – Hard copies of this document are for reference only Version 1.0 The latest approved version is located under version control 3 / 15
TableofContentsChangeHistory..............................................................................................................................................................................4Abstract...........................................................................................................................................................................................4
1. Anindustryintransition...................................................................................................5Today’sNetworkManagementChallenges........................................................................................................................5Thesurgeintrafficgrowth.......................................................................................................................................................5SDNtotherescue…right?........................................................................................................................................................7Agenerationofuneveninnovation.......................................................................................................................................8
2. TheScale-OutRouter.......................................................................................................8Components..................................................................................................................................................................................8AdvantagesoftheScale-OutRouterarchitecture:..........................................................................................................9AdvantagesoftheuseofOpenFlowswitchesintheScale-OutRouterarchitecture:......................................10
3. RequirementsonOpenFlowForwardingPlane...............................................................12
4. Usecase:BGPScale-OutRouter.....................................................................................13
5. Summary.......................................................................................................................14
© 2015 NoviFlow, Inc. The OpenFlow based Scale-Out Router Confidential – DO NOT COPY – Hard copies of this document are for reference only Version 1.0 The latest approved version is located under version control 4 / 15
ChangeHistory
Date RevisionNo. Author RevisionDescription Approved2015-11-30 1.0 MarcLeClerc Initialversion
AbstractThispaperdescribeshowSoftwareDefinedNetworking(SDN),andspecificallytheOpenFlowprotocol,canbeusedtobuildanewcategoryofswitchesandroutersthat,whilstbeingfullyfunctionalandreliable,arecentrallycontrolledviasoftware,whichmakethemmucheasiertoscaleandfarmoreeconomicaltooperatethantraditional“monolithic”routers.This“Scale-Out”approachtobuildnetworkingequipmentgeneratessignificantsavingsinbothCAPEXandOPEX,aswellasprovidingamorescalable,modular,flexibleandprogrammableroutinginfrastructurefarbetterequippedtodealwiththechallengesofexponentiallygrowingnumbersofconnecteddevices,vastlychangedusagepatterns,andmuchbetterabletoexploitnewsoftwarebasedsolutionsfornetworkoptimizationandvirtualization.Theintendedaudienceforthiswhitepaperincludesanyonewhoiscurrentlyspendingasignificantportionoftheirnetworkingbudgetsonroutingproducts,forexamplecarriers,internetandcloudserviceproviders,enterprisenetworkstaff,etc.
© 2015 NoviFlow, Inc. The OpenFlow based Scale-Out Router Confidential – DO NOT COPY – Hard copies of this document are for reference only Version 1.0 The latest approved version is located under version control 5 / 15
1. An industry in transition
Today’sNetworkManagementChallengesRecentyearshaveseenbotha tremendous increase innetwork traffic (+34%growth in totalinternettrafficin2014,accordingtoCisco)andradicalchangeinhowelectronicinformationisaccessed,usedandstored.Theexplosivegrowthintheuseofonlineapplications,virtualizationand cloud services by an ever-expanding array of wired and mobile connected devices isoverwhelmingnetworkengineersandforcingacompletere-thinkaboutstandingassumptionsand ideas of how networks shouldbebuilt.The vast arrayof data formats,service types and online devicesrequires a far more dynamic andagile response than most networkmanagement tools were designedto handle, and they need to do sowhileensuringavailability, security,speed as well as the shortest timeto market (TTM) for new services,allwithoutincreasingoperatingandequipmentcosts.The impendingarrivalof IoT (the InternetofThings)andtheacceleratingdeploymentofNFV(Network Functions Virtualization) only promise to amplify these challenges by requiringnetwork infrastructure that can interact more meaningfully with the applications that usenetwork resources. SDN provides powerful new approaches to solving these problems,howeverusingthesetoolsrequiresamajorchangeinDataCentreandNetworkcultureandanunderstandingofhow this impacts the requirements,dimensioningand selectionofnetworkequipment. To make matters worse, using traditional switch and router metrics for theselectionofSDNbasedsolutionscanleadtomajorroadblocksintheireffectivedeployment.
ThesurgeintrafficgrowthAccordingtoDeutscheBank,AmazonWebServicesisforecasttobook$16billioninrevenueby2017(source:BusinessInsider,Nov3rd2015).Thisisonlyonedriverinthehugesurgeintrafficgrowthnetworkmanagersarefacing.BeforethearrivalofSDN,thesolutiontomostnetworkingproblemswasto“throwbandwidth”atthem.Thisapproachhasledtoextensiveoverprovisioningofnetworks,despitethefactthatmostnetworkequipmentisrunningat10-15%utilizationrates.Worsestill,networkdevices
Figure 1: Issues faced by Network Operators today
© 2015 NoviFlow, Inc. The OpenFlow based Scale-Out Router Confidential – DO NOT COPY – Hard copies of this document are for reference only Version 1.0 The latest approved version is located under version control 6 / 15
runningat10-15%ofcapacitystillconsume80%asmuchpower(andairconditioning)asthesameequipmentatfullutilization.InDataCenterslocatedindenselypopulatedmetropolitanareassuchasManhattan,Electricalpowerconsumptionhasbecomeabiggerexpensethanrent!Thesituationatthenetworkedgeisexasperatinglyworse.Considerthatwithindatacenterslinksandbandwidtharecheap.Atthenetworkedge,WANlinksaremuchmoreexpensiveandthrowingbandwidthattheproblemisfarlessfeasiblebecausetheytakeseveralweekstoseveralmonthstoacquire.RoutersoftensitattheedgeoftheWANandarethegatekeepersfortraffictogetonto/offtheWAN.Also,manyofthetypicalnodesbeingdeployedattheedge,suchasloadbalancers,securityappliancesandedgerouters,donotscalelinearlyascapacityincreases,makingupgradescomplexandexpensive.WiththeimpendingflatteningofMoore’slaw,itwillbelessandlesspossibletoscale-uptraditionalarchitectures.Also,theincreasingcomplexityofthesoftwarerunninginthesemonolithicrouters(suchasProviderEdgerouters)amplifiestherisksandcostsofdowntime,amajorheadacheandthreattonetworkmanagers’jobsecurity!Justasthenetworknodesthemselvesdon’tscaleevenlyacrossdifferentnetworkservices,thenatureofnetworktrafficischangingradically:shortvs.longpackets,real-timevs.store-and-forward,east-westvs.north-south,mobilevs.fixed,etc.Thisisalteringtheestablishedratiosoftherelativecapacityrequirementsfordata,controlandapplicationplaneswithineachnetworkservice.Forexample,theadventofweb-basedvideostreamingservicessuchasYouTube,Netflix,andthevideolinkingcapabilitiesofferedbysocialmediasuchasFacebook,hasseverelyalteredtheratioofcontroltraffictopayloadtraffic.Tocope,networkmanagersareforcedtofurtherover-dimensiontheseservices,makingtraditionalscale-upnetworkappliancesandall-in-oneboxesevenmoreuneconomical.Theincreasingpopularityofcloud-basedsolutionsisalsoadverselyimpactingdatanetworks.Inadditiontotheissuespresentedabove,publiccloudresourcesareoftenbeingutilizedinconjunctionwithprivatenetworksinhybridcloudsolutions(note:thishasnothingtodowithhybridSDNswitches)requiringnetworktodeliverinstantcapacitywhenlocaldemandsuddenlygrowsbeyondprivatelyavailablecapacity,asafetyvalvethatallowsprivatenetworkstoberunatmuchhigherutilizationrates,reducingprivatenetworkcosts,andadisasterrecoverynetworkforbusinesscontinuityincaseofaccidentalormaliciousinterruptionofprivatenetworkservices.Forthesetypesofservicestobeeconomicallyviable,itisnecessarytoquicklylinkandautomaticallyreconfigurethenetworkservicesbetweentheprivatecloudandthepubliccloud.Inthetraditionalnetworksituationthisprocessisexcessivelycomplexandslow,asatdifferentstagesineachoftheexamplesabove,thenetworklinksbetweenprivateandpubliccloudshaveverydifferentrequirementsforcapacity,latency,addressspace,andsoon.Thatcomplexityandsluggishnessseverelylimitseffectivehybridclouddeployments.Anothercomplicatingfactorhereisthatthereareatleasttwo,andsometimesthreeorevenfourparties,involvedinthenetworklinksbetweentheprivateandpublicclouds.Asaconsequence,manysucharrangementsareoverprovisioned,changesinnetworkusageandavailabilityare
© 2015 NoviFlow, Inc. The OpenFlow based Scale-Out Router Confidential – DO NOT COPY – Hard copies of this document are for reference only Version 1.0 The latest approved version is located under version control 7 / 15
difficultorslowtodetect,andthenetworkcannotbereconfiguredfastenoughtodealwiththesechangesanywherenearreal-time.Networkmanagersareoftenleft“holdingthebag”andbeingblamedfortheinabilityfororganizationstodeployimprovedbusinessprocessesordelivernewservicestocustomers.
SDNtotherescue…right?ManydatacenterandnetworkmanagershaveturnedtoSDNtofacethesechallenges.Indeed,SDNsolutionsprovidebothtoolsandstrategiestoovercomemanyoftheseissues,buttosucceedtheserequirefirstaclearunderstandingofthecentralizedflowmanagementapproachtosolvingnetworkproblems,andsecondlydeploymentusingforwardingplanesthatofferarchitecturesandperformancecharacteristicsoptimizedtodeliverit.ThislastiswheremanySDNprojectsrunintotrouble:theyselectSDNequipmentbasedonevaluationcriteriadesignedforthelegacynetworks.Networkmanagersthendiscoverthenewequipmenttheyjustboughtfallshortincommercialdeploymentorareimpossibletoscaleonceusageincreases.AnessentialSDNswitchcapabilityistosupportlargenumbersofflows.However,manynetworkmanagersneverimaginethatmanySDNapplicationsrequirenothundredsorthousandsofflows,butratherhundredsofthousands,orevenmillionsofflows.Let’stakeasanexampletheuseofSDNtoimplementationofnetwork-wideAccessControlLists(ACL).Traditionalswitcheswerenotdesignedwithcentralizedlogicinmindandonlyneedtostoreinformationonaverylimitedportionofthenetwork.Consequentlytheyweredesignedwithouttheflowtablecapacityneededtosupportapplicationsthatmightaddresstheentirenetwork.DozensoftheseswitchesaretypicallyrequiredtoimplementcentralizedACLs,makingtheaggregatepricesofthesesolutionseconomicallyandoperationally(toomuchlaborintensivemanagement)unviabledespitetherelativelylowper-boxprices.AnotherkeyuseofSDNtodayistosupportdeploymentofNetworkFunctionVirtualization.Duetothelimitednumberofflowssupportedintraditionalswitches,networkvirtualizationhasprimarilybeenimplementedinsoftswitchesrunningontheserversthemselves,requiringthededicationofoneCPUcore(atleast)perserver,andleadingtoreductionof15to25%ofthetotalrevenuegeneratingcapacityofeachserver!ThishiddencostofsupportingNFVhasbeenthenightmareofmanynetworkmanagerstaskedwithimplementingNFV.TraditionalASICbasedswitchesmaybecheapandfast,buttheycanonlysupportasmallsubsetofOpenFlowspecification,severelylimitingtheapplicationofSDNsolutionsinnetworks.Hybridswitchestrytocompensateforthishandicapbyimplementinga“fastpath/slowpath”architecture,whereflowsrequiringmoresophisticatedSDNfeaturesareforwardedtothehybridswitch’shostprocessorrunningavirtualswitchapplication(slowpath)suchasOpenvSwitch,orOVS,usuallyatonlyabout5%thethroughputoftheASICpartoftheswitch.Thisimbalanceincapacitymakeshybridswitchdeploymentsverydifficulttodimension,andevenhardertoscaleeffectively.Inbothcasesnetworkmanagersarelefttoexplainwhich
© 2015 NoviFlow, Inc. The OpenFlow based Scale-Out Router Confidential – DO NOT COPY – Hard copies of this document are for reference only Version 1.0 The latest approved version is located under version control 8 / 15
the“new”SDNswitchestheyjustboughtcan’truntheintendedSDNapplications,oriftheycan,theyonlycandosoatanunacceptablylowthroughput.
AgenerationofuneveninnovationDespitethelasttwentyyears’breakthroughsindatacentercomputeandstorage,orevenperhapsbecauseofthem,risingnetworkcostsremainaninescapableissue.Virtualizationandthedisaggregationofhardwareandsoftwarehaveprovidedimmenseincreasesincomputeandstorageutilizationandefficiency.Sadly,networkingtechnologylagssignificantlyintakingadvantageofvirtualizationanddisaggregation,resultinginrigidall-in-onedesigns,vendorlock-in,multiplicationofprotocols,proprietaryinterfaces,non-deterministicnetworkbehavior,andaverylimitedabilitytointeractmeaningfullywiththeapplicationsandservicesthatusenetworkresources.Networksneitherscale-up,norscale-outascomputeandstoragenowincreasinglydo.Thatinabilityincommonnetworkingarchitecturesplaceshardlimitsonleveraginghyper-scalearchitectures,causingintractableproblemsfordatacenterandnetworkmanagers.LeaderssuchasGoogleandFacebookareusingSDNandOpenFlowtoimplementinnovativeopennetworkinghardwareandsoftwareintheirownnetworkstobuildhyper-scalenetworkWANsolutionsthatarefaster,moreflexibleandsignificantlymoreeconomicaltoscalethantraditionalbox-basedsolutions.Canthissamestrategybeappliedtoroutersinabroaderindustrycontext?MostnetworkmanagersdonothavetheresourcesavailabletoGoogleandFacebook,sohowcantheytakeadvantageofthepotentialofSDNwithoutfallingintothecost/performance/capabilitytrapsdescribedabove?Therestofthispaperwillshowhow,withrightselectionofhigh-performanceOpenFlowforwardingplanes,SDNstrategiesindeedcanbeappliedtobuildagenuinescale-outroutersolutionthatreducesroutingCAPEXandOPEX,simplifiesoperations,increasesagilityandenablestrouble-freescalingofapplicationsfrominitialintrotomassivedeployments.
2. TheScale-OutRouter
ComponentsThebasicideaoftheScale-OutRouteristoreplacethemonolithicscale-uprouterinarackorchassiswithafullymodulararchitecturebasedoncommercial-of-the-shelf(COTS)servers,L2switchesandOpenFlowswitches.Inthisarchitecture,thecontrolplaneportionoftherouteristransferredtovirtualmachinesrunningonstandardservers.ThisincludesroutingstacksandthelogictohandletraditionalrouterprotocolssuchasBGP,IS-IS,LDP,etc…Allthedata-plane
© 2015 NoviFlow, Inc. The OpenFlow based Scale-Out Router Confidential – DO NOT COPY – Hard copies of this document are for reference only Version 1.0 The latest approved version is located under version control 9 / 15
handlingfunctionsofthelinecardsaretakenoverbyhigh-performanceOpenFlowSwitches.Finally,thechassisbackplaneisreplacedbynormalCOTSlayer2switches.Theylinkalltheotherelementstogetherinafullyscale-outarchitecture.
Figure2:ElementsoftheScale-OutRouter
AdvantagesoftheScale-OutRouterarchitecture:1. Scalability:Seamlesslygrowfromverysmallconfigurations(asingleOpenFlowswitch)to
thesizeofadatacenterbyleveragingoff-the-shelfEthernetfabricasthe“backplane”
2. Modularity:Mixandmatchanytypesandquantitiesof“linecards”,“servicecards”and“backplane”,makingitpossibletoscaleeachoftheseelementsindependentlyasusagepatternsevolveandnewapplications/protocolsareimplemented
3. Flexibility:AdditionalusecasescanleveragetheScale-OutRouter,E.g.,ServiceChainingofVNFsfor4G/5GEPC,DPI,FW,LB,NATs,newfunctionalityincludingVirtualizedNetworkFunctions(VNFs),ServiceRouters…
4. Agility:capabilitytoreconfigurethenetworkdynamicallyfromthesamebasiccomponents
inreal-time
5. ReducedCAPEX:Arouterisnolongeraspecializedappliancerequiringuserstopayapremiumtogetasimplecomputebladeorlinecardintoaproprietarychassis
a. Disaggregationdrivescostsdown:Todaysroutersareverticallyintegratedsolutions
offeredbyasinglevendor,aninefficienteconomicmodelthatstiflescompetition.
© 2015 NoviFlow, Inc. The OpenFlow based Scale-Out Router Confidential – DO NOT COPY – Hard copies of this document are for reference only Version 1.0 The latest approved version is located under version control 10 / 15
Disaggregationwilldrivecostsoutofroutingsolutions,justasithasdoneinthecomputeandstorageworlds
b. Equipmentcosts:NoVendorLock-in!Openstandards,COTScomponentsandmultiplevendorsforeachcomponentprovideforcompetitionanddrivedownequipmentprices
c. Opensourcesoftwarecomponents:CommunitybaseddevelopmentofOpenFlowcontrollersandapplicationsmeanslowercostsforcustomers.
6. ReducedOPEX:
a. Provisioningautomation:Configurationmanagementnowunderprogramcontrol
ratherthanCLIcontrolb. Simplifiedoperations:Capacitygrowthachievednotthroughendlessforklift
upgradesbutthroughsimplyaddingservers(orVMs)andswitchesinafullymodularfashion,aswasachievedwithcomputeandstoragedisaggregation
c. Reducedsupportcosts:Novendorlock-inmeansreducedcostsforhardwareandsoftwaresupport.
AdvantagesoftheuseofOpenFlowswitchesintheScale-OutRouterarchitecture:Contrarytoproprietaryroutersolutions,theuseofOpenFlowasthecommunicationmechanismbetweenthecomponentsofthedisaggregatedrouter(i.e.COTSOpenFlowswitches,serversandL2switches)enablescarriersanddatacenteroperatorstopurchaseindividualcomponentsfromdifferentsuppliers,hencepreventingthetypicalvendorlock-inseetodaywithtraditionalequipment.Furthermore,inthespecificcaseofNoviFlowswitches,allcomponentsofthedisaggregatedrouterusingtheNoviFlowswitchesareprogrammable,andhencenewsoftwarefeaturesandbugcorrectionscanbedeployedinequipmentalreadyinproduction,bringingaradicallydifferent,dynamicapproachtomanagingroutercapabilityandscalability.
© 2015 NoviFlow, Inc. The OpenFlow based Scale-Out Router Confidential – DO NOT COPY – Hard copies of this document are for reference only Version 1.0 The latest approved version is located under version control 11 / 15
Figure 3: A typical Scale-Out Router Configuration
This Scale-Out approach to create SDN based routers is the descendant of years of research and development of many Open Source SDN projects including RouteFlow, the Vandervecken project, and most recently the ONF’s (Open Networking Foundation) Atrium project, of which NoviFlow is contributing member. The cost savings in replacing traditional monolithic routers with SDN based routers in a Software Defined WAN deployment has been estimated by Gartner to be in the range of 65%. (See figure below.)
© 2015 NoviFlow, Inc. The OpenFlow based Scale-Out Router Confidential – DO NOT COPY – Hard copies of this document are for reference only Version 1.0 The latest approved version is located under version control 12 / 15
3. Requirements on OpenFlow Forwarding Plane NotallOpenFlowswitcheswerecreatedequal.InmanycasestheycannotbeusedwithspecificSDNapplicationsbecausetheirinternalpacketprocessingpipelinesdonotsupporttheneededOpenFlowfunctionalities(i.e.thisisamajorreasonwhysomeSDNdeploymentsfailwhenmovingfromthelabintocommercialdeployment.)InsomecasestheapplicationhastheoptionofrunningwithavSwitch,butbecauseofthelimitedforwardingcapacityofvSwitches,theseapplicationsareforlowbandwidthsonly(below6-8Gbps).Inmanycasethisisunacceptablylowandwillpreventcommercialdeployment,ormaketheserviceuneconomicalorimpracticaltoscale.Asmentionedearlier,deployingOpenFlowattheintelligentedgemayrequiremillionsofflows.However,legacydevices,andevenmostOpenFlowswitchestoday,onlysupportafewthousandflowsatonce,oriftheydo,theycanonlyprocessalownumberofflowmodificationspersecond,renderingtheswitchunabletokeep-upinmoredynamicsituations.Anotherkeyrequirementisafullyprogrammablepacketprocessingpipeline,asspecifiedintheOpenFlow1.3/1.4/1.5standard.Ahighlyprogrammablepipelineallowsanycombinationofmatchfields,instructionsandactionsinanycombinationofoneormultipletables.ASICstypicallyhaveverylimitedandinflexiblepipelines,andevensomehighlyconfigurablepipelinesareoptimizedforonlyonespecificpipelinearchitectureatatime.Anotherkeyrequirementistheabilitytoeffectivelymanagescarce(expensive)WANbandwidthresources.Differentflowshavedifferentrequirementsonbandwidthandlatency.Forexample,atemporary300msdelayindeliveringapacketforausersurfingthenetwillnotbeasdamagingasa300msdelayinpacketsforaVoIPcall.QualityofService(QoS)isakeyconceptandincludesadvancepacketprocessingtechnologiessuchasclassification,metering,marking,queuing,congestionavoidance,trafficshaping,schedulingprioritizationforthepurposeofprovidingdifferentprioritytodifferentflows(applications,users,etc.)ortoguaranteeacertainlevelofperformancetoaflow.High-performanceOpenFlowforwardingplanesbasedonNetworkProcessors(NPUs)haveprogrammablepipelines,andsowithappropriatesoftwarearecapableofimplementingallOpenFlow1.3and1.4matchfields,actionsandinstructions.Consequently,NPUbasedOpenFlowswitches,suchasNoviFlow’sNoviSwitchproducts,canaccommodatewhateverOpenFlowfeaturesSDNapplicationsneed.SinceNPUsareprogrammable,afurtherbenefitofNPUbaseswitchesisthattheyaresoftwareupgradable.InthecaseofNoviSwitchproducts,NoviFlowoffersExtendedSoftwareSupportthatincludesmajorsoftwarerevisionsapproximatelyeveryquarter,sothatNoviSwitchuserscankeepupwithnewrevisionsoftheOpenFlowspecificationastheyarereleased.
© 2015 NoviFlow, Inc. The OpenFlow based Scale-Out Router Confidential – DO NOT COPY – Hard copies of this document are for reference only Version 1.0 The latest approved version is located under version control 13 / 15
WiththeappropriateTCAMs(TernaryContent-AddressableMemory)andDRAM(DynamicRandomAccessMemory),NPUsbasedswitchescanalsoaccommodatethehugeflowtablesneededforcentralizedSDNapplications.NoviSwitchfeaturesflowtablesizesofupto1millionwildcard-matchentriesand3millionexact-matchflowentries,supportingupto60tableseach.Theyarealsoequippedwithadvancedhostprocessorstoensureflow-modificationcapacityrequiredbythesehugeflowtables.Bymeetingtheserequirements,NPUbasedswitches,suchasNoviFlow’sNoviSwitches,caneasilyaccommodateeventhemostdemandingapplications,andsupportmultipleapplicationsonthesameswitch.Theyofferthesamelevelofprogrammabilityassoft-switches,butwiththeperformanceandthroughputofhardwarebasedswitches,providingthefullOpenFlowspecification,scalabilityandsoftwareupgradability.
4. Use case: BGP Scale-Out Router
The diagram above presents the NoviFlow NoviRouter BGP Routing application deployed used the Scale-Out Router architecture. Major benefits of the NoviFlow Scale-Out BGP Router:
• Implements • Noforcedhardwareobsolescence(techrefresh)• Novendorlock-in:
© 2015 NoviFlow, Inc. The OpenFlow based Scale-Out Router Confidential – DO NOT COPY – Hard copies of this document are for reference only Version 1.0 The latest approved version is located under version control 14 / 15
• Opensourcecontrolplane(ONOS/Quagga)• Standardsbasedcomponentsforbothcompute(COTSServers),forwardingplane(COTS
OpenFlowswitches)andbackplane(COTSL2switches)• Breaksvendorlock-inandprovidesseamlessgrowthfromverysmallconfigurations(a
singleOpenFlowswitch)toalmostanysizebyleveragingoff-the-shelfOpenFlowswitches,Ethernetfabrics,andvirtualizedcomputeresources.
• ItprovideaflexibleandagileenvironmentthatcansupportmultipleapplicationssuchasservicechainingofVNFsfor4G/5GEPC,DPI,FW,LB,andNAT,andbeexpandedtosupportnewprotocolsandfunctionalitiesastheybecomeavailable
• Utilizescarrier-gradeNoviFlowNoviSwitchhighperformanceNPUbasedswitches,runningtheNoviWareOpenFlowforwardingplanesoftwarewiththeabilitytoprocessandexecuteflowlogicbasedonpacketheadersANDcontents
SupportsfullOpenFlow1.3specificationandmostofOpenFlow1.4,softwareupgradableassoftwareupdatessupportingneweradditionstoOpenFlowspecificationsbecomeavailable AbilitytodosomebasicpacketpayloadmatchingandhandlingviaOpenFlowExperimenterfeature
Upto1millionwildcard-matchflowentriesinTCAM,and3millionexact-matchflowentriesinDRAM.Routerbasedapplications(suchasBGP)oftenrequirehandlingverylargetables(>500,000entries)
• WildcardmatchingforIPprefixbasedlogic• Exact-matchforaddressfiltering(ACLs,blacklists,etc…)
AbilitytoworkwithandenhanceexistingnetworksbysupportingmultipletunnelingprotocolsatbothL2andL3
BFD(BidirectionalForwardingDetection)linkmonitoringtodetectlinkfailuresandtore-routetrafficwithoutinterventionfromcontrollers/apps.
5. SummaryConventionalsolutionsfornetworkroutingarenotkeepingupundertheonslaughtofexponentiallyrisingtraffic,radicallyevolvingusagepatternsandtheneedformorenetworkagilityandreal-timeresponsetochangingconditionsandapplicationrequirements.Traditionalmonolithicscale-uprouterarchitecturesaretoorigidtoscale,tooinflexibletorepurposeandjustplaintooexpensivetoupgrade.SDNbringsnewnetworktoolsintoplayandenablesnewsolutionarchitecturestomeetthesechallenges.TheScale-OutRouterisaprimeexampleofhowSDNandOpenFlowchangetheequationbyenablingthedisaggregationofthemonolithicrouterintoitscomponentelements(controlplane,forwardingplaneandbackplanefabric):
• Usemostcosteffectivedeliveryplatformforeachelement• ReducecostsbyusingCOTShardware• Eachpartcanscaleindependentlyformaximumprice/performanceandflexibilityto
adapttodifferentusecases
© 2015 NoviFlow, Inc. The OpenFlow based Scale-Out Router Confidential – DO NOT COPY – Hard copies of this document are for reference only Version 1.0 The latest approved version is located under version control 15 / 15
TheScale-outRouterprovidesascalablesolutionthatcankeepupwithacceleratingdemandandmeetchangingnetworkneedsinreal-time,whileactuallyreducingbothcapitalandoperatingcosts.Byusinghigh-performanceNoviFlowNoviSwitchproductsaspartoftheScale-OutRouter,networkmanagerscanensurethatthedeployedsolutionrunsonamature,full-featured,carrier-gradeOpenFlowforwardingplanethatisprovenincommercialdeploymentsaroundtheworld,onethatwillgracefullyscaleasdemandgrows,andthatcanbeeasilyupgradedasSDN,NFV,andOpenFlowspecificationsevolve.NoviFlowbelievesthattheScale-OutRouterisonlyoneofmanynewinnovativewaystoresolvenetworkproblemsmadepossiblebySDN.WearededicatedtoprovidingSDNforwardingplanessolutionsandapplicationsthattrulydeliveronthepotentialofgenuineSoftwareDefinedNetworkingandOpenFlow.Formoreinformationpleasevisitourwebsiteat:www.noviflow.com.