CCS365 SOFTWARE DEFINED NETWORKS

UNIT 1 SDN: INTRODUCTION

Evolving Network Requirements – The SDN Approach – SDN architecture - SDN
Data Plane, Control plane and Application Plane

Evolving Network Requirements

 Software-defined networking is an evolving network architecture beheading the
traditional network architecture focusing its disadvantages in a limited perspective.
 A couple of decades before, programming and networking were viewed as different
domains which today with the lights of SDN bridging themselves together.
 This is to overcome the existing challenges faced by the networking domain and an
attempt to propose cost-efficient effective and feasible solutions.
 Changes to the existing network architecture are inevitable considering the volume
of connected devices and the data being held together. SDN introduces a decoupled
architecture and brings customization within the network making it easy to
configure, manage, and troubleshoot.

Software-defined networking, or SDN, is a strategy that splits the control plane from the
forwarding plane and pushes management and configuration to centralized consoles.

SDN is now over 10 years old. When the history of SDN began, many people thought
gleaming software-defined networks would replace tightly coupled, vertically integrated
network products. The massive data centres of Amazon, Facebook and Google all moved to
SDN, but why isn't SDN everywhere?

Well, it is, even if it's not always called SDN.

The principles of SDN are alive and well, thanks, in part, to cloud computing. All of today's
major cloud providers use SDN. As more workloads move to cloud environments, more
organisations will use SDN. Let's look at the evolution of SDN to see how it got to this
point.

The role of vendors in the evolution of SDN

 In the corporate data centre, practically everything is virtualized -- from workloads to
servers to networking. VMware, the king of the virtualized data center, bought Nicira
and rebranded its SDN- style networking as VMware NSX.
 Hundreds of thousands of virtual machines in data centres around the world run on
NSX, which means they run on SDN.
 Cisco -- the company that initially scoffed at SDN, because it threatened the status quo
-- eventually hopped on the bandwagon and introduced an SDN variant, Cisco
Application Centric Infrastructure, to the market, trying to embrace the future without
letting go of the past.
 Other networking companies began to turn to SDN, as well. Juniper Networks embraced
SDN in its Contrail products, and Arista Networks integrated SDN principles into its
Extensible Operating System in an attempt to bring a new software-defined cloud
networking to the market.
 Smaller vendors, like Dell Technologies and Hewlett Packard Enterprise, used the
SDN strategy to open up their platforms, split tightly coupled hardware and software
apart, and inject customer choice into the process. While not necessarily SDN, this
open networking strategy is an important part of the evolution of SDN's overall
viability.
Problems in Traditional Network Devices

● They are vendor specific

● Hardware & Software is bundled together
● Very costly
● New features can only be added at the will of the vendor.
● Client can only request the features, vendor will decide whether to add those
features or not & the time frame in which these features will become available is at
the sole discretion of the vendor.

Advantages of SDN

● The network is programmable and hence can easily be modified via the controller rather
than individual switches.

● Switch hardware becomes cheaper since each switch only needs a data plane.
● Hardware is abstracted, hence applications can be written on top of the controller
independent of the switch vendor.
 ● Provides better security since the controller can monitor traffic and deploy security
policies. For example, if the controller detects suspicious activity in network traffic, it
can reroute or drop the packets.

Disadvantages of SDN

● The central dependency of the network means a single point of failure, i.e. if the
controller gets corrupted, the entire network will be affected.

● The use of SDN on a large scale is not properly defined and explored.

Why SDN is Important

● Better Network Connectivity: SDN provides very better network connectivity for
sales, services, and internal communications. SDN also helps in faster data sharing.

● Better Deployment of Applications: Deployment of new applications, services, and

many business models can be speed up using Software Defined Networking.
● Better Security: Software-defined network provides better visibility throughout the
network. Operators can create separate zones for devices that require different levels of
security. SDN networks give more freedom to operators.

● Better Control with High Speed: Software-defined networking provides better speed
than other networking types by applying an open standard software-based controller.

In short, it can be said that- SDN acts as a “Bigger Umbrella or a HUB” where the rest of other
networking technologies come and sit under that umbrella and get merged with another
platform to bring out the best of the best outcome by decreasing the traffic rate and by
increasing the efficiency of data flow.

Components of Software Defining Networking (SDN)

The three main components that make the SDN are:

1. SDN Applications: SDN Applications relay requests or networks through SDN

Controller using API.

2. SDN controller: SDN Controller collects network information from hardware and
sends this information to applications.

SDN networking devices: SDN Network devices help in forwarding and data processing tasks
The SDN Approach
● In traditional networks, the control and data plane are embedded together as a single
unit. The control plane is responsible for maintaining the routing table of a switch
which determines the best path to send the network packets and the data plane is
responsible for forwarding the packets based on the instructions given by the control
plane. Whereas in SDN, the control plane and data plane are separate entities, where
the control plane acts as a central controller for many data planes.
4D approach:

The 4D approach has four planes that control

● Decision
● Dissemination
● Discovery
● Data
It follows three principles:
Network-level objectives: The objectives should be stated in terms of the whole network
instead of individual devices. So that there won’t be any need to depend on proprietary devices.

Network-wide view: Decisions should be made based on the understanding of the whole
network’s traffic, topology, and events. Actions should be taken based on considering a
network- wide view.
Direct control: The control plane elements should directly be able to control the data plane
elements. It should have the ability to program the forwarding table on individual devices.
 Ethane:
Ethane specifies network-level access of users which is defined by network
administrators. Ethane is the exact forerunner of Software Defined Networks(SDN) .

Principles of Ethane
 ● High-level policies should inspect the network
Routing should follow High-level policies.

● There should be a connection between packets

and their origin in the network.

SDN Layers
The layers communicate via a set of interfaces called the north-bound APIs(between the
application and control layer) and southbound APIs(between the control and infrastructure
layer).

Different Models of SDN

There are several models, which are used in SDN:

1. Open SDN
2. SDN via APIs
3. SDN via Hypervisor-based Overlay Network
4. Hybrid SDN

1. Open SDN: Open SDN is implemented using the OpenFlow switch. It is a

straightforward implementation of SDN. In Open SDN, the controller communicates with the
switches using south- bound API with the help of OpenFlow protocol.
2. SDN via APIs: In SDN via API, the functions in remote devices like switches are
invoked using conventional methods like SNMP or CLI or through newer methods like Rest
API. Here, the devices are provided with control points enabling the controller to manipulate the
remote devices using APIs.
3. SDN via Hypervisor-based Overlay Network: In SDN via the hypervisor, the
configuration of physical devices is unchanged. Instead, Hypervisor based overlay networks are
created over the physical network. Only the devices at the edge of the physical network are
connected to the virtualized networks, thereby concealing the information of other devices in
the physical network.

4. Hybrid SDN: Hybrid Networking is a combination of Traditional Networking with

software- defined networking in one network to support different types of functions on a
network.
Difference between SDN and Traditional Networking

Software Defined Networking Traditional Networking

Software Defined Network is a virtual A traditional network is the old
networking approach. conventional networking approach.
Software Defined Network is centralized Traditional Network is distributed control.
control
This network is programmable. This network is non programmable
Software Defined Network is the open A traditional network is a closed interface
interface.
In Software Defined Network data plane In a traditional network data plane and
and control, the plane is decoupled by control plane are mounted on the same
software. plane.

SDN Data Plane ,Control plane and Application Plane

SDN Data Plane

While the Control Plane supervises and directs, the Data Plane is responsible for the actual
movement of data from one system to another. It is the workhorse that delivers data to end users
from systems and vice versa.
Some examples of data planes include:
● Ethernet networks
● Wi-Fi networks
● Cellular networks

● Satellite communications
Data planes can also include virtualized networks, like those created using virtual private
networks (VPNs) or software-defined networks (SDNs). Additionally, data planes can include
dedicated networks, like the Internet of Things (IoT) or industrial control systems.

Data planes allow organizations to quickly and securely transfer data between systems. For
example, a data plane can enable the transfer of data between a cloud-based application and a
local system. This functionality can be beneficial for organizations that need to access data from
multiple systems or that need to quickly transfer large amounts of data.

By using dedicated networks, organizations can keep data secure through encryption, dedicated
networks, and access monitoring to prevent unauthorized access of data.

SDN Control Plane

The Control Plane is a crucial component of a network, tasked with making decisions on how
data should be managed, routed, and processed. It acts as a supervisor of data, coordinating
communication between different components and collecting data from the Data Plane.

Control Planes utilize various protocols, such as:

● Routing protocols (like BGP, OSPF, and IS-IS)
● Network management protocols (SNMP)
● Application layer protocols (HTTP and FTP)
These protocols often employ software-defined networking (SDN) to create virtual networks
and manage their traffic. Virtual networks, facilitated by SDN, are instrumental in managing
data traffic at an enterprise level. They enable organizations to:

● Segment traffic
 ● Prioritize important data flows
● Isolate traffic from different parts of the network

Data Plane vs. Control Plane: What Are the Key Differences?
● The main differences between control and data planes are their purpose and how they
communicate between different systems.
● The control plane decides how data is managed, routed, and processed, while the data
plane is responsible for the actual moving of data.
● For example, the control plane decides how packets should be routed, and the data
plane carries out those instructions by forwarding the packets.
 Along with doing different jobs, control planes and data planes exist in different areas.
While the control plane runs in the cloud, the data plane runs in the data processing area.
 They also use different functions to do their jobs. Control planes use protocols to
communicate between different systems, mostly common routing protocols like BGP,
OSPF, and IS-IS or network management protocols like SNMP. These protocols enable
the control plane to make decisions on how data should be managed, routed, and
processed.
 Data planes use dedicated networks to communicate between different systems.
Examples of dedicated networks used in data planes include Ethernet and Wi-Fi
networks, cellular networks, satellite communications, virtualized networks, and
dedicated networks used in industrial control systems or IoT. These networks enable the
data plane to deliver data to end users from systems and vice versa.

While both the Control Plane and Data Plane are integral to network management, they perform
distinct roles. The table below outlines some of the key differences between the two:

Control Plane Data Plane

Determines how data should be managed, Responsible for moving packets from source
routed, and processed to destination

Builds and maintains the IP routing table Forwards actual IP packets based on the
Control Plane’s logic
 Packets are processed by the router to update Forwards packets based on the built logic of
the routing table the Control Plane

Software-Defined Networking (SDN) Application

 Software-defined networking (SDN) application is a software program which is designed

to perform a task in a software-defined networking environment.
 It is that approach to computer networking that not only allows network administrators to
change programmatically, control, initialize, and manage network behaviour dynamically
through open interfaces but also provides the concept of lower-level functionality.
 SDN applications also help in enlarging and substituting upon functions that are
accomplished in the hardware devices of a regular network through firmware.

1.5.2.1 SDN application environment

Internal SDN Applications

 Applications that are hosting the rest of the OpenDaylight controller software and are
deployed internally, run inside the container.
 These applications must be written in the native language which is Java for ODL.
Internal SDN applications must also adhere to the execution and design constraints of the
controller.
 It must also execute in the same Java Machine as the controller which means that these
types of the application must run locally with the controller.
 It can also access the MD-SAL applications and Java APIs of the controller running
inside the controller’s OSGi container.
 External SDN Applications

Applications that are hosting the rest of the Open Daylight controller software, and are deployed
externally, run outside the container. Any language can be used for writing External SDN
applications that are scripting languages such as Bash. These applications can be run remotely

which means on a different host than the controller. These applications will also use the
application providing Restful access to their services and REST API provided by the controller.

Top Application and Service that can benefit from SDN are:

Security services
● The modern virtualization ecosystem supports specific virtual service that is running
within the network layer.
● It means an incorporating function like NFV into SDN platforms. This type of network
security creates a genuinely proactive environment that is capable of risk reduction and
responds to the incidents very quickly.
● Whenever a violation occurs, every second is quite critical to stop the attack. It is also
essential to identify the attack and also to ensure that other network components are safe
from the attack.
 ● As the organization in the modern era becomes even more digitized, and as the network
layer becomes even more critical, we will see even more attacks and more advanced
sophisticated advanced persistent threats.
● You will be able to create a more proactive environment that is capable of responding to
the changes if you integrate potent services into the SDN layer.

Network Monitoring and Intelligence

 Modern SDN technologies help in abstracting one of the most critical layers within the
data centre that is the network. Network architectures are very much complicated and
have to handle a lot more data than ever before.
 This means it’s critical to know what is following through your environment. Do you
have remission issues on a port?
 What will happen if you are running heterogeneous network architecture? Or,
are you passing a lot of traffic and are heavily virtualized through the network
architecture? All of these challenges or issues are diminished if you have a
solid network monitoring and intelligence layer.
● However, you also gain benefit and true insight if you integrate these
technologies into your SDN architecture. Even optimization, alerting,
hypervisor integration, port configurations, and traffic flow can be incorporated
into network monitoring and intelligence technologies.
● Also, these types of agile systems will also help you to monitor network traffic
between your cloud ecosystem and your data centre.

Bandwidth Management
 With the help of SDN applications, operators can use bandwidth management to
ensure the end users to receive online video watching and optimal browsing
experiences.
 This SDN application can also monitor the bandwidth requirements then provision
user flows to match the latency andbandwidth requirements of the layer 7 application.
 This type of application aware approach tobandwidth management will also ensure a
better user experience with zero buffering throughbetter video playback.
 At this stage in the game, there is little doubt that SDN is becoming areality in
operator networks.

Content Availability
 There will be content servers used for media delivery or caching, on a service-provider edge
network. These are installed by the content delivery network or operator service providers.
Content that is to be served to the users is distributed and preoccupied across multiple content
servers and also across various geographies in some cases.

SDN apps will be able to provision flows in the network based on the availability and types of
the content which is built to handle content availability. SDN applications can also check the
availability of the content in the content servers before routing requests to servers. A content-
routing application will provide intelligence on its availability along with enabling discovery of
content in the content servers.

This intelligence can be further used to route requests to the correct servers wherever the content
is residing. Therefore, SDN application will direct requests from those websites which are non-
cache-able and that generate active content to a server that provides active content rather than a
caching server which significantly reduces network discontinuation.

Regulation and Compliance-Bound Applications

Major cloud vendors are now providing the capability to work and store with compliance and
regulation-bound workloads. Now organizations have the option to extend architectures which
have initially been very limited because of regulation into the cloud and distributed environments.
How can you segment the traffic? How can you ensure that regulation and compliance workloads
are persistently monitored and secured? Here SDN can be a great help for you.

Network points, network traffic travelling between switches, and even hypervisors can be
controlled in SDN architecture. You should also remember that this layer abstracts virtual
hardware and functions controls. This powerful layer can then span various virtualization points,
locations, and even cloud locations.

High –Performance Application

We are all seeing a rise in new types of application technologies. The delivery of rich apps like
graphics design software, engineering, CAD, and GIS is allowed by virtualization. Traditionally,
these workloads are required bare-metal architectures with their own connections. However,
with the help of virtualization, VDI can help in creating powerful desktop experiences and
applications are streamed. We can also see the integration of SDN into application control at the
network layer. All of these functions like segmenting heavy traffic, securing confidential data,
creating powerful QoS policies, and even creating threshold alerts around bottlenecks within
SDN will help to support rich and high-performance applications which are being delivered
through virtualization. SDN will help to support rich and high-performance applications which
are being delivered through virtualization
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