These materials are 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.

SoftwareDefined
Networking
Sonus Special Edition

by Mykola Konrad and

Dan Teichman
with Brian Underdahl

These materials are 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.

Software-Defined Networking For Dummies, Sonus Special Edition

Published by
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
111 River St.
Hoboken, NJ 070305774
www.wiley.com
Copyright 2016 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise,
except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without the
prior written permission of the Publisher. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be
addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ
07030, (201) 7486011, fax (201) 7486008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.
Trademarks: Wiley, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, The Dummies Way, Dummies.com,
Making Everything Easier, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of
JohnWiley & Sons, Inc., and/or its affiliates in the United States and other countries, and may not
beused without written permission. Sonus and the Sonus logo are registered trademarks of Sonus.
All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., is not
associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.
LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: THE PUBLISHER AND THE AUTHOR MAKE
NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE ACCURACY OR
COMPLETENESS OF THE CONTENTS OF THIS WORK AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ALL
WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION WARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR A
PARTICULAR PURPOSE. NO WARRANTY MAY BE CREATED OR EXTENDED BY SALES OR
PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS. THE ADVICE AND STRATEGIES CONTAINED HEREIN MAY NOT BE
SUITABLE FOR EVERY SITUATION. THIS WORK IS SOLD WITH THE UNDERSTANDING THAT THE
PUBLISHER IS NOT ENGAGED IN RENDERING LEGAL, ACCOUNTING, OR OTHER PROFESSIONAL
SERVICES. IF PROFESSIONAL ASSISTANCE IS REQUIRED, THE SERVICES OF A COMPETENT
PROFESSIONAL PERSON SHOULD BE SOUGHT. NEITHER THE PUBLISHER NOR THE AUTHOR
SHALL BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES ARISING HEREFROM. THE FACT THAT AN ORGANIZATION
OR WEBSITE IS REFERRED TO IN THIS WORK AS A CITATION AND/OR A POTENTIAL SOURCE
OF FURTHER INFORMATION DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE AUTHOR OR THE PUBLISHER
ENDORSES THE INFORMATION THE ORGANIZATION OR WEBSITE MAY PROVIDE OR
RECOMMENDATIONS IT MAY MAKE. FURTHER, READERS SHOULD BE AWARE THAT INTERNET
WEBSITES LISTED IN THIS WORK MAY HAVE CHANGED OR DISAPPEARED BETWEEN WHEN
THIS WORK WAS WRITTEN AND WHEN IT IS READ.
For general information on our other products and services, or how to create a custom For Dummies
book for your business or organization, please contact our Business Development Department in the
U.S. at 8774094177, contact [email protected], or visit www.wiley.com/go/custompub. For
information about licensing the For Dummies brand for products or services, contact
BrandedRights&[email protected].
ISBN: 9781119236146 (pbk); ISBN: 9781119236153 (ebk)
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Publishers Acknowledgments
Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:
Project Editor: Carrie A. Johnson
Editorial Manager: Rev Mengle
Acquisitions Editor: Katie Mohr

Business Development Representative:

Sue Blessing
Production Editor: Kumar Chellappan

These materials are 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.

Table of Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
About This Book......................................................................... 1
Icons Used in This Book............................................................. 2

Chapter 1: Introducing SDN. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Getting to Know SDN.................................................................. 5
Network intelligence........................................................ 6
Shifting priorities.............................................................. 6
Network resource management...................................... 7
Benefits.............................................................................. 8
Understanding Control versus Data Plane.............................. 9
Looking at Underlay versus Overlay...................................... 10

Chapter 2: Applying SDN to the Cloud

Exchange Network. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Understanding Whats Really Needed to Succeed................ 12
Simplifying and Automating the Provisioning Process........ 13
Discovering Network Topology.............................................. 13
Translating Business Policies into Data
Flow Requirements............................................................... 14
Dynamically Computing Paths................................................ 15
Enforcing Policy, Flow Management, and Metering............. 15
Managing Multi-Tenants........................................................... 17

Chapter 3: Looking at an Enterprise Use Case

Example and Its Benefits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Addressing the Problems......................................................... 19
Optimizing Inter-Office Connectivity...................................... 21
Providing Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery....... 22

Chapter 4: Seeing a Service Provider Use Case

Example and Its Benefits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Optimizing Data Center Interconnect.................................... 26
Providing Better Management for Multi-tenant
MetroEthernet...................................................................... 28

These materials are 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.

iv

Software-Defined Networking For Dummies, Sonus Special Edition 

Chapter 5: SDN Deployment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Setting Migration Strategy....................................................... 31
Adopting the Cloud........................................................ 31
Implementing the right migration strategy................. 32
Taking enough time........................................................ 33
Looking for Vendors That Can Scale...................................... 34

Chapter 6: Ten Things You Need to Know

When Considering an SDN Solution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Translating Application/Business Policies............................ 37
Understanding Why SDN in Data Centers Is Successful...... 38
Seeing Why the Cloud Exchange Network Is Now
on a Critical Path................................................................... 38
Applying SDN to the Cloud Exchange Network Domain...... 39
Applying SDN in SP Networks................................................. 39
Using SDN in Enterprise Networks......................................... 39
Automating Network Resource Configuration...................... 40
Simplifying Network Resource Configuration....................... 40
Ensuring Application Performance......................................... 41
Managing Multi-tenants............................................................ 41

These materials are 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.

Introduction

ervice providers are looking to monetize their data

networks and data centers in a very competitive market.
Enterprises are moving more of their applications and
associated data to the Cloud. For enterprises moving their
application infrastructure from inhouse to the Cloud, the
process can be complicated. To succeed, they have to do
their research, select which applications to migrate to the
Cloud, determine a preferred Cloud option, identify suppliers,
propose a project plan, and commit to the implementation.
Thats a lot to tackle, yet it still doesnt complete the job,
because now applications and data reside in a remote data
center. They also need to include an assessment of their wide
area network requirements and determine the best solution
so that it, too, contributes to a successful Cloud migration.
Softwaredefined networking (SDN) presents a new way of
looking at how networking systems can be automated,
efficient, and scalable. SDN is an opportunity for service
providers to provide their networks as a service (NaaS) to
enterprise customers. For enterprise customers, SDN is a
way to lower costs by optimizing bandwidth and creating
hybridWANs.

About This Book

SoftwareDefined Networking For Dummies, Sonus Special
Edition, shows you what you need to know about SDN as
enterprises and service providers move toward the future of
Cloud networking. You see what SDN is, how it works, and
how to choose the right Cloud network solution. SDN is a
technology it allows networks to become adaptable to business needs. But just putting in an SDN controller isnt enough;
its more important to intelligently adapt the network, which
requires a knowledge of application needs, network topology

These materials are 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.

Software-Defined Networking For Dummies, Sonus Special Edition 

across network layers 2 and 3, and intelligent network path
computation. This book provides some examples of the current state of the art in SDN and how your organization can use
SDN technologies to be successful.
For many people, SDN has come to mean IT infrastructure
adaptation to support virtualized workloads. And what this
has led to is using SDN to just reimplement classic network
architectures. This is one definition of SDN and allows some
cost efficiencies. But for service providers and enterprises,
this narrow definition misses the point. The true value of SDN
is in the intelligence that allows service providers to offer new
services and enterprises that offer Cloudbased applications
to their customers/employees with the quality and reliability
that is required in todays competitive market.
This book is broken down into six chapters:
Chapter1 provides the basics of what makes up SDN.
Chapter2 gives you a feel for how SDN is implemented in
a real-world, complex environment.
Chapter3 provides some insight into how SDN can benefit the enterprise.
Chapter4 explains how an SDNbased Network as a
Service can help service providers provide better service
to customers.
Chapter5 gives you some tips about planning for SDN.
Chapter6 provides a handy resource of important information youll need to implement SDN successfully.

Icons Used in This Book

This book uses the following icons to call your attention to
information you may find helpful in particular ways.
The information marked by this icon is important and therefore repeated for emphasis. This way, you can easily spot
noteworthy information when you refer to the book later.

These materials are 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.

Introduction

This icon points out extrahelpful information.

This icon marks places where technical matters, such as SDN

jargon and whatnot, are discussed. Sorry, it cant be helped,
but its intended to be helpful.
Paragraphs marked with the Warning icon call attention to
common pitfalls that you may encounter.

These materials are 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.

Software-Defined Networking For Dummies, Sonus Special Edition 

These materials are 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.

Chapter1

Introducing SDN
In This Chapter
Getting to know what SDN is all about
Separating control and data
Considering underlay and overlay

heres little doubt that networks are a vital part of todays

enterprise computing environment. But as the importance
of networks has grown, so has the complexity of managing
and maintaining the network. Softwaredefined networking
(SDN) represents a whole new way of looking at how networks
are configured, controlled, and operated.
This chapter provides an introduction to SDN and explains
some of the technology thats involved. You see how SDN
makes managing a complex system much simpler and more
reasonable.

Getting to Know SDN

In the past, the enterprise or service provider answer to growing demand for data capacity and increasing bandwidth needs
was to throw in a bunch of money in the form of additional
hardware capacity. Thats a costly approach, especially in the
face of exponential growth in demand. Todays business climate calls for something better.
SDN provides a method for separating the actual physical
network hardware from the processes used to manage how
the network functions and how data flows across the network.
SDN enables you to administer your network more efficiently

These materials are 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.

Software-Defined Networking For Dummies, Sonus Special Edition 

because you can create policies (rules) that apply across the
network telling each device how to handle traffic and also
controlling access to enterprise resources. With an SDN solution, its no longer necessary to physically touch routers,
switches, gateways, and such in order to change how each of
them functions.

Network intelligence
An SDN divides the data plane from the network intelligence.
So the key to an effective SDN implementation is not just the
SDN controllers but the actual intelligence engine that controls the network. Key aspects of network intelligence are
Network topology discovery: The ability for a controller
to effectively understand the existing network topology
Policy rules: A set of rules that are based on business
policies that are key inputs to determine which routes
traffic should follow
Path computation: A realtime engine that takes the
policy rules and the network topology and determines
the best possible path that packets should take to traverse a network
This path computation intelligence is what makes
changes to the network based on the needs of a specific
packet or IP Flow.
Your customers need to be able to simply specify application
and business priorities and service level requirements. Be
sure that your SDN solution has the intelligence to be able to
translate this information into meaningful input that can perform path computation to select the optimal WAN path.

Shifting priorities
Most organizations are experiencing shifting priorities as
they move away from traditional client/server architecture
toward providing users with more flexibility. Instead of being
tied down to a workstation in the office, users are demanding

These materials are 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.

Chapter1: Introducing SDN

access to corporate data through their laptops, tablets, and

smartphones.
This demand for increased flexibility in accessing enterprise
resources has resulted in the need for new ways in defining
and managing the networks. Certainly, theres a greater need
than ever to protect corporate data by enforcing strong security policies. But, those policies cant come at the expense
of ease of access for the users who have legitimate needs to
access that data no matter where the user might be working.

Network resource management

The demands for increased flexibility and access have caused
networks to grow in size and become much more complex to
manage and maintain. The result has been that ever more IT
resources are needed to handle processes such as provisioning, configuration, and remediation. These processes have
typically been cumbersome so growing your network meant
that someone had to touch and configure each and every
device.
The traditional way of provisioning and managing network
assets is no longer dynamic enough to keep up with the new
demands. You have to deal with competitive pressures that
force you to be more efficient. You need to consider the following important requirements:
Realtime management: You must manage network
assets in real time based on business priorities.
Accommodating changes in network resource requirements needs to be automated as much as possible.
Application traffic prioritization: Traffic must be prioritized based on business priorities for different applications, both during both normal and nonnormal working
situations.
Bandwidth utilization: You need to dynamically allocate
resources to maximize network utilization and to lower
the cost of network ownership.

These materials are 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.

Software-Defined Networking For Dummies, Sonus Special Edition 

An SDN solution enables you to provision and manage your
network resources in real time and transforms your network
into a strategic asset.

Benefits
A good SDN solution offers a number of benefits for your
organization. These range from cost savings through reduced
time spent on manual tasks to better utilization of existing
resources. Here are a few of the benefits youll see:
Automatic provisioning: Simplified provisioning using
a webbased portal or API means that business policies
are automatically translated into WAN configuration, and
provisioning for network devices can use simple forwarding tables instead of complicated routing. Automation
minimizes, and possibly eliminates the need for any
manual provisioning. Any changes in network topology
are automatically detected and an updated topology is
maintained so future path computations are optimized.
Dynamic allocation: Bandwidth allocation to meet application requirements is managed ondemand. The implementation of WAN changes based on business priorities
can be handled quickly. Examples of these changes
include timeofday adjustments to bandwidth for a
nightly data replication program or ensuring a high priority for every 15-minute backup of critical billing records.
Flexibility: An SDN provides responsiveness to accommodate changes in network topology or changes in network behavior. To resolve a fairly simple yet common
event, such as where network congestion is degrading
application performance, network resources need to be
reallocated in realtime (in milliseconds) to ensure traffic
flows around network congestion points.
Security: Identification of network devices is automated
and access to network devices is protected and limited. If
a network device is unknown, no traffic is allowed to flow
to/from it. If traffic originates with an unknown user or
application, it is not allowed onto the network.
Visibility: From the IT manager to the CIO, ensuring the
expected network behavior matches actual behavior
is crucial, especially for business critical applications.

These materials are 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.

Chapter1: Introducing SDN

Having endtoend monitoring and analytics of traffic

flows and application statistics provides the visibility
that is critical to decision making and ultimately for
ensuring the WAN is a strategic asset.

Understanding Control
versus Data Plane
One of the key elements in SDN is the concept of separating
the control plane from the data plane. The control plane is the
system that makes decisions about where network traffic is
sent and the data plane consists of the systems that actually
forward the traffic to its destination.
Different vendors often use their own terminology for various
SDN elements. For example, you may see the control plane
called the signaling plane and the data plane is sometimes
called the forwarding plane.
Separating the two systems is important because this
separation is what enables network functions to be
automated. By separating the control plane from the data
plane, the architecture of SDN becomes
Programmable: The control of the network can be
handled programatically rather than handson manual
operations.
Centrally controllable: Technicians no longer have to
touch each box in order to control how the network
functions, so the network can be managed from a central
location.
Agile: Its now much easier for the network to meet
changing traffic needs automatically.
Most SDN implementations follow an open standards
approach, which means that you arent tied to products
from a single vendor. One such standard thats often used is
OpenFlow, a protocol that enables communications between
the control and the data plane of the network.

These materials are 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.

10

Software-Defined Networking For Dummies, Sonus Special Edition 

Looking at Underlay
versus Overlay
In discussions about SDN applied to networks, youll no doubt
encounter the terms underlay and overlay. These terms refer
to how SDN is applied to a network:
Underlay: The underlay model is the ability to fully control the network itself, with direct linkages to every layer
from wavelength/OTN to MPLS/IP, and across differing
vendors. The advantages are network abstraction and
standard data models to minimize the OSStonetwork
integration complexity and to provide global, realtime
network visibility and control so network assets can be
used more efficiently. This method also scales easily
across multiple network layers.
Overlay: The overlay proposition is simple: Leverage
SDN solutions in the data center to extend dynamic
creation of Layer 3 tunnels to other data centers and
to remote sites across any intermediary network. The
advantage is network transparency; the disadvantage is
lack of visibility into any layer other than Layer 3.
Each of these models has relevance and its likely set of use
cases, so its expected that both implementation models will
exist in the future.

These materials are 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.

Chapter2

Applying SDN to the Cloud

Exchange Network
In This Chapter
Getting to know whats needed
Making provisioning simpler
Discovering your network
Applying business policies
Making data flow efficiently
Getting it working
Handling multiple tenants

heres a major shift occurring in the adoption of Cloud

deployment models. That shift is to offpremises solutions
delivered using either a private Cloud, a hybrid architecture
of private and public Cloud, or a public Cloud.
As applications and data migrate from onpremise deployments to Cloud deployments, the Cloud exchange network
now becomes part of the critical path for this successful
transition to take place. The Cloud exchange network is the
connectivity between Clouds, regardless of Cloud model
(private, public, or hybrid), and between users and their
Cloud deployments.
This chapter discusses whats involved in applying a software
defined networking (SDN) solution to transform the Cloud
exchange network into a dynamic and resilient network.

These materials are 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.

12

Software-Defined Networking For Dummies, Sonus Special Edition 

Understanding Whats Really

Needed to Succeed
Adoption of these new offpremises Cloud models means
the wide area network (WAN) resources providing Cloud
exchange functionality need to be considered as a strategic
asset, instead of as a cost item. When viewed as a cost item,
the resources are constantly under scrutiny as IT budgets are
stagnant or slashed. That scrutiny often means being forced
to use smaller increments of bandwidth, limiting use of guaranteed Quality of Service (QoS), or just having besteffort
direct Internet connectivity and then having to put up with
potential network delays or bandwidth issues.
As applications and corporate data migrate to offpremises
Cloud solutions, the WAN must be viewed differently. In
order to achieve network optimization, create a predictable
cost structure, and ensure network performance, the Cloud
exchange network needs to be seen as a strategic asset.
The new strategic Cloud exchange network needs to be
Capable of handling traffic growth and variable traffic
loads with reasonable and predictable cost
Dynamic and adaptable to changing network conditions,
or changing business policies, on a perapplication basis
Secure and reliable enough to depend upon for business
continuity and missioncritical application performance
Transparent, providing a level of visibility to traffic
behavior that makes managing the WAN practical and
simple
Over the last 15 years, the standard WAN solution has been
MultiProtocol Label Switching (MPLS) because it can differentiate QoS based on packet prioritization. As new strategic
WAN goals are being introduced, MPLS has many shortcomings. The most notable drawback of MPLS is its lack of
dynamic capabilities for provisioning and configuration.
To compensate, MPLS WANs were often overprovisioned
in order to handle bandwidth spikes. Unfortunately, over
provisioning comes at a heavy price, as unused bandwidth

These materials are 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.

Chapter2: Applying SDN to the Cloud Exchange Network

13

sits idle. Depending on the carrier, location, bandwidth, and

Class of Service (CoS) requirements, an MPLS link could
easily cost thousands of dollars per month. This solution
is expensive and doesnt provide a clear path toward cost
containment.
An alternate solution uses a Direct Internet Access (DIA) service delivered by service providers over cable, xDSL, or Long
Term Evolution (LTE). While the cost would be substantially
less than other solutions, this solution also has drawbacks in
its ability to be a strategic WAN. Most notably, this solution
lacks guaranteed reliability because its performance can fluctuate greatly due to many factors, including choice of service
provider, enterprise location, or even time of day.
So whats the answer? Its to apply a softwaredefined network
solution to the Cloud exchange network, enabling dynamic
bandwidth allocation and packet prioritization without having
to rely on overprovisioning capacity. This also means being
able to take advantage of lowercost WAN options if (or when)
specific application traffic is tolerant to packet loss or delay.

Simplifying and Automating

the Provisioning Process
Provisioning is the process of configuring your network to
provide various services to your users/customers. In the past,
provisioning was a cumbersome process, so many organizations were reluctant to make very many changes.
An SDN solution automates provisioning so business policies
are translated into the WAN configuration. This automated
provisioning is configured on network devices with simple
forwarding tables instead of complicated routing. This automation minimizes, and possibly eliminates, the need for any
manual provisioning.

Discovering Network Topology

Keeping up with changes in how the Cloud exchange network
is laid out the network topology can be a time-consuming

These materials are 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.

14

Software-Defined Networking For Dummies, Sonus Special Edition 

process. With the proper SDN solution, any changes in network
topology are automatically detected and an updated topology
is maintained, so future configuration is optimized. For example, new routers or switches that are added to the network
are detected and sent the proper configuration information
automatically as soon as they come online. In order to make
optimal packet forwarding decisions, a solution should be able
to discover the network topology at Layer 2 and Layer 3.
Because identification of network devices is automated and
access to network devices is protected and limited, security is maintained. If a network device is unknown, no traffic
is allowed to flow to or from it. If traffic originates from an
unknown user or application, it is not allowed onto the network, so your enterprise data and resources are protected
from intrusions.
Sonuss VellOS incorporates a function known as the Topology
Manager thats responsible for tracking the physical connectivity between the switches. Upon receiving a new switch connection event, this module requests the switch description,
and for electronic packet switches selectively and iteratively
installs unique flows and injects discovery packets to determine interswitch connectivity. It also receives link status
change events for the ports used by switch interconnectivity.
A link status change triggers the same discovery process that
happens when a switch is initially connected.

Translating Business Policies

into Data Flow Requirements
Unless you have unlimited excess bandwidth available on
your network, traffic must be prioritized based on business
priorities for different applications, during both normal and
nonnormal working situations. Bandwidth allocation to meet
application requirements needs to be managed ondemand.
For example, if a Unified Communications (UC) user has initiated a voice session, then adds video, the allocation of WAN
resources has to be dynamically adjusted to the required
bandwidth to ensure no decrease in QoS.

These materials are 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.

Chapter2: Applying SDN to the Cloud Exchange Network

15

An SDN solution provides the intelligence that drives

increased bandwidth utilization and efficiency, dramatically
reducing WAN costs. In addition, users are usually happier
with the improved networking experience.

Dynamically Computing Paths

The implementation of Cloud exchange network changes
based on evolving business priorities, network topologies,
or network behavior needs to be accomplished in milliseconds. Consider a fairly simple yet common event, where
network congestion is degrading application performance.
Toresolve this bottleneck, network resources quickly need
to be reallocated in realtime to ensure traffic flows around
network congestion points. Using an SDN solution, this can be
completed such that the end-user notices no impact on his or
her application usage.
The SDN solution needs to maintain all the connections to
switches. It detects and manages switch connections and disconnections, and negotiates the right protocol version used
for communication. OpenFlow is a communications protocol
that an SDN controller uses to tell switches where to send
data packets.
Because switches within a network may support differing
OpenFlow protocol versions, multiple versions of the protocol
must be simultaneously be supported. Make sure that the
SDN solution you implement can support different OpenFlow
versions at the same time.

Enforcing Policy, Flow

Management, and Metering
Business policies set the rules for how people and applications function within the enterprise. Policies can cover many
different areas, but in the context of the Cloud exchange
network, the most important policies are those that deal

These materials are 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.

16

Software-Defined Networking For Dummies, Sonus Special Edition 

with network traffic control. Some examples of these types of
networkrelated policies may include the following:
Prioritization: Businesscritical applications such as VoIP
telephone calls need to be assigned higher priority than
web surfing when bandwidth issues arise. Calls to clients
need to have high audio quality in order to do business
effectively.
Compliance: Certain applications that deal with sensitive or proprietary data may need to be isolated from
other network traffic. In some cases, there may even be
government mandates that require the protection of this
data to ensure that client privacy or other concerns are
guaranteed.
Metering: It may be necessary to limit the bandwidth
used by certain applications or user groups. For example,
a business analytics user group may be expecting specific amounts of data, and you may need to either reduce
their bandwidth or have them request to raise their
priority across all the other business user groups when
those limits are exceeded.
Reliability: Certain applications or user groups may have
a critical need to depend on virtually absolute network
reliability. Realtime monitoring of a nuclear power plant
or patient status monitors are just a couple of examples
where immediate notification and correction of network
issues could be very important.
For interoperability, you want an SDN solution that supports
an Application Program Interface (API) layer which allows
interworking with thirdparty applications. One example is
an integration with Microsofts Skype for Business UC SDN
API. In this integration, persession policies, such as required
bandwidth and tolerance to latency and packet loss, are communicated in order to orchestrate a specific path across the
underlying transport layer to deliver expected QoE for that
session.
Sonuss VellOS provides automated network operation via a
policydriven architecture with centralized resource control.
Application traffic management is done with centralized visibility to realtime topology updates and dynamic path computation. Policy enforcement of flows is based on endtoend
path statistics and dynamic management of flows is based

These materials are 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.

Chapter2: Applying SDN to the Cloud Exchange Network

17

on matching policy requirements to accommodate realtime

network changes such as congestion, loss of path, latency,
and so on.

Managing MultiTenants
Multitenancy is a means that allows a single instance of a
software application to run on a server while multiple tenants
(groups of users) share that instance of the application. Each
tenant has a dedicated share of the application instance, so
each of them has access to both the data and functionality of
the application.
Multitenancy generally results in fairly significant cost savings
because unlike running multiple instances of the application,
multitenant applications share resources such as memory
and processors. In addition, multitenancy can often result in
lower software licensing costs because fewer instances of the
application are needed to serve a larger number of users.
Multitenancy is, in many ways, the modern equivalent of the
time sharing that was often used in the early days of mainframe computers.
Multitenant applications are often provided through the use
of virtualization, which is one of the key elements of SDN.

These materials are 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.

18

Software-Defined Networking For Dummies, Sonus Special Edition 

These materials are 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.

Chapter3

Looking at an Enterprise
Use Case Example
and Its Benefits
In This Chapter
Understanding the issues
Getting the connectivity you need
Making sure you survive

softwaredefined networking (SDN) solution applied to

the Cloud exchange network can do a lot for your enterprise, but unless you live and breathe technology, it may be
just a bit of a stretch to fully grasp how such a solution can fit
into your plans. Many enterprises use the term SDWAN when
applying SDN within their enterprise whether it is between
private data centers or as access to applications or data in the
Cloud. This chapter provides an enterprise use case example
that shows what such a solution can do and details some of
the benefits it may offer.

Addressing the Problems

A global financial services organization decided to investigate
if an SDWAN solution could address the problems it was
having with its Cloud exchange network and to determine
what benefits it might expect from such an investment
in capital and manpower. The organization had multiple
sites that used a total of 22 Gigabit Ethernet WAN links to

These materials are 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.

20

Software-Defined Networking For Dummies, Sonus Special Edition 

interconnect those sites. There was little redundancy with
only 20 percent of the WAN utilization.
The first step in the evaluation was defining the most
important set of business problems any new solution should
address. In the end, the organization came up with the
following list:
Reliability improvements: Eliminating the single point of
failure on data center interconnects was a high priority
because downtime can mean big financial penalties.
Reducing business risks: Running multiple data centers
without the capability to automatically keep the entire
operation running if a single data center encounters
problems exposes the organization to unacceptable risks.
Lowering the costs of WAN integration: By implementing
a hybrid WAN where traffic flows across multiple WAN
technologies, you can lower WAN costs where possible.
Improving the performance and utilization of network
resources: The company needed to be able to automatically utilize optimum network paths based on applications and available network resources to reduce the need
for excess (and expensive) network capacity.
Improving the performance of critical business applications: In order to remain competitive, it was vital to make
sure that applications delivered top level performance.
Maintaining segregation of traffic between business
units: Trading and hosting each had different needs in
security, performance, and availability that required
keeping the types of traffic independent of other traffic
both for performance and compliance requirements.
Reducing the time to value on new business services
and applications: Faster deployment and response was a
key factor in maintaining a competitive edge in the marketplace.
Needing to reduce operating costs: Reducing expenses
while at the same time increasing overall efficiency was a
clear goal because the organizations stakeholders were
looking for an improved return on their investment.
With all these issues defined, it was possible to begin evaluating an SDWAN solution.

These materials are 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.

Chapter3: Looking at an Enterprise Use Case Example and Its Benefits

21

Optimizing InterOffice
Connectivity
Clearly, improving interoffice connectivity was a very important goal. The enterprise maintained six data centers in
Boston, Chicago, New York, New Jersey, San Francisco, and
Seattle. Interoffice traffic needed to move to any site on the
network without regard to geographical location or the current status of any one data center. But simply throwing more
hardware at the system wasnt going to work and would
cost far more than the organization wanted to spend.
To implement the winning solution, the enterprise took the
following steps:
Deployed the Sonus VellOS solution along with economical white box switches at WAN edge in each site/data
center. Because VellOS is hardware agnostic, there was
no need for far more expensive proprietary switches or
other equipment.
Added dynamic control of intersite network bandwidth
for cost containment. This resulted in a 64 percent reduction in the number of intersite links that were needed
and a fourfold increase in the efficiency of the usage of
those links.
Replaced its MPLS core with Carrier Ethernet and Dark
Fiber. This change reduced monthly operating expenses
by about onethird.
Overall, the changes made a very significant impact on the
bottom line. Before making these changes the enterprise
Cloud exchange network had a total cost of ownership and
operation of $7.13 million for 36 months. Once implemented,
the SDN solution resulted in the 36 month costs falling to
$2.11 million an approximate 70 percent reduction! When
business profit margins are usually measured in single
digit percentages, those kinds of savings are certainly very
impressive.
Although the savings from each of the changes that were
implemented are important, the largest savings resulted from
the greatly improved network utilization. Quite simply, reducing the amount of network resources necessary to handle the
These materials are 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.

22

Software-Defined Networking For Dummies, Sonus Special Edition 

same amount of traffic and the improved use of bandwidth
are factors that cant be ignored.

Providing Business Continuity

and Disaster Recovery
In addition to reducing operating costs and improving connectivity between the sites/data centers, the financial institution was also quite concerned with keeping the business in
operation in the event of a disaster. From earthquakes, to
extreme weather, and even acts of terrorism, no enterprise
can afford to ignore the many threats to business survival
both natural and manmade. Just imagine the impact to a
large financial s ervice provider if a data center containing all
the client account information was destroyed or even just
temporarily put out of commission due to an unexpected
event especially if there was no uptodate backup in place.
Some estimates show that for businesses without an adequate
business continuity and disaster recovery plan in place, nearly
40percent never fully recover from a major catastrophic event.
In many industry segments maintaining the integrity of data
isnt just an option, its a regulatory requirement. Recent legislation has also made corporate officers personally responsible for protecting the interests of the shareholders and the
public.
One very important way that an SDWAN solution like VellOS
helps provide business continuity and disaster recovery is
by eliminating the possibility that a single point of failure
on data center interconnects can bring down your network
or business. Rather, data is automatically rerouted when
a problem with a path is detected. In addition, builtin
redundancy means that data can be replicated in more than
one place to prevent data loss if a server or storage unit fails.
Both private and hybrid Cloud systems generally include features to replicate data. The two differ somewhat in where that
data is stored because while private Cloud systems replicate
the data into storage domains that are part of the private
Cloud, hybrid Cloud systems replicate the data to both onsite
and offsite data centers. Thus a hybrid Cloud probably offers

These materials are 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.

Chapter3: Looking at an Enterprise Use Case Example and Its Benefits

23

somewhat better protection in the event your data center

is hit with a major disaster because youll still be protected
by having an automatic offsite backup. In addition, a hybrid
Cloud setup may enable you to continue operations during
the event because operations can instantly fallover to either
the offsite or onsite data center, depending on which one is
able to remain in operation.
Regardless of the type of Cloud setup you use, youll want to
include local mirroring of your data, uninterruptible power
supplies, climate controls and fire suppression systems, and
malware protection in your data centers. Also, regular automated data backups where offsite backup storage is used
simply makes good sense.
Disaster recovery and business continuity are not the same
thing. Disaster recovery is the process of rebuilding your data
and business after an event. Business continuity is the process of keeping your business open and operating during the
event. Your SDWAN solution provider should be able to help
with both of these important functions through both advance
planning and builtin features of the solution.

These materials are 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.

24

Software-Defined Networking For Dummies, Sonus Special Edition 

These materials are 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.

Chapter4

Seeing a Service Provider

Use Case Example
and Its Benefits
In This Chapter
Providing the optimal interconnect
Improving multitenant management

pplications and data continue to move to a Cloud

domain, bringing an increased need for data center
connectivity. As service providers find themselves providing
more of this data center connectivity, they face a substantial
challenge. The traditional way of provisioning, managing,
and ultimately monetizing their network assets is no longer
dynamic enough to keep up with the new demands of data
center connectivity. Service providers also have to deal with
competitive pressures that are driving down pricing for data
center connectivity.
This chapter shows how a service provider can implement
a softwaredefined networking (SDN)based Cloud exchange
networking solution to optimize their network resources and
turn them into a dynamic, revenueproducing Networkasa
Service (NaaS).

These materials are 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.

26

Software-Defined Networking For Dummies, Sonus Special Edition 

Optimizing Data Center

Interconnect
A hosted data center service provider implemented an
SDNbased Cloud exchange networking solution to create an
interconnected topology of network assets, merging diverse
connectivity and computing resources to make its 24 data
centers appear as a single virtualized data center. This use
case demonstrates the ability to dynamically and securely
interconnect data centers with the intent to optimize bandwidth utilization, reduce costs, and provide a better user
experience for their clients. This provider achieved this by
implementing SDN with a Layer 2 Ethernet/Optical transport
network without complex routing requirements to be administered and maintained.
The goal was to have an infrastructure that would automatically respond to fastchanging application and traffic
demands, without the need for slow and expensive manual
intervention at the router level. In addition, the provider
wanted to put the power to control and access bandwidth
ondemand directly into the hands of its enterprise, Cloud
provider, and hybrid network customers. By doing this, it was
able to fundamentally change the behavior of its user community who, in the past, had usually been confined to highly
formal and heavily predefined relationships with connectivity
suppliers. This change meant customers wouldnt be buying
capacity they didnt use or having to pay exorbitant fees when
they needed to exceed preassigned limits as business requirements suddenly changed.
With its SDNbased solution, the service provider achieved
superior network utilization, streamlined its network operations, and was able to generate new revenue with its NaaS.
It coupled this with an easytouse customer portal where
customers could dynamically customize and configure their
network bandwidth needs based on performance and Quality
of Service (QoS) requirements under a flexible pricing model.
This created a competitive differentiator whereby customers
could get data flows dynamically allocated on demand based
on business metrics, such as latency and bandwidth requirements, instead of on technical routing metrics used by legacy
networking solutions.

These materials are 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.

 Chapter4: Seeing a Service Provider Use Case Example and Its Benefits

27

As the service provider saw things, data center connectivity

had three important requirements to consider:
Real-time management: Connectivity needs to be
managed in realtime based on business priorities.
Accommodating changes in connectivity requirements
should be automated as much as possible.
Application traffic prioritization: Traffic has to be
prioritized based on business priorities for d
ifferent
applications, during both normal and nonnormal
working situations.
Bandwidth utilization: Resources must be dynamically
allocated to maximize network utilization and to lower
the cost of connectivity.
The service provider realized that the way to meet these
requirements was by implementing a softwaredefined networking (SDN) solution. It chose Sonuss VellOS solution.
Table41 shows the before-and-after results of implementing
this option.

Table 4-1

Results of Implementing SDN

Item

Before

After

Customer purchase

Fixed, upfront

Pay as you go

Service provider time

to revenue

1820 days

Minutes

Network utilization

25% utilization

90% utilization

Services model

Fixed to hardware, pricing

differentiation

Software programmable
services offering

Differentiated SLAs
(Service Level
Agreements)

Not allowed
with fixed
configuration

Flexible allocation of
network bandwidth,
cost, latency, jitter

Network recovery

Standard fault
recovery

Predetermined fault
recovery

Application aware

No one size
fits all

Yes dynamic
applicationspecific SLA

These materials are 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.

28

Software-Defined Networking For Dummies, Sonus Special Edition 

Clearly, the service provider was able to offer its customers
better, more flexible service while at the same time making
far more efficient use of existing resources. The result was
happier customers and an improved bottom line.

Providing Better Management

for Multitenant Metro Ethernet
A second example is how an SDN solution can bring efficiencies to the traditional metro Ethernet business model, which
is typically based on Virtual LANs and routing to manage a
customers WAN traffic. This use case is focused on a multi
tenant building or campus deployment, where a service provider manages multiple customers over a common Ethernet
WAN. The goal is to be as responsive as possible to customer
requirements while also maximizing its revenue opportunities
by more efficiently managing and utilizing its WAN resources.
In this use case, the service provider can manage multiple
customers over a common network resources, yet do so at a
reasonably low cost per customer using the NaaS centralized
control model with network edge devices at each tenant. NaaS
provides isolation of multitenant traffic to meet security and
quite possibly compliance requirements.
For the service provider, an SDN solution gave it the means to
optimize shared Ethernet network resources by dynamically
allocating bandwidth as needed rather than committing a certain amount of bandwidth at all times to each customer. This
means the service provider will be able to maximize its network utilization for a given investment in network infrastructure. In conjunction with network optimization, it will be able
to reduce its investment for each tenant by using lowcost
switches. Together, these strengthen the service providers
competitive advantage enabling it to offer a better service to
its customers.
From a customer facing viewpoint, the service provider is able
to assure Quality of Experience (QoE) on a per customer, per
application basis because traffic is prioritized based on business priorities and associated Service Level Agreements. This
QoE assurance is dynamic as changes in network behavior,

These materials are 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.

 Chapter4: Seeing a Service Provider Use Case Example and Its Benefits

29

such as network congestion, can be accounted for and packet

flows can be modified quickly enough to minimize or eliminate negative effects on application performance.
Similarly, changes in customer requirements, such as a re
prioritization of application traffic, can be rapidly translated
into modification of the underlying WAN behavior. This alone
is a significant competitive differentiator when the network
switch configuration changes can be done in minutes rather
than weeks with traditional systems and processes.
Security is a key attribute that an SDN can address. With the
right solution, the service provider has the ability to provide
per customer, per application traffic isolation to meet security
and/or compliance requirements.
In addition, NaaS can be used to differentiate service level
agreements, such as the following:
Hosted application service with SLAs for a premium performance
Applications that are sensitive to network latency, like
realtime communications, or have time syncing issues
An SDN solution like Sonuss VellOS provides several important benefits to service providers:
Transforms networks from traditional IT operations to
NetworkasaService
Increases speed of service creation and enables differentiated offers for bandwidth on demand
Reduces OpEx through more streamlined, automated
provisioning and endtoend service view
Significant improvements in network utilization
resulting in reduced network costs and associated
capital expenditures

These materials are 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.

30

Software-Defined Networking For Dummies, Sonus Special Edition 

These materials are 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.

Chapter5

SDN Deployment
In This Chapter
Creating your strategy
Finding the right vendor

he explosive growth in both Cloudbased services and

data traffic is putting pressure on enterprises to adapt
their own infrastructures, management systems, and business
processes to keep pace with the acceleration thats happening
across multiple industry sectors and geographies. Deploying a
softwaredefined networking (SDN) solution is one of the best
ways an organization can meet these important needs.
This chapter discusses what it takes to have a successful SDN
deployment experience.

Setting Migration Strategy

If your company is like most, youre either already using
Cloud computing services or are seriously considering it. To
get the most out of Cloud services, though, requires a rethinking of the Cloud exchange network architecture that many
companies may be overlooking.

Adopting the Cloud

Companies are indeed adopting Cloud computing services in
droves. A recent survey of companies found that more than
90 percent are using some form of Cloud computing. Cloud
services have become essential because they can deliver
new levels of IT flexibility at an attractive cost, with little

These materials are 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.

32

Software-Defined Networking For Dummies, Sonus Special Edition 

to no capital expense. But Cloud also puts new pressure on
Cloud exchange network performance and availability. Simply
put, if the connectivity to the Cloud domain goes down or
connectivity between Clouds suffers performance problems,
then user productivity and satisfaction with Cloud services
likewise suffer. So you need to find ways to ensure the Cloud
exchange network has the kind of performance and reliability
that investments in Cloud solutions warrant. With traditional
WANs, that essentially means buying additional circuits
to improve reliability or more bandwidth on existing ones
to improve performance, either of which is an expensive,
inefficient proposition. A better solution lies in adopting SDN
technology and applying it to the Cloud exchange network.

Implementing the right

migration strategy
One of the most important considerations you need to be
aware of is how to pick an implementation strategy that
ensures success. Here are some important points to consider:
Greenfield: In a greenfield situation, an SDN solution can
be implemented directly with minimal or no consideration for an existing Cloud exchange network. Even if the
greenfield implementation is just an expansion site on an
existing Cloud exchange network, the main consideration
will be one of connectivity to other Cloud deployments.
Network overlay: When adding an SDN solution to an
existing Cloud exchange network, choosing an overlay
model means that you dont have to integrate with an
existing underlying network infrastructure. However, it
also limits the benefits of an SDN solution to only that
traffic that is migrated onto the overlay.
Network integration: When adding an SDN solution to
an existing Cloud exchange network, the other alternative is to integrate with the existing network infrastructure. Think of this concept as the toll booth model. By
implementing SDN capabilities at the edges of the Cloud
exchange network the benefits of SDN can be achieved
for all traffic yet still allow interworking with existing

These materials are 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.

Chapter5: SDN Deployment

33

routing/switching infrastructure. When ready, traffic can

be moved off the traditional network onto the SDNbased
Cloud exchange network.

Taking enough time

A common problem that organizations often have to deal
with is the pressure to rush into a project without devoting enough time to get it right. You might, for example, have
an upperlevel executive whos heard the buzzwords and
insists that you implement some new technology before your
competition. Yielding to such pressure without fully thinking
through whats needed for a successful project rarely meets
with the desired level of success and often ends up causing
a lot of problems and the inevitable fingerpointing.
Transforming your existing network to a softwaredefined
network is one of those situations where taking enough time
to do a proper implementation is important. For example,
even if you start your implementation with a small portion of
the network, this will provide the IT team with a chance to get
some experience and review/modify processes to deal with
issues that might arise at larger scale.
You need to take into account what traffic, whether internal
applications or external customers, will be moved to the
SDN implementation. You also need to determine whether a
parallel network will be built to the existing network or the
new SDN implementation will be integrated into the existing
network. Its not just about connecting in the network elements and software; more importantly, its about the new
operational model both on the frontend and backend of the
network.
In the end, it comes down to having options such that you can
mitigate the risk of adversely affecting your customers.
Using a parallel network option is a more straightforward and
costly approach. Integrating to an existing network makes the
transition easier but isnt quite as simple and requires more
resources during implementation.

These materials are 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.

34

Software-Defined Networking For Dummies, Sonus Special Edition 

Looking for Vendors

That Can Scale
Finding the right SDN solution vendor is very important to
your successful implementation. You need someone who
understands that a onesizefitsall solution probably wont
meet your unique needs.
Here are some tips for finding the right SDN vendor:
Look for a vendor that can work with existing networks: You already have expensive, functioning network
infrastructure, so you want to find a vendor who can help
you maximize your existing investment and bring added
value.
Interoperability: A solution that uses open standards
means that you can make better use of a broad range of
equipment instead of being tied to a single, proprietary
system.
Scalability: You want a solution that can easily scale to
meet both current and future needs. You may only need
a dozen switches on your network today, but what about
tomorrow if you grow to hundreds?
Simplification: Find a vendor thats focused on simplifying and optimizing Cloud exchange network connectivity
rather than one only focused on solutions to connect
enterprise branch locations using a hybrid WAN solution
(MPLS and Direct Internet Access).
Automation: You need a solution that automatically
translates business policies into Cloud exchange network
infrastructure provisioning in order to manage traffic
based on business intent. It should automatically detect
network topology changes and provision new or modified network configurations as needed to meet service
level agreements.
Connectivity: Look for a solution vendor who can manage
connectivity by dynamically determining bandwidth based
on per-application, per-session requirements.

These materials are 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.

Chapter5: SDN Deployment

35

Speed: A solution should implement network changes, in

milliseconds, ensuring user applications arent affected
by changes in network behavior.
Security: Your vendor should offer a solution that
secures the Cloud exchange network edge such that only
traffic from known users or network devices is allowed,
with all other traffic being dropped.
Visibility: You need to know whats going on; find a solution that offers visibility through monitoring and analytics
to ensure expected network behavior matches actual
network behavior.
The right SDN solution provides a number of important benefits that include
Automatically utilizing optimum network paths aligning
applicationbased business policies and available network resources
Optimizing bandwidth utilization mitigating unnecessary
and costly over-provisioning, changing how capacity
planning is addressed
Supporting endtoend monitoring and analytics to proactively improve application performance
Offering open Application Programming Interfaces (APIs)
for custom interface design
Offering turnkey support for qualified whitebox switches
Enabling consumptionbased payasyougo business
models
Find out more about what other organizations have encountered by visiting the Sonus Cloud networking solutions
web page at www.sonus.net/en/solutions/cloud
exchangenetworkingsolutions/overviewof
cloudexchangenetworkingsolutions.

These materials are 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.

36

Software-Defined Networking For Dummies, Sonus Special Edition 

These materials are 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.

Chapter6

Ten Things You Need to

Know When Considering
an SDN Solution
In This Chapter
Knowing why SDN in data centers is successful
Seeing the importance of Cloud exchange network
Using SDN in the network domain of SP and enterprise networks
Automating and simplifying network resource configuration

his chapter provides ten important things you need to

know as you consider a softwaredefined networking
(SDN) solution for your organization.

Translating Application/Business
Policies
Customers need to be able to simply specify application and
business priorities and service level requirements. An SDN
solution must have the intelligence to be able to translate
this information into meaningful input in order to perform
path computation to select the optimal Cloud exchange
network path.

These materials are 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.

38

Software-Defined Networking For Dummies, Sonus Special Edition 

Your organization knows more about how it functions than
anyone outside. You need a solution that makes it easy to
specify how you want the SDN to function by using your
business policy experience as opposed to one that requires
constant support by a vendor to implement what should be
simple operational changes. Look for a solution that enables
your business units to easily define those policies.

Understanding Why SDN in

Data Centers Is Successful
SDN took off within data centers because traditional data
center resource management couldnt operate at Cloud
speed. SDN enables you to respond to challenges quickly
and to provide needed resources automatically.
SDN enables you to automate many processes that formerly
required an IT staff member to do manually. Not only is
an automated process faster and more reliable, but also it
automation saves money. You also save because network
resources can have higher utilization rates while at the same
time providing a superior customer experience.

Seeing Why the Cloud Exchange

Network Is Now on a
Critical Path
Now that mission critical applications and data have moved,
and continue to move, from the enterprise to the Cloud, the
Wide Area Network (WAN) is squarely in the critical path for
business success. The WAN used to connect Cloud networks
and enterprise with their applications and data in the Cloud
is called the Cloud exchange network. Where it is possible to
achieve higher utilization, better service performance, and
lower cost of operation, the Cloud exchange network becomes
a critical tool for improving the organizations bottom line.

These materials are 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.

Chapter6: Ten Things You Need to Know When Considering an SDN Solution

39

Applying SDN to the Cloud

Exchange Network Domain
Similar to what happened in the data center, SDN principles can be applied to managing Cloud exchange network
resources, because traditional processes and management tools are inadequate to operate at Cloud speed.
Virtualization and automation are even more important
to keeping the Cloud exchange network functioning at top
efficiency to meet the business needs of your organization.

Applying SDN in SP Networks

Applying SDN to service provider networks is a better way to
deliver WAN connectivity to enterprises for private, hybrid,
and public Cloud deployments while generating revenue,
controlling costs, and increasing responsiveness to customers
(operating at Cloudspeed). This is known as offering the SP
network as a service, or NaaS.
In addition, by being able to increase Cloud exchange networking utilization rates, its possible to reduce the need
to overprovision the network for traffic spikes but end up
only having idle capacity most of the time. Service providers
simply dont need to spend the extra capital to make sure that
they can handle the peak bandwidth needs.

Using SDN in Enterprise

Networks
Applying SDN to enterprise networks is a better way to
manage the WAN for connectivity to private Cloud deployments by optimizing utilization and controlling costs. The use
of SDN within the enterprise is referred to as SDWAN. There
is less need for your IT staff to respond to daytoday routine
WAN management tasks when those tasks are automated
using an SDWAN solution. And because utilization rates are
improved when you implement an SDWAN solution, your
existing network resources can do more.

These materials are 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.

40

Software-Defined Networking For Dummies, Sonus Special Edition 

Look for an SDWAN solution that uses standard rather than
proprietary protocols. A standardsbased solution enables
you to use white box hardware and most likely the network
hardware you already have, so your costs will be lower than a
solution that requires you to start over with completely new
equipment.

Automating Network Resource

Configuration
It is possible to automate much of the functions of network
resource configuration. To accomplish this, an SDN solution
must be capable of network topology discovery as well as
knowledgeable on the state of network resources. These in
turn will be inputs to path computation for each requested
service. In addition, the solution has to fit each service
request into the aggregate of service requests to ensure
proper decision making for optimal path selection.
Changes to network configuration arent always authorized.
Your SDN solution needs to be able to recognize which
devices should and should not be allowed to access network
resources. Your SDN solution needs to quickly respond when
authorized devices are connected and to provide them with
the appropriate resources, but it also needs to protect the
organizations assets from intrusions by someone whos
trying to access data inappropriately.

Simplifying Network Resource

Configuration
With the implementation of an SDN solution, a service provider or enterprise can reduce operational costs by migrating away from MPLS and Layer 3 routing to a simpler Layer
2 Ethernet and data-forwarding model using open standard
protocols like OpenFlow.

These materials are 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.

Chapter6: Ten Things You Need to Know When Considering an SDN Solution

41

OpenFlow is one of the standards that helped create the

robust SDN marketplace. By sticking to these types of standards youre no longer locked into proprietary solutions that
can be far more expensive to both implement and maintain.

Ensuring Application
Performance
Each application, as well as aggregate application performance, can be ensured because allocation of Cloud exchange
network resources are aligned with applications/business
priorities. Through realtime monitoring, if actual network
behavior deviates from expected behavior jeopardizing mission critical application performance, then traffic can be
reprioritized and new optimal paths computed to ensure mission critical applications get continued performance to meet
expected SLAs.
SDN enables the ability to allocate the resources needed to
ensure each application functions as efficiently as possible.

Managing Multitenants
Traffic isolation requirements need to be known and managed in situations when multiple customers traffic is carried
in common transport, such as a multitenant building being
served by a managed service provider, or if multiple traffic
types need to be segregated across a common transport, such
as for regulatory compliance reasons across an enterprises
network.
An SDN solution contains the necessary components to effectively manage multiple tenants through automated application
of your defined business policies.

These materials are 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.

42

Software-Defined Networking For Dummies, Sonus Special Edition 

These materials are 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.

Notes

These materials are 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.

Notes

These materials are 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.

These materials are 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Any dissemination, distribution, or unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.

WILEY END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT

Go to www.wiley.com/go/eula to access Wileys ebook EULA.