MINI PROJECT : STUDY EXPERIMENT Customer Story

Study Experiment: Study in details CloudSeeds automates IaaS using SDN and a high
performance network from Juniper SDN Framework.

GERMAN CLOUD PROVIDER

AUTOMATES INFRASTRUCTURE-AS-A-
SERVICE USING SOFTWARE-DEFINED
NETWORKING

Summary
CloudSeeds, based in Hamburg, Germany, was founded in 2013 to help establish
virtualized infrastructures and IT services to companies that are growing rapidly and
Company:
need scalability for their business objectives.
CloudSeeds
Kevin Fibich, founder and managing director at CloudSeeds, had worked in a
Industry:
number of operational IT environments and recognized the need for a new class
Cloud Engineering and Consulting
Company of software-defined IT services based on a highly scalable, flexible, and automated
platform. CloudSeeds developed its new approach, known as A.C.R.E. (Advanced
Business Challenges: Cloud Resource Elements), using standard pre-built cloud components creating a
• Build a new network platform highly dynamic IaaS (Infrastructure-as-a-Service) layer—combining deep automation
• Create an open architecture and complete virtualization to create turnkey solutions for its customers. The
• Establish a fully automated, platform delivers new data center and IT infrastructure that can scale as its
highly scalable and resilient customers’ needs change and grow, without customers having to worry about the
platform for future growth
day-to-day management of IT hardware. CloudSeeds operates dedicated cloud
Technology Solution: setups for their customers—managed and operated on its premises—as data security
• Juniper Networks QFX5100 is a key topic in the German commercial enterprise sector with customers pressing
Ethernet Switches for data sovereignty.
• Juniper Networks MX80
Kevin Fibich said, “Our customers can sometimes be overwhelmed by their own
Universal Routing Platforms
rapid success and as a result they need to rapidly deploy new infrastructure. We call
• Juniper Networks SRX1400
Services Gateways this a ‘friendly DDoS’ (distributed denial of service) attack, as their existing network
may be overwhelmed by legitimate customer demand. It is a luxury problem for
• Juniper Networks Contrail
Networking them to have, and our automated software-defined services help them overcome it.”

Business Results: CloudSeeds is enjoying high growth as it takes on new customers, attracted by the
CloudSeeds now has a network business flexibility and scale it offers, and is currently expanding its team.
that:
Challenges
• Delivers its vision of zero-touch
provisioning To realize its vision of a new class of automated services, CloudSeeds needed to
• Allows services to be create a new network platform, providing seamless, high-performance routing,
provisioned in minutes not switching and intense security measures. Most critically, it needed an open
weeks architecture that could be controlled and configured by software.
• Is highly robust and resilient
• Is cost efficient to operate We knew that Juniper’s technical philosophy fitted what
• Is an open platform we wanted to do, and how we wanted to do it.”
- Kevin Fibach, Founder and Managing Director, CloudSeeds

1
 German Cloud Provider Automates Infrastructure-as-a-Service Using Software-Defined Networking

CloudSeeds also needed a network platform that could scale open source project and the open community around it. Contrail
ahead of its requirements, and provide a highly resilient service Networking is decoupled from the physical network underlay
to enable its customers’ businesses to grow. but made to interoperate and have visibility into any IP underlay
network. The automation available in the Contrail Networking
Selection Criteria solution and Juniper data center underlay fabric solutions
CloudSeeds’ technical team had already worked with Juniper pairs perfectly to streamline the entire data center network at
Networks technology in the past and felt that by comparison to the speed of cloud. Furthermore, Contrail Networking’s open
other vendors it gave them more flexibility and future proofing, approach to federation with routers was employed to peer
the configuration and management features were more with the MX routers to extend and connect virtual networks
advanced, and its open APIs had the best potential for scripting between data centers, truly realizing the Juniper Networks’ data
and automating tasks. center vision.
Kevin Fibich said, “Our entire architecture is a software-defined Kevin Fibich said, “SDN is well used for cloud infrastructure.
structure—and everything we do must work over the network. Using Contrail has allowed us to create a software-defined
We knew that Juniper’s technical philosophy fitted what we network that seamlessly integrates disparate locations into a
wanted to do, and how we wanted to do it.” single unified cloud.”
In particular, CloudSeeds felt that the ability to control its
architecture using OpenStack software, and to put the Puppet
“Using Contrail has allowed us to create a
software agent directly onto devices running Junos OS, set software-defined network that seamlessly
Juniper apart. Puppet is third-party software from Puppet
integrates disparate locations into a single
Labs that is used for configuration management. It provides
an efficient and scalable solution for managing the disparate unified cloud.”
configuration of large numbers of devices. - Kevin Fibach, Founder and Managing Director, CloudSeeds

High-performance networking was also a critical requirement for

CloudSeeds, along with granular support for quality of service
Results
(QoS) and high availability, including the ability to perform in- The new network has delivered CloudSeeds’ vision of zero-
service software upgrades to ensure full business continuity for touch provisioning. In turn, this allows the rapid uptake of IaaS
CloudSeeds’ customers. CloudSeeds also had a preference to services by CloudSeeds’ customers, making their businesses far
source all of its networking equipment from a single vendor to more agile and responsive.
streamline building, maintenance and support. Kevin Fibich said, “Our customers need less staff to operate
and run their infrastructure and provision new instances or
Solution
infrastructure. In addition, the high amount of automation
CloudSeeds used various Juniper systems to create its new reduces the potential for human errors. They simply pick or
software defined A.C.R.E. platform. It created the physical receive a new device and cable it up, or we’ll do it for them. It’s
infrastructure using Juniper Networks® QFX5100 switches to up to the customer whether to operate the new device using
provide it with a high-performance, high-density platform which their own IT crew, or to leave the management and operation
can support 1GbE, 10GbE, and 40GbE connections. It also used of the device to CloudSeeds. Once the equipment is physically
Juniper Networks MX80 Universal Routing Platforms—flexible, in place and the software overlay is ready to go, it only takes
full-featured routers that offer 80 Gbps of system throughput— minutes to bring up new servers or we can even deploy a whole
and Juniper Networks SRX1400 Service Gateways for secure new data center for customers in a few hours.”
customer aggregation. Juniper’s vSRX Virtual Firewall was used
to create smaller virtual firewalls for CloudSeeds’ customers, CloudSeeds has also used SDN to create a highly robust and
enabling CloudSeeds to deploy scalable firewall protection in a resilient infrastructure. CloudSeeds’ approach has completely
highly dynamic environment. eliminated traditional Layer 2 issues, such as broadcast storms
or switching loops, enabling it to use all of its available capacity
CloudSeeds used Juniper Networks Contrail Networking to maximize operational efficiency and customer satisfaction.
together with OpenStack to orchestrate the software-defined
overlay networks, creating virtual networks, service chains, CloudSeeds also has a very high degree of control over its cloud
and using the powerful Contrail network analytics engine and network. Kevin Fibich said, “I need real-time visibility into any
API. CloudSeeds highly values the development of Contrail performance issues. Using Juniper technology helps me identify
Networking in the Tungsten Fabric (formerly, OpenContrail) any problems or symptoms in the virtual space and isolate any

2
 German Cloud Provider Automates Infrastructure-as-a-Service Using Software-Defined Networking

errors in the underlying physical network. This is only possible Next Steps and Lessons Learned
because of Juniper’s open API, as it enables us to put our own
CloudSeeds now plans to add even greater scale into its
software onto the devices. We see a lot of industry discussions
infrastructure with Juniper’s QFX10000 line of Ethernet
around whether or not networking devices should become a
switches, which offer platform support from 3 to 96 Tbps of
simple commodity. We believe that it is far better to have a
throughput, all of which deliver the industry’s highest 100GbE
richly featured system that is supported by the vendor while
port density and support up to 480 ports in a single chassis.
still open for easy integration, as it gives us the best of both
This will enable CloudSeeds to continue building on its vision
worlds—open and supported with new features.”
of a highly scalable and reliable physical network. CloudSeeds
is also exploring the creation of an open marketplace for third-
“The Juniper Networks architecture is party software developers to build on Network Functions
unique in the way it has helped us create Virtualization (NFV) solutions orchestrated with Contrail
a software-defined network, and in turn Networking layer.

an entire software-defined cloud. It has Kevin Fibich concluded, “The Juniper Networks architecture is
unique in the way it has helped us create a software-defined
opened up a new world of possibilities for network, and in turn an entire software-defined cloud. It has
us and our customers.” opened up a new world of possibilities for us and our customers.”
- Kevin Fibach, Founder and Managing Director, CloudSeeds
About Juniper Networks
CloudSeeds also valued Juniper’s ability to perform in-service Juniper Networks brings simplicity to networking with
software upgrades, which has allowed CloudSeeds to automate products, solutions and services that connect the world.
the rollout of new software images without network disruption Through engineering innovation, we remove the constraints
and removed the need to have technicians on site. Kevin and complexities of networking in the cloud era to solve the
Fibich said, “Instead of rebooting the switch, we simply boot toughest challenges our customers and partners face daily. At
up a second Junos OS virtual machine, then this new machine Juniper Networks, we believe that the network is a resource for
takes over from the first one without any impact on packet sharing knowledge and human advancement that changes the
forwarding, so our customers do not even notice software world. We are committed to imagining groundbreaking ways to
upgrades at all. Downtime is no longer accepted nor necessary.” deliver automated, scalable and secure networks to move at the
speed of business.
The network also helps CloudSeeds reduce costs. Kevin
Fibich said, “Using Juniper equipment in conjunction with
our automation approach means we have less operational
expense. It also means we don’t need that many specialized IT
employees—in fact they are hard to find. This approach frees
up our specialists to put their valuable skills to more creative,
productive use elsewhere, for example, with customers.”

Corporate and Sales Headquarters APAC and EMEA Headquarters

Conclusion:
Juniper Networks, Inc. Juniper Networks International B.V.
1133 Innovation Way Boeing Avenue 240
Cloudseeds successfully
Sunnyvale, CA 94089 USA built a1119
highly automated, scalable, and resilient
PZ Schiphol-Rijk
Infrastructure-as-a-Service
Phone: 888.JUNIPER (888.586.4737) (IaaS) platform
Amsterdam, using
The Netherlands EXPLORE JUNIPER
Juniper Networks'
or +1.408.745.2000
software-defined networking
Phone: +31.0.207.125.700
solutions. Get the App.
With zero-touch provisioning, improved network visibility, and
Fax: +1.408.745.2100 Fax: +31.0.207.125.701
seamless integration through open APIs,
www.juniper.net
CloudSeeds enhanced operational efficiency, reduced costs,
and empowered rapid customer growth in a unified cloud environment

Copyright 2019 Juniper Networks, Inc. All rights reserved. Juniper Networks, the Juniper Networks logo, Juniper, and Junos are registered trademarks of Juniper Networks, Inc. in the
United States and other countries. All other trademarks, service marks, registered marks, or registered service marks are the property of their respective owners. Juniper Networks
assumes no responsibility for any inaccuracies in this document. Juniper Networks reserves the right to change, modify, transfer, or otherwise revise this publication without notice.

3520537-004-EN June 2019 3