Software-Defined Networking, OpenFlow, and how
SPARC applies it to the telecommunications domain
Pontus Sköldström - Wolfgang John – Elisa Bellagamba
November 24th 2012
SDN, OpenFlow, and SPARC
Agenda
 14:00 Introduction to SDN and OpenFlow
 What is the problem it’s solving?
 Protocols and models
 14:15 SPARC, use-cases and results
 Requirements and Controller Architecture
 Implementations – MPLS and Split BRAS
 Network Virtualization
 15:10 Coffee break
 15:25 Overview of Ericsson's SDN-related activity
 Operator challenges
 VNS and Service Chaining
 15:55 Future work at Acreo
Introduction to SDN and OpenFlow
What’s the problem and how are we dealing with it?
Pontus Sköldström
November 24th 2012
Existing Network Equipment
Routing, management, mobility management,
access control, VPNs, …
Feature
Feature
Operating
System
Million of lines
of source code
5400 RFCs
6803 RFCs
Integrated by vendors
Closed, Not reusable
Specialized Packet
Forwarding Hardware
Many complex functions baked into the infrastructure
OSPF, BGP, multicast, differentiated services,
Traffic Engineering, NAT, firewalls, MPLS, redundant layers, …
4
Split Arch. / SDN
› Current situation
› Difficult to innovate, especially inter-domain
› Complicated to add new functionality
› Standardization is a pain  wait for vendor to impl.
› Reinvent the wheel (distribution, routing, signaling, ..)
› No standard APIs
› Why is software so fast?
› Open APIs
› Good abstractions
Split Arch. / SDN
App
App
App
Network Operating System
Ap
p
Ap
p
Ap
p
Operating
System
Ap
p
Specialized Packet
Forwarding Hardware
Ap
p
Ap
p
Ap
p
Ap
p
Operating
System
Ap
p
Specialized Packet
Forwarding Hardware
Operating
System
Ap
p
Specialized Packet
Forwarding Hardware
Ap
p
Ap
p
Operating
System
Ap
p
Ap
p
Ap
p
Specialized Packet
Forwarding Hardware
Operating
System
Specialized Packet
Forwarding Hardware
6
Split Arch. / SDN
3. Well-defined open API
App
App
App
2. At least one good operating system
Extensible, possibly open-source
Network Operating System
1. Open interface to hardware
Simple Packet
Forwarding
Hardware
Simple Packet
Forwarding
Hardware
Simple Packet
Forwarding
Hardware
Simple Packet
Forwarding
Hardware
Simple Packet
Forwarding
Hardware
7
Network Operating System
› Network operating system provides:
›
›
›
›
API for applications – provides an intermediate layer
Network topology – a global view of the network
Network events – filter to find what is important
Distribute configuration to switches – no signaling
› Don’t worry about these basic things anymore
› Implement the basics correct, once.
› Focus on the functionality you want on top
Split Arch. / SDN
Routing, switching,
monitoring, NAT, …
App
App
App
NOX, Floodlight, Trema, ONIX
Beacon, Maestro, …
Network Operating System
IETF ForCes
OpenFlow
Simple Packet
Forwarding
Hardware
Simple Packet
Forwarding
Hardware
Simple Packet
Forwarding
Hardware
Simple Packet
Forwarding
Hardware
Simple Packet
Forwarding
Hardware
9
What is OpenFlow?
OpenFlow Basics
Flow Table Entries (simplified)
Match
Actions
Stats
Packet + byte counters
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Switch VLAN
Port
ID
Forward packet to zero or more ports
Encapsulate and forward to controller
Send to normal processing pipeline
Modify Fields
Any extensions you add!
VLAN MAC
pcp src
MAC
dst
Eth
type
IP
Src
IP
Dst
IP
L4
IP
ToS Prot sport
L4
dport
11
Examples
Switching
Switch MAC
Port src
*
*
MAC Eth
dst
type
00:1f:.. *
VLAN IP
ID
Src
IP
Dst
IP
Prot
TCP
TCP
Action
sport dport
*
*
*
*
VLAN IP
ID
Src
IP
Dst
IP
Prot
TCP
TCP
Action
sport dport
vlan1 *
*
*
*
VLAN IP
ID
Src
IP
Dst
IP
Prot
TCP
TCP
Action
sport dport
*
5.6.7.8 *
*
*
port6
VLAN Switching
Switch MAC
Port src
*
*
MAC Eth
dst
type
00:1f.. *
*
port6
Routing
Switch MAC
Port src
*
*
MAC Eth
dst
type
*
*
*
*
*
port6
12
Switch Model
13
Important Messages (proactive)
Important Messages (reactive)
FlowVisor
08.06.2010
SPARC – Split Architecture.ppt
Standardization, from Stanford to ONF
SDN related activities before SPARC.
Most of the focus was here
Started here
Datacenter
Mobile Radio
Network
Enterprise/
Campus
Access Network
Aggregation Network
Optical Transport
Network
(Metro/Regio)
Global Packet
Core Network
Optical Transport
Network
(Backbone)
18
SDN related activities after SPARC.
SPARC first to focus here
Datacenter
Mobile Radio
Network
Enterprise/
Campus
Access
Network
Aggregation
Network
Optical Transport
Network (Metro/Regio)
Global Packet
Core Network
Optical Transport
Network
(Backbone)
19