Software Defined

Network (SDN)
Traditional Network Router
Router can be partitioned into control and
data plane
Control plane / Decision: OSPF (Open Shortest
Path First)
Data plane / Forwarding
Adjacent Router Router Adjacent Router
Management/Policy plane
Configuration / CLI / GUI
Routing
Static
Control plane Control plane Control plane
routes
OSPF OSPF OSPF
Link
IP
Neighbor state
routing
table databas
Switching table
e
Data plane Data plane Data plane
Forwarding table
 Problem
Ap Ap Ap
p p p Ap
Ap
p Ap p
Operating p
System
Operating System
Specialized Specialized
Packet Packet
Forwarding Forwarding
Hardware Hardware

Closed equipment
Software bundled with hardware. Operating a network is expensive
Vendor-specific interfaces.. More than half the cost of a network.
Yet, operator error causes most outages.
Few people can innovate
Equipment vendors write the code. Buggy software in the equipment
Long delays to introduce new features. Routers with 20+ million lines of code
Cascading failures, vulnerabilities, etc.
SDN Definition
SDN is a framework to allow network administrators to
automatically and dynamically manage and control a large
number of network devices, services,topology, traffic paths,
and packet handling (quality of service) policies using high-
level languages and APIs. Management includes
provisioning, operating, monitoring, optimizing, and
managing FCAPS (faults, configuration, accounting,
performance, and security) in a multi-tenant environment.
Key: Dynamic Quick
Legacy approaches such as CLI were not quick
particularly for large networks
SDN Basic Concept

All of these are mechanism

SDN is not a mechanism
It is framework to solve a set of problem => many
solutions
 Software-Defined Network with key Abstractions
Network
Well-defined API Virtualization
Traffic Other
Application Plane Security Routing Engineeri Applicatio
ng ns Network Map
Abstraction
Control Plane Network Operating System
Instructions

Instructions Instructions
Instructions

Forwardi
Separation of Data
ng
and Control Plane
Forwardi
Forwardi ng
Data Plane ng

Forwardi
ng
Architecture of SDN
Why We Need SDN?
Virtualization : Use network resources without worrying about
where it is physically located, how much it is, how it is
organized, etc.
Orchestration : should be able to control and manage
thousands of device with one command
Programmable : should be able to change behaviour on the fly
Dynamic scalling : Should be able to change size, quantity
Automation : to lower OpEx minimize manual involvement
Troubleshooting
Reduce downtime
Policy enforcement
Provisioning/re-provisioning/segmentation of resources
Add new workloads, sites, devices, and resources
Why We Need SDN?
Visibility : monitor resources, connectivity
Performance : optimize network device utilization
Traffic engineering/bandwidth management
Capacity optimization
Load balancing
High utilization
Fast failure handling
Multi-tenancy : Tenants need complete control over
their address, topology, routing, security
Service Integration : Load balancers, firewalls,
Intrusion Detection System (IDS), provisioned on
demand and placed appropriately on the traffic path