A lot of networking folks have heard of the concept of an API but have been too easily discouraged when they realize many of their favorite platforms don’t really have a good one. As a result, the scripting-savvy networking guy is typically relegated to what I lovingly refer to as “SSH scraping”, or the act of making a really nice script that, after it’s all said and done, just sends SSH commands to the devices in the same way that a human would, only……faster.
A lot of networking folks have heard of the concept of an API but have been too easily discouraged when they realize many of their favorite platforms don’t really have a good one. As a result, the scripting-savvy networking guy is typically relegated to what I lovingly refer to as “SSH scraping”, or the act of making a really nice script that, after it’s all said and done, just sends SSH commands to the devices in the same way that a human would, only……faster.
Sitting in the NFD6 demo with Plexxi and got a great overview of the DSE product they’ve been working on. This service allows them to dynamically build network configurations based on external services like Openstack, puppet, etc.
The example that Derick provided was the fact that an access list - instead of referring to a source IP address, or destination port, etc. - we can now refer to a puppet request, for instance.
Sitting in the NFD6 demo with Plexxi and got a great overview of the DSE product they’ve been working on. This service allows them to dynamically build network configurations based on external services like Openstack, puppet, etc.
The example that Derick provided was the fact that an access list - instead of referring to a source IP address, or destination port, etc. - we can now refer to a puppet request, for instance.
You can’t really be in the networking industry without hearing about Solarwinds. Their IT management and monitoring products are very widely used. Nearly every customer I’ve worked with is using Solarwinds’ tools to some extent, whether it’s the ever-popular Orion NCM for network management and monitoring, or the slew of free tools that Solarwinds makes available for little troubleshooting or configuration tasks.
Solarwinds has supported NFD for quite some time. At NFD5, they presented on quite a few things.
You can’t really be in the networking industry without hearing about Solarwinds. Their IT management and monitoring products are very widely used. Nearly every customer I’ve worked with is using Solarwinds’ tools to some extent, whether it’s the ever-popular Orion NCM for network management and monitoring, or the slew of free tools that Solarwinds makes available for little troubleshooting or configuration tasks.
Solarwinds has supported NFD for quite some time. At NFD5, they presented on quite a few things.
Nuage Networks is making an appearance at both Network Field Day 6 and the Software-Defined Datacenter Symposium the day before.
Nuage is new to me, but after perusing some of their literature, I was very comfortable with some of the concepts. First, you’ll recognize the three-tier architecture that’s being used in most SDN discussions in most of their visuals (data plane / controller / NB API)
Nuage uses an product called the VSD (Virtual Services Directory) to define network policies and business logic integration.
Nuage Networks is making an appearance at both Network Field Day 6 and the Software-Defined Datacenter Symposium the day before.
Nuage is new to me, but after perusing some of their literature, I was very comfortable with some of the concepts. First, you’ll recognize the three-tier architecture that’s being used in most SDN discussions in most of their visuals (data plane / controller / NB API)
Nuage uses an product called the VSD (Virtual Services Directory) to define network policies and business logic integration.
I’ll be the first to admit, I don’t really know that much about Aruba Networks. They’re most widely known for their work in the wireless area and that’s an area of technology I have yet to play with. As someone who is admittedly wireless-green, I’m eager to get schooled. While they may be new to me, they are heavily involved with the Tech Field Day community, especially at Wireless Field Day events.
We finally arrive at the physical topology that all of the stuff I discussed in the previous posts is built upon. “Underlay” is a term that is starting to catch on - this describes the infrastructure that all of the overlay networks ride on top of, and I’ll be using it to describe this physical infrastructure in this post. Keep in mind the term is used no matter how our physical infrastructure is laid out - there’s quite a few different ways to build this thing.
Big Switch will be making their first appearance at Network Field Day 6 next week, and I’m pretty excited to hear their session.
This isn’t their first appearance at a Tech Field Day event, however. They first appeared at the OpenFlow Symposium back in 2011. I re-watched that video and realized that they were talking about network virtualization a long time ago. They even made the statement that they viewed SDN “like VMware but for networking” - something we’re hearing a lot of these days.
We finally arrive at the physical topology that all of the stuff I discussed in the previous posts is built upon. “Underlay” is a term that is starting to catch on - this describes the infrastructure that all of the overlay networks ride on top of, and I’ll be using it to describe this physical infrastructure in this post. Keep in mind the term is used no matter how our physical infrastructure is laid out - there’s quite a few different ways to build this thing.
I’ll be the first to admit, I don’t really know that much about Aruba Networks. They’re most widely known for their work in the wireless area and that’s an area of technology I have yet to play with. As someone who is admittedly wireless-green, I’m eager to get schooled. While they may be new to me, they are heavily involved with the Tech Field Day community, especially at Wireless Field Day events.
Big Switch will be making their first appearance at Network Field Day 6 next week, and I’m pretty excited to hear their session.
This isn’t their first appearance at a Tech Field Day event, however. They first appeared at the OpenFlow Symposium back in 2011. I re-watched that video and realized that they were talking about network virtualization a long time ago. They even made the statement that they viewed SDN “like VMware but for networking” - something we’re hearing a lot of these days.
We finally arrive at the physical topology that all of the stuff I discussed in the previous posts is built upon. “Underlay” is a term that is starting to catch on - this describes the infrastructure that all of the overlay networks ride on top of, and I’ll be using it to describe this physical infrastructure in this post. Keep in mind the term is used no matter how our physical infrastructure is laid out - there’s quite a few different ways to build this thing.
Plexxi was first involved with Network Field Day about 5 months ago at Network Field Day 5. There, they demo’d their very unique approach to networking.
You won’t hear about Plexxi without hearing about their WDM-based optical network design. You may even hear it referred to unofficially as Layer 1 SDN - and that’s a pretty apt description. Plexxi uses special
From a logical perspective (kind of semi-logical and semi-physical) I think it’s great.
Wow. Lots of talk regarding overlay networking, both last week, and now this week. No doubt largely caused by the VMware NSX announcement last week. This post is an attempt on my part to clarify some fundamental ideas regarding overlay networking for my own benefit, but hopefully it helps you too. After all, we’re all learning.
I’ll also be referring a LOT to some community content from blogs and twitter, because there’s a lot of great opinions out there.
In the previous post, we discussed the role of the overlay network, and the virtual switches they connect to. In this post, we’re going to talk about a few additional components.
The Role of the Hardware VTEP There’s been a lot of talk about VTEP, and how virtually every networking vendor but Cisco is part of this elaborate ecosystem of vendors that contribute to the angelic glory that is NSX.
In the previous post, we discussed the role of the overlay network, and the virtual switches they connect to. In this post, we’re going to talk about a few additional components.
The Role of the Hardware VTEP There’s been a lot of talk about VTEP, and how virtually every networking vendor but Cisco is part of this elaborate ecosystem of vendors that contribute to the angelic glory that is NSX.
Wow. Lots of talk regarding overlay networking, both last week, and now this week. No doubt largely caused by the VMware NSX announcement last week. This post is an attempt on my part to clarify some fundamental ideas regarding overlay networking for my own benefit, but hopefully it helps you too. After all, we’re all learning.
I’ll also be referring a LOT to some community content from blogs and twitter, because there’s a lot of great opinions out there.