SUSE® NFV RoadmapA look at NFV, OPNFV, and SUSE’s plans to support NFV efforts

Ronald Nunan

Product Manager

SUSE ronald.nunan@suse.com

Confidential

Agenda

Network Function Visualization (NFV)– What is it– What problem does it solve

– How does it differ from SDN

OPNVF– Project direction

– SUSE’s focus

SUSE NFV Roadmap

Network Function Virtualization

“Network Function Virtualization (NFV), reduces the deployment and operating cost and increases the manageability and innovation in service space of the network function ...

… It offers a new way to design, deploy and manage networking services by decoupling the network functions from proprietary hardware appliances, so they can run in software.”

Prof. Mythili Vutukuru, Indian Institute of TechnologyProf. Mythili Vutukuru, Indian Institute of Technology

Network Function Virtualization

“Network Function Virtualization (NFV), reduces the deployment and operating cost and increases the manageability and innovation in service space of the network function ...

… It offers a new way to design, deploy and manage networking services by decoupling the network functions from proprietary hardware appliances, so they can run in software.”

Prof. Mythili Vutukuru, Indian Institute of TechnologyProf. Mythili Vutukuru, Indian Institute of Technology

Is NFV different than SDN

Software Defined Networking (SDN) and NFV

– Hasn’t Software Defined Networking (SDN) has been around for years, why is NFV needed?

– If NVF is the ability to run network functions as software, what is SDN?

– What problem does NFV solve that isn’t covered by SDN?

– Are these approaches, SDN and NFV, competing, complementary, or unrelated?

Is NFV different than SDN

Software Defined Networking (SDN) and NFV

– Hasn’t Software Defined Networking (SDN) has been around for years, why is NFV needed?

– If NVF is the ability to run network functions as software, what is SDN?

– What problem does NFV solve that isn’t covered by SDN?

– Are these approaches, SDN and NFV, competing, complementary, or unrelated?

Is NFV different than SDN

Software Defined Networking (SDN) and NFV

– Hasn’t Software Defined Networking (SDN) has been around for years, why is NFV needed?

– If NVF is the ability to run network functions as software, what is SDN?

– What problem does NFV solve that isn’t covered by SDN?

– Are these approaches, SDN and NFV, competing, complementary, or unrelated?

Is NFV different than SDN

Software Defined Networking (SDN) and NFV

– Hasn’t Software Defined Networking (SDN) has been around for years, why is NFV needed?

– If NVF is the ability to run network functions as software, what is SDN?

– What problem does NFV solve that isn’t covered by SDN?

– Are these approaches, SDN and NFV, competing, complementary, or unrelated?

OpenFlow / SDN / NFV

– The Problems They Solve

ProblemClosed Systems with no or very minimal

abstractions in the network design.

Hardware centric – usage of custom ASICs with Vendor Specific Software.

Difficult to perform real world experiments on large

scale production networks.

No standard abstractions towards north bound and south bound interfaces, even though we have standard abstractions in the east / west bound interface with peer routers / switches.

ProblemClosed Systems with no or very minimal

abstractions in the network design.

Hardware centric – usage of custom ASICs with Vendor Specific Software.

Difficult to perform real world experiments on large

scale production networks.

No standard abstractions towards north bound and south bound interfaces, even though we have standard abstractions in the east / west bound interface with peer routers / switches.

Translation● Networks were complex● There was no easy way to implement enterprise changes● Every device was managed independently

Translation● Networks were complex● There was no easy way to implement enterprise changes● Every device was managed independently

Solution

OpenFlow:

Physical devices lack agility

OpenFlow

Solution

OpenFlow: ● A standard protocol for all

devices● Introduced the concept of a

network controller

Physical devices lack agility

Open Flow Illustration

Source: Adopted from ONF11 presentation by Martin Casado

SDN

SDN, software defined networking, is an umbrella term

Most definitions focus on decoupling of the network control plane and the network forwarding plane

Most commonly: SDN is an architecture that● decouples the network control plane and

the network forwarding plane● is directly programmable● agile● centrally managed● programmatically configured● open, standards-based, and vendor neutral

Myth

SDN is OpenFlow

Reality

OpenFlow is an open API and a simple architecture that provides a standard interface for controlling and

programming network devices

SDNSoftware Defined Networking

SDN

● Always encompasses OpenFlow and then adds several different capabilities

● … but which capabilitiesdepends on the implementation

OpenDaylight is the OSS project for SDN

● Governed by the Linux Foundation

● It has an extensive, but well defined architecture and set of capabilities

OpenDaylight

OpenDaylight

Supplies a network controller to program and manage network devices

Supplies the concept of network applications, orchestration, and services

OpenDaylight

OpenDaylight

Does not define what constitutes a network device.

Devices can be proprietary hardware.

NFVNetwork Function Virtualization

Now, Along Comes NFV

A quick look at what NFV and SDN set out to solve:

– For NFV, it’s to reduce CapEx and OpEx, speed time to market, and be agile and flexible.

– For SDN, it’s to reduce CapEx and OpEx, be agile and flexible, and enable innovation.

Now, Along Comes NFV

A quick look at what NFV and SDN set out to solve:

– For NFV, it’s to reduce CapEx and OpEx, speed time to market, and be agile and flexible.

– For SDN, it’s to reduce CapEx and OpEx, be agile and flexible, and enable innovation.

Oversimplification: – NFV grew out of the carriers’ needs to encompass

hardware from multiple vendors that populate their customers’ networks; the solution is to virtualize network services so they can roll out new services on more general purpose devices, rather than rolling out function-specific hardware.

– SDN disaggregates the network control logic from the network equipment, to provide a service layer that is more manageable and programmable than physically reconfiguring networks.

NFV actually replaces physical devices with virtualized

software where SDN controls physical devices.

NFV is actually software-based networking!

Sometimes I wonder: “Why is that FRISBEE getting bigger?”

Then it hits me ...

OPNFV & SUSEOpen Platform Network Function Virtualization

OPNFV will work closely with ETSI’s NFV ISG, among other standards bodies, to drive

the consistent implementation of an open and standard NFV reference platform.

OPNFV will work closely with ETSI’s NFV ISG, among other standards bodies, to drive

the consistent implementation of an open and standard NFV reference platform.

Also appealing as it reduces vendorLock-in

11

Network Infrastructure

22

Virtual Network Services

Management of Services

33

Core NFVi is well defined

Core NFVi is well defined

Though there are competing options for certain needs

Core NFVi is well defined

Though there are competing options for certain needs

And other important needs are an open

competition

SUSE’s area of Focus

Initial SUSE reference builds will use OpenDaylight

SUSE’s area of Focus

NFV – OVS and DPDK enablement updated and now standard in SLES 12 SP2

SUSE’s area of Focus

SUSE OpenStack Cloud

SUSE Enterprise Storage (Ceph)SUSE KVM

SUSE Configured OpenDaylight

NFV – OVS and DPDK enablement updated and now standard in SLES 12 SP2

SUSE OPNFV Reference Build

SUSE OPNFV Reference Build

SUSE OpenStack Cloud

SUSE Enterprise Storage (Ceph)SUSE KVM

SUSE Configured OpenDaylight

NFV – OVS and DPDK enablement updated and now standard in SLES 12 SP2