Software Defined

Networks
Muhammad Tayyab Najeeb 355-FBAS-BSIT/F18
Muhammad Shair Ali 360-FBAS-BSIT/F18
Shahid Siddique Khan 372-FBAS-BSIT/F18
 Disadvantages of current scenario
• Technology was not designed keeping today in mind
• Massive scalability
• Virtualization
• Cloud computing
• Difficult to configure, add new features and debug(look at all devices)
 What is Software-Defined
Networks (SDN)?
• (SDN) is an approach to networking that uses software-based controllers
or application programming interfaces (APIs) to communicate with
underlying hardware infrastructure and direct traffic on a network
• A single (logically centralized) control plane controls several forwarding
devices.
 What is SDN cont.…...
• It is a framework to allow network administrators automatically and
dynamically manage and control a large number of network devices,
topology, traffic path and packet handling policies using high-level
languages and APIs.
• Management includes provisioning, operating, monitoring, optimizing,
and managing(fault, configuration, accounting, performance and security)
in a environment
 Software defined network architecture
• A typical representation of SDN architecture comprises three layers: the application layer, the control layer
and the infrastructure layer. These layers communicate using northbound and southbound application
programming interfaces (APIs).
• SDN Application — Communicates network resources and network devices to the SDN controller through
the northbound interface (NBI).
• • SDN Controller — Translates the requirements from the SDN application layer to the SDN data paths. It
also provides the SDN applications with a central repository of network policies, a view of the networks and
network traffic.
• • SDN Datapath — Implements switches that move data packets on a network.
• • SDN API — Application program interfaces (APIs) provide both open and proprietary communication
between the SDN Controller and the routers of the network.
 Software defined network architecture
.
 Models of SDN
 Open SDN: Network administrators use a protocol like OpenFlow to control the behavior of
virtual and physical switches at the data plane level.
 SDN by APIs: Instead of using an open protocol, application programming interfaces control how
data moves through the network on each device.
 SDN Overlay Model: Runs a virtual network on top of an existing hardware infrastructure,
creating dynamic tunnels to different on-premise and remote data centers. The virtual network
allocates bandwidth over a variety of channels and assigns devices to each channel, leaving the
physical network untouched.
• Hybrid SDN: This model combines software-defined networking with traditional networking
protocols in one environment to support different functions on a network. Standard networking
protocols continue to direct some traffic.
 Software defined networking concepts
• Forwarding and control functions separated:   By separating these functions it
is possible to control the forwarding side of the network to meet the changing
traffic flow requirements.
• Programmable:   Not only is the network programmable, but the network control
can be directly programmed because the control is decoupled from the forwarding
functions.
• Central management:   One of the key concepts of software defined networking
is that the network is controllable and software defined. This can only be achieved
if the management is achieved using a central management core.
 Continued….
• Programmatic configuration:   software defined networking enables managers to configure,
manage, secure, and optimize network resources. This can be achieved very quickly using
automated programs which monitor the network performance and implement the changes
needed. In this way the data network can meet the ever changing demands placed upon it.
• Open standards usage:   Data networks typically using network components from a variety
of vendors it is essential that all these elements can operate together. This can only be
achieved if common open standards are used. If open standards were not used, there would be
a host of different vendor specific interfaces that would not operate together. One of the key
open standards used within software defined networks is the Openflow standard.
 Need for SDN-Virtualization
Use network resources withought worrying about
• Where it is physically located
• How much it is
• How it is organized etc
 Need for SDN-Orchestration
• Should be able to control and manage thousands of devices with one
command
• Orchestration is the automated configuration, management, and
coordination of computer systems, applications, and services.
Orchestration helps IT to more easily manage complex tasks and
workflows.
 Need for SDN-Programmable
• Should be able to change behavior

Need for SDN- Dynamic scaling

• Should be able to change behavior on the fly
 Need for SDN-Automation
To minimize manual involvement
• Troubleshooting
• Reduce downtime
• Policy enforcement
• Add new workload, sites, devices and resources
 Need for SDN-Performance
Optimize network devices utilization
• Capacity optimization
• Load balancing
• High utilization
• Fast failure handling
 How does SDN support IOT and Remote
access?
• A variety of networking trends have played into the central idea of SDN.
Distributing computing power to remote sites, moving data center functions
to the edge, adopting cloud computing, and supporting Internet of
Things environments – each of these efforts can be made easier and more
cost efficient via a properly configured SDN environment.
• Typically in an SDN environment, customers can see all of their devices and
TCP flows, which means they can slice up the network from the data or
management plane to support a variety of applications and configurations
 Continued….
• users can more easily segment an IoT application from the production
world if they want
•for example, Some SDN controllers have the smarts to see that the network
is getting congested and, in response, pump up bandwidth or processing to
make sure it works
 How does SDN help customers with
security?
• SDN enables a variety of security benefits. A customer can split up a network connection between
an end user and the data center and have different security settings for the various types of network
traffic.
• A network could have one public-facing, low security network that does not touch any sensitive
information. Another segment could have much more fine-grained remote access control with
software-based firewalls and encryption policies on it, which allow sensitive data to traverse over
it.
• The ability to look at a set of workloads and see if they match a given security policy is a key
benefit of SDN, especially as data is distributed,
Importance of SDN in cloud computing
• SDN can be deployed without cloud computing or virtualization, though this is probably
unlikely today. It is most likely deployed at large organizations that have many
networking devices and need centralized command and control as well as network
omniscience to handle changes in traffic in real time for optimum performance.
• Cloud computing can be deployed without SDN, and for the last few years this has been
a common deployment model. The problem is that while users can quickly request a
new VM or even physical server be deployed, finalizing the configuration requires
either a pool of networking configurations (such as separate VLANs) that already exist
or the process is held up waiting for networking to be provisioned
 Benefits of Software-Defined Networking
(SDN)
• SDN allows data to move easily between distributed locations, which is critical for cloud
applications.
• SDN supports moving workloads around a network quickly.
• SDN also makes it easier for any network to flex and scale as network administrators add or
remove virtual machines, whether those machines are on-premises or in the cloud.
• speed and flexibility offered by SDN, it is able to support emerging trends and technologies such as
edge computing and the internet of things, which require transferring data quickly and easily
between remote sites.
 Thanks
Any questions??