Software-defined Networks October 2009

Software-defined NetworksOctober 2009

With Martin Casado and Scott ShenkerAnd contributions from many others

Outline

Trends– Towards “Software-defined Network”– Towards “Slicing” of network infrastructure– Government role

Million of linesof source code

5400 RFCs Barrier to entry

500M gates10Gbytes RAM

Bloated Power Hungry

Many complex functions baked into the infrastructureOSPF, BGP, multicast, differentiated services,Traffic Engineering, NAT, firewalls, MPLS, redundant layers, …

An industry with a “mainframe-mentality”

We have lost our way

Specialized Packet Forwarding Hardware

OperatingSystem

App App App

Routing, management, mobility management, access control, VPNs, …

Operating System

Reality

AppApp

App

Specialized Packet Forwarding Hardware

Specialized Packet Forwarding Hardware

OperatingSystem

App App App

• Lack of competition means glacial innovation• Closed architecture means blurry, closed interfaces

Glacial process of innovation made worse by captive standards process

DeploymentIdea Standardize

Wait 10 years

• Driven by vendors• Consumers largely locked out• Lowest common denominator features• Glacial innovation

Specialized Packet Forwarding Hardware

App

App

App

Specialized Packet Forwarding Hardware

App

App

App

Specialized Packet Forwarding Hardware

App

App

App

Specialized Packet Forwarding Hardware

App

App

App

Specialized Packet Forwarding Hardware

OperatingSystem

OperatingSystem

OperatingSystem

OperatingSystem

OperatingSystem

App

App

App

Network Operating System

App App App

Change is happening in non-traditional markets

App

Simple Packet Forwarding Hardware

Simple Packet Forwarding Hardware

Simple Packet Forwarding Hardware

App App

Simple Packet Forwarding Hardware Simple Packet

Forwarding Hardware

Network Operating System

1. Open interface to hardware

3. Well-defined open API2. At least one good operating system

Extensible, possibly open-source

The “Software-defined Network”

Slicing the physical network

Simple Packet Forwarding Hardware

Network Operating System 1

Open interface to hardware

Virtualization or “Slicing” Layer

Network Operating System 2

Network Operating System 3

Network Operating System 4

App App App App App App App App

Many operating systems, orMany versions

Open interface to hardware

Isolated “slices”

Simple Packet Forwarding Hardware

Simple Packet Forwarding Hardware

Simple Packet Forwarding Hardware

Simple Packet Forwarding Hardware

Consequences

More innovation in network services– Owners, operators, 3rd party developers,

researchers can improve the network– E.g. energy management, data center

management, policy routing, access control, denial of service, mobility

Lower barrier to entry for competition– Healthier market place, new players

Is change likely?

The change has already started

In a nutshell– Driven by cost and control– Started in data centers…. and may spread– Trend is towards an open-source,

software-defined network– Growing interest for cellular and telecom networks

Example: New Data Center

Cost200,000 serversFanout of 20 10,000 switches$5k commercial switch $50M$1k custom-built switch $10M

Savings in 10 data centers = $400M

Control

1.Optimize for features needed2.Customize for services & apps3.Quickly improve and innovate

Large data center operators are moving towards defining their own network in software.

Windows(OS)

Windows(OS)

Linux MacOS

x86(Computer)

Windows(OS)

AppApp

LinuxLinuxMacOS

MacOS

Virtualization layer

App

Controller 1

AppApp

Controller2

Virtualization or “Slicing”

App

OpenFlow

Controller 1NOX(Network OS)

Controller2Network OS

Trend

Computer Industry Network Industry

How can government help?

What NSF is supportingTrials of “Software-defined Network” & OpenFlow

US College Campus Trials– UW, Georgia Tech, Princeton, Rutgers,

UW-Madison, Clemson, Indiana, Stanford– Vendors with prototype OpenFlow:

Cisco, Juniper, HP, NEC, Ciena, Arista, Quanta, ….

National College Backbone Trials

Data Center Clusters (with Google, Yahoo!, HP, etc.)

UW

Stanford

UnivWisconsin

IndianaUniv

Rutgers

Princeton

ClemsonGeorgia

Tech

Internet2NLR

Nationwide OpenFlow Trials

Production deployments before end of 2010

The role of government

When funding new infrastructure– Mandate open interface to equipment

(OpenFlow)– Recommend trials of “software-defined networks”

RiskInvest in the wrong equipment, and we are stuck with “same old” equipment for 10 years

App

Simple Packet Forwarding Hardware

Simple Packet Forwarding Hardware

Simple Packet Forwarding Hardware

App App

Simple Packet Forwarding Hardware Simple Packet

Forwarding Hardware

Network Operating System

Software-defined Wireless NetworksApplies equally to wireless networks

Mobility manager, AAA, billing, MVNO, Wireless service provider, …

WiFi, WiMAX, LTE

Outline

Trends– Towards “Software-defined Network”– Towards “Slicing” of network infrastructure– Government role

Dream– Making available the abundant wireless capacity

around us– Technical trend– Business hurdles

Observations

• We are not short of wireless capacity: It is abundant, but off limits

• Cell phone today = 6 radios• Cell phone in 2020 = 20 radios?

Can we:– Decouple service providers from physical

networks?– Allow user to decide to connect to any or many

wireless networks simultaneously?

WiFi APWiFi AP

WiFi AP

WiMAX

LTEWiMAX

LTE

LTEWiFi AP

My Employer

A home Nationwide infrastructure owners

Service providers in cloud

Slicing Slicing Slicing

Slicing

Open flow-based interface

App App App App App App

“Newco”OS

“Vodafone” OS

“AT&T” OS

Services Services Services

Service Providers and Infrastructure

Thank you!