Colt data centre and network programmability - Colt's SDN vision

© 2010 Colt Technology Services Group Limited. All rights reserved.

Colt DC & Network Programmability

Javier Benitez, 22 March 2013Network & Platform Strategy and Architecture

Colt’s SDN Vision

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Agenda

About Colt

IT & Network Integration – Colt’s Vision

SDN / Programmable Network Strategy

SDN Development & Plans

Summary

12345

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Colt – Europe’s Information Delivery Platform

• 43,000km EU high capacity long distance network, 27,000 transatlantic

• Connecting 22 countries, 39 metro networks and >150 cities

• 20 data centres and 19,000 connected buildings

• MEF / ONF / NfV Member

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Colt Data Networks Strategy

IntegratedIP/Optical

Core

ModularEthernet

OpticalCore

IP/MPLSCore

IPEdge/

AggregEthernet

Edge/AggregIP

CPE EthernetCPE

Optical LayerEthernet LayerIP LayerIntegrated Eth/IP Layer

EthernetCore

End-user / DC computeEnd-user / DC compute

CurrentNetwork Architecture

Target Network Architecture

IntelligentService

Edge

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Agenda

About Colt




Summary

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The integration of the network and IT platforms from the service, technology, system and process point of view to deliver an end to end integrated customer experience (the Information Delivery Platform).

Network automation, virtualisation, elasticity and rapid innovation

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• A set of technical solutions • to programmatically orchestrate the network• to treat the network as a pool of resources• to move network functions to the cloud• to flex single or multiple parts of the network• to direct traffic to specific locations• to prioritize traffic intelligently (real time feedback)

Network automation, virtualisation, elasticity and rapid innovation

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Agenda

About Colt




Summary

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SDN/Programmable Network Strategy• Networks have evolved into complex, inflexible and costly systems

– Main reasons: lack of networking principles and abstractions (control plane), lack of Network APIs

• In contrast, computing is heavily built on abstractions, supporting cloud paradigm (elasticity, scalability, on-demand, virtualisation)

• SDN/Programmable Networks: IT & Network integration (computing paradigm for networking / application & network worlds to communicate)– ONF - Software-Defined Networking: data & control plane separation,

standardisation of fundamental networking abstractions (Per-hop & Overlay)– IETF - Software-Driven Networking: focus on network APIs to allow applications

and network to exchange information– NfV – Network Functions virtualisation: standard IT virtualisation technology to

consolidate many network equipment types

Architecture

Ops Model

Way we do business

And many more…

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SDN Target Architecture

DataCentre

NetworkFabric

Controller

ApplicationIntelligence

ComputeInstance

ComputeInstance

ComputeInstance

ComputeInstance

1

2

3

Metering and Billing

OSS (and BSS)

Customer Hybrid Network

StorageInstance

StorageInstance

Software Defined Datacentre

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Agenda

About Colt




Summary

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Colt’s SDN (inc. NfV) current & future developmentL3 CPE

virtualisation(NLI)

L3 CPE router virtualisation:• virtualisation of the L3 CPE functionality (Internet access / IPVPN) in the

cloud

DC Fabric & Network

virtualisation(CCN)

DC Fabric• OpenFlow DC Fabric evaluation

DC Network virtualisation: • Virtual Network decoupled from physical hardware. • VMs unrestricted placement & mobility. • Dynamic network policies. • Address Space virtualisation (VLAN/MAC).• Network Virtual Services APIs • Network Automation (APIs & orchestration)

WAN SDN(NLI / Mod

MSP)

WAN SDN Network (Optical/Ethernet/IP): • WAN network virtualisation & automation• End-to-end unified network abstraction allowing for true technology

layer & vendor integration.

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Colt “as-is” Network & DC Architecture

Customer

Colt Data Centre

Colt Node L2/L3 Packet

DWDM Optical

Colt Node

Customer

Colt Data Centre

VM

VM

DC FabricDC Fabric

INTERNET CustomerL3

L2

L1

VM

VM

Colt Orchestrator / Business ApplicationCloud Controller DC Fabric

L2L3

L1

Compute Storage

L2/L3 Optical

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Colt SDN Application I : L3 CPE virtualisation

• Objective: avoid deploying a dedicated L3 CPE router by virtualizing its functionality: significant Opex & Capex savings and source of innovation !

• Part of NLI (Network Layer Integration) project started in 2011

• Phase 1: L3 CPE virtualisation based on L3 PE functionality (both Hw & Sw)– Basic Internet Access launched– Work in progress: Internet Access with advanced features and IPVPN

• Phase 2a: cloud L3 virtual CPE– Virtualize the L3 CPE functionality in the Cloud (as per NfV)– Other functions in the radar: FW, LB, WAN Optimisation

• Phase 2b: OpenFlow CPE (tentative)– Integrated CPE with OpenFlow functionality– Rich L3 CPE functionality delivered from the PE or from NfV– Greatly simplify carrier Ethernet CPE functionality

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Colt SDN Application I :

Customer

Colt Data Centre


DWDM Optical

Colt Node

Customer

Colt Data Centre

DC FabricDC Fabric

INTERNETL3

L2

L1

L2L3

L1

VirtualCPE

VM

VM

VM

VM

NfV

VirtualFW Virtual

LB

SDN Controller

Customer

L3 CPE virtualisation

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Colt SDN Application II : DC Network• New DC Fabric evaluated as part of Colt’s CCN project

– Only 1 vendor in the RFI proposed OpenFlow – technology not ready (feature & scalability limitations)

• SDN Overlay DC Network virtualisation being piloted– Fixes scalability limitations in DC’s: 4K VLAN, Forwarding Table sizes (L2/L3)– Dynamic network provisioning (Network Automation)– Supports VM mobility (intra & inter DC)– Decoupling of Virtual and Physical entities (Network Virtualisation)– Without changing existing DC Fabric / WAN network– Technical details & options:

• vswitch managed by the SDN controller using OpenFlow• Overlay (L2 over L3) tunnelling protocols: VXLAN, NVGRE, STT, IP/MPLS• Control plane approaches: proprietary, BGP-based• Interconnection to Physical (Gateways) and to the WAN technologies (VLAN NNI vs MPLS/BGP)• Network abstracted as IP fabric. Possibility to mark traffic and police on ingress at VM instance

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Colt SDN Application II :

Customer

Colt Data Centre


DWDM Optical

Colt Node

Customer

Colt Data Centre

DC FabricDC Fabric

INTERNETL3

L2

L1

L2L3

L1

VM

VM

VM

VM

DC NetworkSDN ControllerSDN Overlay

Gateway

IP Fabric

Customer

Colt Orchestrator / Business Application

Cloud Controller DC Network SDN ControllerDC Fabric L2/L3 Optical

Compute Storage

DC Network

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Colt SDN Application III :• DC Network virtualized, but WAN remains static, rigid and complex

• Next step (research mode) to bring SDN to the WAN (L1/L2/L3) : WAN virtualisation & automation:– Flexible connectivity– Dynamic / On-demand connectivity attributes (BW, QoS profile)– WAN Network abstraction (multi-vendor, multi-layer)– In-life service-type change

• Colt interested in both DC and non-DC WAN scenarios:– Cloud Inter-DC (data & storage)– Enterprise to DC (Public / Private Cloud)– Enterprise to Enterprise Optical & Carrier Ethernet VPN

• WAN SDN overlay solutions seem current realistic approach (several models):– OpenFlow (with transport extensions if needed) agents in WAN network devices: standard API for

configuration, monitoring & configuration– Alternative to manage OF agent at the SDN controller plus other classic protocols (SNMP, etc)– Existing transport control planes available (RSVP-TE, GMPLS, etc) for overlay solutions– A mixed set of models (Overlay/Hybrid/OSS-based) to be analysed

WAN SDN

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Colt SDN Application III:

Customer

Colt Data Centre


DWDM Optical

Colt Node

Customer

Colt Data Centre

DC FabricDC Fabric

INTERNETL3

L2

L1

L2L3

L1

VM

VM

VM

VM

Customer

DC/WAN NetworkSDN Controller


Cloud Controller DC Network SDN ControllerDC Fabric L2/L3 Optical

DC/WAN Network SDN ControllerCompute Storage

Virtualized Optical Network

DC-DC Optical CircuitGMPLS provisioned Enterprise-DC Optical Circuit

GMPLS provisioned

WAN SDN

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Colt SDN Application III:

Customer

Colt Data Centre


DWDM Optical

Colt Node

Customer

Colt Data Centre

DC FabricDC Fabric

INTERNETL3

L2

L1

L2L3

L1

VM

VM

VM

VM

Customer

DC/WAN Network SDN Controller


Cloud ControllerDC Fabric L2/L3 Optical

DC/WAN Network SDN ControllerCompute Storage

Virtualized Carrier Ethernet Network

DC-DC Carrier Ethernet CircuitPer-Hop OpenFlow Provisioned

Enterprise-DC Carrier Ethernet CircuitPer-Hop OpenFlow ProvisionedEnterprise-Enterprise Carrier Ethernet VPN

Per-Hop OpenFlow Provisioned

WAN SDN

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Colt SDN – In Action

Customer

Colt Data Centre


DWDM Optical

Colt Node

Customer

Colt Data Centre

VM

VM

DC FabricDC Fabric

INTERNET CustomerL3

L2

L1

VM

VM

L2L3

L1


Cloud Controller DC/WAN Network SDN Controller

1

DC SDN OverlayGateway

Customer / Application/ Operator

Customer orders Cloud service (IaaS)

Distributed L2/L3 virtual network

2 VM Motion invoked

Virtual Carrier Ethernet network

3 Private Cloud

VM

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Summary

• SDN is in its early days. Most of the work by ONF/IETF/NfV still to be done (long journey). Most SDN products not GA - dust will settle eventually

• Carrier class OpenFlow switches are still not generally available in the market. However, SDN overlay solutions are a reality for the DC

• SDN/Network Programmability fits extremely well with Colt’s strategy to deliver integrated IT & Network services to our customers

• Colt is actively deploying:– Modular Carrier Ethernet– Next-generation DC Fabric– Integrated networks– And SDN is what will glue them together to offer an end-to-end experience

• If anything, SDN has been a necessary “Change in Thinking” in networking!

© 2010 Colt Technology Services Group Limited. All rights reserved.© 2010 Colt Telecom Group Limited. All rights reserved.

Thanks. [email protected]

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Colt data centre and network programmability - Colt's SDN vision