We're going to be able to ask our
computers to monitor things for us,
and when certain conditions happen,
the computers will take certain
actions and inform us after the fact.
~ Steve Jobs
Network Packet Monitoring Optimizations Powered By SDN
Dharmraj Jhatakia, GM & Head of Data Centre Technologies Happiest Minds Technologies Private Ltd
Quick Recall on Techniques of Network Monitoring
• Active Probing – Injecting special packets
• Device Probing – Querying for device properties e.g. SNMP
• Log Analysis – Analysis of system generated data
• Flow Collection – Flow level data analysis - NetFlow.
• Packet Monitoring – Most advanced, packet level, granular monitoring technique
Why Monitor ?
• Recording of conversations
• Next Generation Firewalls, IDS, IPS
• Lawful Interception by Telecom Service Providers
• Proactive Network Performance tuning
Challenges of Today’s Data Centre
• Virtualized Work Flow and challenges with VM movements
• Redundancy and Availability at Low Cost
• Optimal usage of capacity for production traffic
• Contention for limited SPAN ports
VM is hosted onServer Rack 1
MD3
SWBSWE
SWFSWA
Traffic Originating fromVM and destined toSwitch F is being monitored on MD3.
VM Migration Use Case
Efficient Capacity UsageOn Demand Mirroring• Traditional monitoring system use primitive filters and
hence replicate lot of unnecessary traffic
• SDN & DPI can help us perform on demand monitoring
• For example: Enabling Monitoring only for VOIP traffic from a particular source
• PktIN received at controller can be sent to DPI engine which computes the resultant action
• The controller, based on the action, performs the configuration and hence an optimal on demand monitoring
Why would they Care for SDN enabled Monitoring?
• Enterprises and CIOs
• Capex savings – Monitoring solution deployed using WhiteBoxSwitches, ODL controller, and a variety of free tools
• Opex savings distribution of monitoring functions without replication
• For Existing Monitoring Solutions Vendors
• Offer scale as you go / pay as you go models
• Ability to break into price sensitive customers
• Allow to focus on feature rich solutions and
advanced applications
Who and Why Do they Care for SDN enabled Monitoring?
• For Start Ups
• Focus on building innovative solutions and reducing time to market
• For ISPs
• Agility and flexibility of offering monitoring services
• Newer business models
Our Visionary Customer’s approach
• Customer, one of the top players in Packet Monitoring solutions, wanted to offer a new monitoring solution which is based on bare metal switches and SDN controller. [
• Customer evaluated multiple options, but nailed down on OpenDayLight as the controller
• Wide range of platform features which can speed up implementation
• Flexibility and Robustness
• Ability to leverage the contributions from a
very smart community of developers
Happiest Minds’ Contribution to the Solution
• Customization and hardening of security
• Customization of the ODL modules
• Development of monitoring function SDN applications
• Transformation of the Monitoring application, which is the core IP of the customer, to an SDN Application