Programmable Data Center Network and Programmable Data Center

Programmable Data Center Network and Programmable Data Center

When talking about the data center network, many human brains immediately display various device operation commands. Similar to Linux systems, the interaction between network devices is also a command line. By inputting commands identified by various devices to network devices, the O & M and network deployment are achieved. The data center has entered a new generation of online world, and the operation methods of these traditional network devices have to change. The network's programmable age has arrived. Programmable is to extract the configuration plane of network equipment from the embedded node to the software platform. The software-driven central control node automatically controls the network architecture, it replaces the traditional embedded-based and inflexible control plane with the open software model. SDN technology is a concrete manifestation of programming.

Speaking of SDN, it does not represent the entire programmable network, but it is indeed an important part of the programmable network. SDN is not a specific technology. It is a network design concept. It plans the software, hardware, forwarding plane and control plane of the network and the interaction between them, the network architecture is redefined and divided into forwarding layer, control layer, business orchestration layer, and application layer. We often say that SDN controller refers to the control layer software that sends a stream table to the forwarding layer through Openflow to guide the traffic forwarding behavior. The Controller is the brain that runs the entire network and controls the entire network through the brain. Obviously, SDN also has more advanced service orchestration and application layers. These parts can be programmed directly to implement network control or cross-controller, the forwarding layer device is directly programmable and operated and designed using the programming language recognized by the forwarding layer device. This not only achieves network traffic forwarding control, it also implements programmable automatic management for O & M, management, and troubleshooting. In fact, the SDN controller delivers the forwarding flow table to the hardware network device, and more work has been completed. More programmable work still needs to be handed over to the business orchestration and application layer. Therefore, in many cloud networks, in addition to SDN controllers, there are also programmable O & M, management, and troubleshooting software. These software has a variety of software programming interfaces, such: RESTful, SOAP, C, Java, and XML. Of course, these programming languages cannot directly control the forwarding layer devices. You need to use business orchestration to convert the language into a language that can be recognized by the forwarding layer devices and then send the language to the forwarding layer devices. For example, VCC, CLI, TCL, Python, Netconf, and so on, basically all devices accept these scripting languages, which are highly efficient and comparable to assembly languages. These scripting languages combine the information to be executed into the script according to the format identified by the device to control network devices. For example, configuration delivery, service deployment, fault diagnosis, and daily network monitoring can all be implemented using these scripting languages. These are key parts of the programmable network.

In addition to SDN, programmable networks also have network virtualization NV and network function virtualization NFV. NV establishes a tunnel in the existing network to connect two domains. O & M personnel no longer have to physically connect each new domain, especially when creating virtual machines. In this way, O & M personnel do not need to change the deployed network on the existing network architecture. NV runs on the high-performance X86 platform and implements Virtual Machine migration without changing the network configuration. NV is applicable to any organization that uses virtual machine technology. NFV is a layer-4 to layer-7 virtualization function that uses best practices as basic policies and configurations for different network elements. NFV is also running on a high-performance x86 platform, with the aim of allowing people to create service configuration files for virtual machines or traffic and to build abstraction on the network, then, create a virtual service in that specific logical environment. The most obvious difference between NFV and SDN is that NFV processes 4-7, while SDN processes 2-3 layers in the network model. SDN optimizes the network infrastructure architecture, such as Ethernet switches, for vrouters and wireless networks, NFV mainly optimizes network functions, such as server Load balancer, firewall, and WAN network optimization controller.

In fact, the concept of a programmable network came into being in the past few decades. The SNMP Network Management Protocol was used to manage and monitor network devices, visualized operations on network devices through the WEB are all the embodiment of network programmable. In the future, you can use a simple scripting language to implement more complex network behavior, use programmable technology to replace some people's work. However, in the past few decades, the programmable network has not been paid enough attention to, and it has not been until the last few years. This is because people have applied the programmable technology to the network forwarding layer, this closed field that has not been changed for decades. From then on, the application of programmable technology in the network is out of control, and penetration and practical application in all aspects of the network technology. Programmable Technology has finally taken root in the network field and ushered in a period of rapid development. Today's data centers have begun to incorporate network components into the cloud platform for supervision, including SDN controllers, network traffic monitoring software, and software for Automatically Distributing network configurations on the cloud platform, the cloud platform takes over all activities of the Network, which is also the root cause for data centers to build network Cloud platforms. It is the embodiment of a fully programmable network.

Fundamental changes caused by digitalization lead to the generation of "programmable economy" Business protocols and the development of new businesses. "Programmable economy" is the monetization of asset exchange protocols and behaviors in the new digital environment. It not only has a profound impact on the network of data centers, but has already reached other technical industries. Programmable network is an important embodiment of data center cloudification. According to Gartner's definition, "programmable economy" is the result of the combination of smart technology and distributed computing resources of blockchain. "programmable economy" represents a large-scale transformation of the global economic system, programmable is quietly changing the world, making network technology more flexible and more suitable for the development needs of data center businesses. The essence of programmable technology is to break down the original integrated hardware facilities, Virtualize basic hardware and provide standardized basic functions, and then control its basic functions through programmable software technology, it also provides more open, flexible, and intelligent control services. In short, it is "hardware resource virtualization and programmable management functions ". In the future, the data center network will be programmable, and in the future, the data center will also be programmable.