Cloud computing is still in a period of change, improving efficiency is the key

From trends such as consolidation and optimization of cloud computing, growth of business and data, the advent of the 10GE era, and opening up, it is enough to see that the ever-changing business is also driving the changing network.

From the network itself, with the trend of cloud computing, in the past, the data center network built by the campus switch can no longer meet the development of cloud computing. Therefore, in the past two years, various manufacturers have also introduced their own defined data center switches. Everyone's definition is different, but a little clearer is to support the cloud computing. Thus, cloud computing is far-reaching impact on the transformation of the network, from the above analysis can be summarized in a few key influences and needs.

1) Promote the flexibility of the network. There are mainly three aspects of network resilience: one is for computing performance, such as the density of server deployment, the rapid growth of 10GE network adapters, server virtualization to improve server performance, and the performance of the network should also be flexible. Server access, but also to support high-density 10GE server access, and has good performance can be evolved; the other hand, the application of virtual machine migration, virtual machine corresponding network-related configuration, but also need to dynamically migrate without human involvement, and thus To achieve the flexibility of network configuration; the last is for rapid deployment of multi-tenant logical network resources to better meet the flexible supply of computing resources. Therefore, the flexibility of the network is crucial to supporting cloud computing.

2) need to simplify network management operation and maintenance. As cloud computing data centers become larger and larger, and new technology applications (such as large two-layer networks) need to provide rich operation and maintenance tools and tools to simplify network operation and maintenance management. Meanwhile, with the rapid deployment of cloud computing resources, Network resources also need to be quickly and automatically deployed to achieve rapid provisioning of cloud computing services. Finally, the biggest change brought by server virtualization to the network is vSwITch, that is, the virtual network. Currently, the management of the physical network is fragmented. How to integrate the physical network Unified management of the virtual network and the key to simplifying network management.

3) need to open the network. The essence of cloud computing network is a connected platform, so an open network is very crucial. First of all, as a kind of cloud computing resources, the network should be managed by the cloud computing platform, that is, the network can be opened to the cloud computing platform and be managed and automatized. Secondly, with the application of server virtualization, the network needs to be virtualized Finally, the network should provide an open platform, adding or deleting network value-added services according to the cloud computing business needs. Through the openness of the network and cloud computing, virtualization platform, a good integration, the formation of a complete high-efficiency low-cost cloud computing solutions, it is particularly crucial.

Some Thoughts on the Future Cloud Computing Network Architecture

Flexible network, easy-to-manage network and open network, these three requirements are proposed to adapt to the future cloud computing support key. Facing the new changes and trends in cloud computing, many vendors put forward their own ideas and programs, of which there are two typical: First, the network as a complete device, that is, a core and a number of remote cards , To provide high-performance, complete traffic load balancing and true centralized management and control of the network platform, the latest implementation due to technical problems can not be overcome, had to retire and second, give up the ideal platform for some ideas; the other is to redefine the network forwarding architecture, And fully open the network capacity. From the current perspective, both approaches have fatal flaws and increase the complexity of the network.

The author believes that the ideal cloud computing network architecture is as follows, assuming that the data center network is a black box, first of all it should: Non-blocking to ensure performance from point to point is equivalent; self-healing, without any external components involved, the network can provide And maintain basic connectivity; plug and play, any network components can be inserted into use. Such a network is the basic network and connection platform, providing a physical network connection service.

Second, it is an evolving, resilient platform with: performance evolvability that meets 10GE servers and future 40 / 100GE server access; and business evolvability, for example, whether future evolvement to an IPv6 network requires an overall network upgrade, and then Such as FCoE entire network integration can smooth evolution. Finally, it is open. On the one hand, the opening up of network capabilities opens up the capacity of the network to upper-layer applications and services according to business needs; on the other hand, the network can quickly integrate with other cloud computing vendors to form a special cloud computing solution.

In summary, the cloud computing is still in a period of change, from hype to pilot and then to practical, in the process of business integration business at the same time, should also consider how to migrate to the cloud computing platform, how to reduce costs more effectively, Improve efficiency is one of the key. The face of the changing period of cloud computing, the network needs to be highly elastic, highly scalable, easy to manage and open. On the whole, the future cloud computing network will be a non-blocking, self-healing, plug-and-play black box network platform that can be continuously evolved and provide open network services to meet the rapidly changing cloud computing business needs.