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Nuage Networks VSP Continued Evolution – Release 5.0 – Pt. 3

This is part 3 of a three-part blog post describing Nuage Networks’ single-platform approach for the software-defined DC and SD-WAN. Read part one here  and part two here.

The third and final part of this blog post addresses the DC, which covers Policy-automated 100G Switching and NFV & Telco Cloud.

It is worth noting that the 5.0 release provides a significant number of new capabilities beyond those discussed in this blog, in areas such as  DevOps/container networking and cloud integrations with OpenStack, VMware, and Microsoft Hyper-V/SCVMM.

DC

Policy-automated 100G DC Switching

Nuage Networks provides a portfolio of DC switches based on Broadcom architecture with carrier-grade SROS routing code. The switches are fully automated, SDN-ready, managed and orchestrated from the same centralized cloud policy plane (Nuage Networks VSD) that manages virtual end points. Uniform policy constructs are pushed to virtual and physical switches, hiding the virtual/physical demarcation from the user.

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The 5.0 release introduced the second generation of Nuage Networks switches (WBX product line) that support 100G port forwarding with the ability to connect 25G server NICs. The WBX switches further differentiate themselves by running a combination of Linux and SROS and providing the ability to run 3rd party software add-ons on a standard x86-based control platform. They can be deployed using a simple REST API and managed with centralized API-based orchestration of QoS, ACLs, dynamic and static routing capabilities. The WBX switches offer telcos and enterprises the ability to build automated DC underlay fabrics with a robust routing feature set. More details and WBX information can be found at https://www.nuagenetworks.net/resources/product-information/

NFV & Telco Cloud

Service providers must adapt to the increasing demands of digital enterprises, and to do that they need cloud-based networking solutions to provide scale and agility without compromising control. Cloud network solutions for telcos include:

  • Centralized DCs for highly scalable network and IT workloads,
  • Distributed DCs for cloud at the network edge (central offices, points of presence and radio sites) for hosting VNFs. Nuage Networks VSP offers the best-in-class SDN support for VNFs and caters to their need for:
  • Automated connectivity to virtual and physical network assets (DC fabric, gateway, PE, Firewall)
  • Isolation and security
  • Service chaining
  • Packet Acceleration for VNFs with high throughput requirements
  • Integration with OpenStack and Other CMS (cloud management systems)

The Nuage Networks solution fits into the ETSI NFV framework as part of the NFVi (infrastructure) layer.

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VNFs in telco clouds often rely on IPv6 addressing for scale, and in 5.0 we are IPv6-compliant for the overlay. In some cases, such as Mobile Gateways, there is a need to advertise and learn IP addresses (such as UE pools) by direct BGP peering, which is now supported by Nuage Networks DC to exchange overlay routing information with these VNFs. In the near future, this capability will be supported by Nuage Networks virtual switches.

Packet Acceleration for VNFs

With the goal of supporting packet acceleration for VNFs, Nuage Networks VSP 5.0 provides:

  • Automated SRIOV Orchestration – SRIOV is a packet acceleration technique that relies on server NICs that can be virtualized and shared across multiple VMs, eliminating the hypervisor packet processing overhead. We have added automated topology discovery, configuration and management of SRIOV-enabled server ports. The functionality enables automated stitching of SRIOV ports to switch ports via VLANs.
  • Accelerated virtual routing and switching (AVRS) based on DPDK – DPDK is a set of fast packet processing libraries that rely on polling from user space to bypass network layer (kernel) and context switches inherent in the standard virtualized data path. Nuage Networks VRS is now available in a DPDK persona that creates a fast path for packet flows delivering an order of magnitude in improved performance, while providing the same policy controls, automation, and overlay networking as the standard kernel OVS-based implementation.
  • Support for Smart NICs – VSP 5.0 provides early access to functionality that integrates the Nuage Networks data plane with Smart NICs, allowing for transparent offload of select packet processing rules to Smart NICs (from specific vendors). The resulting solution provides packet acceleration and frees up server CPU cycles from packet processing tasks.

Integration with OpenStack and Other CMS

Starting with the 5.0 release, Nuage Networks coverage for telco cloud environments has grown substantially. We have expanded our OpenStack integration by providing full support for the Neutron ML2 plugin and FWaaS APIs. Furthermore, we support OpenStack  Newton and Ocata in addition to the SUSE OpenStack distribution.

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