Software Defined Networking (SDN)

INTERNET WITH VPN CHALLENGE

Some folks have turned to the Internet as a solution with VPN over the top of that. This solution does solve some of the bandwidth constraint problems, as you can bring in more internet access and have additional bandwidth and layer on VPN to securely get traffic from one location to another. The challenges are the inability to protect certain types of traffic over anything else when it is Internet-based. Firewall, router, VPN configuration, branch heavy equipment, and configuration are also required. Still, the benefit is a low-cost high-bandwidth, albeit you can’t prioritize traffic over the top of it.

SDN CREATED HYBRID WAN

The industry is shifting towards software-defined networking.  It is also known by several other buzz words like just SDN or Hybrid WAN.  SDN gives you the look and feel of what an MPLS solution brings to the table, with the ability to prioritize certain traffic over another. Its configuration adjustment is more simplified than a traditional router switch.  You can also bring significantly more bandwidth for about the same money you would spend on a traditional network.  Here are the main benefits at a glance:

• Enterprise-grade Performance
• Rapid Branch Deployment
• Cost-Effective Delivery Model

SOFTWARE DEFINED WAN FROM BRANCH

At a high-level, the image below shows what an SDN WAN looks like.  Instead of bringing in an MPLS network into a branch location, customers can bring in two diverse internet connections. One is delivered on a cable modem with 50 megs of bandwidth, and the secondary a 4G LTE connection. In an SDN environment, a router is placed on the edge to provide a couple of features:

• Brings together the two connections
• Load balancing
• Proactive analysis of what is happening on that network
• Creates the ability to do a VPN for office Internet connectivity to connect branches to headquarters
• Because it is internet-based, traffic that is destined for the internet can hop off right there

By application and by destination, this software can make intelligent routing decisions.  Thus, if you have traffic destined for Office 365, it will decide if the cable or the 4G path is best, based on who has the best peering and who is the closest. Voice and video can be prioritized whether is outgoing or incoming.  You can create a quality of service policy on both sides giving you end to end performance control that you would expect.  So yes, you can get the performance of an MPLS solution with an SDN WAN solution even though it’s over an internet connection. Internet service is readily available and very cost-effective as opposed to MPLS environments.  The below graphic from Freewire illustrates the flow:

SDN UNIFIED COMMUNICATION FEATURES

With voice or IP communications, the ability to prioritize traffic is important. An SDN router keeps calls up and functioning in the event of any congestion, even Internet-based congestion. The router will duplicate the voice traffic and keep a secondary stream ready to go, so if it degrades while flowing on the primary connection, it will instantaneously flow over to the secondary connection and keep the call alive.

• Application Recognition and Quality of Service Policy
• Dynamic Application Steering
• On-Demand Link Conditioning

VOICE AND VIDEO ERROR CORRECTION ON DEMAND

The image below reflects data collected with some intentional testing. In this example environment, we see two internet sources with high latency detected on one of the links.  Seeing this, the application reroutes the traffic across the secondary link, and it doesn't skip a beat. As things change over time, the traffic comes back and becomes more normal, and switches back and forth across the two solutions. That’s a peek into the magic.

SDN CLOUD DRIVEN POLICY EASY DEPLOYMENT

One of the other challenges in the industry with firewall and traditional environments is the difficulty in creating the configuration in the equipment. If you have ever unboxed a Cisco firewall and wanted to create a VPN tunnel, it is a very complex setup that might require outside resources and other heavy lifting. In an SDN, it’s more of a cloud-driven application where these devices put out on the edge are configured in a portal with a simple configuration that is easy to manage and adjust real-time performance.

SIMPLE MONITORING AND TROUBLESHOOTING FROM THE CLOUD

Because these solutions are driven from cloud interface, the administration of devices can be done anywhere and are simple enough that anyone can take a look and see how the network is performing.  Below is another image from VeloCloud Orchestrator.

FLEXIBLE WAN SOLUTION FOR MULTI-BRANCH NETWORKS

• Fast provisioning of remote branches in minutes with zero IT touch and cloud activation.
• Enterprise-grade WAN with dynamic multi-path steering on-demand Link remediation for performance and reliability.
• Automatic selection of cloud gateways for best direct path eliminates backhauling of WAN traffic for SaaS applications like Salesforce, Microsoft Office, etc.
• Subscription-based Network-as-a-Service eliminates upfront CAPEX costs.

Meet PCI 3.0 Compliance with Advanced Security

• Stateful and context-aware firewall (application, user, device) for advanced security.
• Automatic, single click Cloud VPN for a branch-to-data center(and direct branch-to-branch traffic. Monitor real-time status and health from the central cloud console.

Q&A

Q: What happens if you have an Internet connection on both links?
A: Performance would suffer and I would recommend looking at two different diverse mediums where the chances of both having issues would be slim to none.  Examples would be fiber Internet backed up with coax, a coax backed up with a DSL, or a DSL backed up with a 4G.

Q: Is there room for innovation with this technology?
A: An SDN solution gives great flexibility in your organization to bump up Salesforce in priority over youtube during the end of the month and adjust it back during the beginning of the month.  Its portal is simple to administer.

Q: Do we know what a user cutoff point would be?
A: The edges scales up to a gig of throughput.  The edges adjust as more bandwidth is added.

Q: How does OpenFlow differ from SDN?
A: OpenFlow is the same technology that enables SDN at the core.

Q: From a hardware standpoint, is there much latency that’s introduced by the SD-WAN controller?
A: The performance is tied to the bandwidth.  If you’re getting a tier-1 provider's internet, you will have less latency than a tier-4.

Q: Is it accurate to say that SDN is a poor man's MPLS?  Or do the other benefits really make it another flavor altogether?
A: It can be considered an MPLS replacement.