Eguide-SDN Line Rate

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Evolving Brocade

technology withOpenFlow and

HyperEdge


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Evolving Brocade technology witOpenFlow and HyperEdg

Contents

Brocade: Some

OpenFlow switches

cant operate at line-

rate speeds

Brocade HyperEdge:

Manage a campus

network as one giantswitch stack

Brocades support of OpenFlow underlines speed asa distinguishing factor in their software-defined network

(SDN) strategy. While Brocades SDN strategy doesnt focus

as much on campus, HyperEdge (being rolled out in 2013) is

a software upgrade that Brocade will use to simplify

operations within the campus LAN. This expert E-Guide dives

into the ins and outs of OpenFlow and discusses the benefits

of HyperEdge.

Brocade: Some OpenFlow switches cant operate at line-rate speedsBy Shamus McGillicuddy, News Director

In outlining its software-defined networking strategy Brocade has exposed a

dirty little secret about some commercial OpenFlow switches: Once

OpenFlow is turned on, some competing switches no longer operate at line

rate. If this is true, network engineers will have to dig deeper into OpenFlow

switch specifications to determine actual speed.

Brocade highlighted speed as a differentiating factor in its software-defined

networking strategy. That strategy includes support for OpenFlow on the

MLX router series with MLX version 5.4, which can move packets at 100

gigabit line-rate speeds.

"We've implemented OpenFlow in our programmable hardware accelerators

on a line-card-by-line-card basis. If you've taken a shortcut and enabled

OpenFlow so that it is just operating on your management processor -- in

other words not in hardware -- then you have to run all your packets through

that management processor. Those things are relatively low-performing,"

said Keith Stewart, Brocade's director of product management. In this case,

with OpenFlow turned on, performance drops from gigabits- to megabits-per-

second, he added.


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Contents

Brocade: Some

OpenFlow switches


rate speeds

Brocade HyperEdge:

Manage a campus


Which vendors have troubled OpenFlow switches?Forrester Research senior analyst Andre Kindness confirmed the speed

issue and the idea that the problems are linked to OpenFlow switches that

rely on software implementation of the protocol.

"Its a dirty little secret in the industry," said Kindness. "Take a look at the

switches that have come out, even HP's switches. They are supported by

firmware but not really running through theASIC[in all cases]. If it's not

hardware, it's not line-speed."

HP Networking does implement OpenFlow in its ASICs, but due to hardwarelimitations common among many vendors, OpenFlow controllers can

overwhelm those ASICs by sending more rules to a switch than it can fit in its

flow processing tables. When that happens, those extra flow rules spill over

and are handled in software instead. This slows down the switch.

"The flexibility and power of the OpenFlow protocol allows for very large

types of flow processing matches and actions; as such, there are possible

cases in which not all of these are processed at line rate in every situation,"

said Charles Clark, distinguished technologist, HP Networking, in a

statement. "HP's OpenFlow implementation has been optimized to

accelerate those aspects of the OpenFlow protocol that are needed to deliver

solution performance and scalability."

Brocade claims that its implementation of OpenFlow on the MLX does not

suffer from this problem.

To get line-rate performance out of Openflow switches, vendors must

implement OpenFlow in their ASICs, not their network operating systems,

said Nick Lippis, CEO at consultancy Lippis Enterprises.

"I havent done the testing, but I do know there are a few [OpenFlow

switches] out there that" dont operate at line-rate speeds, Lippis said.

The whole issue could go away, however, when merchant silicon vendors

start supporting OpenFlow on their own chips by the end of this year.
http://searchcio-midmarket.techtarget.com/definition/ASIChttp://searchcio-midmarket.techtarget.com/definition/ASIChttp://searchcio-midmarket.techtarget.com/definition/ASIChttp://searchcio-midmarket.techtarget.com/definition/ASIC


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Contents

Brocade: Some

OpenFlow switches


rate speeds

Brocade HyperEdge:

Manage a campus


Brocade's software-defined networking strategyBeyond speed, Brocade's software-defined networking strategy uniquely

focuses on wide area networks (WANs) and service provider networks rather

than data center and campus networking. That's why Brocade's initial

OpenFlow support is available on the MLX router. Google revealed last

month that it had built a multi-data-center, software-defined WAN using

OpenFlow.

Most other vendors are more focused on using OpenFlow in the data center

even though the technology is not fully baked. Meanwhile, carriers that are

focused on heavy traffic can begin using the technology today.

"Carriers are hot on this because it allows them to go from dumb pipes to

offering different levels ofSLAs," Kindness said. "Today they offer SLAs, but

they can't really guarantee it and give definitive variations between

customers. They can start doing that with what Brocade is opening up."

Brocade's software-defined networking strategy also encompasses a broad

range of technologies and vendor partnerships. Brocade unveiled a formal

relationship with NEC, using its ProgrammableFlow OpenFlow controller.

IBM has a similar relationship with NEC.

Brocade will also support network virtualization via overlay protocols, such as

VXLAN, NVGRE and STT. Additionally, it will provide integration into various

cloud orchestration and management systems, such as Cloudstack,

OpenStack, Microsoft System Center and VMware vCloud Director.

OpenFlow infrastructure in hybrid mode

With Brocade's OpenFlow implementation, network engineers will be able to

operate MLX routers in OpenFlow hybrid mode, allowing the use of a

combination of OpenFlow and traditional forwarding techniques on the same

hardware.

"In a lot of other cases, when you turn on OpenFlow, you turn off all

traditional forwarding. We've heard from a lot of customers that baseline
http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/news/2240111601/Research-institute-deploys-100-Gigabit-Ethernet-from-core-to-closethttp://www.bigswitch.com/blognews/openflow-mythbusting-by-google/http://www.bigswitch.com/blognews/openflow-mythbusting-by-google/http://searchitchannel.techtarget.com/definition/service-level-agreementhttp://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/news/2240114346/IBM-partners-with-NEC-for-OpenFlow-switch-software-defined-networkinghttp://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/tip/Software-defined-networking-with-open-APIs-will-mean-real-integrationhttp://searchcloudprovider.techtarget.com/tip/OpenFlow-Software-defined-network-eases-cloud-management-for-providershttp://searchcloudprovider.techtarget.com/tip/OpenFlow-Software-defined-network-eases-cloud-management-for-providershttp://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/tip/Software-defined-networking-with-open-APIs-will-mean-real-integrationhttp://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/news/2240114346/IBM-partners-with-NEC-for-OpenFlow-switch-software-defined-networkinghttp://searchitchannel.techtarget.com/definition/service-level-agreementhttp://www.bigswitch.com/blognews/openflow-mythbusting-by-google/http://www.bigswitch.com/blognews/openflow-mythbusting-by-google/http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/news/2240111601/Research-institute-deploys-100-Gigabit-Ethernet-from-core-to-closet


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Contents

Brocade: Some

OpenFlow switches


rate speeds

Brocade HyperEdge:

Manage a campus


forwarding works just fine. What they want to do is layer services on top of itthat offer value," said Stewart.

"Some of the research networks [with which] we have been working very

closely, are interested in running a traditional backbone in hybrid mode,

where traditional forwarding works like it always does, with BGP, OSPF, IS-

IS, but then you can allow researchers to provide experimental network

applications that run via OpenFlow on that production environment on a

subset of traffic."

Hybrid OpenFlow mode will hold appeal beyond research networks as well,Kindness said.

"If you have 20 to 80 applications, are you worried about all of those, or are

you most concerned with maybe one or two that are a business priority?" he

said, adding that in hybrid mode, enterprises can allow most applications to

run via traditional forwarding while using software-defined networking to

prioritize those select critical applications.

Brocade HyperEdge: Manage a campus network as onegiant switch stackBy Shamus McGillicuddy, News Director

For years, network engineers have relied on the switch stack in network

wiring closets to simplify network operations. But now Brocade claims it can

simplify operations even further by replacing the traditional switch stack with

a new technology that essentially turns the entire campus LAN into one giant

stack.

HyperEdge, due out in the first half of 2013 as a software upgrade on

Brocades FCX and ICX switches, is an alternative paradigm to the traditional

switch stack that provides a single point of management for all HyperEdge-

compatible switches, according to J oe Ammirato, Brocades senior director of

product management. This technology establishes a single management IP

address for all the switches in the network. This way, an engineer can log
http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/tip/Network-energy-efficiency-starts-in-the-LAN-closethttp://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/tip/Network-energy-efficiency-starts-in-the-LAN-closethttp://www.brocade.com/launch/effortless-network/hyperedge-technology/index.html?gclid=CNH2iMGr1a4CFWgQNAodT2LJbghttp://www.brocade.com/launch/effortless-network/hyperedge-technology/index.html?gclid=CNH2iMGr1a4CFWgQNAodT2LJbghttp://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/tip/Network-energy-efficiency-starts-in-the-LAN-closethttp://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/tip/Network-energy-efficiency-starts-in-the-LAN-closet


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Contents

Brocade: Some

OpenFlow switches


rate speeds

Brocade HyperEdge:

Manage a campus


into one switch in the HyperEdge network, and configure the entire networkinstantly in CLI. HyperEdge will initially only apply to access layer switches,

but Ammirato hinted that Brocade will eventually extend the technology to

other layers of the network.

Today you have to touch each piece of equipment [or each stack], said

Scott McDowell, telecommunications network supervisor with Yadtel Group,

a North Carolina-based rural service provider. With [HyperEdge], with one

single command you can make a change over the whole entire network. It

also enables easy upgrades and would reduce human error. We do

everything by command line, and if just one piece is broken, it can take it alldown.

Are the days of the sw itch stack numbered?

Stacked switches made individual wiring closet management much simpler,

but as the number of those wiring closets has grown, a new level of

complexity has crept into networks.

Stackables had their place in businesses but you have had to manage those

stacks individually, said Zeus Kerravala, founder and principal analyst with

ZK Research. With stackable switches, you gave up the ability to manage

things from a central location for cost effectiveness. You could telnet into

individual stacks, but you couldnt manage them as a single network entity.

Lets say you want to add a new ACL; you would have to configure each

stack individually. If the network is big enough, that can take days.

Because of this centralized management, HyperEdge will dramatically

change how enterprises manage their access layer. Lets say you have 100

stacks throughout your entire university campus and one of the elements in

one of those stacks fails. With the HyperEdge domain, you can do an RMA

[Return Merchandise Authorization], remove that failed switch, and plug in

the new switch. When you plug it into the HyperEdge domain, it gets

automatically discovered and the master configuration gets pushed to it, said

Ammirato.
http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/feature/A-stackable-switch-brings-value-to-the-wiring-closethttp://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/news/1384341/Two-colleges-switch-to-Enterasys-in-order-to-escape-ACL-programminghttp://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/network-engineering-journey/troubleshooting-switch-stacks/http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/network-engineering-journey/troubleshooting-switch-stacks/http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/network-engineering-journey/troubleshooting-switch-stacks/http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/network-engineering-journey/troubleshooting-switch-stacks/http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/news/1384341/Two-colleges-switch-to-Enterasys-in-order-to-escape-ACL-programminghttp://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/feature/A-stackable-switch-brings-value-to-the-wiring-closet


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Contents

Brocade: Some

OpenFlow switches


rate speeds

Brocade HyperEdge:

Manage a campus


New entry level ICX switches: For swi tch stack today, HyperEdgetomorrow

Brocade also announced two new stackable switches that will eventually

support HyperEdge: the ICX 6450 and ICX 6430. These switches are

available in 24- and 48-port Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) models, with or without

enhanced Power over Ethernet (PoE+). The ICX 6430 features four

additional 1 GbE ports for uplinks and stacking. The ICX 6450 has four 1/10

GbE uplink and stacking ports. These switches will begin shipping later this

month.

Ammirato didnt offer specific pricing, but he claimed the baseline ICX 6430will cost 30 to 50% less than Cisco Catalyst 2960, depending on which

features an enterprise needs on the 2960. For instance, stacking is default

on the ICX switches but not on the Catalyst 2960.

HyperEdge changes lifecycle management of stackable switches

HyperEdge technology also allows engineers to mix and match individual

switches without a full rip and replace. In a traditional switch stack, all the

elements must be identical. So if the features and horsepower of a stack

cant support the evolving needs of an enterprise, a network engineer will

have to rip and replace the entire stack.

You may buy an entry level, stackable device that just does Layer because

that's all you think you need in your access layer -- no multicast, no IPv6,

Ammirato said. With HyperEdge, you can mix those basic, entry level

stackables with premium stackables that have advanced features like

multicast, virtual route forwarding, or any other networking features that

require more processing power.

This approach could allow enterprises to extend the life of thoseentry-level

stackable switches. It also prevents them from having to overprovision,

Ammirato said. For instance, a hospital might have a technology plan that

anticipates the deployment of HD video conferencing within a few years.

Rather than provision for those services years in advance, engineers can

install entry-level ICX 6430s today, and mix in the higher-powered ICX 6610

to support video a couple years later.
http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/news/1363865/Lifetime-warranties-on-low-end-edge-switches-indicate-commoditizationhttp://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/news/1363865/Lifetime-warranties-on-low-end-edge-switches-indicate-commoditizationhttp://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/news/2240110710/Brocades-stackable-switch-The-low-cost-alternative-to-Catalyst-3750http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/news/2240110710/Brocades-stackable-switch-The-low-cost-alternative-to-Catalyst-3750http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/news/1363865/Lifetime-warranties-on-low-end-edge-switches-indicate-commoditizationhttp://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/news/1363865/Lifetime-warranties-on-low-end-edge-switches-indicate-commoditization


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Contents

Brocade: Some

OpenFlow switches


rate speeds

Brocade HyperEdge:

Manage a campus


McDowell has Brocade infrastructure installed in Yadtels service providernetwork, and is testing the new ICX 6430 as a potential enterprise closet

switch. HyperEdge, he says, should extend the life of switches like the 6430.

I could see that piece of equipment sitting in our network for 10-plus years,

while the way the industry works today, the life of equipment is three or four

years. With HyperEdge you can mix and match, McDowell said.


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Contents

Brocade: Some

OpenFlow switches


rate speeds

Brocade HyperEdge:

Manage a campus


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