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Software-defined networking (SDN) is an approach that enables the programmatic and dynamic control of a network. SDN networks are composed of simple network elements that contain an agent interface by which the data plane functions can be loaded by a network controller. SDN is all about separating the control plane, i.e. the layer where the network behavior is defined and managed, from the data plane, the layer where the packets are processed. Network function virtualization (NFV) is about virtualizing network functions which are normally deployed on dedicated hardware platforms (e.g. routers, load balancers, firewalls, etc.) delivered by specialized telco vendors. The network functions are then run as virtual appliances on commodity hardware (IT servers) instead, often connected with DPDK and SR-IOV.

Thumbnail of an article about Getting started with vManage client: essential features and functions
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Getting started with vManage client: essential features and functions

Working with REST API on cutting-edge systems can be challenging at times. Rapid evolution and new features often lead to changes in the structure of REST API calls. These can be just cosmetic but still require an effort to adjust existing scripts. This problem can be easily handled by the SDKs dedicated to systems such as Cisco Meraki or Cisco DNA Center.
Radosław Kochman

Radosław Kochman

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NETWORKS

Tungsten Fabric is closing down — what next?

Tungsten Fabric is an open-source project developed under the umbrella of the Linux Foundation. It serves as an important part of many network infrastructures. The project is, however, ending its development. Due to the community’s decision, active development and project services have ceased but the resources will remain accessible until August 1, 2024.
Karolina Rusinowicz

Karolina Rusinowicz

Thumbnail of an article about Hardware offloading in software-defined networking
SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
NETWORKS

Hardware offloading in software-defined networking

Increasing demands on computer hardware means higher demand for network technology. Unfortunately, computer systems remain largely inefficient, with the CPU serving as the key engine in a variety of computer applications. To solve this problem, one could take various approaches: use a bigger computer, distribute the software between different computers, or improve its performance. In this article, we'll show you how a higher-end computing device can reduce CPU usage and the costs associated with hardware.
Multiple authors

Multiple authors

Thumbnail of an article about Software-Defined Networking (SDN) — a gentle introduction
NETWORKS

Software-Defined Networking (SDN) — a gentle introduction

The SDN approach to network architecture has been steadily gaining ground. More and more companies are designing their network infrastructure with this approach in mind. According to Statista, the traffic from SDNs and virtualized network functions in data centers from around the world in 2021 was estimated to have achieved 7.4 zettabytes. The increasing popularity of software-defined networking across a variety of industries shows how important this technology has become for global businesses. This article provides you with the classic definition of software-defined networking technology, then covers a few typical use cases and explains why software-defined networking technology is worth your time.
Karolina Rusinowicz

Karolina Rusinowicz

Thumbnail of an article about Example use case of network troubleshooting during the VNF lifecycle
NETWORKS

Example use case of network troubleshooting during the VNF lifecycle

This article will guide you through a proposition of an implementation of network monitoring and troubleshooting during the Virtual Network Function (VNF) lifecycle, based on a combination of data gathered from SDN - in our case Tungsten Fabric (TF) - and OpenStack. This article is a promised follow up to our article Network traffic troubleshooting during the VNF lifecycle - aspects of Tungsten Fabric flows. In the case presented in this article, the main challenge with network monitoring and proactive troubleshooting is to identify the root cause of potential flow-related errors before they cause a service outage.
Łukasz Drzewiecki

Łukasz Drzewiecki

Thumbnail of an article about Network traffic troubleshooting during VNF lifecycle — aspects of Tungsten Fabric flows
NETWORKS

Network traffic troubleshooting during VNF lifecycle — aspects of Tungsten Fabric flows

Here’s a question that gives telco operators sleepless nights: How do you go about building and maintaining your telco cloud to maintain carrier-grade requirements while bringing hyper-scale public cloud pronouncements and promises to the telco world? One of the main challenges to achieving the above is to provide network monitoring, alerting and troubleshooting. Monitoring such complex infrastructure is not only about monitoring the physical health of the hardware the services rely on. It must also extend to the state of VMs or containers serving either control plane functions or a that runs a specific network function.
Multiple authors

Multiple authors

Thumbnail of an article about Tungsten Fabric as a Kubernetes CNI plugin
NETWORKS

Tungsten Fabric as a Kubernetes CNI plugin

CNI (Container Networking Interface) is an interface between container runtime and network implementation. It allows different projects, like Tungsten Fabric, to provide their implementation of the CNI plugins and use them to manage networking in a Kubernetes cluster. In this blog post, you will learn how to use Tungsten Fabric as a Kubernetes CNI plugin to ensure network connectivity between containers and bare metals. You will also see an example of a nested deployment of a Kubernetes cluster into OpenStack VM with a TF CNI plugin.
Piotr Sykulski

Piotr Sykulski

Thumbnail of an article about How to configure VNFs using a Virtual Network Function Descriptor
NETWORKS

How to configure VNFs using a Virtual Network Function Descriptor

Virtual Network Functions (VNFs) are software network elements like routers, firewalls or load balancers that replace networking hardware. Network services are performed by dedicated software that runs on Virtual Machines (VMs) managed by Virtual Infrastructure Managers (VIMs). In this blog post, we describe how to configure VNFs using a Virtual Network Function Descriptor (VNFD) together with a Network Service Descriptor (NSD) and the Open Source MANO platform. Additionally, we will present an initial configuration of a new Virtual Machine (VM) instance using cloud-init.
Multiple authors

Multiple authors

Thumbnail of an article about Managing data center physical infrastructure with Tungsten Fabric
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Managing data center physical infrastructure with Tungsten Fabric

A data center’s physical infrastructure can consist of multiple devices including switches and routers. Managing them can be a time-consuming and error-riddled process. Adding an SDN solution to your legacy data center network makes the entire problem even more complex. Tungsten Fabric, an open-source SDN controller, may be the answer. Read on to know more. Modern data centers are built as flat two/three layers of deeply interconnected devices known as a fabric. This leaf-spine architecture is robust and easy to scale out by adding new devices instead of replacing older devices with more powerful ones.
Paweł Marchewka

Paweł Marchewka

Thumbnail of an article about Tungsten Fabric architecture — an overview
NETWORKS

Tungsten Fabric architecture — an overview

SDN or Software-Defined Networking is an approach to networking that enables the programmatic and dynamic control of a network. It is considered the next step in the evolution of network architecture. To implement this approach effectively, you will need a mature SDN Controller such as Tungsten Fabric. Read our blog post to get a comprehensive overview of Tungsten Fabric architecture. Tungsten Fabric (previously OpenContrail) is an open-source SDN controller that provides connectivity and security for virtual, containerized or bare-metal workloads.
Multiple authors

Multiple authors

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