OpenFlow

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

OpenFlow is a communication protocol that provides access to the hardware components of a switch or router that process incoming network packets (the so-called forwarding plane ).

approaches

The Open Networking Foundation , a user organization dedicated to the dissemination and implementation of software-defined networking (SDN) and SDN protocols, administers the OpenFlow standard. The ONF defines OpenFlow as the first standardized communication interface between the control and the forwarding level of an SDN architecture. OpenFlow allows direct access to the forwarding plane of a switch or router, both physically and virtually (hypervisor-based). Because there is no such open interface in classic network devices, these are often characterized as monolithic, closed and mainframe- like. Instead, OpenFlow takes the approach of shifting control of the network from the devices to logically centralized software. There is no other protocol that takes similar approaches.

In simple terms, OpenFlow allows the route packets take through the network to be determined by software running on multiple routers. At least two of them have the role of a primary or secondary observer. The separation of the control level from the forwarding level enables a more complex management of the data flows through the use of Access Control Lists (ACLs) and routing protocols. Its inventors regard OpenFlow as a technology that enables software-defined networking.

Versions

The first version was the OpenFlow version 0.2.0 which was released in March 2008. Version 0.8.2 was released in October 2008. This has been expanded to include echo requests and echo reply messages. In December 2008, version 0.8.9 came out, which was expanded to include IP network masks and extended statistical information. OpenFlow 0.9 was released in July 2009. Finally, in December 2009, the widely used version 1.0 was published. Version 1.1 of OpenFlow was released on February 28, 2011 and is still maintained by openflow.org, but further development is managed by the Open Networking Foundation (ONF). In December 2011 the ONF board confirmed version 1.2 and published it in February 2012. OpenFlow version 1.3.0 has been available since June 2012. OpenFlow version 1.4.0 was released in October 2013.

Compatible hardware and software

Some network switch and router vendors have announced that they will offer or support switches with OpenFlow, including Allied Telesis , Arista Networks , Big Switch Networks , Brocade Communications , Cisco , Dell Force10 Networks , Extreme Networks , Hewlett-Packard , IBM , Juniper Networks , Larch Networks , MikroTik , NEC , and much more. Some routing control plane implementations use the protocol to manage the routing components. OpenFlow is normally transmitted between the switch and the controller on a separate, secure connection.

The Indiana University opened in collaboration with the ONF in May 2011, an SDN Interoperability Lab to test how well SDN and OpenFlow products work from different manufacturers.

In February 2012, Big Switch Networks released Project Floodlight , an open source OpenFlow controller under Apache license , and announced its OpenFlow-based SDN suite for November that year, which includes a commercial controller, virtual switching, and tap monitoring applications .

In February 2012, HP announced that it would support the standard in 16 of its Ethernet switch products.

In January 2013 NEC presented a virtual switch for Microsoft's Hyper-V on Windows Server 2012 , which is supposed to bring OpenFlow-based SDN and network virtualization into corresponding Microsoft environments.

Areas of application

In April 2012, Urs Hölzle from Google described how the company's internal network had been completely rebuilt within two years in order to achieve significant performance improvements with OpenFlow.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Nick McKeown et al .: OpenFlow: Enabling innovation in campus networks . ACM Communications Review. April 2008. Retrieved November 2, 2009.
  2. ^ Open Networking Foundation: Dedicated to SDN . Open Networking Foundation. Retrieved October 15, 2013.
  3. ^ Software-Defined Networking (SDN): The New Norm for Networks . Open Networking Foundation. Retrieved October 15, 2013.
  4. ↑ Kate Greene: TR10: Software-Defined Networking . In: MIT Technology Review , March / April 2009. Retrieved October 7, 2011. 
  5. ^ Open Networking Foundation Press Release . March 2011. Retrieved October 15, 2013.
  6. ↑ Open Networking Foundation - OpenFlow v1.2 (PDF; 5.8 MB) Archived from the original on July 3, 2012. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved October 15, 2013. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.opennetworking.org
  7. ↑ Open Networking Foundation - OpenFlow v1.3.0 (PDF; 1.15 MB). Accessed June 21, 2014.
  8. ↑ Open Networking Foundation - OpenFlow v1.4.0 (PDF; 1.28 MB) Retrieved September 16, 2014.
  9. ^ Cade Metz: You Can't Have Google's Pluto Switch, But You Can Have This . Wired. March 26, 2013. Retrieved October 15, 2013.
  10. ↑ Pavel Radda: Brocade Leads OpenFlow Adoption to Accelerate Network Virtualization and Cloud Application Development . Reuters. March 22, 2011. Retrieved November 29, 2011.
  11. ↑ MikroTik homepage . January 29, 2013. Retrieved October 15, 2013.
  12. ↑ Teemu Koponen et. al: Onix: A Distributed Control Platform for Large-scale Production Networks . USENIX OSDI 2010. October 4, 2010. Retrieved October 1, 2010.
  13. ↑ SDN Interoperability Lab ( Memento of the original from June 5, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / incntre.iu.edu
  14. ↑ Bernard Cole: Big Switch releases open source controller for OpenFlow . EE Times . February 2, 2012. Retrieved February 2, 2012.
  15. ↑ Sean Michael Kerner: Big Switch Emerges with Commercial SDN Portfolio . Enterprise Networking Planet. November 13, 2012. Retrieved October 15, 2013.
  16. ↑ Colin Neagle: HP takes giant first step into OpenFlow: HP is announcing its first effort to support OpenFlow standard on its Ethernet switches . Network World. February 2, 2012. Archived from the original on May 13, 2013. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved April 28, 2013. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.networkworld.com
  17. ↑ Jim Duffy: NEC rolls out OpenFlow for Microsoft Hyper-V: NEC virtual switch adds IPv6 support to SDN controller . Network World. January 22, 2013. Archived from the original on April 3, 2013. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved April 28, 2013. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.networkworld.com
  18. ^ Steven Levy, Going With the Flow: Google's Secret Switch to the Next Wave of Networking. In: Wired.com. April 17, 2012, accessed April 17, 2012 .

Web links