Current Filter: Network>>>>>Feature>

   

The closed, complex and restrictive nature of traditional networks has made a compelling case for Software Defined Networks. They promise to radically transform network design and operation, in turn offering increased agility, greater customisation and lower costs. However SDN does not suit every environment, so a thorough investigation prior to a possible migration is recommended.

Firstly, most of the existing infrastructure on the network side won't be compatible with SDN technology, so for some this may dictate a rip and replace approach. Protocols governing SDN are not found in traditional networking, so infrastructure stakeholders need to be sure they are ready to make that investment.

Secondly, SDN presents a fundamental change to existing processes for engineering and operations teams. When deploying an application on the network, not only will it require the network to be designed slightly differently, but it will also have to be deployed, configured and monitored in new ways. So SDN will be appropriate for specific organisations that are either agile in process evolution, or already mature enough to adopt new technologies within their existing processes.

The decision to deploy will depend on the size of the organisation, how its departments are structured and existing practices. The process should include conversations with those responsible for designing, deploying, operating and monitoring the infrastructure.

Here are some questions that networking professionals should be considering before deploying SDN:

• Are we very disparate within our organisation and is that causing delays in Time to Value?
• Are users experiencing networking issues, and is the environment not performing as it is expected to?
• Do we have performance issues in our environment because we lack the appropriate visibility?
• Do we have an issue on capacity that we currently address by overprovisioning (and consequently overspending)?
• Are we unhappy with the way we're working and, are OPEX and CAPEX unreasonably expensive?

If it's a yes to any of the above, then a conversation about whether to move to SDN or to remain in a device-centric environment is required.

SDN is part of the answer for improving end-user experience when it comes to accessing Applications and Services over shared infrastructure. No matter how well the network is designed based on SDN, if the application doesn't perform well on the Storage and Virtualisation side then SDN will never provide the necessary improvements. This is the blind spot that many organisations have in their environment. Most of the issues nowadays are in the back-end of the data centre, namely storage, SAN, servers and virtualisation. This is why an audit of the entire infrastructure using an Infrastructure Performance Management (IPM) solution as well as the existing network infrastructure (with NPM) is an important starting point.

SDN defines and controls network capacity, policies, prioritisation, control and authentication. A Network (NPM) or Application (APM) Performance Management solution will monitor how well the SDN is performing. On the other side, the IPM solution will provide visibility from the server back towards the shared storage over the entire infrastructure at a granular level, and will precisely identify the location of bottlenecks or other infrastructure issues undermining Application performance.

The network administrator designs the network for specific applications so that they can handle the requirements of the business, which might mean thousands of users constantly logging into that application. And if that application is not performing well on the server and storage side, even if the network side is working perfectly, then the deployed SDN will never be able to deliver its full benefit. This is why IPM complements NPM and APM so well in the effort to provide valuable performance metrics and to assure a maximum return on your SDN spend. NC