There have been numerous articles, blogs, and columns written over the past few months on OpenFlow and Software Defined Networking, but I still feel like many of them aren’t breaking it down for the typical Enterprise Network Engineer. Having followed OpenFlow since mid 2010, I do not claim to be an expert in this space, but I will give my take on what could be the game changer for the networking industry.
Let me also apologize up front because this post is longer than I originally intended it to be!
What is OpenFlow?
OpenFlow is simply a protocol that is used to communicate between a server, i.e. controller and network switches that allows the switch control plane to be separated from the data plane. Now what does that mean and what is a controller? This is where there are many analogies being made on what this actually looks like from a low level. The most common comparison made is that it’s “the x86 instruction set for networking.” For those academics or developers out there, this may mean a lot, but for me, it means absolutely nothing, and I consider myself pretty in tune with the mind set of someone designing Enterprise Data Center and Campus Networks, with the latest technology out there. For me, the analogy that I use when explaining OpenFlow is directly relating it to the past and present Enterprise WLAN market.
Let me also apologize up front because this post is longer than I originally intended it to be!
What is OpenFlow?
OpenFlow is simply a protocol that is used to communicate between a server, i.e. controller and network switches that allows the switch control plane to be separated from the data plane. Now what does that mean and what is a controller? This is where there are many analogies being made on what this actually looks like from a low level. The most common comparison made is that it’s “the x86 instruction set for networking.” For those academics or developers out there, this may mean a lot, but for me, it means absolutely nothing, and I consider myself pretty in tune with the mind set of someone designing Enterprise Data Center and Campus Networks, with the latest technology out there. For me, the analogy that I use when explaining OpenFlow is directly relating it to the past and present Enterprise WLAN market.
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