A use case that is often requested by our customers is managing and orchestrating a Wide Area Network Software Defined Network (WAN-SDN) in order to connect services located in different geographic locations.
The Challenge
This customers SDN-WAN network connects two separate datacenters. Therefore, any communication between these two datacenters needs to take place via the WAN transport network which is managed by a Software Defined Networking (SDN) controller.
The integration of a WAN-SDN controller with their Service Orchestrator (SO), as well as management of the WAN Network using the Service orchestrator was a challenge for our client. We also needed to simulate a lab environment to be aligned with their requirements.
Therefore, Aptira’s team of experts in Cloud, SDN & Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV) and Service Orchestration gathered together to solve the problem, build the required lab environment and make a plan to resolve the challenges.
The Aptira Solution
We configured two OpenStack Cloud instances as our data centers and created test VMs in each data center. The purpose of the VMs was to send traffic from one datacenter to the other one via the WAN network.
Then, we created a WAN Network consisting of OpenVswitches in a pentagon-like topology. Each datacenter was connected to the WAN topology via an edge OpenVswitch. The WAN topology is managed by an SDN controller: in this case OpenDayLight (ODL).
After preparing all the required resources, the Service orchestrator (in this case Cloudify) was integrated with ODL via RESTCONF API.
The SO was able to send requests to ODL to perform required operations, such as:
- Creation of a VPN tunnel between 2 data centers
- Installation of new flow rules on OVS for traffic engineering and load balancing
- Deletion of flows and VPN tunnels if required
The Result
This solution fills the gap between Software Defined Networking and legacy equipment by bringing automation and on-demand services to data centers. This in turn increases the end-user experience and decrease the overall costs.
By orchestrating and managing a Wide Area Network Software Defined Network (WAN-SDN) using a Cloudify Service Orchestrator, along with the help of OpenStack and SDN, all of the operations that take place in a different layer of telecommunication can be automated. Consequently this saves time and reduces operational load by removing manual steps, saving the client money and resources in the long term.
