turbocharge the nfv data plane in the sdn era - a radisys presentation

James [email protected]

Karl WaleDirector of Product Management [email protected]

October 8, 2014 Webinar

© 2014 Radisys Corporation

mailto:[email protected]


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NFV and SDN: disruptive technology shift• Network evolution and service provider objectives• Challenges in deploying NFV and SDN

New SDN and NFV solutions• Intelligent networking functions

Overcoming data plane challenges in the NFVand SDN era• FlowEngine™ data plane software technology• Application use cases

– Scaling capacity without overwhelming orchestration resources

– Service chaining as part of virtualized Gi-LAN

Summary

Agenda


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Market Dynamics

NEWServices in

Next-Generation

Central Office

Service Providers (SP) Fighting OTT

Threat

Regulators Enabling Two-Way Business Models & SP Intelligence

SDN & NFV Deliver Tools to Enable Service Delivery & Cost

Reduction

11x capacity growth2013 – 2018 (Cisco VNI)


Services Centric Network

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Evolving Telecom Landscape

Telco data centers• Distributed• Localized control and

service awareness• Fixed & mobile co-located

Services include:• Mobile EPC• Policy enforcement • Sponsored content• Video optimization• Advertising• Network analytics

Access Metro Optical

Next-generation Central Office for NFV

Need for NFV platform solutions in NGCO and telecom data centers© 2014 Radisys Corporation

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Streamlined capex• Minimize fixed function

platforms• New infrastructure hosting

multiple services• Equipment re-used and

re-purposed for new services

Faster service delivery• Services centric network

Scalability• Simpler to scale up• Lower cost vs. buying

telecom appliances

Why Do We Need NFV?

Source: ETSI


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NFV Infrastructure and Interfaces

OSS/BSS

Os-Ma

Ve-V

nfm

Virtual Computing

Virtual Network

Virtual storage

Virtualization Layer

Hardware Resources

NFVI

VI-Ha

Nf-Vi

NFV Management & Orchestration

ComputingHardware

NetworkHardware

StorageHardware

Vn-Nf Vn-Nf Vn-Nf

EMS1 EMS3EMS2

VNF1 VNF3VNF2

NFVOrchestrator

VNFManager(s)

VirtualizedInfrastructureManager(s)

Or-Vnfm

Vi-Vnfm

Or-Vi

Platforms options• Bladed and server• Integrated or discrete

networking functions

Typical Applications• Service assurance

(PCRF, DPI apps)• Mobile gateways• IP forwarding

(OpenFlow control)

NFV and SDN Tools• Load balancing and flow distribution• OpenFlow interfaces for networking• OpenStack integration

• Nova (Compute), Neutron (Network)• Platform management


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Service providers desire COTS hardwarebut concerned existing products not carrier grade

Source: “SDN and NFV Strategies, Global Service Provider Survey”, March 2014, Infonetics

Drivers and Barriers of NFV


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Scalability Challenges for SDN and NFV

Early NFV examples• Control plane applications• Smaller scale PoCs• Limited bandwidth on data plane

Data plane is bigger challenge• 10s of millions of users• 100s of millions of sessions/flows• Throughputs into the Terabits/sec• Latency critical

Control plane vs. Data planecontrasting example:

3 minute VoIP call

~10-15 SIP signalling packets in control plane

~36,000 RTP packetsin data plane


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1. How many subscriber sessions would you expect a typical orchestration layer to track?a) < 5 millionb) 5 to 50 millionc) 50 to 200 milliond) > 200 million

Poll Question

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NFV Questions and ChallengesFor Data Plane Applications

Virtualized Compute Resources- Linux, hypervisors, virtual switching- Performance scales to 100s Gbps- Optimizing/Offloading OvS functions- Who integrates and tests the functions?

Orchestration - e.g. OpenStack- Sessions tracked? Flows managed?- How far can it scale?- How fast can it respond to events?

Support for100s millions events/flows

Must scale toTbps at frame level,including supportfor 100GbE ports

Networking (with Simple Switch)- L2/L3 forwarding- Fixed, limited encapsulation support- Poor elasticity for flow re-direct- Service chaining not possible

Source: ETSI


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Source: ETSI

Completing the NFV PictureFor Data Plane Applications

Virtualized Compute Resources- Linux, hypervisors, virtual switching- Performance scales to 100s Gbps- Optimizing/Offloading OvS functions- Who integrates and tests the functions?

Orchestration - e.g. OpenStack- Intelligent switch reduces work load- Autonomous flow assignment scales to

millions flows vs.10s thousands

Networking (with added flow awareness)- L2/L3 forwarding- Multi-protocol encapsulation- Cost effective scaling to Tbps incl. 100G- Stateful and stateless load balancing- Flow classification and ACLs- Enables service chaining- Autonomous flow assignment

Add Intelligent Switching &

Load Balancing








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Load Balancing & Flow Awareness Today It works…but not ideal

Load Balancer

Switch/ToR

ServerServerServer

Switch/ToR

Network/Router

Stand-alone Devices Integrated/Chassis-basedStandard Switch (L2/L3)Basic 5 tuple load balancingStateless, only scales to few 10K flows

Network

Advanced Load BalancingImplemented on payload blades;...but uses payload slots

ServerServerServer

Stand-alone Load BalancerDelivers capabilities…but, typically high-cost/Gb, limited scalability and likely over-featured?

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Intelligent Switching ArchitecturesEvolving switch architectures for NFV and SDN

Commercial Switch Silicon

1.2Tbps

Network

NetworkCommercial

Switch Silicon

1.2Tbps

NPU(s)800Gbps

Multi-core CPUException packets, OpenFlow Mgmt…

10, 40 and 100GbEOptical Ports

Server CPUs

Server CPUs

SimpleMgmtCPU

Limited rules availableUp to few 10K flowsStateless 5 tuple LB

Intelligent Switching & Load Balancing (eg A2470)

L2/L3 forwardingMulti-protocol encapsulationStateful & stateless LB Flow classification & ACLsEnables service chainingAutonomous flow assignment


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Intelligent Switching Solves Problem

Inbound Packets

Outbound Packets

APAPAPAPAP APAPAPAPAPAP

SDN/Controller

In

IPF

LB

AP

Out

Input

SDN IP Packet Forwarder

Load Balancer

Application Processor

Output

A2470 Intelligent Switch (4x100G each)

A4700 Intel® Xeon® E5-2600 v3 Blade

AP

A2470 Intelligent Switchwith FlowEngine™

A4700 Intel® Xeon® E5-2600 v3x86 CPU Blade

LB

In

IPF

Out

Rule-based automatic flow assignment100s millions flows managed

Minimizes overhead on orchestration


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2. How will you implement flow classification and load balancing within your NFV deployments?a) Dedicated load balancer from established vendorb) Develop (or partner for it ) based on commercial appliancec) Implement on compute server (blade or RMS/server)d) Standard white box switch and commercial silicone) Don’t need load balancing

Poll Question

Overcoming Data Plane Challenges in the NFV and SDN Era



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The SDN Model

OrchestrationAutomated provisioning, coordination,

management of defined services within the DC or Telecom Network (e.g. Virtualization)

NodeIn a network, a node is either a Connection

Point (e.g. media gateway), a distribution point (Top of Rack Switch) or an end point (Cloud

Server) for data transmissions.

ControllerManages network control plane to configure network devices, choose the optimal network

path for application traffic flows.

Source: Intel


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FlowEngine Overview

FlowEngine is a portfolio of functions for identifying, manipulating and steering IP traffic at line rate

Built around core load balancing function running on NPU

Core load balancing application isextensible with configurable derivations• MPLS edge routing forwarding plane element• Bespoke SDN switch for NFV style deployment

FlowEngine functions can be managed by CLI, OpenFlowand high-speed table update interfaces

Integration with OpenFlow and ForCES-basedcontrollers supported


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Example of SDN Table Stacking

Access Control List

Inbound Flow

External Ports

LBG[0] LBG[1] LBG[2] LBG[3]

Router Function

Port Queuing & Traffic Management Function

Backplane & RTM ports© 2014 Radisys Corporation

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Load Balancing Groups

Hash Logic B

Flow type A

Flow type A

Flow type B

Flow type B

Access Control List (ACL)

is used to determine what type of flow type an individual packet belongs to.

Hash Logic A

Field SelectorGTP tunneled IP

Field SelectorGTP TEID field LBG1

LBG2

Supports up to 4 Load Balancing Groups (LBGs) LBG selected by ACL rules Each LBG can determine load balanced target using different

key header fields• IP addresses (outer IP header)• GTP Tunnelling Endpoint Identifier (TEID)• Tunnelled IP header

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NPU

Typical SDN Handling for a New Flow

Introduces very long latency

NPU


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NPU

Controller Can Predefine Flow Rules

Controller would need to anticipate flow in advance

NPU


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Autonomous Handling of New Flows

NPU

NPU


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Table Cascade for Stateful Load Balancing


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Capacity-aware Load Balancing


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Service Function Chaining

A

CD

B


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Service Function Chaining

Industry recognises that some form of per-packet tagging is required to allow switch to properly chain functions• cf. IETF SFC drafts

However, getting agreement on a standard for such tags willprove challenging• Will impact many legacy applications from numerous vendors• Will it be the vSwitch or VNF application vendors who decide?

In short term, flexibility of a programmable NPU device isrequired to support whatever SFC tagging schemes emerge• NPU can initially apply list of SFC hops on system ingress• NPU can pop tags as packet returns from one VNF and use next

SFC tag to identify next service type


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Service Function Chaining Methods

L2 VLAN SFC-HDR L3 L4 Payload

SFC-ID SFC-ID SFC-ID SFC-ID

L2 VLAN SFC-HDR L3 L4 Payload

Counter--

L2 VLAN SFC-HDRL3 L4 Payload


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Automatic Packet Bypass

Only established flows sent to CPU resources for analysis• Failed TCP session setups and short UDP bursts bypass servers

Samples of flow sent to servers• Only every nth packet of identified flow sent to CPU resources


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Automatic Packet Bypass

Majority of traffic not sent to server resources Compute capacity of server array does not

define total system throughput


Final Thoughts and Summary



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Summary

SDN and NFV driving new platform requirements• NFV transition for control plane underway• NFV transition for data plane has

unique challenges

Load balancing and flow distribution key• Cost effective and high performance• Customizable and highly elastic to track VMs• Need more than simple switching

Specialized networking required to scale• Commercial switch silicon cannot handle all permutations• Terabit+ performance levels, deeply embedded packets etc. • 100s of millions of sessions per rack/frame/chassis


Thank You for Attending

Questions?





turbocharge the nfv data plane in the sdn era - a radisys presentation

Technology

nfv infrastructure

nfv strategies

nfv questions

barriers of nfv

data planedata plane

nfv platform solutions

load balancing flow

rtp packetsin data plane