Layer 1 SFC with BigSwitch   In previous posts, we have tried to define what Service Function Chaining (SFC) is as well as how one can “fake” SFC at the layer 3 level. However, based on our definition of SFC we want to be moving packets from one virtual port pair to another, essentially at the...

ONAP: First Steps with NFV and Datacenter Automation Telecommunications is going through a paradigm shift. Network Function Virtualization (NFV) is the key driver behind this change. For the purposes of this blog post, NFV is an umbrella term that relates to the entire NFV ecosystem: from Infrastructure as a Service platforms (IaaS) like OpenStack, to...

Zero to ONAP in Seven Minutes The concept of Network Function Virtualization (NFV), as simple as it is, brings with it much complexity. In some respects NFV is simply taking virtualization – a technology most IT organizations are quite familiar with, and indeed is a commodity, –  and applying it to telecommunications systems. For various...

OPENCONTRAIL AND KUBERNETES Editors note: After this article was written the OpenContrail project changed its name to Tungsten Fabric. Software Defined Networking (SDN) exploded onto the scene in and around 2008, in part due to the creation and popularization of OpenFlow. While OpenFlow did not specifically cause the development of SDN, it was certainly a...

NFV MANO – OpenBaton   Certainly in the last few months the Open Network Automation Platform (ONAP) has taken the lion’s share of publicity. But there are other MANO solutions, some commercial, some open source MANO. OpenBaton is an open source MANO that has most, if not all of the required features of a MANO...

From May 21st to 24th of 2018 the OpenStack Summit was held at the beautiful, world class Vancouver Conference Center. Several IDX colleagues and I attended the conference, not only to take in talks by others but also to present research of our own. We were also fortunate to participate in the Edge mini-keynote on...

Faking Service Chains at Layer 3 In the last post we introduced the concept of Service Function Chaining (SFC). In that post we suggested that SFC occurs at the virtual port layer, somewhere around layer 1 of the OSI model. We can debate whether it is truly layer 1 or not, in part because SFC...

Introduction to Service Function Chaining Service Function Chaining (SFC), which I will describe in this post, is an important feature that arises out of Software Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV). SFC is most applicable to telecommunications companies or in security applications, but also has broader application. Currently the networking space is an...