Inter-connection automation for OF@TEIN multi-point international OpenFlow islands

Abstract

In realizing futuristic services with agility, testbed environments that provide converged computing/networking resources based on SDN (Software-Defined Networking) and CC (Cloud Computing) are becoming important. Following this trend, OF@TEIN OpenFlow-enabled SDN testbed environment is built with internationally-distributed unique SmartX Racks. In this paper, to automate the multi-point L2 inter-connections of OpenFlow islands, we design and implement a configuration tool for NVGRE (Network Virtualization using Generic Routing Encapsulation) tunneling. The proposed tool manages the desired topology by leveraging the OVSDB (Open vSwitch Database) configuration interface for OpenFlow switches. With the implemented tool and appropriate admin/user privilege management, we can quickly inter-connect the multi-point international OpenFlow islands while letting users to freely control (i.e., tag/steer/map) their own flows for experimentation.

SmartX Box: Virtualized Hyper-Converged Resources for Building an Affordable Playground

“…SmartX Rack consists of four devices: Management & Worker node, Capsulator node, OpenFlow switch, and Remote power device. Physically LAN-connected SmartX Racks were inter-connected by L2 (layer 2) tunnels, employed in Capsulator nodes as described in detail in this work [6]. However, SmartX Racks with multiple devices were subject to physical remote re-configurations, which are extremely hard to manage for distributed OF@TEIN Playground.…”

Flow-centric Visibility Tools for OF@TEIN OpenFlow-based SDN Testbed

“…Also, OpenFlow-enabled NVGRE tunnels are expanded to support full-mesh connections from both GIST and MYREN sites. These inter-connection tunnels, supported by Open vSwitch [2] inside hyper-convergent (i.e., integrating compute/storage/ networking) SmartX Boxes, are monitored and maintained by virtualized networking management software [3], which now uses OpenDaylight SDN controller.…”