Software Defined Networking for Network Administrators

9:30 am–12:30 pm: Commonwealth Ballroom
1:30 pm–5:00 pm: Back Bay Ballroom D (LISA Lab)

Full Day
9:00 am5:00 pm
LISA16: Architecture
Description: 

The tutorial will cover topics in Software Defined Networking (SDN) in a presentation format that is oriented towards network and system administrators. SDN separates the network's control plane (the software that controls how networks from its data plane (the routers and switches in the network that forward packets).

This course will cover the aspects of Software Defined Networking that relate most closely to network operations. We will divide the course into four parts:

  1. Overview and motivation of SDN
  2. Commercial operational SDN controllers (Ryu, ODL) and switch capabilities
  3. Network virtualization technologies
  4. Network operations use cases (including SDN for the wide area, data centers, home networks, and wireless)

The after lunch portion of this class will be held in the LISA Lab.

Who should attend: 

Beginner and Intermediate Virtual Infrastructure Administrators

Take back to work: 

Attendees will take back knowledge about SDN that will help them evaluate whether it is an appropriate technology to apply in their own networks.

Attendees will better understand what SDN is, the types of problems that it can (and cannot) solve, the capabilities of current software controller platforms, and the capabilities (and shortcomings) of existing hardware switches.

The course will also include "war stories" from successful (and stunted) SDN deployments that will help attendees better evaluate the suitability of SDN for solving their own network management problems.

Topics include: 
  1. Overview and motivation of SDN
  2. Commercial operational SDN controllers (Ryu, ODL) and switch capabilities
    • Ryu
    • Open Daylight
    • An overview of hardware switch capabilities
  3. Network virtualization technologies
    • Nicira NSX
    • FlowVisor
  4. Network operations use cases (including SDN for the wide area, data centers, home networks, and wireless)
    • SDX: Software Defined Internet Exchange Points
    • SD-WAN: SDN in Wide Area Networks
    • SDN in home networks
    • SDN in data centers
Presentation Type: 
Training