Best Solutions Defined Networking (SDN) Solutions

The three layers of an SDN are made up of:

1. Application layer: The application layer consists of typical network applications or functions such as load balancing, intrusion detection systems, or firewalls.
2. Control layer: This layer resides on a server and acts as the “brain” of an SDN; It manages both the policies and flow of traffic throughout the network.
3. Infrastructure layer: The infrastructure layer is made up of the physical switches in the network.

SDN is important because it provides organizations with increased control, greater speed and flexibility, a customizable network infrastructure, and most importantly, robust security. With an SDN, developers can execute greater control levels over the flow of network traffic by simply programming an open software-based controller. It also lets network administrators have more flexibility when choosing networking equipment, giving them the choice to select a single protocol to use with any number of hardware devices via a central controller.

SDN is also important because it helps organizations prioritize applications that require more availability and also optimize the flow of data throughout a network. Moreover, an SDN provides complete visibility into an entire network, thus giving companies a holistic overview of security threats.

SDN is worthwhile for organizations for the many advantages it has to offer that traditional networking can’t provide.

The different models of SDN include:

1. Open SDN: To control the behavior of physical or virtual switches at the data plane level, network admins often use a protocol such as OpenFlow.
2. Hybrid SDN: This type of SDN model involves a combination of SDN with traditional networking protocols in order to support different types of functions on a network. While traditional or standard networks direct some traffic, SDNs manage other traffic to allow network administrators to gradually introduce SDN networks to legacy environments.
3. SDN by APIs: Using this model, application programming interfaces are able to control how data is transported through a network on individual devices.
4. SDN overlay: With the SDN overlay model, a virtual network runs on top of existing hardware infrastructure, creating dynamic tunnels that are used to connect to different on-premise and remote data centers. This type of software-defined networking allows a virtual network to allocate bandwidth over multiple channels but also allows you to assign specific devices to channels without ever touching the physical network.

When considering a software-defined network option, you should consider looking for some of these considerably valuable features:

• Directly manageable
• Centrally managed
• Agility
• Programmatically configured
• Vendor-neutral
• Granular security
• Lowered operating costs
• Content delivery

Among some of the most popular benefits of software-defined networking are the following:

• Directly programmable: SDNs are directly programmable because the control layer is decoupled from the infrastructure layer and from forwarding functions.
• Centralized management: With an SDN, you can maintain a global view of your organization’s network, promoting central intelligence and allowing you to centralize management.
• Agility and flexibility: SDNs allow administrators to dynamically adjust network-wide traffic flow.
• Ease of configuration and management: With an SDN, network admins can manage, configure, and secure network resources easily and quickly by using dynamic, automated SDN programs which they are able to write themselves.
• Open standards-based: SDNs can simplify network design and operation when implemented through open standards because instructions do not have to be provided by multiple, vendor-specific protocols and devices.
• Robust security: A software-defined network helps separate zones for devices, offering different levels of security so that devices do not become compromised or cause damage to the rest of a network.
• Allows data to move easily: When applications or services involve the cloud, SDNs help them function better by helping data move between distributed locations easily, which is critical for applications in the cloud.
• Supports moving workloads: With SDN, you can quickly move workloads around a network. A virtual network infrastructure can be used to shift workloads as necessary - from private to public cloud infrastructures - helping to make new customer services instantly available.
• Flexibility and scalability: A software-defined network makes it possible for admins to either remove or add virtual machines, regardless of whether or not the machines are in the cloud or on-premise, allowing any network to flex or scale as needed.