Software Defined Networking: Advantages, Architecture, and Products

Learn about the advantages, architecture, and products of Software Defined Networking (SDN) in this comprehensive guide. Discover how SDN can improve network performance, enhance security, and reduce costs. Explore popular SDN products like SD-WAN and HYCU. Get insights into the architecture of SDN and its components. Find out how SDN is revolutionizing the networking industry.

Windows User
[COMPANY NAME] [Company address]
Software Defined Networking

Abstract
Information communication technology has become a necessity in the daily functioning of
companies and individuals. With these technologies there has been a development in the
network requirement that needs to be met, these include; reliable accessibility, high
network bandwidths and furthermore effective management of the network. The
traditional methodologies, such as manual configurations and monitoring have proven to
be error-prone and thus lack the ability to satisfy the current users' requirements.
Advancement in the field of Information Technology has also invented technologies that
are meant to counter the challenges in manual maintenance of network processes. The
ability to do real-time monitoring and tools has contributed to more advanced technologies
in the field of cloud model; these are Network Function Virtualization and Software Defined
Networking (SDN). SDN technology is used to change how the network system functions. In
addition, it can also be implemented in data centers networks and data centers.

Table of Contents
Abstract...................................................................................................................................................1
Introduction.............................................................................................................................................3
Purpose...................................................................................................................................................3
Description..............................................................................................................................................4
What is SDN?.......................................................................................................................................4
SDN Architecture.................................................................................................................................4
SDN Components.................................................................................................................................6
Pros & Cons: 5 Advantages & 5 Disadvantages........................................................................................6
Product 1: SD-WAN (Software- Defined Wide-Area network).................................................................8
Product 2: HYCU......................................................................................................................................9
Comparison...........................................................................................................................................10
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................11
Referencing...........................................................................................................................................11

Introduction
The current applications have network requirements that are effective and efficient, this
has been contributed with the introduction of technologies like computer virtualization.
The network devices that are present in the network have been configured with IP
addresses, the addition of an extra device into the network is seemingly difficult. The use of
old methods to manage and maintain this network has become tedious thus the need for
introducing Software Defined Networking (Chou, Luo and Lin, 2015).
The basic functionality of the SDN is to offer a solution to the encountered challenges. The
structure of the SDN, that is an aggregated and centralized control panel, help in solving
these challenges. The core activity is that it distinguishes the control panel and the data
panel, thus offering the ability to program the control panel.
Software Defined Networking is a networking framework that was implemented to allow
programming the network; this is with the desire of ensuring that it was much easier to
introduce new devices or applications, as well as increasing the network performance
(Jarschel, Zinner,, Hoßfeld,, Tran-Gia, and Kellerer, 2014).
Purpose
The report below gives the definition of the Software Defined Networking. This is in
reference to its architecture and its implementation in the current industry. There are
three major uses or advantages that come with implementing SDN technology, they include
(Nadeau, Thomas, and Ken Gray , 2013):
For security purposes
It has made it possible for the network administrator to secure their network from a
centralized position. Thus securing the resources within a network system, mostly where
virtualization has been implemented
Hardware usage
The use of the SDN technology has transformed the usage of hardware facilities since the
network administrators can assign functions to active hardware thus enhancing the
effectiveness of the hardware tools.
Centralization

The major advantage of using SDN technology is that it gives the administrator an effective
environment to manage the network. This is made possible since it offers a centralized
node from where the admin can monitor and control the network.
Description
What is SDN?
The SDN is a network technology that has enhanced functionality that facilitates the agility
and flexibility of a network system. Its main purpose was to ensure that the network
systems will be able to adapt and meet the users' requirements. With the use of SDN
technology, a network administrator or engineer can configure the network components
directly from a centralized console without necessarily having to physically change any of
the tools (Rothenber, Nascimento, Salvador,Corrêa, Cunha de Lucena and Raszuk, 2012).
This technology was a replacement of the traditional methods that dictated that network
devices could only perform their function based on their configurations from the routing
table.
SDN Architecture
This is a description of the interrelationship between the software and networking system
in implementing SDN into a network. The previous model of SDN had both the data plane
panel and the control panel packaged in reference to the dealer’s preferences, either as one
code or several codes based on the vendor (Rowshanrad, Namvarasl, Abdi, Hajizadeh and
Keshtgary, 2014).
In 2008, the first SDN separation scheme has introduced, this determined the techniques in
which the control panel and the data plane panel would be separated, both using the
OpenFlow Protocols.
The operation of splitting these two panels, to form independent panels is known as
disaggregation. This makes it possible for the panel to be created separately, thus much
simpler than when developing both the panels as a single component (Sezer et al, 2013).
The architecture is made up of three-layer, the advantages of these layers are that it offers a
better view of the network system from the controller. The three-layer include:

SDN Application layer
This is a group of software applications that deliver information on the characteristics of
the network and the resources that may be required. This is facilitated with the use of
Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). In additions, the information gather by the
software application can be represented in abstract forms that give valuable information
that can be used to make decisions. In relation to security, the applications can be
configured to identify and raise alerts for malicious activities. Other operations that can be
performed by this layer include:
 Network management
 Network analysis
 Running data centers
SDN Controller layer
It is also considered as the logical entity of the SDN, this is because it receives information
on the requirement that needs to be addressed for the network to function at optimum.
This information originates from the SDN application layer to the Networking component
of the network. This layer is also involved in retrieving data from the network devices and
later transmitting it to the application layer for interpretation.
SDN Network end Device
This is the last layer of the SDN architecture and it is involved in the routing and channeling
of data through the data paths.
Common terms that are used in relation to the SDN architecture include southbound and
northbound. The southbound referring to the relation between the control layer and the
hardware component layer, whereas the northbound is the relation between the middle-
controller layer and the upper- application layer.
The diagram below demonstrates the structure of the Software Defined Networking.

SDN Components
Pros & Cons: 5 Advantages & 5 Disadvantages
Pros
The advantages brought about by the implementation of SDN include:
1. Centralization- the use of SDN in a facility offer a centralized station that the network
can neb monitored, this aspect makes it more favorable to manage the network and also
offer to provision (Shin, Xu, Hong and Gu, 2016, August). This will, in turn, increase the
agility and speeds in which services are delivered.
2. Holistic management- the network of enterprises have adopted new software
equipment such as software and virtual machines. With the use of SDN, the IT
personnel are at liberty to perform several tests without affecting the network.
Different from the SNMP, SDN gives one the ability to monitor and manage the virtual
and physical switches and other network gargets from a single node in the network. In

additions, the SDN grants a universal API to develop management consoles for the
devices in the network.
3. Advanced security- the other advantage that comes with implementing the SDN into a
network is that it offers security protocol that helps strengthen the security of a
network system. With the use of computer virtualization, the instalment of firewalls as
a security protocol has become difficult to implement. This challenge is addressed with
the security measures that are in implementing SDN.
4. Reduced costs of operations- the cost of operation used in processes such as ensuring
efficiency, improving the server utilization and other operations have been simplified
with the use of SDN, this has, in turn, cut the cost that was incurred to carry out this
processes through automation
5. The abstraction of cloud resources- the use of cloud services has become important,
with the use of Software Defined Networking on Cloud will help perform cloud
abstraction, thus reducing the complexity in unifying its resources. All the data centers
that can be stored in the cloud can be managed by SDNs.
Cons
Despite the advantages that come with the implementation of Software Defined
Networking, there can also be challenges. From the report, there are several gathering and
mentions of these challenges. They include:
1. The SDN gives the user the ability to do automation through programming. In the
instance where the network problem has not been solved, the introduction of the SDN
will not be fruitful. Thus a requirement that an organization first solve its network
problem before implementing the SDN.
2. The use of SDN has been compromised with the lack of its compelling use to the use
cases and also from the poor vendor methodologies. The vendors have been adopting
SDN names for their products, thus rendering unsatisfactory services.
3. The lack of the business to identify the software and requirement that are meant for
SDN environment is also a challenge. In the instances where the SDN does not have the
required applications in its ecosystem, it causes an underutilization of the technology.

4. Poor management- the introduction of this technology into an organization needs a
restructuring of the organization management. In the instance where the current
organization is not able to manage the system effectively, it causes a system failure.
5. Security against outside threats; despite the internal attacks from authorized, the SDN
can experience attacks from external attacks. Similar to traditional attacks such as
Denial of Service Attacks, the attacks can focus their attack on a single SDN controller;
their pertinent aim being to overload it and cause it to shut down. Once the SDN is
down, they can successfully access the system to perform their attacks.
Product 1: SD-WAN (Software- Defined Wide-Area network)
This is one of the recent and among the popular application that has made use of Software
Defined Networking technology. It can be used in fields of Wide area networks such as:
 Broadband internet
 LTE
 4 G
 And MLPS
This can be deployed in areas such as data center and branch office; mostly where there is
a large range in geographical locations.
The WAN product can be implemented so as to connect branches to the main office, this is
over a distance (Wickboldt, De Jesus, Isolani, Both, Rochol and Granville, 2015). The
previous model of WAN had to use proprietary hardware for it to function but the
improvement in the SD-WAN enabled functioning through the use of the internet or even
cloud-native private networks (Kim & Feamster, 2013). The functioning of the SD-WAN
product is highly dependent on the following key pillars:
 Elastic Traffic Management
 WAN Virtualization
 Edge Connectivity Abstraction
 Policy-Driven, Centralized Management

The SD-WAN product comprises of three products that have different results. The
architecture is dependent on the environment in which it is to be implemented. Thus the
architectures vary in price and functionality. They include:
1. Premises-based
2. Internet-based SD-WAN
3. MPLS-based SD-WAN
Product 2: HYCU
This is a product that makes used of the SDN technology and it was purposely designed as a
security protocol for the Nutanix Enterprise; specifically for the cloud platform. On the
Nutanix cluster, it runs as an intelligent virtual machine. The network administrators
upload the appliance images to the HYCU for information backup. This method is more
reliable and faster to back up data into the clouds. In order for one to use this application,
they need to configure it through the console.
This application has the capabilities of identifying VMs running application in a system and
back up their data in the cloud; an example of this is the VMs running the SQL servers.
Apart from that, it has a function of data recovery that can recover personal data up to a
specific point in the system (Gordeychik, Kolegov, & Nikolaev,2018). These functions make it
suitable for the administrator to back up data and to successfully recover data in the case
where they have experienced a fault or the system has crashed.
Analysis
Apart from other application and protocols that can be used for data protection, it is
important to note that the HYCU application has vast advancements. It offers a definite and
effective data protection protocol that offers a hypervisor-agnostic service to a system.
Furthermore, it is more reliable since its control over the console is much easier compared
to other products.
It is important that the purchasers of this application note that it is only effective with an
equally powerful and effective secondary backup system. Based on the analysis done on the
use of this application, it is recorded that it is more effective when used hand in hand with
ExaGrid under the Nutanix environment.

 Below are the key features that exist in using the HYCU product.
 Regardless of the VM’s operating system that is used in the virtual machine, the
HYCU can effectively recover it.
 This application can operate both in the Windows and Linux operating systems.
 It has functions that can help in identifying a range of resources such as; Active
Directories, exchange and SQL servers.
 The users of HYCU are not limited to the backup sites; they can also use other
Nutanix clusters i.e. Azure, Scality and Amazon Web Services.
 It is very simple to use compared to other sophisticated product with similar
functionalities.
 It is able to operate with other partner products such as hardware and software,
thus increasing the scope of its resources and security facilities.
 The system has a policy that protects it.
Comparison
The SD-WAN architecture is most suitable for an environment that has a location factor
between them; this is generally for companies that have branch offices that are not in the
same geographical region (Vdovin, Likin, & Vilchinskii, 2014). This is different from the HYCU
that is not suitable for connections over a distance.
Both the SD-WAN and the HYCU product offer services such as reducing the cost of
networking and offering a mode of network administration through a centralized control
node. The SD-WAN has multiple architectures compare to the HYCU products, these
include; Premises-based, Internet-based SD-WAN and MPLS-based SD-WAN.
Both the product have a simple interface that makes it easier to control the network, this
makes their usability more simple compared to traditional methods of network
administration. It is import to note that the SD-WAN is a product that is limited to the Cisco

company, thus cannot be compatible with the majority of the other networking resources,
be it hardware or software. This is quite different from the HYCU product, the product is
mostly compatible with other partner organization-products. This aspect makes the HYCU
have a larger scope of operation compared to the SD-WAD.
It is therefore crucial that before an institution determines the products to use in Software
Defined Networking, they should understand the scope of the company. This will ensure
the success of the system since the product sourced will have the capabilities of meeting
the requirement of the organization.
Conclusion
Based on the growth in information technology, it is essential for a company or individual
to ensure they are up to date. From the above report, it is clear that as much as the security
threats are becoming more sophisticated and thus the need to deploy better measure. This
is not only restricted to ensuring security but also in deploying better network handling
techniques. The future of networking is in Software Defined Networking. In order for on to
acquire the best application, it is necessary that the company first identify the best
application suited to their activities.

Referencing
Chou, W., Luo, M. and Lin, K., FutureWei Technologies Inc, 2015. System and
apparatus of generalized network controller for a software defined network
(SDN). U.S. Patent 8,982,727.
Gordeychik, S., Kolegov, D., & Nikolaev, A. (2018). SD-WAN Internet Census. arXiv preprint
arXiv:1808.09027
Jarschel, M., Zinner, T., Hoßfeld, T., Tran-Gia, P. and Kellerer, W., 2014. Interfaces,
attributes, and use cases: A compass for SDN. IEEE Communications
Magazine, 52(6), pp.210-217.
Kim, H., & Feamster, N. (2013). Improving network management with software defined
networking. IEEE Communications Magazine, 51(2), 114-119
Nadeau, Thomas D., and Ken Gray , 2013. SDN: Software Defined Networks: an
authoritative review of network programmability technologies. 52(6), pp.210-
217.
Rothenberg, C.E., Nascimento, M.R., Salvador, M.R., Corrêa, C.N.A., Cunha de Lucena,
S. and Raszuk, R., 2012, August. Revisiting routing control platforms with the
eyes and muscles of software-defined networking. In Proceedings of the first
workshop on Hot topics in software defined networks (pp. 13-18). ACM.
Rowshanrad, S., Namvarasl, S., Abdi, V., Hajizadeh, M. and Keshtgary, M., 2014. A
survey on SDN, the future of networking. Journal of Advanced Computer
Science & Technology, 3(2), pp.232-248.
Sezer, S., Scott-Hayward, S., Chouhan, P.K., Fraser, B., Lake, D., Finnegan, J., Viljoen,
N., Miller, M. and Rao, N., 2013. Are we ready for SDN? Implementation
challenges for software-defined networks. IEEE Communications
Magazine, 51(7), pp.36-43.
Shin, S., Xu, L., Hong, S. and Gu, G., 2016, August. Enhancing network security
through software defined networking (SDN). In 2016 25th International

Conference on Computer Communication and Networks (ICCCN) (pp. 1-9
IEEE.
Vdovin, L., Likin, P., & Vilchinskii, A. (2014, October). Network utilization optimizer for SD-WAN.
In 2014 International Science and Technology Conference (Modern Networking
Technologies)(MoNeTeC) (pp. 1-4). IEEE.
Wickboldt, J.A., De Jesus, W.P., Isolani, P.H., Both, C.B., Rochol, J. and Granville, L.Z.,
2015. Software-defined networking: management requirements and
challenges. IEEE Communications Magazine, 53(1), pp.278-285.