{"id":29596,"date":"2019-10-18T12:51:50","date_gmt":"2019-10-18T11:51:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/?p=29596"},"modified":"2019-10-25T10:15:52","modified_gmt":"2019-10-25T09:15:52","slug":"embracing-the-changing-network-landscape-with-sdn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/2019\/10\/18\/embracing-the-changing-network-landscape-with-sdn\/","title":{"rendered":"Embracing the changing network landscape with SDN"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

From less than half a billion dollars in 2013 to an expected US$14 billion by 2021, the global market for Software-defined Networking (SDN) is currently one of the fastest-growing in the ICT sector. But unlike more appealing technology such as Artificial Intelligence and data analysis, Ian Jansen van Rensburg, Senior Systems Engineer at VMware, says it is not getting the recognition it deserves.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At its most basic, SDN is\na network management approach more akin to cloud computing than to the plugging\nin and setting up of routers. As the name suggests, it is about using a\nsoftware-first approach to enable more dynamic network configurations to\nimprove performance and monitoring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flexibility<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not only does this\nsoftware-first approach result in centralised network provisioning, it offers\nadministrators a more holistic way of viewing enterprise management. With SDN\nproviding the capabilities to manage both the physical and virtual switches and\ndevices linked to a network, managers can more readily test various\nconfigurations without negatively impacting the network itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also enables network\nsetup to be faster and more agile than the traditionally limited (or rather\nconfined) approach of the past. And even though there is still some debate on\nwhether SDN delivers cost-savings, it certainly does provide for better\nsecurity across application and endpoint levels that free up a significant\namount of resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Removing complexity<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the most\nsignificant changes SDN provides is in the fact that it removes the reliance on\nhardware appliances. Instead, it delivers a more virtual experience to users.\nOf course, physical access points will always be required but their management\nand configurability will be enhanced with a software-based view that makes\nupgrades as easy as the scalability offering by cloud data centres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By giving\nadministrators the ability to manage the entire organisational unit as a single\nentity, aspects such as fault-finding, service optimisations and adapting\nnetwork requirements to specific user needs becomes as easy as the \u2018flicking\u2019\nof virtual switches in a dashboard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This also facilitates a\nmore vendor-neutral approach as SDN is, generally speaking, focused on open\nstandards. With no vendor lock-in, companies can easily swop out problematic\nnetwork devices (both physical and virtual) with no negative impact on\nperformance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forward-thinking<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

SDN comes down to\narming organisations with the platform to pro-actively manage any potential\nissues on the network. Changes can be done in real-time on a more pin-point level\nwithout taking the entire network down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And thanks to how SDN\ncollects data around network traffic, it also simplifies identifying threats\nand compromises. These can be isolated from the rest of the network and curb\nbefore more significant damage is done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even though its\npotential is significant, make no mistake that the transition to this dynamic\nnetwork environment will not be easy. It requires a fundamentally different way\nof viewing network management and must have the buy-in of management to have a\nhope of being successful. Even so, its benefits and agility provided for a more\nconnected environment makes it an organisational priority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How VMware is using SDN<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Network Virtualisation\ntechnology takes SDN to the next level by truly decoupling network resources from underlying\nhardware. In much the same way that server virtualisation emulates a physical\nserver within soft\u00adware, network virtualisation emulates the components of\nnetwork and security services in software. In this way, the virtualised network\nis provisioned and managed independent of your hardware. Physical networking\ndevices simply become vehicles to forward packets.    
\n
\nSmarter security with software-first approach<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a traditional hardware-first approach,\napplication security is bolted on after the fact. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Networks must guess what the application needs,\nwhich can lead to security gaps. A software-led approach based on VMware\nNSX builds security into your network and applications from the start -and\npositions you for a whatever comes next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Software-Defined Storage (SDS) <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

VMware\u2019s SDS strategy is to evolve storage architectures through the pervasive hypervisor, bringing to storage the simplicity, efficiency and cost-savings that server virtualisation brought to compute. SDS abstracts the underlying storage through a virtual data plane, making the VM, and thus the application, the fundamental unit of storage provisioning and management across heterogeneous storage systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By creating a flexible separation between applications and available resources, the hypervisor can balance all IT resources\u2014compute, memory, storage and networking\u2014needed by an application.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Ian Jansen van Rensburg, Senior Systems Engineer at VMware<\/strong> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

VMware\u2019s Software-Defined Storage solutions enhance\ntoday\u2019s data centre by delivering:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • Per-application storage\nservices<\/strong>: SDS applies at the VM level, allowing storage\nservices to be tailored to the precise requirements of an application and\nadjusted as needed on a per-application basis, without affecting neighbouring\napplications. Administrators are in complete control of which storage services,\nand therefore costs, are consumed by which application<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
    • Rapid changes to storage\ninfrastructure<\/strong>: SDS uses a dynamic and non-disruptive model, just\nas in compute virtualisation. IT admins can precisely match application demand\nand supply at the exact time the resources are needed. Storage services become\nfluid\u2014a little more for this application now, a little less for that one later<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
      • Heterogeneous storage\nsupport<\/strong>: SDS lets you leverage existing storage solutions,\nsuch as SAN and NAS, or direct attached storage on x86 industry-standard\nhardware. With industry standard servers, the backbone of Hyperconverged\nInfrastructure, IT organisations can design low-cost and scalable storage\nenvironments that easily adjust to specific and ever-changing storage needs.<\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        From less than half a billion dollars in 2013 to an expected US$14 billion by 2021, the global market for Software-defined Networking (SDN) is currently one of the fastest-growing in the ICT sector. But unlike more appealing technology such as Artificial Intelligence and data analysis, Ian Jansen van Rensburg, Senior Systems Engineer at VMware, says […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":29597,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4950,182,46,328,6,275,38,183,13,262],"tags":[386,294,41,8589,157,2277,215,7993,1070,1734,94,6777],"class_list":["post-29596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-analysis","category-cloud","category-data-centres","category-features","category-insights","category-intelligent-technology-newsletter","category-networking","category-software","category-top-stories","category-used","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-cloud-computing","tag-data-centres-2","tag-ian-jansen-van-rensburg","tag-ict","tag-network-virtualisation","tag-sdn","tag-sds","tag-software-defined-networking","tag-software-defined-storage","tag-vmware","tag-vmware-nsx"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29596"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29596\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29763,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29596\/revisions\/29763"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}