SDN: When The Hardware Becomes A Little More Soft

I grew up in the dedicated hardware world. Switches and routers that – sure - included processors and a little bit of memory.  Devices with pretty basic operating systems that kept track of addresses to move content around on a network, making sure stuff gets to where it is supposed to go. Nothing fancy but it has worked pretty good with the build out of the internet over the past 20 years or so. 

Today, we’re seeing a pretty major shift to what people are calling Software Defined Networks (SDNs). You may have seen SDN also referred to as elastic computing and/or elastic networks. The idea with SDNs is to not just try and make the network more efficient but also make it flexible and scalable. The concept is pretty simple and SDN Central explains it pretty well:

Software Defined Networking (SDN) is a new approach to designing, building and managing networks. The basic concept is that SDN separates the network’s control (brains) and forwarding (muscle) planes to make it easier to optimize each. 

In this environment, a Controller acts as the “brains,” providing an abstract, centralized view of the overall network. Through the Controller, network administrators can quickly and easily make and push out decisions on how the underlying systems (switches, routers) of the forwarding plane will handle the traffic.

So, you’ve got a smart controller looking at the entire network including applications running on the end devices. The controller communicates with network controlling devices (switches and routers), adjusting and optimizing the network to real-time conditions. Sort of like a maître d / head waiter in a busy restaurant.

For providers (Verizon, AT&T, etc) , SDNs reduce equipment costs and allow the networks to be more efficiently controlled. These networks are optical fiber-based and that has me pretty excited with my new position at the NSF-funded OP-TEC ATE Center. 

Centralized, programmable optical networks that dynamically adjust to changing requirements. Nice. I’ll be writing more about SDN and a number of other optics based technologies in future posts.

Storage Tiering

This is another topic I’ve been reading a lot about lately.  Storage tiering uses expensive faster access drives for frequently used data and slower less expensive  access drives for older archive type data. 

Typical fastest level tiers in a data center will use an optically connected fiber channel disk array, followed by Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) attached drives, followed by Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) drives followed sometime even by tape drives. Tape drives – I know – but yes they are still used - typically to take content completely offline and store.

Mechanical drives have been historically used for the fastest tier but as prices drop and operating systems include better support , we’re seeing a lot of much faster solid state memory devices (solid-state drives (SSDs) and I/O accelerator cards (sometimes referred to as solid-state accelerators [SSAs]) used for the faster level  tiers now.

What’s the difference between a SSD and an SSA? They both basically do the same thing – the only difference is the data interface. 

• SSD’s look like a mechanical hard drive and the server operating system uses standard BIOS calls to access. 
• SSA’s are a little different and use a PCI Express (PCIe) interface. The operating system must use a unique set of software drivers specific to the SSA device being used. 

Because SSA’s use drivers that have been tuned specific to the device, they tend to be a little faster. Both SSD and SSA devices can work together on the same server.

Google Chromebook Coming Wednesday, June 15

On Wednesday, Google Chrome netbooks will start shipping. You can currently pre-order a Chrome netbook (Chromebook) at Amazon and Best Buy. The Chromebook concept was first described by Google a couple of years ago - before the iPad explosion. Here's some details on the Chromebooks shipping in the United States on June 15, 2011:

• Most have 11-12" screens and weigh a little over 3 pounds.
• They boot in 8 seconds and wake instantly from sleep mode.
• There is no license fee to the manufacturer for the operating system. In contrast, Microsoft charges $73 to a manufacturer for a Windows license.
• The devices have removable storage - Chrome supports USB memory and SD cards.
• Many of the devices will have high-definition webcams (e.g. Samsung and Acer models)
• Most manufactures are spec'ing a battery life of over 8 hours.
• Flash is supported (iPads and iPhones do not run flash).
• Wi-Fi only devices are selling for approximately $430 while Verizon 3G/Wi-Fi models are selling for $500.
• Google has created an online app store for Chrome. The store includes apps for Chromebooks and the Chrome browser (very nice - my default browser now) many of us are running on our regular computers.

Initially, running apps on a Chromebook will require online connectivity. Google says this summer they will be releasing versions of Gmail and Google Calendar that will run on the Chromebook while off-line. They are also offering app developers support to modify apps to run off-line.

The competition is heating up in the cloud space with the Apple's Lion OS X being released for $29 in July. Lion will more tightly integrate Apple PC's, iPads and iPhones using cloud based services.

Microsoft's Windows 8 is also looking interesting. It's scheduled to come out next year (2012) and has a completely new user interface, built around what we're seeing on the Windows phone now.

A Good Cloud Computing Video

I was at an excellent Tech Futures Forum event today sponsored by BATEC and CAITE at the Microsoft New England Research & Development (NERD) Center in Cambridge, MA. Edwin Guarin, Senior Microsoft Academic Evangelist gave a nice presentation on cloud computing and Windows Azure. As part of the presentation, he showed the following video:

There is a lot of confusion about what cloud computing is - this video gives a good basic and easy to understand explanation. It's only 4 minutes and 52 seconds long and worh the time to watch!

Cloud Computing Technologies Podcast

On Monday (5/2/10) Mike Qaissaunee and I recorded a podcast titled Cloud Computing Technologies. The podcast references a couple of Infoworld.com documents that we think you will find interesting:

• A short white paper written by Eric Knorr and Galen Gruman titled What does Cloud Computing Really Mean
• A 21 page document titled Cloud Computing Deep Dive Report

The Deep Dive Report breaks down cloud computing into 11 categories and goes into more detail than the shorter white paper. What's really interesting is the categories are different in each document. You can see where the confusion lies when it comes to defining what cloud computing is. Here's the 11 cloud technologies we discuss:

1. Storage-as-a -service
2. Database-as-a-service
3. Information-as-a-service
4. Process-as-a-service
5. Application-as-a-service (a .k .a . software-as-a-service)
6. Platform-as-a-service
7. Integration-as-a-service
8. Security-as-a-service
9. Management-/governance-as-a-service
10. Testing-as-a-service
11. Infrastructure-as-a-service

We also discuss the CloudCamp event (great places to get info and meet people involved in cloud technologies) we hosted at Springfield Technical Community College last month and how you can get information on CloudCamps in your area.


Here's how to listen:

To access show notes and audio of our 23 minute and 26 second audio podcast titled Cloud Computing Technologies click here.

Listen to it directly in your web browser by clicking here.

If you have iTunes installed you can subscribe to our podcasts by clicking here.

CloudCamp Western Mass Invitation

On April 20 the ICT Center and Springfield Technical Community College will be hosting CloudCamp Western Mass.

Never heard of CloudCamp? Here's some info from CloudCamp.org CloudCamp is an unconference where early adapters of Cloud Computing technologies exchange ideas. With the rapid change occurring in the industry, we need a place we can meet to share our experiences, challenges and solutions. At CloudCamp, you are encouraged you to share your thoughts in several open discussions, as we strive for the advancement of Cloud Computing. End users, IT professionals and vendors are all encouraged to participate.

We're fortunate to have some great sponsors for the event including Microsoft, TNR Global, intuit, tropo and the UMass Amherst Computer Science Department.

Here's details on the event:

Date/Time: April 20, 2010, 2:30pm-7pm

Location: 1 Federal St, ICT Center, STCC, Springfield, MA 01105 Directions

Price: Free, food will be served at registration

Who should come: Developers, managers, faculty, students, etc from Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, and surrounding states, who are working with or are interested in working with cloud technologies.

Schedule:

2:30pm Registration & Networking, Food

3:00pm Welcome and Thank yous

3:15pm Lightning Talks (5 minutes each) Sponsors TBD

3:45pm Unpanel (in the same room with lightning talks)

4:15pm Organize the Unconference Sessions

4:30pm Unconference Session 1

5:30pm Food break and Networking

5:45pm Unconference Session 2

6:45pm Wrap-up Session

The event will be technically very interesting and it will also be a great opportunity to network and connect with both national and regional high-tech people and companies.

We'll also be streaming portions of the event out to the web.

Register for the free event by following this link http://www.cloudcamp.org/westernmass/2010-04-20

If there are any questions feel free to email me at gordonfsnyder@gmail.com or call at 413-755-6552