An article to reveal the hot and cold knowledge of SRv6, the "newcomer" of the network

IPv6, the "Speed ​​and Furious" of Next Generation Networks

The story of SRv6 starts with IPv6.

In an era of massive growth in network access devices, the transition from IPv4 to IPv6 is inevitable. As an important foundation for cloud-network-edge-end collaboration, business integration, and innovative deployment, IPv6 is rapidly rising around the world. The large-scale deployment of the next-generation Internet based on IPv6 will comprehensively accelerate the construction of new digital infrastructure such as artificial intelligence, 5G, satellite Internet, and cloud computing, and is of great significance for improving the global Internet's carrying capacity and service level.

Driven by policies and demand, the scale of IPv6 deployment in my country is accelerating. It is estimated that by the end of 2021, the proportion of IPv6 traffic in mobile networks will exceed 20%, and the scale of IPv6 traffic in fixed networks will increase by more than 20% compared with the end of 2020; by the end of 2023, the proportion of IPv6 traffic in mobile networks will exceed 50%, and the scale of IPv6 traffic in fixed networks will reach more than three times that of the end of 2020.

SRv6, the "magician" standing on the shoulders of the giant IPv6

Against the backdrop of large-scale deployment of IPv6 in China, SRv6 technology, with its design concept of massive connectivity and intelligent programmability, has paved the way for the intelligent implementation of IPv6 in wide area networks and has also found a new stage of its own.

Compared with the limited address space available for traditional WAN technologies, low resource utilization, and the inability to flexibly schedule applications, SRv6 has broken through the bottleneck of traditional WAN technology through its intelligent integration of "one-hop access to the cloud + programmable network" and achieved deep integration of applications and networks. With the accelerated deployment of IPv6, SRv6 has also ushered in huge development space and will become the mainstream technology for future network deployment.

• What is SRv6

SRv6 can be understood as a combination of big connection + intelligence + programmability . It unifies forwarding and tunneling based on IPv6 and has the characteristics of flexible deployment for applications. Among them, SRv6 is more noteworthy for its programmability, which provides strong support for the future application of intelligent IP network slicing, deterministic network, service chain, etc.

• What is the power of SRv6?

SRv6 is based on IPv6, which can meet the needs of massive device access. In addition, SRv6 has a unified control protocol, which meets the needs of extremely simple network deployment.

The segment routing attribute of SRv6 can pool WAN link resources, which can not only link applications to quickly deliver services, but also provide SLA guarantees based on applications, and flexibly adapt to customer needs;

SRv6 also has path programmability and can write SIDs on demand, making fine-grained cross-table scheduling possible and carrying more user information on the network, providing a foundation for the implementation of smarter networks.

SRv6 has been perfectly integrated with the solution, such as linking Flex Algo/FlexE/channelized sub-interfaces and other capabilities, providing network soft and hard slicing capabilities, and helping the implementation of applications such as deterministic networks. In addition, the business-based visibility and the overlay capabilities of virtual private networks provide decentralized management from the perspective of the entire network, bringing customers a different experience.

Cutting-edge SRv6 technology applications, seeing is believing

Intelligent upgrades are inseparable from innovation and implementation. At this stage, New H3C Group, a subsidiary of Tsinghua Unigroup, has launched a complete set of SRv6 products and solutions in the wide area network scenario, including intelligent AD-WAN solutions, high-performance switches and various series of routers, fulfilling its mission as a pioneer and leader in the industry.

• AD-WAN SRv6 WAN Simplified Journey:

With years of SDN R&D experience, H3C Group's latest AD-WAN 6.0 solution fully supports various SRv6-related capabilities. For example: automated service delivery solves customers' needs for rapid online deployment; intelligent path selection based on SRv6 improves WAN resource utilization; multiple traffic diversion methods meet customers' "head and tail" scheduling needs, which is more flexible and reliable; combined with various technologies such as iFIT or NQA, the entire network service is visible, management is synchronized with time, and the network situation is presented in all directions, so that applications can also experience VIP treatment; and the support of simulation traceability and AI analysis can enable customers to prevent network operations and maintenance problems before they occur and plan in the present.

On this basis, AD-WAN, based on a unified digital chassis, naturally supports the integration of campus WAN solutions. Combining the IT operation and maintenance perspective, it links business analysis with network parameters, divides problem boundaries in one stop, and gives the cause of the failure.

• H3C is serious about supporting SRv6:

At the equipment level, H3C Group has become the company with the largest number of SRv6 Ready certified products. The core routers of the CR19000, CR16000-F, and SR88 series have all passed the SRv6 test of China Telecommunication Technology Laboratory and officially obtained the "Network Equipment SRv6 Ready Test Certificate" issued by China Telecommunication Technology Laboratory. In 2020, the H3C S12500 switch completed the industry's first large-scale 400G test based on SRv6 performance, with a test density of 72 400G ports, demonstrating the industry's leading SRv6 capabilities.

SRv6 innovation is endless and network-as-a-service upgrades are dynamic

In order to further improve the level of network service, H3C Group has not stopped its innovation in SRv6. For example, the more intelligent Flex Algo capability has been implemented in the AD-WAN solution, allowing customers to flexibly optimize WAN resources based on custom algorithms, allowing customers to become intelligent helmsmen and truly experience the benefits of intelligent network innovation.

At the same time, H3C Group has worked with partners to promote the formulation of SRv6 international standards, including participating in the compilation and release of the "China Mobile G-SRv6 Technology White Paper" and completing the industry's first SRv6 header compression solution interoperability test. Currently, H3C has implemented G-SRv6 in AD-WAN and is working hard to promote the implementation of new SRv6 technologies.

Today, H3C Group has made SRv6 technology a core strategy for future network development, fully supporting SRv6 from the core to the network. H3C SRv6-related products and solutions have fully covered multiple scenarios such as data centers, campus networks, wide area networks, and cloud security, serving a wide range of industries.

In the future, based on "Cloud Native" and "Digital Brain 2021", H3C Group will continue to promote SRv6 technology innovation with its strong R&D capabilities, and work with the industry chain to promote the development of SRv6 technology standards and large-scale deployment, fully unleash the potential of transportation and computing power, and contribute to the development of intelligent networks. SRv6 brings us endless imagination, and we will wait and see the exciting stories in the future!