Have you already moved to SDN network?

Today's networks are constantly changing and are more important than ever to business operations, which means that businesses need to respond and deliver core business services more flexibly and quickly.

Software Defined Networking (SDN) is a solution to this need, allowing enterprises to quickly configure new networks and deliver services from a centralized console, abstracting the underlying network infrastructure. By leveraging virtualization technology and automation, SDN can now help enterprises strengthen hyper-converged infrastructure and modern data centers.

SDN brings great benefits in abstracting lower-level functions, however, it also brings some problems in daily network operations. The move to SDN is undoubtedly a necessary move, but what happens after the initial configuration and deployment and when the operations team takes over the operation of the network? Let's take a look at the difficulties they face and how enterprises can speed up operations to ensure a better transition to SDN.

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Abstraction is a double-edged sword

For SDN, abstraction is a key benefit because it minimizes complexity, but only if the network can run smoothly. However, any IT expert knows that networks often do not run stably. In the era of hybrid networks, SDN architecture is combined with traditional MPLS networks. The complexity of the old infrastructure still exists, and combined with SDN infrastructure, it creates a more complex environment.

For example, a data center can run hundreds of applications, and a single configuration can create a network mess. By defining an SDN overlay structure for application flows and abstracting network-level complexity (showing how routers, firewalls, and load balancers connect and how traffic flows), it becomes more challenging to identify the underlying problem when a problem occurs. Is it a configuration error? If so, which part? Is it a server problem? Is there a firewall in the path blocking traffic? Is there a problem with the application or the network? Abstraction makes these questions difficult to answer.

It's like Windows and Linux. Windows is easy to use because it abstracts the operating system into a nice GUI that the user sees. Linux is like an open box and you can drill down into the details. However, if something goes wrong in Windows, it's hard to know what went wrong - maybe the problem is somewhere in the stack in the registry. With Linux, you can see the entire stack. While SDN abstraction can hide complexity during network configuration and deployment, it brings complexity to ongoing operations. It's a double-edged sword.

The need for end-to-end visibility

This is where end-to-end network visibility is critical. When it comes to SDN, network teams need to abstract visibility into the application-centric world and balance it with the deep visibility required for the network-centric world. Unfortunately, it is nearly impossible for network teams to quickly and easily visualize their hybrid environments with current mapping technologies. For example, in a recent NetBrain survey, 87% of network engineers relied primarily on manual technologies (such as Microsoft Visio) to create and update network diagrams. Even worse, 58% of engineers said network diagrams are out of date by the time they are created.

This is where automation comes in. By automating the network discovery and mapping process, enterprises can gain visibility into hybrid infrastructure by better understanding the combination of interfaces and firewalls configured for specific applications. In a hybrid environment, path visualization becomes murky, but automated discovery and network mapping can help engineers gain clear path visibility, including from non-SDN environments to SDN environments.

Shift to flexible network operations

In addition to end-to-end visibility, automating network operations is critical when moving to SDN. Without this automation, network teams will need to manage complex networks through the CLI (command line interface), which is painful and inefficient. In our survey, 43% of engineers said that troubleshooting through the CLI takes too much time, and this is for traditional networks. With SDN, it is even more complicated. For example, knowing how groups of endpoints are connected to each other through SDN architectures, firewalls, and load balancers, and manually troubleshooting on a scenario-by-scenario basis is like finding a needle in a haystack.

Given the dynamic nature of SDN and the scale it provides, automated processes such as network diagnostics and troubleshooting are more important in hybrid environments than in traditional network environments. This also allows enterprises with a good SDN strategy to automate network documentation and troubleshooting at the same time to improve visibility and efficiency. In addition, by deploying these automated processes or security information and event management systems, network engineers can further visualize and diagnose Angler problems without human intervention. This is truly agile network operations.

Open your horizons

It won’t be long before moving to SDN is no longer an option, and end-to-end network visibility will be a key enabler of this transformation to help enable more streamlined troubleshooting and operations across physical and logical environments. However, the industry has largely turned a blind eye to these needs. The current focus on SDN is still mainly around configuration and deployment automation, which is very important and provides more flexible network services, but it does not solve the real pain points that engineers face every day. The best enterprises are not just thinking about configuration and deployment, they are starting to move to the operations behind it, where managing daily operations across SDN and non-SDN environments is the most critical.