Wednesday 15 January 2014

SDN & OpenFlow 102: Open vSwitch

Why Open vSwitch?

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Reference and more info at: http://git.openvswitch.org/

 

Hypervisors need the ability to bridge traffic between VMs and with the outside world. On Linux-based Hypervisors, this used to mean using the built-in L2 switch (the Linux bridge), which is fast and reliable. So,it is reasonable to ask why Open vSwitch is used.

 

The answer is that Open vSwitch is targeted at multi-server virtualization deployments, a landscape for which the previous stack is not well suited. These environments are often characterized by highly

dynamic end-points, the maintenance of logical abstractions, and (sometimes) integration with or offloading to special purpose switching hardware.

 

The following characteristics and design considerations help Open vSwitch cope with the above requirements.

 

·         The mobility of state: All network state associated with a network entity (say a virtual machine) should be easily identifiable and migratable between different hosts. This may include traditional "soft state" (such as an entry in an L2 learning table), L3 forwarding state, policy routing state, ACLs, QoS policy, monitoring configuration (e.g. NetFlow, IPFIX, sFlow), etc.

 

Open vSwitch has support for both configuring and migrating both slow (configuration) and fast network state between instances. For example, if a VM migrates between end-hosts, it is possible to not only migrate associated configuration (SPAN rules, ACLs, QoS) but any live network state (including, for example, existing state which may be difficult to reconstruct). Further, Open vSwitch state is typed and backed by a real data-model allowing for the development of structured automation systems.

 

·         Responding to network dynamics: Virtual environments are often characterized by high-rates of change. VMs coming and going, VMs moving backwards and forwards in time, changes to the logical network environments, and so forth.

 

Open vSwitch supports a number of features that allow a network control system to respond and adapt as the environment changes. This includes simple accounting and visibility support such as NetFlow, IPFIX, and sFlow. But perhaps more useful, Open vSwitch supports a network state database (OVSDB) that supports remote triggers. Therefore, a piece of orchestration software can "watch" various aspects of the network and respond if/when they change. This is used heavily today, for example, to respond to and track VM migrations.

 

Open vSwitch also supports OpenFlow as a method of exporting remote access to control traffic. There are a number of uses for this including global network discovery through inspection of discovery or link-state traffic (e.g. LLDP, CDP, OSPF, etc.).

 

·         Maintenance of logical tags: Distributed virtual switches (such as VMware vDS and Cisco's Nexus 1000V) often maintain logical context within the network through appending or manipulating tags in network packets. This can be used to uniquely identify a VM (in a manner resistant to hardware spoofing), or to hold some other context that is only relevant in the logical domain. Much of the problem of building a distributed virtual switch is to efficiently and correctly manage these tags.

 

Open vSwitch includes multiple methods for specifying and maintaining tagging rules, all of which are accessible to a remote process for orchestration. Further, in many cases these tagging rules are stored in an optimized form so they don't have to be coupled with a heavyweight network device. This allows, for example, thousands of tagging or address remapping rules to be configured, changed, and migrated.

 

In a similar vein, Open vSwitch supports a GRE implementation that can handle thousands of simultaneous GRE tunnels and supports remote configuration for tunnel creation, configuration, and tear-down. This, for example, can be used to connect private VM networks in different data centers.

 

·         Hardware integration: Open vSwitch's forwarding path (the in-kernel datapath) is designed to be amenable to "offloading" packet processing to hardware chipsets, whether housed in a classic hardware switch chassis or in an end-host NIC. This allows for the Open vSwitch control path to be able to both control a pure software implementation or a hardware switch.

 

There are many ongoing efforts to port Open vSwitch to hardware chipsets. These include multiple merchant silicon chipsets (Broadcom and Marvell), as well as a number of vendor-specific platforms. (The PORTING file discusses how one would go about making such a port.)

 

The advantage of hardware integration is not only performance within virtualized environments. If physical switches also expose the Open vSwitch control abstractions, both bare-metal and virtualized hostingenvironments can be managed using the same mechanism for automated network control.

 

In many ways, Open vSwitch targets a different point in the design space than previous hypervisor networking stacks, focusing on the need for automated and dynamic network control in large-scale Linux-based virtualization environments.

 

The goal with Open vSwitch is to keep the in-kernel code as small as possible (as is necessary for performance) and to re-use existing subsystems when applicable (for example Open vSwitch uses the existing QoS stack). As of Linux 3.3, Open vSwitch is included as a part of the kernel and packaging for the userspace utilities are available on most popular distributions.

 

 

Does Open vSwitch only work on Linux?

 

No, Open vSwitch has been ported to a number of different operating systems and hardware platforms.  Most of the development work occurs on Linux, but the code should be portable to any POSIX system.  Open vSwitch has been ported to a number of different platforms, including FreeBSD, Windows, and even non-POSIX embedded systems.

 

By definition, the Open vSwitch Linux kernel module only works on Linux and will provide the highest performance.  However, a userspace datapath is available that should be very portable

 

More Info: http://git.openvswitch.org/cgi-bin/gitweb.cgi?p=openvswitch;a=blob_plain;f=FAQ;hb=HEAD

 

 

Quick Virtualization Recap:

 

 

 

Desired Add Ins Include:

       Visibility that network administrators expect

       Higher Granularity of Control

       Scalability

 

Virtualized Networking is Different:

       A virtual switch is a software program that allows one virtual machine (VM) to communicate with another.

       A virtual switch does more than just forward data packets - can intelligently direct communication on the network by inspecting packets before passing them on.

       Some vendors embed virtual switches into their virtualization software, but a virtual switch can also be included in a server's hardware as part of its firmware.

       Hypervisors need to bridge traffic between VMs and the outside world.

       Linux-based hypervisors use built-in L2 switch (the Linux bridge), which is fast and reliable.

       So, WHY Open vSwitch ?...

Ø   Open vSwitch is targeted at multi-server virtualization deployments

 

 

 

 

Open vSwitch Design Considerations:

 

       Mobility of state: 

      Supports both configuring and migrating both slow (configuration) and fast network state between instances.

      May include an entry in an L2 learning table, L3 forwarding state, policy routing state, ACLs, QoS policy, monitoring configuration (e.g. NetFlow, IPFIX, sFlow), etc.

 

       Responding to network dynamics:

      Supports a number of features that allow a network control system to respond and adapt as the environment changes, for e.g., NetFlow, IPFIX, and sFlow

      supports a network state database (OVSDB) that supports remote triggers - used effectively to to respond to and track VM migrations

 

       supports OpenFlow for exporting remote access to control traffic.

 

       Maintenans logical tags:

       Distributed virtual switches maintain logical context within the network through appending or manipulating tags in network packets- for e.g., to uniquely identify a VM or to refer to some context which is only relevant in the logical domain

      Methods for specifying and maintaining tagging rules, all of which are accessible to a remote process for orchestration

       Supports a GRE implementation that can handle thousands of simultaneous GRE tunnels and supports remote configuration for tunnel creation, configuration, and tear-down. This, for e.g., can be used to connect private VM networks in different data centers.

 

       Hardware integration:

       Open vSwitch's forwarding path (the in-kernel datapath) is amenable to "offloading" packet processing to hardware chipsets, whether housed in a classic hardware switch chassis or in an end-host NIC. This allows for the Open vSwitch control path to be able to both control a pure software implementation or a hardware switch.

       Advantage of hardware integration:

      performance within virtualized environments.

      If physical switches also expose the Open vSwitch control abstractions, both bare-metal and virtualized hosting environments can be managed using the same mechanism for automated network control.

 

Open vSwitch Consepts:

 

       Multi-Layer Virtual Switch

       Flexible Controller in User-Space

       Fast Datapath in Kernel

       An implementation of Open Flow

       A switch contains ports

       A port may have one or more interfaces

       Bonding allows more than once interface per port

       Packets are forwarded by flow

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Basic Configuration

 

 

Basic De-Configuration

 

 

 

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Breakfast At Serengeti

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The Ngorongoro Family

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Tabloid Time: The Aliens Are a'Landing ?!.. ;-)

At the risk of being ridiculed and being labelled a freak, I shall like to draw everyone's attention to the following recent events....If you watch the videos then turn on the sound for the commentary...



Fireball across Ausin, Texas (16th Feb 2009). According to BBC, apparently, its NOT debris from a recent satellite collision...:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/7891912.stm
http://us.cnn.com/2009/US/02/15/texas.sky.debris/index.html

Same in Idaho in recent times. NO meteor remains found yet: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7744585.stm

Exactly same in Sweden: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7836656.stm?lss

This was recorded on 25th Feb 2007 in Dakota, US:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVEsL584kGw&feature=related

This year has seen three of the spookiest UFO videos surface, with people in India, Mexico and even in space, NASA, spotting things they couldn't explain: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WYRyuL4Z5I&feature=related

CHECK out this one on 24th Januray, 2009 in Argentina close to Buenos Aires:
You tube: www.youtube.com/
Press:
Press Coverage

AND Lastly, and more importantly, from Buzz Aldrin on Apollo 11 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlkV1ybBnHI

Heh?! Don't know how authentic these news are... don't even know if these are UFO's or meteors or ball lightning or something else. But, if meteors, then where are the meteorites ? However, I see no reason why life cannot exist in other planets and why they could not be sneaking around here :-) . I for one, have long suspected some of my relations to be space aliens or at least X-people from X-files :-)

I am waiting for a job on an Alien spaceship myself. :-)


Giraffes in Parallel Universe

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At Lake Manyara

Serengeti Shall Never Die

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Wildebeeste Calf starts running only 5 min. after being born. CLICK on the pitcture to view Slideshow