Software Defined Network (SDN) is a new type of network architecture that implements separate network control and forwarding, forms a logically centralized unified controller, and then opens a software-programmable interface for service calls on the controller to achieve flexible configuration of the network. the goal of. In the cloud computing data center, providing virtual resource services is its most important technical realization, and the network is also provided as a service to customers. The network needs to provide dynamic, on-demand, isolated network environment and custom network service chain connection services for different users and applications. These are the traditional network architectures that cannot be met, and SDN was born because of this.

Speaking of SDN, I have to mention Professor Nick from Stanford University. SDN originated from the Clean Slate project of Professor Nick’s team. In 2006, the team of Professor Nick’s team first proposed a logically centralized enterprise security solution that opened the door to centralized control to solve security problems. In 2007, Professor Nick and his team members founded Nicira in Silicon Valley, the first startup in SDN history. In 2011, the Open Network Foundation ONF was born and an open network summit was held. SDN has been in existence for only ten years since its birth. The real application in the network was in 2012, and it was deployed in the data center of Google. Although SDN was not born for a long time, it has been greatly developed. SDN-related startups have sprung up. Traditional network equipment vendors have also thrown olive branches to SDN. Major data centers and network operators have launched SDN.

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Distributed enterprises can leverage the centralized management, visibility, and automation capabilities of Fortinet Security Fabric to reduce infrastructure complexity and IT performance. Fortinet’s enhanced SD-WAN includes zero-touch deployment options and new orchestration and service chain capabilities.

• Extended architecture topology visualization enables distributed enterprises to dynamically monitor physical and logical network topologies and link utilization.
• Full visibility into applications and users on the network enables IT management systems to understand traffic patterns and utilization to intelligently allocate IT resources.
• Integrated intelligent WAN link load balancing and granular health monitoring metrics enable distributed enterprises to choose the most efficient routing for critical traffic and reroute traffic when connectivity is degraded.
• The Dynamic Cloud Application Database supports hundreds of SaaS (Software as a Service) applications and dynamically updates IP addresses to improve routing efficiency and reduce IT troubleshooting.

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As SD-WAN technology matures, it has gradually entered the mainstream adoption phase. SD-WAN technology is one of Juniper Networks’ important products. From the initial CPE/uCPE to the recent SD-Enterprise products, the underlying network covers more and more parts, except for the rich CPE/GW options. In addition to greater freedom in scale, the integrated NGFW also offers a single licensing model to reduce the cost of licensing. And its availability is guaranteed to ensure that the service is stable and reliable, allowing enterprises to rely on the cloud system with peace of mind.
Strengthen the data center network to prepare for the cloud architecture

Among the entire network, the most basic is the data center switch. Juniper Networks products have entered the era of 400GbE capacity, providing customers with improved network economic efficiency and lower costs, while meeting the ever-increasing bandwidth requirements under the development of technology. The switch also supports open standards and interfaces, such as EVPN-VXLAN, to provide infrastructure modules for enterprise-class architectures, and to integrate multiple data center architectures, enabling enterprises to rapidly develop while taking into account traditional applications, simple, secure and automated. The cloudy environment is crucial.

The EVPN/VXLAN Scalable Architecture technology is built on top of the IP architecture to consolidate traditional network layers with a large spine architecture to achieve flexibility across devices, reduce latency, and interconnect multiple mutually bridged data center domains . This standard-based structural technology is supported by a robust control plane, faster convergence, and a flexible deployment model to help the data center achieve cloudy operation. VXLAN based on IP network as Underlay network only needs IP reachability between edge devices, so the dependence on the network is relatively small; and the tunnels are horizontally split, so IP overlay TTL can avoid loops. As far as virtualization is concerned, VXLAN is a virtual network built by Overlay+VNI, ​​which can support up to 16M virtual network and is more flexible to deploy from physical devices to vSwitch.

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Because SD-WAN and traditional network architecture are very different, network access becomes more and the application environment is more flexible, which brings additional challenges to its security and performance. Li Hongkai, general manager of Fortinet China, pointed out: “SD-WAN is a cross-border technology. The advantages of traditional network vendors in this field are not obvious, and users need to identify applications, security, quality of experience, performance and other aspects on a network basis. It gives Fortinet a huge opportunity. And in the traditional network architecture, security and large network design are separate, and SD-WAN turns WAN into LAN, security issues will be exposed, Fortinet directly integrates security into the underlying network. In the architecture, users do not have to think about security construction separately, so the integrated design will greatly promote the effectiveness of enterprise network security construction.”

Currently, integrated SD-WAN solutions have become a significant trend in the evolution of the networking industry. With the deployment of integrated SD-WAN solutions, users can not only gain security, scalability, performance, cost and other capabilities, but also get one-stop delivery of network capabilities, while achieving unified operation and maintenance and management, and promoting network The continuation of operation and maintenance.

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Since the beginning of the market, there has been a product that advertises a software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN). Since then, the mature and stable WAN application market seems to be bustling, and both manufacturers and newcomers have invested in the development of SD-WAN.

When it comes to products related to enterprise WANs, the first thing we think of first is routers, firewalls, and WAN Optimization. The first two are well-developed network devices, even long ago. Integration, and the WAN optimization system has also been integrated into both products.

However, by 2015, the situation began to change. On the market, products that advertised software-defined wide area networks (SD-WAN) began to appear. Since then, the mature and stable WAN application market seems to be starting to flourish again. Some manufacturers and startups have invested in the development of SD-WAN.

Extend from routers, WAN optimization, and security to SD-WAN

Some vendors that push SD-WAN have previously started with Edge Routers. For example, Cisco’s Intelligent WAN (IWAN), launched in 2013, was originally a hybrid WAN that officially spanned the software-defined WAN after mid-2015. At the same time, Cisco currently has another product line, Meraki MX. The series can be used for network and security management architecture through the cloud service platform to support SD-WAN applications.

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