Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) - Open Networking Foundation

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) OPEN NETWORKING FOUNDATION (ONF) Q. What is ONF? A. The Open Networking Foundation (ONF) is a user-driven organization dedicated to the promotion and adoption of Software Defined Networking (SDN) through open standards development. Q. Why would I want to join ONF? A. ONF members have an unprecedented opportunity to shape the future of networking by promoting the development and commercialization of SDN. ONF membership also includes benefits such as royalty-free access to the OpenFlow™ Standard and early access to emerging standards, frameworks, and use cases. Q. How much does it cost to join ONF? A. Annual Member dues are $30,000. This membership allows access to all member company employees, plus a wide range of benefits. ONF also welcomes a select group of academic thought leaders to participate free of charge. Q. What is ONF currently doing to move SDN forward? A. ONF continues to do everything in our power to make SDN a commercial reality that meets customer needs. We are paving the way for interoperable solution development by developing open standards such as the OpenFlow Standard and the OpenFlow Configuration and Management Protocol Standard. We are also helping to improve time-to-market and integrate testing with the OpenFlow Standard by creating test and integration standards, and hosting periodic PlugFests. View one of our solution briefs to see the business and technical deployment opportunities in a wide range of markets, including enterprise data center, public/hybrid clouds, and carrier software-defined networks.

SOFTWARE DEFINED NETWORKING (SDN) Q. What is SDN? A. SDN is an emerging network architecture where network control is decoupled from forwarding and is directly programmable. Communication between the control and data forwarding planes of supported network devices is structured by the OpenFlow Standard. Migrating control from individual network devices into accessible computing devices enables the underlying infrastructure to be abstracted for applications and network services, which can treat the network as a logical or virtual entity. The result is an extremely dynamic, manageable, cost-effective, and adaptable architecture that transforms traditional network backbones into rich service delivery platforms. Q. What are the benefits of SDN? A. The OpenFlow Standard and software-defined networks enable network administrators to address the high-bandwidth, dynamic nature of today’s applications, adapt the network to ever-changing business needs, and significantly reduce operations and management complexity. Additional benefits include centralized control of multi-vendor environments, reduced complexity through automation, a higher rate of innovation, increased network reliability and security, more granular network control, and a better user experience.

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Q. How do I transition my network to a software-defined network? A. There are two primary methods: • You can implement SDN in a new network deployment. This gives you the opportunity to deploy network equipment that is compliant with the OpenFlow Standard end-to-end to realize immediate benefits. Google used this approach with great success. • You can integrate SDN into an existing network by adding products that are compliant with the OpenFlow Standard to increase programmability, service agility, and operational efficiency while leveraging existing investments. NTT, for example, rolled out software-defined networking services using switches that are compliant with the OpenFlow Standard in a hybrid network. And NEC solutions based on the OpenFlow Standard have been enabled in a wide range of implementations, including Nippon Express and Genesis Hosting. Q. Is anyone actually using SDN today? A. Yes! ONF has fostered a vibrant ecosystem around SDN that spans application developers, software companies, systems and semiconductor manufacturers, and computer companies, plus a variety of end users. OpenFlow Switches are already being incorporated into a number of infrastructure designs, both physical and virtual, as well as SDN controller software. Companies with successful software-defined network implementations include NTT Communications, Google, and Deutsche Telekcom. Throughout 2013 we expect to see even more product commitments and interest from a variety of service providers. Q. What are the roles of physical and virtual switches in SDN? A. An OpenFlow Standard domain in a software-defined network can include both physical and virtual switches, all controlled through the OpenFlow protocol from a logically centralized controller.

OPENFLOW Q. What is the OpenFlow Standard? A. The OpenFlow Standard is the first standard communications interface defined between the control and forwarding layers of an SDN architecture. The OpenFlow Standard allows direct access to and manipulation of the forwarding plane of network devices such as switches and routers, both physical and virtual (hypervisor-based). It is the absence of an open interface to the forwarding plane that has led to the characterization of today’s networking devices as monolithic, closed, and mainframelike. No other standard protocol does what the OpenFlow Standard does, and a protocol such as the OpenFlow protocol is necessary to move network control out of networking switches to logically centralized control software. Software-defined networks based on the OpenFlow Standard are currently being introduced in a variety of networking devices and software, delivering substantial benefits. Q. How does the OpenFlow Standard relate to SDN? A. SDN is an architecture that lets administrators use software to define how data flows through a network. The OpenFlow Standard is the foundational protocol for SDN. It is an open, standard protocol that enables SDN by giving administrators software-based access to the flow control tasks managed by switches and routers in a traditional network architecture.

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Q. Are products that are compliant with the OpenFlow Standard available today? A. Yes! To date, ONF Member companies have shipped more than 64 OpenFlow Standard products with more than 30 million OpenFlow-enabled ports. Q. Can I build an SDN without the OpenFlow Standard? A. You could, but you probably wouldn’t want to. Proprietary alternatives to the OpenFlow Standard lock you into vendor-defined solutions and pricing. The OpenFlow Standard is the only standard protocol that provides communication between the control and forwarding functions. It is a vital element of an open SDN architecture. Q. How do SDN and the OpenFlow Standard relate to Network Function Virtualization (NFV)? A. Network Function Virtualization (NFV) is a European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) group that was formed to investigate virtualizing Layer 4 through Layer 7 functions as an alternative to using high-cost, purpose-built appliances. The NFV architecture is complementary to SDN, and several ONF members are working with the NFV group to ensure that the OpenFlow Standard supports Layer 4 through Layer 7 virtualization.

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