How to ensure a successful SDN deployment
Software-defined networking (SDN) is a way to centrally control physical and virtual network devices, including routes, switches and gateways, in a datacenter. The aim of the idea is to provide networks with greater agility, speed and security. Regardless, many companies are flummoxed by the concept. Hardware parts from various vendors need to function with an overlay of SDN software, which can complicate deployment. With these considerations in mind, here are some tips to consider for a successful SDN deployment.
Deflect network capacity problems
Although virtualization can deploy new services swiftly, it produces a significant amount of overhead that has to be managed frequently. This typically occurs during on-demand resource allocation situations. Once the demand has faded, IT departments forget to de-provision the additional resources, which strains network capacity. Companies should free up resources for every SDN deployment once there is no longer a demand for provision resources.
Resolve performance monitoring
SDN is still a budding architecture, meaning several network performance monitoring solutions are not completely ready for the software. A performance monitoring system that checks what is new in the network only once a day can create significant performance visibility gaps. What is needed is performance monitoring solutions equipped with Application Program Interfaces (APIs) in the SDN network, which can accommodate the addition of new services.
Ensure quality of service (QoS)
Ensuring network QoS is a challenge. Each vendor for a piece of network equipment determines QoS settings in advance, which can create incompatibility issues with other devices with different QoS settings. Network administrators who provide constant services need a basic QoS standard to operate effectively. The same issue arises within SDN networks. Organizations would benefit from penning and reinforcing a set of rules tailored for every SDN use case.
Leverage SD-WAN
Among all the software-defined strategies in use today, software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) is arguably the most pervasive. With SD-WAN, network engineers have greater flexibility in how they run WAN networks paths. In addition to making adjustments to network paths in real time automatically, bandwidth and QoS policies can be adjusted based upon the pulse of WAN interconnections.
Prepare for security threats
SDN security has a good and bad side. In traditional networking, the devices would work together to determine the best path for all the network users. Firewalls would have to be built to process insecure interactions between the connections. With SDN, valid routes can be defined to thwart route connections that to do not reflect the connection policies. On the other hand, security is contingent upon how the controller is implemented. If the controller is compromised, so is the entire network. Proper practices are imperative to security; otherwise, threats can undermine the benefits of the software. Companies ought to look for a high availability solution that can provide their desired level of security.
Businesses can only enjoy the benefits of SDN if they know how to deploy it. By following the noted tips, users can circumnavigate some of the issues that accompany switching to the architecture. For a bird’s eye understanding of SDN, click here.
