Exploring Private Cloud Pipes

Grazed from NetworkComputing. Author: Joe Onisick.

There’s very little argument when discussing the need for change in traditional data center networking to support private cloud–most all agree it’s required. The real discussion typically focuses around how to implement that change. Concepts such as open APIs, SDN, OpenFlow, VXLAN and fabrics are all discussed as the solution. In some cases they may all be right, as they each have merit.

The main problem with traditional networking is its static configuration. Quality of Service is a prime example: QoS provides traffic prioritization for frames on the network. In order to do this, frames must be classified, tagged and prioritized. In current implementations, this is done on a switch-by-switch basis and must be maintained consistently across the network in order to provide the desired effect…

This cumbersome, error-prone management system isn’t conducive to cloud scale. Cloud systems provide rapid deployability for new services; this will be crippled by manual network configuration. The network will need to provide adaptability that matches or exceeds the rest of the infrastructure. Additionally, the network must provide the tools for multi-tenancy, allowing disparate services, groups and customers to coexist on the same physical infrastructure…

Read more from the source @ http://www.networkcomputing.com/private-cloud-tech-center/exploring-private-cloud-pipes/240007619