The second release of Atrium, an open SDN software distribution from The Open Networking Foundation (ONF), extends support for the OpenDaylight platform into the Atrium software router.
Specifically, the router in the new Atrium release is built on the OpenDaylight framework and controls OpenFlow hardware switches using Quagga’s open-source implementation of the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), a control plane protocol for Internet routing. The most important features of Atrium’s first release, namely flow objectives and device drivers, are implemented in the OpenDaylight Device Identification and Driver Module (DIDM) that allows the router to work across multiple different OpenFlow v1.3 hardware pipelines. The work on this portion was contributed almost entirely by Criterion Networks and Wipro. Hardware from NoviFlow interoperates with the OpenDaylight implementation of Atrium, with additional vendors to follow.
This release of Atrium also improves the ONOS version (Atrium 2015/A) by improving scalability and stability and by adding experimental support for the Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP), following interoperability demonstrations and testing in AsiaPac, Europe, and North America. Performance and scale test contributors include Criterion Network Labs (CNLabs) and improvements to the basic router have come from ON.Lab.
In addition, this version of Atrium includes a new feature called the Leaf-Spine Fabric. This is the first Layer 2/3 Clos network fabric built in open source, on Open Compute Project (OCP) hardware, and with SDN principles and notable contributions from ON.Lab, Broadcom, and Accton. The Atrium fabric is designed to scale up to 16 racks, using well-established design principles of Layer 3 down to the Top of Rack (ToR) switch, where packets from Layer 2 are switched within a rack and Layer 3 routed across racks. The fabric is set for a field trial with a major operator soon, as part of the Central Office Re-architected as Data Center (CORD) project with ON.Lab.
“In this release of Atrium, the porting to OpenDaylight provides a large and vibrant community with a new vehicle for adopting open SDN,” said Bithika Khargharia, director of Product and Community Management for the Open Networking Foundation and principal architect of Solutions and Innovation at Extreme Networks. “ONF is actively creating an ecosystem and the architecture needed to assist network operators to more easily build custom solutions and allow vendors to take advantage of common building blocks, reducing their development costs and improving interoperability.”
“We are excited by this latest Atrium release incorporating OpenDaylight as we strive to make the adoption of open SDN broader and easier,” said Dan Pitt, executive director of the Open Networking Foundation. “Application developers seek portability across various control planes and we hope this sets an example of how it can be done. I am especially grateful to our members Criterion Networks and Wipro for undertaking this porting, and to the OpenDaylight community for their collaboration and support.”
“Including OpenDaylight integration within Atrium 2016/A provides greater opportunities for operators and vendors to adopt open SDN architectures,” said Neela Jacques, executive director of OpenDaylight. “The increase of open SDN projects within the industry through community contributions shows that the industry is on the right path to accelerating commercial adoption of open SDN. We look forward to continued collaboration with ONF as the industry evolves its approach to open, programmable networks enabled by open source SDN.”
http://www.opensourcesdn.org
ONF Readies Atrium Open SDN Software Release
The Open Networking Foundation (ONF) announced its "Atrium" open SDN software distribution, integrating previously standalone open source components.Atrium, which will be released by the end of the month, incorporates the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP), the Open Network Operating System (ONOS), and Open Compute Project (OCP) components. The software elements run in either controllers or switches, communicating via the OpenFlow protocol, and include plugin opportunities for other switching solutions to help foster an open ecosystem of interoperable, hardware-based OpenFlow switches.
Atrium 2015/A components include:
- Documentation for installation, configuration, and operation
- A snapshot of ONOS verified to work with the white-box software stack as well as other vendor switches that have provided a driver for their pipeline
- A BGP peering application that runs on ONOS and includes the Quagga BGP stack
- A collection of OpenFlow v1.3 device drivers in ONOS, meant for talking to vendor equipment with different hardware pipelines
- Indigo OpenFlow client together with Open Network Linux and OFDPA for the OCP white-box switches
- Mininet with the use of Open vSwitch (OVS) to emulate the hardware pipelines of the switches involved; (hardware pipelines represent a sequence of match-action tables in an OpenFlow switch)
- Full testing suite for functionality test
https://www.opennetworking.org
