On layer 2 networks, high availability can be achieved by:
- antique protocols, like the Spanning Tree Protocol,
- proprietary protocols, like Juniper’s virtual chassis, Cisco’s virtual port channel and other MC-LAG implementations,1
- standardized protocols, like Shortest Path Bridging Protocol or TRILL, or
- the underlying network (in the case of an overlay network, like VXLAN).
The BIRD project aims to develop a fully functional dynamic IP routing daemon primarily targeted on (but not limited to) Linux, FreeBSD and other UNIX-like systems and distributed under the GNU General Public License.
BGP Tools, BGP Software, BGP Utilities
The BGP swiss army knife of networking
Open Routing, OpenR, is Facebook's internally designed and developed routing protocol/platform. Originally built for performing routing on the Terragraph network, its awesome design and flexibility have led to its adoption in other networks at Facebook including our new WAN network, Express Backbone.
VXLAN is an overlay network to encapsulate Ethernet traffic over an existing (highly available and scalable, possibly the Internet) IP network while accomodating a very large number of tenants. It is defined in RFC 7348. For an uncut introduction on its use with Linux, have a look at my “VXLAN & Linux” post.
VXLAN is an overlay network to carry Ethernet traffic over an existing (highly available and scalable) IP network while accommodating a very large number of tenants. It is defined in RFC 7348.
Starting from Linux 3.12, the VXLAN implementation is quite complete as both multicast and unicast are supported as well as IPv6 and IPv4. Let’s explore the various methods to configure it.
The installation of the Openvswitch on Ubuntu brings an automatic integration into the boot sequence. When Ubuntu is booted, the Openvswitch is also started. Any bridge or port, which has been defined in previous sessions, is restored.
BUT: No L3 interfaces are set up, junk interfaces, which have been defined in previous sessions, are restored.
Once a packet arrives as a particular CloudFlare data center we want to ensure it gets to a server that can correctly handle the request. There are four key tasks that CloudFlare's servers perform: DNS, proxy, cache, and logging. We tend to follow the Google-like approach and deploy generic, white-box servers that can perform a number of different functions. (Incidentally, if anyone is interested, we're thinking of doing a blog post to "tour" a typical CloudFlare server and discuss the choices we made in working with manufacturers to design them.) Since servers can fail or be overloaded, we need to be able to route traffic intelligently around problems. For that, we return to our old friend Anycast.
Open Networking Solution are based on open standard, bare-metal hardware with a choice of independent open software for NOS (Network Operating Systems), SDN, virtualization, and cloud orchestration. For years, hyper-scale data center operators have been enjoying the benefits of Open Networking Solution: reduced network equipment expenses, automated and accelerated provisioning of network capacity and services, greater control over the development of enhanced network services, flexibility to work with best-in-class suppliers, and reduced operating expenses.
These Open Networking benefits are now available for many more networking use cases. Public and private cloud data centers of all sizes are being deployed with network fabric built from open leaf and spine switches. Edgecore Networks offers choices of hardware to meet open network deployment, from 1G, 10G, 25G and 40G, to 100G.
Open vSwitch is a production quality, multilayer virtual switch licensed under the open source Apache 2.0 license. It is designed to enable massive network automation through programmatic extension, while still supporting standard management interfaces and protocols (e.g. NetFlow, sFlow, IPFIX, RSPAN, CLI, LACP, 802.1ag). In addition, it is designed to support distribution across multiple physical servers similar to VMware's vNetwork distributed vswitch or Cisco's Nexus 1000V.