{"id":883,"date":"2012-08-22T08:24:00","date_gmt":"2012-08-22T08:24:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2024-03-08T09:36:46","modified_gmt":"2024-03-08T17:36:46","slug":"software-defined-networking-enabled-in-windows-server-2012-and-system-center-2012-sp1-virtual-machine-manager","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/windows-server\/blog\/2012\/08\/22\/software-defined-networking-enabled-in-windows-server-2012-and-system-center-2012-sp1-virtual-machine-manager\/","title":{"rendered":"Software Defined Networking, Enabled in Windows Server 2012 and System Center 2012 SP1, Virtual Machine Manager"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #808080;background-color: #ffffff\"><strong>Unlocking Network Flexibility, Efficiency, and Multi-tenancy for the Cloud<\/strong><\/span><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p>We are very excited about the promise of <strong>Software Defined Networking<\/strong> (SDN) for enabling automation, flexibility, and reliability in the multi-tenant cloud.\u00a0 Traditionally the control plane of networking has been proprietary, resulting in datacenter environments that are unable to respond effectively to the dynamically changing needs of today\u2019s cloud workloads.\u00a0 By enabling network control via software, we give customers the ability to configure and reconfigure their networks to match the changing requirements of their workloads, without compromising multi-tenant isolation and performance that would be expected from traditional networking.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Windows Server 2012\" href=\"http:\/\/technet.microsoft.com\/en-us\/library\/hh801901\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Windows Server 2012<\/a> and System Center 2012 SP1, Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) enable everyone to take advantage of the power of SDN in your datacenters.\u00a0 Our integrated solution provides unparalleled automation, flexibility, and control.\u00a0 The solution supports scalability for even the most mission-critical deployments.\u00a0 At the same time, we provide a standards-based and open platform that is supported by a rich partner ecosystem.\u00a0 Best of all, everything you need to deploy SDN is built right into these products, so you do not need to acquire separate management tools or product licenses.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, these attributes of our SDN solution did not come about by accident.\u00a0 Windows Server 2012 builds on our years of experience running massive datacenters for properties such as Hotmail, Bing, and Windows Azure.\u00a0 This foundation of experience is why we can confidently say that Windows Server 2012 is the first operating system specifically built for the Cloud \u2013 for enabling the public, private, and hybrid cloud.<\/p>\n<p>In this post, we introduce Software-Defined Networking and talk about its origins within our own datacenters.\u00a0 We then discuss how Windows Server 2012 and VMM deliver an end-to-end SDN solution and how partners are extending the solution.\u00a0 We then discuss our own experience using SDN and how you can get started deploying this exciting technology today.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #3366ff\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: small\">What Is Software-Defined Networking (SDN)<\/span><\/strong><\/span><br \/>\nTraditionally, networks were defined by their physical topology, how the servers, switches, and routers were cabled together.\u00a0 That meant that once you built out your network, changes were costly and complex.\u00a0 Certainly, this type of networking is simply not compatible with the notion of a lights-out datacenter or a cloud environment that needs flexibility to support varying workload demands.<\/p>\n<p>With Software Defined Networking (SDN), software can dynamically configure the network, allowing it to adapt to changing needs.\u00a0 An SDN solution can accomplish several things:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Create virtual networks that run on top of the physical network.\u00a0 In a multi-tenant cloud, a virtual network might represent a tenant\u2019s network topology, complete with the tenant\u2019s own IP addresses, subnets, and even routing topology.\u00a0 Through SDN, virtual networks can be created dynamically, and they can support VM mobility throughout the datacenter while preserving the logical network abstraction.<\/li>\n<li>Control traffic flow within the datacenter.\u00a0 Some classes of traffic may need forwarding to a particular appliance (or VM) for security analysis or monitoring.\u00a0 You may need to create bandwidth guarantees or enforce bandwidth caps on particular workloads.\u00a0\u00a0 Through SDN, you can create these policies and dynamically change them according to the needs of your workloads.<\/li>\n<li>Create integrated policies that span the physical and virtual networks.\u00a0 Through SDN, you can ensure that your physical network and endpoints handle traffic similarly.\u00a0 For example, you may want to deploy common security profiles, or you may want to share monitoring and metering infrastructure across both physical and virtual switches.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In summary, SDN is about being able to configure end hosts and physical network elements, dynamically adjust policies for how traffic flows through the network, and create virtual network abstractions that support real-time VM instantiation and migration throughout the datacenter.\u00a0 This definition of SDN is, in fact, broader, than the definition currently used by many industry players who only focus on configuration of physical network elements.\u00a0 Our broader SDN definition includes programmability of end hosts, enabling end-to-end software control in the datacenter.\u00a0 Our definition also supports real-time changes in response to VM placement and migration.\u00a0 As we will see below, the integration of VM management and network control is important to facilitate automation and reliability in large-scale datacenters.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #3366ff\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: small\">Origins of Software Defined Networking<\/span><\/strong><\/span><br \/>\nAs mentioned above, we at Microsoft have years of experience running massive datacenters for properties such as Bing, Hotmail, and Windows Azure.\u00a0 This experience taught us several important principles about datacenter network design:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Automation is critical:\u00a0 We have found that the vast majority of network outages arise because of human error.\u00a0 Networks need to be configured and managed in an autonomous fashion.<\/li>\n<li>Multi-tenancy demands network flexibility:\u00a0 In environments such as Windows Azure, customers expect to have <a title=\"easy ways to on ramp their workloads\" href=\"http:\/\/msdn.microsoft.com\/en-us\/library\/windowsazure\/jj156007\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">easy ways to on ramp their workloads<\/a>.\u00a0 They don\u2019t want to change IP addresses or other network settings in order to move to the cloud.\u00a0 The cloud needs to be able to give each tenant the illusion of a dedicated network, even though it is shared by multiple tenants.\u00a0 Interestingly, we have found the need for multi-tenancy even in single-=use datacenters.\u00a0 For example, we often need to run a production SharePoint environment as well as a test SharePoint deployment simultaneously within the same datacenter.\u00a0 As much as possible, our test deployment needs to mirror the production deployment, but it is critical for the test deployment to use its own Active Directory and DNS infrastructure.\u00a0 Of course, we don\u2019t want to deploy physically separate servers for the production and test environments\u2014that would be unreasonably expensive!<\/li>\n<li>Centralized control drives simplicity and reliability:\u00a0 In our experience, virtual machine placement needs to be driven from a central management entity that understands workload needs, hardware capacity, and virtual networks.\u00a0 This manager drives policies to the end hosts and, therefore, is also best positioned to coordinate the network changes required to support that VM placement.\u00a0 This approach reduces the possibility of policy inconsistency in the network, reduces delays associated with propagating SDN policies, and simplifies configuration and management.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In fact, based on this datacenter experience, our colleagues in Microsoft Research <a title=\"published seminal work\" href=\"http:\/\/research.microsoft.com\/apps\/pubs\/default.aspx?id=80693\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">published seminal work<\/a> defining new ways to create virtual and physical networks.\u00a0 This effort heavily influenced our approach to SDN in Windows Azure and Windows Server and in fact, was the foundation for much of the SDN work being done across the industry.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #3366ff;font-size: small\"><strong>An End-to-End Solution in Windows Server 2012 and System Center 2012 SP1, Virtual Machine Manager<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\nWindows Server 2012 and VMM provide an end-to-end SDN solution for public, private, and hybrid clouds.\u00a0 By building all the pieces as part of a solution\u2014the hypervisor, the SDN control surface on the end host, and the management software\u2014we ensure a set of seamless experiences for datacenter administrators.\u00a0 All of the solution components work together to provide the most scalable and flexible platform for the cloud.<\/p>\n<p>Our SDN approach consists of several different capabilities.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Hyper-V Network Virtualization\" href=\"\/b\/windowsserver\/archive\/2012\/04\/16\/introducing-windows-server-8-hyper-v-network-virtualization-enabling-rapid-migration-and-workload-isolation-in-the-cloud.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Hyper-V Network Virtualization<\/a> delivers network flexibility for the cloud by providing the ability to create multi-tenant virtual networks on a shared physical network.\u00a0 Each tenant gets a complete virtual network, including multiple virtual subnets and virtual routing.\u00a0 (Some network virtualization solutions out there assume the tenant only has a single subnet!)\u00a0 On each host, Hyper-V uses dynamically updatable SDN policies to associate a tenant network and properly direct traffic to the destination. The SDN policy also determines which VM\u2019s these tenant VM\u2019s are allowed to communicate with, providing the requisite isolation.\u00a0 As a result, Hyper-V Network Virtualization allows tenant workloads to be placed anywhere in the physical datacenter.\u00a0 Tenant networks even can use private IP addresses (which might overlap with addresses used by other tenants), allowing tenants to rapidly migrate their existing workloads to the cloud by bringing their own IP addresses.\u00a0 In fact, Windows Server 2012 supports interoperable cross-premise connectivity, so you can seamlessly link your subnets in the public cloud back to your local network.<\/p>\n<p>VMM plays a key role in automating configuration of SDN policies for Hyper-V Network Virtualization.\u00a0 In VMM, you define and create tenant virtual networks as needed.\u00a0 Note that because these networks are defined entirely in software, no reconfiguration of the physical network is needed.\u00a0 VMM takes care of placing VM workloads and applying the necessary SDN policies to the hosts to create those virtual networks.\u00a0 By applying VM placement decision and the SDN policy updates together, VMM provides a high degree of automation and centralized control, in keeping with our datacenter experience.\u00a0 In addition, this integrated control plane speeds up policy distribution, reducing downtime and enabling more flexible VM placement and optimization.<\/p>\n<p>Our SDN solution is further enabled through rich traffic control policies on the Hyper-V virtual switch.\u00a0 On a per-VM basis, you can configure security policies that limit the types of traffic (and destinations).\u00a0 You can reserve bandwidth to particular VMs, ensuring that mission-critical services can always access necessary network capacity.\u00a0 You can even apply bandwidth caps, allowing you to avoid traffic starvation or enforce a variety of charging models.\u00a0 What\u2019s more, these network control policies are dynamic, so they can be adjusted in real-time.<\/p>\n<p>VMM allows customers to unify the individual virtual switches on each Hyper-V host in the datacenter into a distributed logical switch that is dynamically programmed with SDN traffic control policies.\u00a0 For example, you can define a profile for a set of VMs.\u00a0 That profile might include the security and bandwidth controls that should be applied.\u00a0 As it brings VMs up, VMM automatically programs the host virtual switch with the appropriate profile.\u00a0 The profile moves from host to host as the VM is migrated.\u00a0 The administrator is essentially defining a single logical datacenter switch, with VMM automating deployment of per-host and per-VM policies, ensuring consistency of SDN policies, and (as we have seen before) providing central control.<\/p>\n<p>With Windows Server 2012, we are excited to introduce the Hyper-V Extensible Switch.\u00a0 The switch provides a platform through which our partners can extend SDN policies within the switch.\u00a0 In fact, one of the most common use cases for this extensibility is to integrate the virtual switch with the rest of the physical network infrastructure. A unique aspect of this extensibility is that multiple partners can extend the switch at the same time.\u00a0 For example, InMon has built an extension that allows traffic monitoring to be done on the Hyper-V switch in the same way it is done on physical switches.\u00a0 Another partner, NEC, has integrated the Hyper-V switch with their OpenFlow controller.\u00a0 The NEC OpenFlow controller defines exactly how traffic from the source VM to the destination VM should be routed through the network; NEC solution is completely compatible with Hyper-V Network Virtualization, which defines the origin and destination VMs within the virtual network.\u00a0 The NEC solution allows for easy configuration of virtual appliances such as load balancers, intrusion detection systems, and network monitoring solutions.<\/p>\n<p>VMM handles the lifecycle and configuration of Hyper-V switch extensions.\u00a0 In fact, these switch extensions essentially become part of the SDN language that VMM speaks to Hyper-V.\u00a0 As VMs migrate across the datacenter, VMM and Hyper-V ensure that state information associated with the switch extension is also migrated to the new host.\u00a0 VMM ensures that the destination host has the switch extensions required by the guest VM or tenant network.\u00a0 This level of seamless extensibility is unique to the Hyper-V \/ System Center SDN solution.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, our end-to-end solution recognizes that Hyper-V hosts are not the only components of a datacenter network.\u00a0 VMM is able to dynamically provision key network elements such as load balancers, site-to-site VPNs, and Hyper-V Network Virtualization gateways.\u00a0 At the end of the day, SDN is about end-to-end automation, flexibility, and control throughout the data center.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #3366ff;font-size: small\"><strong>Built for Partners, Built with Partners<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\nOur SDN solution is, from the ground up, designed with partners in mind.\u00a0 It is open and flexible, allowing partners to offer value added capabilities.\u00a0 Moreover, the SDN solution supports a close relationship between software and hardware.\u00a0 Even though it is software-driven, SDN needs to take advantage of capabilities provided by network cards, switches, and routers.<\/p>\n<p>We disagree with many in the industry who say that SDN should \u201ccommoditize\u201d the network infrastructure.\u00a0\u00a0 In our view, SDN should provide the automation, flexibility, and control to allow you easily to take advantage of the capabilities of the infrastructure.\u00a0 In fact, SDN should create new innovation opportunities for network hardware.\u00a0 Customers can only benefit from new innovations across their datacenter.<\/p>\n<p>Within our SDN solution, we have already touched on how partners can build extensions for the Hyper-V Extensible Switch.\u00a0 In fact, multiple extensions can co-exist in the hypervisor switch, and they can all work in tandem with our other SDN elements, Hyper-V Network Virtualization and rich traffic control policies.\u00a0 We support our partners with certification tests, interoperability plug fests, development tools, and close engineering support.<\/p>\n<p>This spirit of partner cooperation is evident throughout our SDN solution.\u00a0 Hyper-V Network Virtualization builds on IETF standard protocols (Generic Routing Encapsulation, or GRE), and together with partners from a variety of network silicon and switch manufacturers, we have <a title=\"published guidance\" href=\"http:\/\/www.ietf.org\/id\/draft-sridharan-virtualization-nvgre-01.txt\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">published guidance<\/a> on how GRE enables network virtualization.\u00a0 This standards-based approach means that network cards and network switches can support and accelerate tenant logical network traffic.\u00a0 In fact, our design includes tenant ID information in the packet, enabling network equipment to do tenant-specific accounting, policy control, or advanced processing.<\/p>\n<p>Our open approach has enabled several partners to announce solutions that work with Hyper-V Network Virtualization.\u00a0 For example, nAppliance and IVO Networks have both announced plans for network appliances that provide Hyper-V Network Virtualization gateways.\u00a0 Stay tuned for more partner announcements shortly!<\/p>\n<p>In addition, VMM supports pluggable interfaces, allowing it to configure arbitrary load balancers, site-to-site VPNs, and network virtualization gateways.\u00a0 VMM can therefore interoperate with other SDN solutions or network control servers.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #3366ff;font-size: small\"><strong>Production Tested, Production Used<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\nAs we have discussed, our SDN solution grew out of our experience running large datacenters and cloud services.\u00a0 Needless to say, we have been able to validate our solution in these environments.\u00a0 Within Microsoft, we are running a large, multi-tenant private cloud used for several mission-critical workloads.\u00a0 Hyper-V Network Virtualization is in active use within that cloud today, orchestrating communication for tens of thousands of VMs running on over 4000 physical hosts.\u00a0 As you might expect, our SDN algorithms and protocols are in active use within the Windows Azure datacenter, supporting our Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) offering that was <a title=\"announced last month\" href=\"http:\/\/blogs.msdn.com\/b\/windowsazure\/archive\/2012\/06\/06\/announcing-new-windows-azure-services-to-deliver-hybrid-cloud.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">announced last month<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, throughout the development of Windows Server 2012 and VMM, we have been working closely with enterprise and hoster customers to validate and deploy our SDN solution.\u00a0 Many of these customers are already running production services using these cloud components.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #3366ff;font-size: small\"><strong>Ready for You \u2013 and Built Right In!<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\nSoftware Defined Networking (SDN) holds the promise to revolutionize cloud networks by bringing a new level of automation, flexibility, and control to the network environment.\u00a0 As we have seen, our SDN approach takes an integrated, end-to-end view which brings simplicity, performance, and reliability to the solution.\u00a0 At the same time, we have built our solution using open standards and pluggable interfaces.\u00a0 Just as important, we have been developing a rich partner ecosystem, so you can integrate best-of-breed capabilities across the industry with Windows Server 2012 and System Center 2012 SP1, Virtual Machine Manager.<\/p>\n<p>Most important, all of the tools you need to deploy Software Defined Networking are built right in to Windows Server 2012 and System Center 2012 SP1, Virtual Machine Manager.\u00a0 You do not need to buy separate management tools or acquire separate product editions.\u00a0 Windows Server 2012 and System Center 2012 SP1, Virtual Machine Manager deliver the best value for public, private, and hybrid clouds.<\/p>\n<p>With the <a title=\"Release to Manufacturing (RTM)\" href=\"\/b\/windowsserver\/archive\/2012\/08\/01\/windows-server-2012-released-to-manufacturing.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Release to Manufacturing (RTM)<\/a> and <a title=\"impending launch\" href=\"http:\/\/msft.it\/wslaunch\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">impending launch<\/a> of Windows Server 2012, our SDN solution is ready for you to deploy.\u00a0 We are looking forward to hearing about your experiences building public, private, and hybrid clouds on our SDN platform.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #3366ff;font-size: small\"><strong>Appendix: Some Resources for Getting Started with SDN<\/strong><\/span><br \/>\n<a title=\" Windows Server&amp;reg; 2012 Hyper-V Network Virtualization Survival Guide\" href=\"http:\/\/social.technet.microsoft.com\/wiki\/contents\/articles\/11524.windows-server-2012-hyper-v-network-virtualization-survival-guide.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Windows Server\u00ae 2012 Hyper-V Network Virtualization Survival Guide<\/a> helps you get started deploying SDN and network virtualization in your datacenter.<\/p>\n<p>The <a title=\"Hyper-V Network Virtualization Overview\" href=\"http:\/\/technet.microsoft.com\/en-us\/library\/jj134230\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Hyper-V Network Virtualization Overview<\/a> gives you a technical overview of the feature and how it works.<\/p>\n<p>The Internet RFC titled <a title=\"NVGRE: Network Virtualization using Generic Routing Encapsulation\" href=\"http:\/\/www.ietf.org\/id\/draft-sridharan-virtualization-nvgre-01.txt\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NVGRE: Network Virtualization using Generic Routing Encapsulation<\/a> gives you the details behind the packet encapsulation format Hyper-V network virtualization uses for virtualizing network traffic.<\/p>\n<p>The <a title=\"Hyper-V Extensible Switch article\" href=\"http:\/\/msdn.microsoft.com\/en-us\/library\/windows\/hardware\/hh598161(v=vs.85).aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Hyper-V Extensible Switch article<\/a> gives you an architectural overview about Hyper-V switch extensions.\u00a0 You can also learn about <a title=\"Writing Hyper-V Switch Extensions\" href=\"http:\/\/msdn.microsoft.com\/en-us\/library\/windows\/hardware\/hh598305(v=vs.85).aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Writing Hyper-V Switch Extensions<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The blog article about Cloud Datacenter Network Architecture describes how you can put everything together in order to build a cloud that uses SDN.<\/p>\n<p>Sandeep K. Singhal, GM, Windows Networking<\/p>\n<p>Vijay Tewari, Principal Group Program Manager, System Center Virtual Machine Manager<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Unlocking Network Flexibility, Efficiency, and Multi-tenancy for the Cloud\u00a0 We are very excited about the promise of Software Defined Networking (SDN) for enabling automation, flexibility, and reliability in the multi-tenant cloud.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":742,"featured_media":20663,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"msxcm_post_with_no_image":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_classifai_error":"","_classifai_text_to_speech_error":"","footnotes":""},"post_tag":[140,23,386],"product":[],"content-type":[964],"solution":[1000],"coauthors":[943],"class_list":["post-883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-hyper-v","tag-windows-server","tag-windows-server-2012","content-type-updates","solution-networking","review-flag-1593580427-982","review-flag-alway-1593580309-789","review-flag-anywh-1593580317-261","review-flag-integ-1593580287-252","review-flag-inter-1593580291-276","review-flag-new-1593580246-692","review-flag-partn-1593580283-870","review-flag-vm-1593580805-84"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - 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