ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the southbound and northbound openness of the software-defined networking (SDN) controller in a Data Center, applicable to interconnections with multiple service platforms and network devices. To ensure that all layers and devices can collaborate with each other to complete Data Center Network (DCN) tasks, unified standards (protocols) and interfaces must apply for interconnections, and full openness from the controller layer to forwarder layer is required for an open DCN ecosystem. The chapter discusses the openness of the controller and forwarder. Openness of interconnection with a cloud management platformAs an SDN component, the cloud management platform deploys, runs, and manages virtual and physical network applications on the cloud. The SDN controller uses standard application programming interfaces as defined by the OpenStack community, and it interconnects with the OpenStack cloud management platform by adding plug-ins to OpenStack’s Neutron component. DCN solutions involve the cloud platform/application layer, controller layer, and forwarder layer.
