Brocade has further cemented its position as the provider of Software-Defined Networing (SDN) and reiterated it’s commitment to the New IP with the release of the Brocade® Flow Optimizer application and NetIron® OS 5.9 software for Brocade MLX® Series routers.
In the New IP, the Brocade® Flow Optimizer application allows enterprises to proactively increase network efficiency, improve resource utilization, mitigate network attacks, and significantly reduce network congestion.
The Brocade® Flow Optimizer is an open and agile policy-based Software Defined Networking (SDN) solution that detects and manages large Layer 2 through Layer 4 traffic flows in service provider and enterprise networks. Customers using the Brocade Flow Optimizer can enable policies to mitigate certain Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks.
Based on built-in or customer-defined policies, customers can identify malicious traffic flows and take the appropriate actions at the edge of the network, whether it’s dropping, rate limiting, remarking, or redirecting the malicious traffic flows. Customers can also use the Brocade Flow Optimizer to define specific policies, and in turn control specific application traffic. The policy describes the profile of the application traffic, such as the source IP address and UDP/TCP port address, and the minimum amount of traffic required to trigger the policy and the action to take when the policy is triggered.
Yet another use case is the ability for customers to mirror the traffic for a given application to a separate specific port that is connected to an analytics application. This SDN-based use case offers a significant advantage, especially as higher-speed connections such as 40 Gigabit and 100 Gigabit ports are being used more, when compared to traditional methods based on port mirroring or port span.
Customers can now mirror the traffic related to a single application of interest versus the entire traffic on a given port. This reduces the time needed to access very specific data as well as the traffic requirements of the analytics appliances, which in turn, reduces CapEx and OpEx, and the upfront costs that include capacity licenses.
The Brocade Flow Optimizer application is supported on the Brocade MLX® Series Routers as well as the Brocade ICX® Switches for campus environments. The application comes with a Web-based Graphical User Interface (GUI) that provides simple profile configurations and a detailed view of the dashboard and associated settings. Additionally, programmable REST APIs facilitate configuration, operational and analytical IT DevOps automation for customized integration into existing network environments and cloud orchestration systems.
“Between the growing shift to cloud based workloads, exponential increase in network traffic due to Big Data and increasing vulnerability to network attacks such as DDoS, arguably, two of the biggest challenges facing enterprises today is the ability to manage network performance and security. The Brocade Flow Optimizer, the latest in a long line of Brocade SDN solutions, can be seamlessely integrated into the network and provides customers extremely high levels of network management, visibility, programmability and automation,” said Yarob Sakhnini, regional director, MEMA at Brocade.
Brocade also announced the rollout of a new OS for it’s line of MLXe routers that provides the latest OpenFlow features. This new NetIron® OS 5.9 software when used in parallel with Brocade’s industry-leading VersaScale™ programmable forwarding architecture and the Brocade Flow Optimizer, will allow enterprises to improve visibility over network traffic and simplify forwarding control.
Brocade’s open SDN architecture is a low-risk and modular solution that consists of the Brocade Flow Optimizer application, Brocade SDN Controller, Brocade MLXe routers, and Brocade ICX® campus switches. This unique approach to SDN means organizations can now use standards-based protocols, such as OpenFlow, OpenDaylight-based SDN controllers, and open APIs for integration with third-party orchestration systems. With Brocade Hybrid Port technology, traditional forwarding and OpenFlow traffic are simultaneously supported on the same port. This allows organizations to start their journey to the New IP immediately, seamlessly introducing SDN into their existing networks while protecting current investments.
Brocade Solution Features and Benefits
•Provide real-time network visibility with policy based detection and management of large Layer 2 through Layer 4 traffic flows
•Improve overall customer experience with proactive traffic engineering and eliminate network congestion
•Avoid expensive network failures and service interruptions as a result of large Layer 2 through Layer 4 volumetric traffic attacks
•Gain real-time event logging and traffic statistics using a simple and userfriendly, Web-based Graphical User Interface (GUI)
•Easy integration with third-party cloud orchestration systems with the support of REST APIs
•Supports multiple aggregated 200 GB flows simultaneously, enabling data centers to handle large volumes of traffic flows
