SDN and NFV Simplified: A Visual Guide to Understanding Software Defined Networks and Network Function Virtualization

A Visual Guide to Understanding Software Defined Networks and Network Function Virtualization

The simple, visual, at-a-glance guide to SDN and NFV: Core concepts, business drivers, key technologies, and more!

SDN (Software Defined Networks) and NFV (Network Function Virtualization) are today’s hottest areas of networking. Many executives, investors, sales professionals, and marketers need a solid working understanding of these technologies, but most books on the subject are written specifically for network engineers and other technical experts. SDN and NFV Simplified fills that gap, offering highly visual, “at-a-glance” explanations of SDN, NFV, and their underlying virtualizations.

Built around an illustrated, story-telling approach, this answers the questions: Why does this technology matter? How does it work? Where is it used? What problems does it solve?

Through easy, whiteboard-style infographics, you’ll learn: how virtualization enables SDN and NFV; how datacenters are virtualized through clouds; how networks can also be virtualized; and how to maximize security, visibility, and Quality of Experience in tomorrow’s fully-virtualized environments.

Step by step, you’ll discover why SDN and NFV technologies are completely redefining both enterprise and carrier networks, and driving the most dramatic technology migration since IP networking. That’s not all: You’ll learn all you need to help lead this transformation.

• Learn how virtualization establishes the foundation for SDN and NFV
• Review the benefits of VMs, the role of hypervisors, and the management of virtual resources
• Discover how cloud technologies enable datacenter virtualization
• Understand the roles of networking gear in virtualized datacenters
• See VMWare VMotion and VXLAN at work in the virtualized datacenter
• Understand multitenancy and the challenges of “communal living”
• Learn how core network functions and appliances can be virtualized
• Ensure performance and scalability in virtualized networks
• Compare modern approaches to network virtualization, including OpenFlow, VMWare Nicera, Cisco Inseieme, and OpenStack
• Walk through the business case for SDN, NFV, and the Cloud
• Discover how the Software Defined Network (SDN) solves problems previously left unaddressed
• Understand SDN controllers–and who’s fighting to control your network
• Use SDN and NFV to improve integration and say goodbye to “truck rolls”
• Enforce security, avoid data leakage, and protect assets through encryption
• Provide for effective monitoring and consistent Quality of Experience (QoE)
• Learn how SDN and NFV will affect you–and what’s next

Table of Contents

Part 1 Virtualization 101: The Basics of Virtualization
Chapter 1 Primer on Virtualization
Chapter 2 Benefits of Virtual Machines
Chapter 3 Hypervisors (VMWare, KVM, and Others)
Chapter 4 Managing Virtual Resources

Part 2 Virtualization 201: Virtualizing the Data Center (a.k.a. Clouds)
Chapter 5 Virtualized Data Centers (Some Call Them Clouds)
Chapter 6 Virtual Machine Connectivity
Chapter 7 Networking Gear in Virtualized Data Centers
Chapter 8 VMware, VSphere, VMotion, and VXLAN
Chapter 9 Multitenancy and the Problems of Communal Living

Part 3 Network Functions Virtualized: Why Stop With Servers?
Chapter 10 How Do You Virtualize a Network?
Chapter 11 Virtualizing Appliances
Chapter 12 Virtualizing Core Networking Functions
Chapter 13 What About Scalability and Performance?

Part 4 Modern Networking Approaches to Virtualization
Chapter 14 From Consumers to Creators
Chapter 15 OpenFlow
Chapter 16 VMware Nicira
Chapter 17 Cisco Insieme
Chapter 18 OpenStack

Part 5 Software Defined Networks
Chapter 19 The Evolution of the Data Center Network
Chapter 20 What’s Wrong with the Network We Have?
Chapter 21 How SDN Works
Chapter 22 The Economic Impact of SDN, NFV, and the Cloud

Part 6 SDN Controllers
Chapter 23 SDN Controllers
Chapter 24 The OpenDaylight Project
Chapter 25 The Fight to Control Your Network
Chapter 26 What’s the Business Case for SDN?

Part 7 Virtualized Networks
Chapter 27 Goodbye Truck Rolls
Chapter 28 What If the Shoe Doesn’t Fit?
Chapter 29 Service Chaining
Chapter 30 NFV: What Happens to All the Network Appliances?

Part 8 Security
Chapter 31 Where’s My Data, Exactly?
Chapter 32 Preventing Data Leakage
Chapter 33 Logging and Auditing
Chapter 34 Encryption in Virtual Networks
Chapter 35 Everything Old Is Now New Again

Part 9 Visibility
Chapter 36 Overlay Networks
Chapter 37 Network Management Tools
Chapter 38 Quality of Experience
Chapter 39 Monitoring Traffic Between Virtual Switches

Part 10 The Big Picture
Chapter 40 Pulling It All Together
Chapter 41 How SDN and NFV Will Affect You
Chapter 42 What’s Next in Networking?