Software Defined Networking (SDN) company Midokura has said it will provide support for Cumulus Networks’ Linux network operating system in its network virtualisation software.
The combination will enable users to manage workloads on virtual and non-virtualised infrastructure using Midokura’s MidoNet product. MidoNet is a distributed network virtualisation system that is designed to allow service providers and enterprises to build flexible and easier-to-manage virtual networks.
Cumulus Linux is an open source network operating system for programmable data centres. It includes IPv4 and IPv6 routing, plus data centre and network orchestration hooks, and is intended to run on commodity network hardware.
Dell is reselling Cumulus Linux to run on its merchant silicon-based switches.
Midokura is not going that far. It is just supporting interoperability with Cumulus Linux through a gateway in the Cumulus software. The companies plan to preview the integration by May and make it generally available in the third quarter.
Traditionally, network virtualisation allows communication only amongst virtual devices and machines on overlay networks. Cumulus Linux will enable MidoNet to connect to physical switches running the operating system and allow traffic flows from virtual machines to machines running on physical infrastructure through the VxLAN Tunnel Endpoint (VTEP) gateway.
The interoperability will target organisations looking to connect virtual networks to physical workloads such as high performance database, e-mail servers and legacy systems at line rate, Midokura says. It will also allow users to plan migration cycles to virtual networks and workloads based on operational demand, without forcing a hardware upgrade, the company says.
Cisco’s Application Centric Infrastructure (ACI) programmability strategy also addresses physical and virtual workload provisioning and orchestration, but requires all new Nexus 9000 hardware to gain the full benefits of the ACI fabric. Big Switch Networks changed its business proposition from network virtualisation overlays to physical/virtual integration as well.
Jim Duffy, Network World US
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