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Network Infrastructure Magazine | Saturday, November 13, 2021
With SDN, service providers can provide better support and ensure the demands of their customers are met with consistency.
FREMONT, CA: Software-Defined Network (SDN) must not be considered as a technology per se, but rather a type of networking structure that incorporates various complex technologies streamlines them and makes it easier for the service provider or IT administrator to insert better control, mobility, scalability, and resilience to their network.
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Earlier, a network's only responsibility was to manage calls and connectivity, but the architecture of a modern business's communication system is more complex, and the conventional networks are incapable of supporting the shifting requirements of different real-time cloud applications.
SDN gives network administrators more flexibility in managing their network, allowing them to direct traffic from a centralized location throughout the board, sending services wherever necessary without worrying about how or where the servers or devices are connected.
SDN v Traditional Networking
Conventional networking functionality is usually accomplished through a particular hardware appliance like a router, switches, firewalls, or application controller. Each of them must be manually configured by an IT administrator accountable for ensuring each device is updated with the most current configuration settings.
One of the critical issues that arise with managing a network is the significant amount of time and technological expertise it takes to conduct these tasks. Making a single error in a network where everything is connected individually can bring the entire system to a standstill.
SDN allows hardware to be controlled or managed from a centralized software application separated from the hardware itself by detaching hardware from software, like dividing the control plane (that decides where to send traffic) from the data plane (that conveys these decisions and forwards traffic).
Benefits of SDN
Instead of managing numerous devices individually, SDN allows administrators to control their entire network as a single unit and make the required adjustments from a single access point whenever necessary.
As a result, it is much easier to ensure that the changing demands of the customers are continuously met with speed and accuracy, while the chance of damaging the network due to human error gets reduced.
The rapid increase of server virtualization and BYOD support has complicated network security management. SDN allows administrators to access a centralized security control point from which they can distribute security information uniformly throughout their business network across multiple sites.
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