A brief discussion of NFV in data center network virtualization technology
The word NFV is appearing more and more frequently in major media. Many People may not know what NFV is, so this article will give you a quick refresher. NFV is the abbreviation of Network Functions Virtualization, and its Chinese name is Network Function Virtualization. This was proposed by the Network Operators Alliance, ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute). ) organization's NFV specification foundation is the standard template.
NFV aims to use standard IT virtualization technology to solve these problems. Specifically, it integrates multiple network device types into industry-standard high-capacity servers and switches that can be positioned in data centers, network nodes, and end-user enterprises. and in storage.
By using general-purpose hardware and virtualization technology such as On a standard server, as long as the corresponding software is installed on the server, the functions of the original hardware device can be completed.
Obviously, this can greatly reduce the cost of expensive network equipment. Through the separation of software and hardware, equipment functions no longer depend on dedicated hardware, and resources can be fully and flexibly shared.
The ultimate goal of NFV is to load corresponding general software through X86 industry standard servers to realize network, security, storage and other functions.
The fundamental of NFV is to separate the software and hardware functions of various devices in the data center, transfer the software part to the server, and let the server complete the corresponding functions, so The specific implementation functions of NFV can be very extensive.
For example: VSR virtual router, VFW virtual firewall, VLB virtual load balancing, VIPS virtual intrusion prevention, VACG virtual application control, VAC virtual wireless controller and other virtual networksfunctions, VBRAS virtual BRAS devices and other virtual network functions.
The names of these functions are all added with a V before the original name. V stands for Virtual, which means that it is implemented through the virtualization technology of the X86 server and loading the corresponding functional software.
Through NFV, the functions of all equipment in the data center are separated from the hardware and completed by server virtualization software. This is a huge change for the data center and will completely break the monopoly of hardware manufacturers in the data center market. The situation of the world.
NFV has become the best technical implementation of software-defined data centers. Through NFV technology, all functions can be centralized on the server for centralized management.
Future data centers will form server clusters to carry specific application services, network function clusters to implement network forwarding, network storage clusters to implement storage, network security clusters, etc., all of which are completed by a number of server devices. Corresponding functions.
After deploying NFV, you only need to deploy some white-box cheap network and storage devices, plus server clusters to complete all the functions of the data center. Such a system has corresponding server clusters. Control, these systems can be managed in a unified manner, which greatly simplifies the operation and maintenance of the data center and greatly improves the operation and maintenance efficiency of the data center.
The most critical thing is that the deployment of NFV breaks the closed status of network technology.
The functions of current data center network equipment vary greatly, and many devices have their own private technologies, which cannot be connected with other network equipment, which brings great trouble to the data center.
There are historical reasons for the non-uniform implementation of network equipment. With the help of standard server equipment, network equipment is forced to make changes and the technology becomes unified, so that in the future, corresponding network software can be installed on the server. , a unified implementation standard can be formed.
NFV has been favored by operators. Foreign operators AT&T, British Telecom BT, Deutsche Telekom, etc. have begun to deploy NFV virtualized networks.
Domestic China Mobile established an OPNFV laboratory last year, attracting Huawei, ZTE, HP, Microsoft, H3C and other companies to join in, build a new multi-point test network, conduct new technology experiments, and promote the outfield "breeding" China Telecom is using SDN+NFV technology to add value to the network of cloud computing services.Business, China Unicom released the "Network Virtualization White Paper", using NFV and SDN technology to carry out research and development and pilot projects in multiple application scenarios, such as virtual IPEdge, virtual mobile network, mobile backhaul and virtual client equipment, etc. China's three Major operators have already taken action, which makes the size of the NFV market worth looking forward to.
According to relevant statistics, the NFV market size will grow from US$950 million in 2014 to US$11.6 billion in 2019, with a compound annual growth rate of as high as 65%.
In the operator market, NFV is like a duck in water and has quickly gained popularity among many operators. Against the background of strong market demand, NFV technology has quickly been put into trial commercial use. It is believed that NFV will be in the operator market in 2016. will enter the era of large-scale application.
Although the advantages of NFV technology are obvious, it still faces many challenges.
Like the progress and evolution of any technology, there will inevitably be a lot of resistance in the initial stage, especially from some traditional and conservative technical factions. Coupled with insufficient design considerations of NFV technology, this As a result, NFV is still in the testing stage, and few are actually deployed in the network. Even if it is deployed, it does not bring many services.
Resistance from traditional equipment, the emergence of NFV technology has given these traditional hardware equipment manufacturers a blow, and these equipment manufacturers can no longer live a stable life.
NFV, which has great cost advantages, will continue to encroach on the market they occupy and will inevitably be counterattacked by equipment manufacturers, which to a certain extent hinders the development of NFV technology.
The reliability of NFV is also worrying. The high reliability of traditional hardware network equipment can reach 5 9s, while NFV is based on general-purpose servers and has significantly lower reliability than dedicated network equipment. NFV must Methods such as virtual machine dispersion, virtual machine backup, and management system backup are used to improve the reliability of virtualization systems. However, the introduction of these technologies increases the difficulty of NFV implementation, making NFV technology too complex.
After NFV technology is deployed on the server, there is a performance bottleneck in I/O interface data forwarding. Compared with traditional network equipment, there will be a 30%-40% performance loss, which can only be reduced to less than 10%. to reach commercial level.
Obviously, NFV technology still has a lot to improve, and people fully accept it It also requires a long process, coupled with the competition from traditional equipment manufacturers, this has cast a shadow on the future of NFV.
But the wheel of history is turning forward, and the development of NFV is irreversible. .
Although NFV was proposed by operators, it is still applicable in data centers.
You must know that SDN originated from data centers. NFV and SDN have many similarities. There are many technical articles in this area comparing the two, so I will not elaborate on them one by one here.
In the field of data centers, we have already seen experiments with NFV technology. Whether the future data center will be SDN or NFV, it still remains to be seen. It’s hard to say.
The future of NFV is bumpy, but the future is bound to be bright. /p>
