Software-Defined Reconfigurability, White Boxes, and Abstraction

Abstract

Next generation networks – spanning from wide area networks to intra-datacenters – are expected to encompass devices and sub-devices from different vendors. Inter operability and vendor neutrality are now key topics for researchers and companies as a way to reduce costs avoiding to be tied to a single vendor. Also the management system is expected to be disaggregated from the hardware and possibly developed by a different company. An example is the white box, which disaggregates the software from the hardware and can be composed of modules from different vendors. Currently, NETCONF – based on YANG – is the protocol considered for the (re)configuration of white boxes. Discussions are being carried on to identify commonly agreed information models to guarantee vendor-neutral configuration and management of next generation networks. In addition, emerging services (e.g., 5G) will impose the involvement of a variety of technologies (e.g., networks, datacenters) and resources (e.g., compute, storage, radio). Such heterogeneity will imply the cooperation of several business actors to bring services to the users. In such a scenario, the management of resources will require their abstraction in order to satisfy confidentiality as well as to increase scalability and, again, to provide information that is neutral with respect to the related vendor and technology. In this paper, we propose to use NETCONF also for the exchange of resource information among different business actors considering the several network segments (wide area network, data centers, radio segment) involved in a 5G vertical. To this purpose, resource abstraction is proposed based on a YANG data model. An experiment will involve the (re)configuration of a wide area network composed of white boxes. Moreover, resource information (virtual links) will be exchanged through NETCONF with the objective of orchestrating resources.