Software-Defined Networks: A Systems Approach

Software-Defined Networks (SDN) are transforming the Internet by replacing bundled, proprietary hardware and control software with commodity hardware and best practices in building scalable cloud services. SDN is being embraced by cloud providers, telcos, and enterprises, as it enables a new era innovation in networking. This book provides a comprehensive introduction to SDN from the perspective of those who are developing and leveraging the technology.

Features:

• Describes a complete SDN stack, illustrated with example open source software.
• Emphasizes underlying concepts, abstractions, and design rationale.
• Explains how best practices in scalable cloud design are applied to the network.
• Describes both fixed-function and programmable switching chips.
• Describes the P4-based toolchain for programming and controlling switches.
• Describes a range of SDN use cases: enterprises, datacenters, access networks.
• Includes hands-on programming exercises, downloadable from GitHub.

Larry Peterson is the Robert E. Kahn Professor of Computer Science, Emeritus at Princeton University, where he served as Chair from 2003-2009. His research focuses on the design, implementation, and operation of Internet-scale distributed systems, including the widely used PlanetLab and MeasurementLab platforms. He is currently leading the CORD and Aether access-edge cloud projects at the Open Networking Foundation (ONF), where he serves as CTO. Peterson is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, a Fellow of the ACM and the IEEE, the 2010 recipient of the IEEE Kobayashi Computer and Communication Award, and the 2013 recipient of the ACM SIGCOMM Award. He received his Ph.D. degree from Purdue University in 1985.

Carmelo Cascone is a Member of the Technical Staff at the Open Networking Foundation (ONF), where he currently leads technical activities around the adoption of programmable switches, P4, and P4Runtime in ONF projects such as ONOS, CORD, and Aether. Cascone received a Ph.D. from Politecnico di Milano in 2017, in a joint program with École Polytechnique de Montréal. He is broadly interested in computer networks and systems, with a focus on data plane programmability and Software-Defined Networking (SDN).

Bruce Davie is a computer scientist noted for his contributions to the field of networking. He is a former VP and CTO for the Asia Pacific region at VMware. He joined VMware during the acquisition of Software Defined Networking (SDN) startup Nicira. Prior to that, he was a Fellow at Cisco Systems, leading a team of architects responsible for Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS). Davie has over 30 years of networking industry experience and has co-authored 17 RFCs. He was recognized as an ACM Fellow in 2009 and chaired ACM SIGCOMM from 2009 to 2013. He was also a visiting lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for five years. Davie is the author of multiple books and the holder of more than 40 U.S. Patents.