Sophia Antipolis, 2 February 2023
ETSI Open Source Group TeraFlowSDN has just announced the 2nd release of TeraFlowSDN controller, an innovative and robust SDN orchestrator and controller.
TeraFlowSDN Release 2 provides extended and validated support for end-to-end transport network slicing over multiple network domains. This release completes SDN orchestration for L2/L3VPN provisioning, microwave networks, Point-to-Multipoint integration of XR optical transceivers, and interaction with optical SDN controllers through the Open Networking Foundation (ONF) Transport API (TAPI).
Moreover, SDN control is provided for OpenConfig-based routers and P4 white boxes, including the ability to load a P4 pipeline on a given P4 switch, get runtime information (i.e., flow tables) from the P4 switch, and push runtime entries into the P4 switch pipeline, enabling full usage of P4 switches.
This second release of the software has focused on improving the scalability and resilience of the SDN controller. This has been achieved through a redesign of the Context Component, which now includes a scalable database called CockroachDB, to meet the demanding requirements.
Service Level Agreement (SLA) validation has been re-engineered through all the workflows, from Device Monitoring to Service and Slice Life Cycle Management. The Slice, Service, Policy, Device and Monitoring Components have thus been upgraded to support the necessary network automation workflows. Moreover, Slice Grouping has also been introduced, along with the Path Computation Component which allows for new use cases, such as energy-aware service placement.
TeraFlowSDN Release 2 brings updates to Cybersecurity mechanisms, including novel components for distributed or centralized attack detection, inference, and mitigation, as well as new supported use cases. Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) has been extended to interact with the Inter-domain Component and use the deployed Hyperledger Fabric.
“Our second release of TeraFlowSDN provides unique features to the community”, says Ricard Vilalta, Research Director at CTTC and Chair of ETSI TeraFlowSDN. “Cloud-native SDN is the next evolution for telco transport networks, and TeraFlowSDN is paving the way.”
Three scenarios will be demonstrated to validate the performance of the components developed and their potential value for end-users and early adopters of TeraFlowSDN: Autonomous Network Beyond 5G, Inter-domain and Cybersecurity.
ETSI TeraFlowSDN was created from the outcome of the TeraFlow research project, funded by the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 Programme.
The source code of TeraFlowSDN is publicly available under the Apache Software Licence 2.0 for download and installation at https://labs.etsi.org/rep/tfs/controller. TeraFlowSDN release 2.1 is planned for June 2023 and will include more integrated contributions, bug fixes and security patches.
ETSI TeraFlowSDN is currently lead by CTTC, Telefónica and Telenor, and its membership also includes Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, Fraunhofer HHI, Instituto de Telecomunicacoes, NCSR Demokritos, SIAE Microelettronica, ADVA Optical Networking, Chalmers University of Technology, Globe Telecom, Infinera, NTNU, Old Dog Consulting, Peer Stritzinger and Ubitech.
To learn more, register for our Webinar: TeraFlowSDN Release 2 Overview or visit tfs.etsi.org