肯塔基州大学researchers move massive data loads easily with an SDN-enabled campus network.

From astronomy to bioinformatics to diagnostic medicine to physics and beyond, science requires moving massive data sets. Making that possible is Cody Bumgardner's mission.

“研究人员需要将在云彩和其他大学的校园生成的数据移动，”肯塔基大学研究计算总监Bumgardner解释道。

Big Data Chokes the Network

Moving data measured in terabytes and petabytes is essential for scientific collaboration, but the stark reality is that traditional campus networks simply aren't designed to support pervasive big data.

许多大学使用科学DMZ解决这个问题problem. A science DMZ is a portion of the network, built near the campus perimeter that is optimized for high-performance scientific applications rather than enterprise computing. Researchers' desktops, servers and other data services are isolated inside the science DMZ. The challenge is that security and other network policies aren't enforced consistently.

肯塔基大学希望采取新的方法：全校区科学DMZ。“我们希望将研究人员的桌面和服务器保存在校园网络上，”Bumgardner说。

跨部门团队必须工作。

使用SDN加速大数据流

使用SDN是部署园区网络的战略方法。
Cody Bumgardner,Director of Research Computing, University of Kentucky

肯塔基州大学uses software defined networking (SDN) to enable scientific data flows to take a high-speed path through the campus network and to the cloud.

"The initial idea was to add OpenFlow code to control the existing campus switches and then use high-end routers to connect them," says Bumgardner. But there were setbacks: OpenFlow code didn't exist for all the necessary boxes, different flavors of OpenFlow caused interoperability woes or performance was degraded because of how certain switches implemented OpenFlow.
然后团队测试了阿鲁巴5400R Switch Series，启用OpenFlow，高性能，低延迟，高级第3层模块化开关，来自Aruba，惠普，惠普，惠普，惠普企业公司。

"Having SDN-enabled switches from Aruba allowed us to achieve our goal," says Jacob Chappell, programmer/systems analyst at the Center for Computational Sciences.

An Intelligent, Programmable Network
“5400R交换机是我们测试的少数开关之一，我们测试了开放流正常规则，允许SDN交换机充当正常开关，直到应用SDN规则，”Bumgardner解释。这种能力是前进的关键。“

5400R交换机与Aruba虚拟应用程序网络（VAN）SDN控制器软件配合工作，该软件充当启用OpenFlow的网络中的统一控制点，以简化管理，配置和编排。

The university deployed more than 3,000 SDN-enabled ports across campus to handle scientific flows without any impact to the academic, administrative and residential IT needs of over 30,000 students, faculty and staff. The 5400R switches are used for distribution and access.

Fast, Secure Data Flows

通过SDN，大学可以将其科学DMZ一直扩展到研究员的建筑物或办公室的交换机端口 - 并强制执行一致的网络和安全策略。普通流量在“正常”模式下通过5400R开关移动，而研究人员或超级计算机位置的科学流程被转移以采取高带宽路径。

"The normal rule is important because we only want to modify traffic that affects researchers, be able to drop attacks from hostile sources, or avoid middleboxes," says Lowell Pike, network programmer in the Computer Science department.

现在，手动安装OpenFlow规则，但自动化的努力正在进行中。

Smashing Bottlenecks
Using SDN to create high priority paths for big-data flows alleviates another performance crunch in the traditional campus network. Appliances—or middleboxes—that provide traffic shaping, load balancing, firewall and other network functions, can be a big bottleneck.

"Even if you have a 100Gbps network, the middleboxes can drop the north/south speed to 100Mbps," says Pike.

但是现在，科学流程在这些性能 - Saped中间箱周围转移，而网络策略通过SDN强制执行。

For researchers, the data floodgates have opened. Big data transfers between campus and research sites on Internet2 are 88 times faster. A transfer that previously would have taken a month to complete can now be done in less than eight hours.

Exploring a New Way to Build Campus Networks

SDN支持肯塔基州大学建立更聪明，更快，更具成本效益的网络和支持学术合作。使用SDN加速大数据流量的能力也意味着大学需要较少的高端路由器，这些高端路由器可节省，可以将可以重新投入到更高速的开关端口中。

"Using SDN is a strategic approach to deploying campus networks," says Bumgardner. "We can push the money into higher capacity instead of router feature sets."

对于大数据流来说，该策略不仅关键，而且还适合交通流量的变化性，因为在云和非现场数据中心托管更多的应用程序。

“即使你坐在教室里，你的流量也上升到数据中心或云，因为这是学习管理系统的所在，”Bumgardner说。“我们的研究表明，90％的交通校园是北/南。”

使用来自阿鲁巴的SDN交换机和控制器，适应校园网络的变化性质从未如此简单。