2 Understanding the controller architecture
The HPE VAN SDN Controller software is built upon a Linux OS, Java 1.8, and OSGI (Virgo
stack and Equinox framework) and uses an Apache Cassandra distributed post-relational
database.
Keystone is an external service that provides authentication and high level authorization services.
It supports token-based authentication
REST API and GUI framework are used by SDN application developers for building applications
(RESTful web services and web based UIs).
Figure 1 HPE VAN SDN Controller software stack
The following gives a short description of the controller components:
•
The controller Application Manager enables installing, upgrading, enabling (starting), disabling
(stopping), and uninstalling SDN applications on the controller.
•
The Audit Log records events related to activities, operations, and configuration changes
initiated by an authorized user. The Audit Log is managed by the controller Audit Log service.
•
The Alert Log records information about events that affect controller operation, and in some
cases indicate that some action is needed to correct a condition. Alerts are managed by the
controller Alert service.
•
Client Mapper Service combines information known about a network client by the controller,
such as host IP address, host MAC addresses, and the connected datapath and port, with
information about the network client known by an outside policy manager, such as the Aruba
ClearPass policy manager, to provide information about network clients, including user
information, device information, and location information. This information is available via
the REST API only.
•
The controller uses the embedded applications Topology Manager and Topology Viewer to
collect and display information about the OpenFlow network.
•
The controller provides a framework to back up and restore controller and application state
in a backup file. The backup file can be copied and stored for later use. The stored backup
file can be uploaded to the controller.
14
Understanding the controller architecture