Huawei Helps Abraxas Build SDN-based Cloud DC

Background

Abraxas is a large ICT integrator and cloud service provider for government and enterprise customers in Switzerland. The company offers Data Center Interconnect (DCI) and cloud services, as well as networking consulting, solutions, and network deployment services. Abraxas provides cloud services for numerous tenants but, in 2015, realized that it needed to update its cloud computing data center network as a result of continuing high demand for Internet services.

Challenges

The extensive use of cloud computing, Big Data, and mobile Internet is accelerating the launch of new services and creating more data center traffic. As a result of the rapid growth of Internet services, more cabinets are needed to hold increasing numbers of servers. Thus, more data center equipment rooms must be built. Building a new equipment room, however, is time consuming and expensive. To solve this problem, many enterprises turn to convenient cloud services. Cloud data centers, however, have their own special challenges:

• Data center resources must be integrated so they can be precisely allocated to tenants. This also improves the efficiency of IT resource usage.
• An optimized DCI infrastructure must be able to scale indefinitely. This enables services to be deployed and migrated flexibly among DCs.
• Sustainable service development requires that the network architecture be flexible enough to evolve into Software-Defined Networking (SDN)

Solution

“After making a comprehensive evaluation, we found that Huawei’s CloudFabric Data Center Network Solution fully satisfied our requirements,” said Olaf Sonderegger, ICT Architect, Infrastructure Management, Abraxas. 

• Each data center uses Transparent Interconnection of Lots of Links (TRILL) to establish a large Layer 2 network that connects a massive number of servers
• Three data centers are connected by a Layer 2 Ethernet Virtual Network (EVN) across IP WAN networks
• CloudEngine data center core switches are virtualized into multiple Virtual Systems (VSs) to share core resources

Huawei CE Series core switches

The Huawei solution uses high-performance CloudEngine Series core switches to build a fully virtualized, multi-tenant cloud data center network that is highly efficient, reliable, and scalable. Huawei CloudEngine (CE) Series switches are VXLAN-enabled and can accommodate 16 million tenants in a single data center.

CE switches work with the Huawei Agile Controller to build an SDN-based data center network that automatically deploys tenant services. Each CE switch provides many open APIs for interconnecting with mainstream cloud platforms and SDN controllers. The network evolved into an SDN-based network without any changes, which protected Abraxas’ investment.

Huawei CE12800 Series switches use an advanced hardware architecture that provides the industry’s highest core switch performance. The CE12800 provides 5 Tbit/s per slot bandwidth and a maximum of 160 Tbit/s switching capacity. It provides line-rate forwarding capability on high-density 100G/40G cards.

Virtual fabric technology schedules resources

The Huawei CloudFabric Data Center Network Solution supports various virtual fabric technologies. Abraxas uses TRILL and EVN-based virtual fabric technologies to create a super-large, Layer 2 cross-DC network that enables flexible deployment and scheduling of VM resources.

EVN creates Layer 2 interconnections between the Abraxas data centers in three different cities. The data centers form a large IT resource pool to enable free VM migration. The three-city data center solution also provides a solid foundation for disaster recovery and deployment of dual-active services, ensuring that Abraxas customers have 24/7 non-stop service for years to come.

Core switch multiplexing reduces hardware investment

VS technology virtualizes one physical device into multiple logical or virtual systems. Each VS is configured, managed, maintained, and runs like an independent device on the physical device. Network services in different VSs are isolated. Abraxas deploys different services in different VSs on core switches that enhance network reliability and security. This 1:N virtualization technology reduces the cost of hardware equipment and greatly improves use of network resources.

Benefits

Abraxas used the Huawei CloudFabric Data Center Network Solution to complete construction of its multi-tenant cloud data center network. Based on the SDN architecture of the Huawei solution, the cloud data center network:

• Provides full virtualization to improve ICT resource utilization
• Enables flexible deployment and scheduling of VM resources with TRILL and EVN-based virtual fabric technologies
• Enables future network expansion with the core switches’ super-high capacity
• Protects Abraxas’ investment with smooth network evolution

Huawei’s CloudFabric Data Center Network Solution is helping to create the foundation of modern, SDN-based, data center networks around the world, with more than 1,000 solutions deployed. The solution enables Abraxas to deliver more efficient, flexible, and reliable cloud computing services for enterprise, government, and research customers in Switzerland and Europe.