Disaggregated Networks: Addressing Operational Concerns

The shift towards disaggregated network, while promising, raises pertinent questions about their operational practicality:

  • Certification, Planning, and Installation: Managing numerous distributed boxes, cables, and the necessary power and cooling systems across multiple sites can seem daunting. How does one ensure efficiency in such a scenario?
  • Setup and Initial Provisioning: Unlike a chassis that comes pre-built, how do you effectively combine hardware and software to create a functioning node?
  • Life-Cycle Management: Managing the life cycle of both network and service—including hardware and software—especially as new devices are integrated, can be complex. How is this complexity avoided?
  • Support and Coordination: With multiple stakeholders involved, ensuring effective problem isolation and avoiding blame-shifting between vendors is crucial. What’s the strategy for this?
  • OSS/BSS Integration: Traditional OSS/BSS tools are designed for conventional network devices. How do you minimize the integration effort required for these existing tools?

The ideal operational model should address these concerns without adding extra complexity and ideally reduce some inherent complexities associated with traditional networks.

DDC: A New Operational Model

DriveNets has developed and optimized a new operational model through multiple tier-1 operator deployments. We lead all operational aspects, including inquiries, feature requests, design, planning considerations, and critical network-down troubleshooting, regardless of the malfunction’s root cause.

Let me highlight some key aspects:

1. Simplified hardware certification and planning

DriveNets manages the end-to-end system certification, including hardware at both box and rack levels. Our two hardware building blocks (NCP for packet forwarding and NCF for fabric), once qualified for one network domain, are qualified for all. Their small size (2 Rack Units) simplifies installation, even in large quantities, without needing heavy machinery or specialized skills. Detailed planning for cable connections also minimizes errors during setup.

2. Built-in automation and zero-touch provisioning

DriveNets Network Orchestrator (DNOR) ensures the appropriate software – BaseOS and DNOS – is installed securely and automatically to build a Network Cloud entity. This automation is crucial not only during the initial deployment but also when expanding capacity with more whiteboxes. Automated provisioning and remote testing avoids the issue of undocumented pre-production failures that happen with a traditional chassis, offering fast time-to-service..

3. No more complexity of managing many individual boxes

DNOR automates the full lifecycle of hardware and software components across the network. From the user’s perspective, it’s akin to managing a single router, but with enhanced visibility and selective control over various software components.

4. One-Stop-Shop Support System

DriveNets offers a ‘one throat to choke’ support model, serving as a single point of contact for all incidents, software or hardware. This model includes:

  • A dedicated tier-1 technical support number.
  • A unified technical support ticketing system (Jira), accessible 24/7/365.
  • A triage system to engage appropriate hardware partners or DriveNets as a software supplier.
  • Transparent case status tracking with clear SLAs.
  • Advanced monitoring through DNOR for easier problem isolation..

5. Simplified OSS/BSS integration

DriveNets streamlines the OSS/BSS integration process through:

  • DNOS Yang models can be converted to the OpenConfig standard for each northbound interface (gNMI, Netconf)
  • Translation of DriveNets Network Cloud CLI commands to legacy CLIs.
  • Exposing Rest APIs through DNOR for provisioning and configuration.

DNOR stands out as the most comprehensive solution, delivering automated provisioning, operation, health monitoring, and offering complete GUI-based control and visibility of the entire network solution.

The Simplicity of Complexity

Adapting to Disaggregated networks often involves a paradigm shift in thinking and operations, which can be challenging for organizations entrenched in traditional network models. Concerns such as the need for staff retraining, initial investment costs, and uncertainty about the integration with existing systems are common. Understanding and addressing these concerns as we did in this blog is crucial for a smooth transition to disaggregated networks.

In essence, network disaggregation, as presented by DriveNets, is not just about breaking down a network into individual components. It’s about network operations being more intuitive, manageable, and cost-effective. By adopting this approach, service providers can expect to navigate the complexities of modern networking with unprecedented ease, all the while ensuring scalability and adaptability for future demands.

Additional Resources for Distributed Disaggregated Chassis