Preface

OpenStack is rapidly becoming the prominent open source platform for building public and private clouds. OpenStack-based clouds are built on three important pillars, namely, compute, storage, and networking. The strength of these pillars determines the robustness, scale, and performance of your OpenStack cloud.

The classic networking landscape is changing, with SDN approach to building networks becoming mainstream, backed by superior economics and the fact that it is a platform for innovation. We believe that the SDN application space will only grow bigger, with innovative applications that are currently in their infancy and it is essentially replacing the conventional network application with the SDN approach.

With both OpenStack and SDN poised for rapid adoption, it is important to understand the key technologies at their intersection. The intent of the book is to provide an overview of the key SDN technologies and their relevance with respect to OpenStack, in a simple and easy to understand format to encourage the reader to dig into the details for deeper insights.