Defined by Apps. For Apps delivery.
As discussed in my previous blog post, Application-Defined Networking (ADN) is the next level up from SDN, in any network, where ever SDN applies. ADN sits on top of SDN. In an ADN environment, the network is being tuned by apps and for apps.
The ‘ADN’ acronym has also been used in the past to describe Application ‘Delivery’ Network. This is a suite of technologies, generally high performance expensive hardware appliances (ADCs – application delivery controllers, WOCs -WAN optimization controllers), that are combined to provide application availability, security, visibility, and acceleration. Recently virtualized software ADCs have also become available for use in private and public cloud environments.
In this short blog post, I would like to explain why Application-Defined Networking is complementary to Application Delivery Controllers (ADC) and traditional network optimization techniques, in any context, wherever ADC is deployed. ADCs are point solutions controlling the application traffic to optimize and secure a service. F5′s Lori MacVittie touches on this in “SDN is Network Control. ADN (aka ADC) is Application Control,”
From a technical standpoint:
- SDN is pure software controlling switches (Layer 2 devices) and routers (Layer 3 devices) which are devices moving packets around during computation and data migration. SDN aims at finding the best path to the destination and adapting the bandwidth for a given traffic flow.
- ADC (Application Delivery Control) plays at a higher level (Layer 4 to 7). ADC takes care of the user experience by controlling that the numerous requests are well served. In one words, ADC is routing user request towards the right server, at the right moment and control that the response reach the user in a timely manner.
With ADN (Application-Defined Networking), the network environment, switches, routers, network appliances and also ADCs are being orchestrated and controlled by Apps using APIs to better optimize and secure the application execution and delivery.
Similar to the post office, both the front desk and mailman (ADC’s) as well as the entire back office (SDN + computing resources attached to it) must be fluid and well-organized to ensure user satisfaction and organization efficiency.
Therefore encompassing it all, ADN empowers the ‘Application’ and all the actors behind them (design, development, deployment engineers and operators) to control, optimize and secure for them thevarious network resources and their interactions.
In summary ADN is pure software ensuring that SDN, ADC and all other networked resources work perfectly in concert for benefit of apps and those that derive true value from them…an App-centric solution in a User-oriented approach.