Astellia has announced that it will be integrating Tap Manager for flow duplication in its virtual monitoring solution. This enabler for virtualised network monitoring has been co-developed with the Institute of Research and Technology b<>com.
For the last two years, Astellia has been working with b<>com, a French innovation Centre with strong expertise in NFV/SDN (network functions virtualisation/software defined networking), to ensure the good integration of monitoring solutions in an NFV environment. When functions in the network become virtualised, the interfaces can no longer be physically tapped. This changes how and where to monitor. Monitoring solutions must be virtualised to be deployed together with the network and to follow network elasticity. Monitoring solutions then themselves become a virtual network function (VNF) as part of the virtual network.
To meet new IP flow duplication requirements, Astellia actively contributed within b<>com to the Tap Manager application definition and development. The application detects any changes in the network and instructs the network controller to duplicate and forward the relevant flows to virtual probes. The Tap Manager uses the northbound application programming interface (API) of SDN network controllers that manage the network in an end-to-end perspective, connecting all VNF functions together. The solution is fully integrated in the OpenStack Virtual Infrastructure Manager (VIM) and respects all constraints regarding network security of Neutron (OpenStack Network-as-a-Service module).
“Mobile network operators that embrace NFV will realize several advantages including increased network scalability, improved operational efficiency and capex savings,” said Julien Lecoeuvre, the co-founder and CTIO of Astellia. “But it brings also increased complexity to network management. Having a good solution to monitor and validate is therefore paramount. With the integration of Tap Manager in our monitoring solution we allow operators to constantly monitor and troubleshoot their service performance in a virtualizsed environment, providing the intelligence needed to drive service quality, maximize operational efficiency and improve the customer experience.”
