SDN: Software Defined Networks

Chapter 10. Use Cases for Bandwidth Scheduling, Manipulation, and Calendaring

Introduction

Bandwidth calendaring is a category of use cases^[182] that (at their heart) embody the concept of time-based bandwidth manipulation. In these cases, the manipulation refers to the addition, deletion, or modification of bandwidth in the network. The reasons, or triggers, that would cause one to perform bandwidth manipulation vary widely but include modification of bandwidth characteristics to more closely match traffic patterns, service demands and disruptions, or operational planning for future changes such as capacity. The common theme here is that these generally involve some sort of temporal cycle. In fact, not only is the bandwidth manipulated on some sort of timed schedule, but the causes for manipulating bandwidth are usually motivated by a need to do so based on some sort of schedule that otherwise would be (or is) performed manually. Let’s explore.

And let’s start simply. Figure 10-1 demonstrates a scenario where a service provider owns two data centers that are interconnected by some network links. One is located in Sunnyvale, California, and the other in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Figure 10-1. Data center interconnection example

The data centers are purposely geographically diverse to facilitate a lower-latency user experience and also to handle disaster recovery scenarios. To this end, ...