PLUMgrid is rolling out the newest version of its networking virtualization offerings that include support for the latest releases of the OpenStack cloud orchestration stack.
The company on March 29 unveiled Open Networking Suite (ONS) 5.0, which supports the Kilo and Liberty releases of OpenStack for both service providers and enterprises. PLUMgrid offers software-defined networking (SDN) and network-functions virtualization (NFV) technologies for OpenStack-based cloud environments.
Along with the Kilo and Liberty support, ONS 5.0 also comes with a range of new features designed to make it easier to deploy OpenStack clouds and more efficient to run them, according to company officials.
With the latest ONS release, customers that are running virtual machines (VMs), containers and bare-metal architectures in their environments can use SDN overlays for micro-segmentation for multi-tenancy, traffic isolation and policy enforcement to make management easier. ONS 5.0 includes support for Docker containers, improved gateway integration with Cisco Systems’ Nexus 9000 switches, IPv6, and PLUMgrid’s new SmartLogs technology.
In addition, PLUMgrid engineers updated the drag-and-drop configuration capabilities in the software as well as the automation, analytics and troubleshooting tools, company officials said. The company also enhanced CloudApex, an SDN visualization and monitoring platform that runs in conjunction with ONS.
The SDN for containers come as the virtualization technology gains acceptance among service providers and enterprises. PLUMgrid’s plug-in for Docker containers brings such capabilities as secure multi-tenancy, high availability and multi-host networking to Docker clouds. In addition, there is support for Project Kuryr, an OpenStack effort to provide container network abstraction for Neutron API.
SmartLogs—an open-source plug-in based on Riemann that takes machine data and makes it into actionable log messages to make it easier for users to detect and resolve issues—also was introduced along with an array of smart wizards that touch on security, connection, configuration, resource and other aspects.
In addition, with ONS 5.0, enterprises can use CloudApex, which makes monitoring virtual and physical resources easier by delivering a dashboard view of the environment through a single point. The improved suite also adds support for Cisco’s Nexus 9000 Series switches to the support it already offered for gateways from Cisco and Arista Networks.