Benefits of Software Defined Networking

With SDN software, an administrator can change any network switch's rules when necessary - prioritizing, deprioritizing or even blocking specific types of packets with a granular level of control and security. This is especially helpful in a cloud computing multi-tenant architecture, because it enables the administrator to manage traffic loads in a flexible and more efficient manner. Essentially, this enables the administrator to use less expensive commodity switches and have more control over network traffic flow than ever before.

Other benefits of SDN are network management and end-to-end visibility.A network administrator need only deal with one centralized controller to distribute policies to the connected switches, instead of configuring multiple individual devices. This capability is also a security advantage because the controller can monitor traffic and deploy security policies. If the controller deems traffic suspicious, for example, it can reroute or drop the packets.

Software defined networking software also virtualizes hardware and services that were previously carried out by dedicated hardware, resulting in the touted benefits of a reduced hardware footprint and lower operational costs.

Additionally, SDN contributed to the emergence of software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN) technology. SD-WAN employs the virtual overlay aspect of SDN technology, abstracting an organization's connectivity links throughout its WAN and creating a virtual network that can use whichever connection the controller deems fit to send traffic.

Are there any SDN security benefits?

As security issues become more complex at the edge of the network, it’s no wonder that network and security professionals are looking for new ways to approach network protection. Nowadays, it seems like SDN is going to be the answer.

• Centralized Network Control

In a traditional network, devices (router/switches) make their own decisions locally about where and how best to send traffic.  In terms of network security, SDN can be used to route data packets through a single firewall and make IDS and IPS data capture more efficient.

• Simplify Configuration

The SDN makes it easier to automate configuration and improves the traceability of those configurations. The introduction of SDN network management allows dynamic programming and restructuring of network settings, which reduces the risk of DDoS attacks. It is also worth adding that SDN has automatic quarantine capabilities.

• Creation of High-level Network Policies

Rather than physically configuring security solutions, SDN facilitates the central management of security policies to make network operator roles more efficient and flexible. Moreover, SDN helps to move away from current management approaches such as SNMP/CLI and build more effective policy management.

• Easy to use Application Programming Interfaces (APIs)

Cloud APIs are interfaces presented by software and play a vital role in SDN controllers and applications. Easy to use APIs help to manage network resources, improve the efficiency of IT resources, and aid integration with IT tools. Additionally, a number of good cloud security practices have been introduced recently.