Aerohive : Introduction to SD-LAN (Software Defined LAN)

Today I am going to talk about the SD-LAN solution which Aerohive introduces into the market. As we know there are so many vendors in the market now a days for the Software defined LAN networks. Earlier Cisco announces their own SDA- Software defined Access which is same as Software define LAN networks

As i earlier wrote an article on Cisco SDA where i defined the way SDA works within the LAN network.

Before we start with the SD-LAN network, we should now about the SDN (Software Defined Network) where we can include SD-LAN and SD-WAN supporting LAN and WAN.

What is SDN (Software Defined Network) ?
Software-defined networking (SDN) is an emerging architecture that decouples the network control and forwarding functions, enabling network control to become directly programmable and the underlying infrastructure to be abstracted for applications and network services. 

This allows network engineers and administrators to respond quickly to changing business requirements because they can shape traffic from a centralised console without having to touch individual devices. It also delivers services to where they’re needed in the network, without regard to what special devices a server or other device is connected to Functional separation, network virtualization, and automation through programmability are the key technologies. 

I would also want you guys to understand the change in the networking from Traditional to SD-WAN solution, For that please go through the below link to understand 


So at last now you came to know about the SDN (Software Defined Network). Now I talk about a little bit on SD-WAN network. I wrote two different articles on SD-WAN ( Cisco Viptela SD-WAN solution and another is VMWare VeloCloud SD-WAN solution).

Like SDN, software defined WAN (SD-WAN) separates rates the control and data planes of the WAN and enables a degree of control across multiple WAN on physical and virtual, not otherwise possible. While SDN is an architecture, SD-WAN is a buyable technology. Much of the technology that makes up SD-WAN is not new; rather it’s the packaging of it together with aggregation technologies, centralised agreement, the ability to dynamically share network bandwidth across connection points.

What is SD-LAN (Software Defined LAN) ?
SD-LAN builds on the principles of SDN in the data center and SD-WAN to bring specific benefits of adaptability, exibility, cost-e effectiveness, and scale to wired and wireless access networks. while providing mission-critical business continuity to the network access layer. 

Fig 1.1- SD-LAN Architecture- Aerohive Networks
It is an application- and policy-driven architecture that unchains hardware and software layers while creating self-organising and centrally managed networks that are simpler to operate, integrate, and scale. 

Some of the facts about the Aerohive SD-LAN 
  • Application optimization priorities and changes network behaviour based on the apps. 
  • Dynamic optimization of the LAN, driven by app priorities 
  • Ability to focus network resources where they serve the organisation’s most important needs 
  • Fine-grained application visibility and control at the network edge 
  • Secure, identity-driven access dynamically defines what users, devices, and things can do when they access the SD-LAN. 
  • Context-based policy control polices access by user, device, application, location, available bandwidth, or time of day 
  • Access can be granted or revoked at a granular level for collections of users, devices and things, or just one of those, on corporate, guest and IoT networks increase the chances of security breaches, since many IoT devices, cameras and sensors have limited built-in security.
  • IoT devices need to be uniquely identify on the Wi-Fi network, which is made possible by software-de ned private pre-shared keys. 
  • Control without the controllers—dynamic control protocols are used to distribute a shared control plane for increased resiliency, scale, and speed 
  • Ability to intelligently adapt device coverage and capacity through use of software de n- able radios and multiple connection technologies (802.11a/b/g/n/ac/wave 1/wave 2/MIMO/ MU-MIMO, BLE, and extensibility through USB) 
  • Unified layer of wireless and wired infra- structure devices, with shared policies and management 
  • Removal of hardware dependency, providing seamless introduction of new access points and switches into existing network infrastructure. All hardware platforms should support the same software.