Administrator's Guide

1 Introduction
This document describes the configuration and management of the HP VAN Controller in standalone
and team modes.
The HP VAN SDN Controller is a Java-based OpenFlow controller enabling SDN solutions such
as network controllers for the data center, public cloud, private cloud, and campus edge networks.
This includes providing an open platform for developing experimental and special-purpose network
control protocols using a built-in OpenFlow controller.
The HP VAN SDN Controller includes an SDK providing the tools needed to develop applications
to run on the Controller. The SDK includes sample source code, API specifications, and the HP
VAN SDN Controller Programming Guide. See the programming guide for SDK information.
The following publications are provided with the HP VAN SDN Controller:
• HP VAN SDN Controller Release Notes
• HP VAN SDN Controller Installation Guide
• HP VAN SDN Controller Administrator Guide
• HP VAN SDN Controller and Applications Support Matrix
• HP VAN SDN Controller Programming Guide
• HP VAN SDN Controller REST API Guide
• HP VAN SDN Controller Open Source and Third-Party Software License Agreements
• HP VAN SDN Controller and Applications Support Matrix
The HP VAN SDN Controller is a platform for developing SDN applications and deploying SDN
applications. The controller can be characterized as providing a Base Control Platform, a Distributed
Platform for High-Availability and Scalability, and an Extensible Platform.
The base control platform is built on the Linux operating system. The principal software stack uses
an OSGi framework (Equinox) and a container (Virgo) as the basis for modular software deployment.
The base platform provides services such as authentication, data persistence, logging, and alerts.
The base platform provides a device driver framework for out-of-band control and management
of devices. The base platform also includes network services that provide the following:
• Link Discovery service to discover the physical links between devices.
• Node Manager service to discover the existence of end hosts. OpenFlow Packet_In messages
are used to learn end-host MAC and IP addresses.
• Topology Manager service to create a network graph and compute the shortest path between
two hosts.
• Path Provisioning service to provision L2 paths by programming end-to-end flow rules between
discovered hosts.
• Path Diagnostic service to determine and verify the path taken by packets from a source host
to a destination host.
The SDN Controller is a distributed platform enabling high-availability and scalability. Controllers
can be configured in a team to enable load-balancing and control domain partitioning. Controllers
in the team synchronize state information for smooth and rapid failover.
The SDN Controller is an extensible platform supporting native applications (sometimes referred
to as modules) and external applications. Native applications are authored in Java or a byte-code
compatible language and are deployed on the controller as collections of OSGi bundles. Native
applications use the Java services exported and advertised by the controller platform and by other
applications. Native applications can dynamically extend the controller REST API surface, extend
the controller’s GUI, and integrate with the controller authentication and authorization framework.
8 Introduction