What free, opensouce, network operating systems currently exist that run on whitebox broadcom or other merchant silicon switches?
I know Cumulus is very popular, but I don’t believe they have a free version that runs on whitebox switches right? Only on a virtual machine from what I can tell.
I think if one of these vendors would release a free and truly opensource network operating system, with the option for paid support if needed, then whitebox switching would really take off. This would be similar to the Redhat model, but for the networking world.
Right now, the cost of the whitebox plus a paid network operating system seems to equal the same cost as a discounted Juniper, Cisco, or Arista. I am not seeing the savings on paper.
If we could just buy the whitebox hardware, and have a free operating system on there, then financially whitebox switches would be half the cost of a similar Cisco switch after discount.
What would be interesting to know, however, is if the terms under which it (or at least the necessary hardware documentation) is distributed would permit a clean F/OSS implementation.
If it would, then you just need to find someone at Broadcom to give you the time of day...
If you don't need the SDK specifically and are using a Broadcom based switch you can get of-dpa or OpenNSL for multiple switches from https://github.com/Broadcom-Switch/ .� You can also normally get of-dpa, OpenNSL and even SAI from the switch vendor directly.
Does VYOS run on bare metal broadcom switches though? I know it runs on X86, but I wan’t aware it could run on bare metal switches. I don’t see a hardware compatibility list on their website either.
Right now, the cost of the whitebox plus a paid network operating system seems to equal the same cost as a discounted Juniper, Cisco, or Arista. I am not seeing the savings on paper.
I'm not going to defend the prices of Cisco/Juniper/et al. as they are
often ridiculous however, there are many services you can get from
these larger vendors that you can't from the smaller ones; it's not
only some hardware, software, a bit of support and the occasional bug
fix. Big vendors like Cisco and Juniper (and others, these are just
examples) have a plethora of additional services smaller white box
vendors don't have. My point here is, you seem to be suggesting the
white box vendors offer the exact same service for less money but, in
my experience this isn't apples for apples.
If we could just buy the whitebox hardware, and have a free operating system on there, then financially whitebox switches would be half the cost of a similar Cisco switch after discount.
If you think about Capex only then possibly yes it could be cheaper.
Am I missing something?
Yes. Can you imagine what a support nightmare it would be when there
is a compatibility issue between software and hardware and those two
components are from two different vendors and you're having major
packet loss in your network?
How will you manage NMS integration when the hardware vendor
implements counters for that feature you use but the software vendor
doesn’t, or vice versa?
I’m not saying this can’t be done. Cumulus have many happy customers
using white box switches so it definitely can be done. I’m saying,
it’s not just about the Capex.