The lowly wiring closet at the edge of the network is evolving. You know the one’s that IT shares with the custodians or the women’s lav. The neglected place that connects all end-points into the enterprise network infrastructure. Throughout my career we have moved from 3Com SuperStack hubs to 10/100 SuperStack switches to 100/1000/10000 Cisco 2960’a fixed Ethernet devices. In this first edge era, the primary buying criteria was the price per port. Low price was the critical factor. These devices might have had a few network services but they only provided best-effort connectivity services with little to no operational control according to Nick Lippis in the Lippis Report 103: Wiring Closet Switches Gain Strategic IT Value Label.
Commoditized network gear created enterprise networks consisting of equipment from different vendors. Purchases throughout the wiring closets, distribution, and core were based mainly on cost. The article says that equipment from multiple vendors is the hallmark of Wiring Closet 1.0. Wiring Closet 1.0 made effective management difficult. Multiple management systems required that organizations keep a large staff with diverse skills to keep up network functionality.
Wiring Closet 2.0
Most organizations are now in the Wiring Closet 2.0 era. As competition drove margins on edge switches into the single digits, the author states that vendors began to add services to a new breed of device. The new features on 2.0 switches created new ways for the vendors to compete on different (rb- and more profitable) fronts beyond price per port. Mr. Lippis argues enterprise trends are forcing IT executives to check projects, programs, and priorities as they seek to drive down Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) while extracting added value from their enterprise network. Business executives expect their IT departments to meet continually growing demands without significant year-over-year network expenditures. (rb– the ever popular more with less argument) The article says the new realities include new mixed traffic patterns and increased desktop bandwidth requirements for new applications, communications, and data center strategies.
Switch vendors recognized these trends. They responded by developing a new type of wiring closet switch. Second-generation switches added significant functionality. The vendors’ goal is to transform the commoditized network edge (rb- low profit) into a strategic IT asset (rb- high profit). The blog says these new switches enable a host of new applications for Wiring Closet 2.0.
- Quality of Service: Wiring Closet 2.0 switches tag applications like IP telephony and Unified Communications at access to guarantee priority throughout an internal network and active monitoring
- Power Over Ethernet (PoE): Second generation, wiring closets distribute power over Ethernet cables. POE enables new classes of devices to be powered from the Wiring Closet 2.0. These demands include WLAN access points, video surveillance, and IP phones. As well as specialty devices such as health care instrumentation, point of sale devices and soon even laptops.
- Security: The network edge Is the first level of defense. Network Access Control (NAC) and application policing have increased in importance. They are needed to protect the integrity of the network, data privacy, and compliance. Wiring Closet 2.0 switches integrate security features and the support of security appliances bolstering defense-in-depth strategies.
- Wireless Local Area Networking: WLAN integration, which includes access point, PoE, and controller support, increases WLAN coverage. Further common network management interfaces streamline operational support for both wired and wireless networks.
- Unified Communication (UC): UC support via PoE to power IP phones and UC end-points plus unique UC configuration profiles to ensure reliable and stable UC operation.
- Application Intelligence: Application intelligence or the categorizing of applications as they enter the wiring closet and either mark them with QoS or discard the application. This enables application policing at the network edge.
- Layer 3: Full layer 3 forwarding enabling all the value associating with routing including segmentation and aggregation are now included in some wiring closet switches.
- Total Cost of Ownership: The network edge and wiring closet switches in particular have a TCO breakdown of 20% capital spend and 80% operational spend according to Gartner (IT). Mew wiring closet switches are more expensive from a capital acquisition point of view. However, their operational cost is lower. Thus, the total dollar spend over a three-year period will also be lower while delivering increased value to the enterprise.
Wiring Closet 3.0
The IT industry is on the verge of a new era at the network edge. New technologies and requirements will disrupt Wiring Closet 2.0.
- 10Gbps Ethernet: 10Gbps Ethernet is the future of networking. If the past is a guide to the future, then over time more and more 1 Gbps Ethernet ports will upgrade to 10 Gbps. This will place a strain on wiring closet packet processing performance while driving up 10Gbps port density requirements plus downstream distribution and core switch capabilities.
- Software-defined networking (SDN): The holy grail of SDN is to separate the network control plane from the data plane. The model I carry in my head is wireless networks. There is a central controller that tells the WAP’s what to do and they do their job without any help from the central controller. This implies that the network devices can be dumber and cheaper.
- Network Management: Consistent network management means leveraging the same supplier for the network edge, distribution, and core.
- True Layer 3 Support: To support all the above-mentioned trends and unforeseen applications, wiring closet switches need to support full layer 3 forwarding.
- Support of UC, Mobility, and Security: This basis of competition is one of the most important attributes to the new network edge. Wiring closet switches need to support both standard interfaces and services for UC, mobility, and security so that mixed vendor solutions may occur.
- IPv6: If you have wiring closets full of perfectly good Layer 2 switches, there’s no reason to replace them just because you can’t manage them with IPv6. If they work today, they’ll work until they break, and you don’t need to worry about (or budget for) swapping them out any sooner.
IPv6
Dan Campbell, President, Millennia Systems, Inc. suggested in a recent CircleID post that to manage the move to an IPv6 enabled Wiring Closet 3.0. Organizations should strive to use theIPv6 dual-stack migration strategy. This is where IPv6 is added to the existing systems so they can simultaneously function with both IP versions. Tunneling and translation techniques should be used when the dual-protocol configuration is not possible. The mantra of “dual stack where you can, tunnel where you must” is the order of the day.
He advises that starting today, don’t buy another box unless it supports dual-stack operation or offers a clear, well-defined upgrade plan. It doesn’t matter if the manufacturer is “up and to the right” in the latest Gartner (IT) report; anything you buy from now on that is IPv4-only is a waste of valuable resources.
Mr. Campbell tells network administrators that while LAN switches function mainly at layer 2. They forward Ethernet frames regardless of whether the packet inside is IPv4 or IPv6. There are some functions on a switch that works at layer 3 or higher. They include:
• Dynamic ARP Inspection (DAI).
• DHCP Snooping.
• Multicast Listener Discovery (MLD) Snooping (the IPv6 equivalent of IGMP Snooping).
• Quality of Service (QoS) marking for upstream Differentiated Services treatment.
• Access Lists (e.g., VLAN or regular ACLs).
He explains that these features need layer 3 or upper-layer information; Layer 3 is needed to inspect the packet header or payload inside the Ethernet frame. These features may not be things you are doing now, but you never know when you will. Security requirements and hardening guidelines are recommending things like DAI, DHCP Snooping, and ACLs at the access layer.
The more streaming video gets moved to IP networks, the more the need for multicast. MLD Snooping is necessary to improve performance. Finally, the continued convergence of voice, video, and other rich media and interactive applications to IP networks is furthering the need for QoS. It is always best to mark traffic as close to the edge as possible.
Related articles
- Best Wiring Closet Products for Large Companies (networking.answers.com)
Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.