We hear a lot about how software-defined networking can help network operators make the best use of their resources, be more agile so they can better meet customer needs quickly and compete with the over-the-top players, and innovate faster. But, did you know that SDN can also help address security in cloud environments?
That’s the word from Gary Kinghorn, Senior Product Marketing Manager, Nuage Networks in his recent blog, SDN and Microsegementation: Automating Network Security Policies.
Cloud-based environments, leveraged by multiple parties, require microsegmentation. This allows everybody to have their own separate, secure slice of those shared resources. Enabling microsegmentation involves the enforcement of security policies at a very granular level between individual workloads and applications, Kinghorn notes.
The good news is that it is happening today. And, adding SDN to the mix makes things much easier, and not overwhelming. As Kinghorn explains, when you add an SDN overlay, microsegmentation policy can be automated and is location independent.
“As new cloud applications are spun up, automating security policy provisioning and network security devices is enabling on-demand service delivery organizations are looking for,” Kinghorn says. “So, it’s not just about greater degrees of security. It’s about faster, on-demand delivery of cloud applications with what easily could be an order of magnitude greater degree of security complexity than traditional data centers dealt with.”
The Nuage Networks Virtualized Services Platform provides software-defined networking (SDN) capabilities for clouds of all sizes – from small private clouds to the largest public clouds in the world. Nuage Networks VSP makes the network as readily consumable as compute resources. Nuage Networks VSP is implemented as a non-disruptive overlay for all existing virtualized and non-virtualized server and network resources.
To learn more about important topics related to NFV and SDN, check out these other Nuage Networks articles and resources:
- Securing cloud environments with Nuage Networks VSP: Policy-based security automation and microsegmentation overview
- Virtualized Services Platform and the Benefits of Leveraging Container Technology
- Containers and the Need to Contain Enhanced Security
- Network Virtualization-The Value and Future of Layering
- The Value and Future of Network Virtualization Layering-Part Two