PLUMgrid today rolled out PLUMgrid Open Networking Suite 4.0, its latest version of software for creating OpenStack-based clouds.

Version 4.0 supports multiple OpenStack distributions, load balancing as a service (LBaaS) plug-ins, and high availability.

It also includes a feature called Tunnel Heatmap, which shows the real-time network status of a software-defined networking (SDN) overlay plus the physical connectivity between OpenStack compute nodes. Tunnel Heatmap enables cloud network operators to anticipate and react to changes within OpenStack virtual and physical networks.

Among the platforms ONS 4.0 supports are Huawei Compass, Mirantis OpenStack, Rackspace Private Cloud, RDO, Red Hat OpenStack Platform, and Ubuntu OpenStack. ONS 4.0 has also garnered Red Hat Certification with Red Hat Enterprise Linux OpenStack Platform 7.

PLUMgrid ONS is built on a programmable, distributed data plane using IO Visor technology, which gives it flexibility and performance through in-kernel IO technology. When it's deployed in multitenant data centers, PLUMgrid ONS can enable microsegmentation for OpenStack clouds by using private virtual domains that enforce network policies for traffic separation and control.

The LBaaS capability in ONS 4.0 is interoperable with F5 Networks’ BIG-IP application delivery controllers (ADCs) through extensions with OpenStack’s Neutron API. In order to increase performance across applications and workloads, customers are deploying LBaaS in cloud data centers. The PLUMgrid-F5 combination allows them to verify deployment scenarios for high availability with scalable IP addressing while providing real time-time overlay tunnel status.

With Neutron, PLUMgrid ONS provides non-stop forwarding, auto-recovery, and active/active/active redundancy — three available Neutron instances to cope with failovers — for production deployments. The end result is to increase the Neutron API service performance and availability across all of the OpenStack controller nodes.