Vyatta vRouter
Do you rely on Rackspace for your cheap hosting needs? Its hybrid cloud is about to get a boost thanks to an addition to its network and security solutions: the Brocade Vyatta vRouter.
This network software gives users an easy-to-configure firewall, allowing a higher level of security, VPN gateway functionality, and a handful of other services like network routing and translation.
Vyatta vRouter: One Piece Of The Puzzle For Brocade
Brocade has been working hard to optimize its routing and network capabilities for some time now, acquiring Foundry Networks to use its Ethernet switching (a $2.6 billion deal in December of 2008) and purchasing Vyatta, for an unknown amount in November 2012, a virtual networking company. Vyatta, founded in 2005, released its first virtual network software in October 2007.
Why Vyatta vRouter?
Vyatta relies on a virtual router, giving it the power to compete with big boys like Cisco Systems' ISR and ASR machines. However, a router isn't the only function it has. It comes with virtual firewall functionality, virtual private networking to securely link up internal and external sites, and network address translation to allow users to provision applications and databases without public interfaces on the Internet while still relying on the Internet to acquire patches and updates.
Vyatta vRouter: A Bonus For Rackspace
The chief technology officer for Rackspace, John Engates, knows that customers will love this new addition to their cloud hosting services. Before this point, customers have had to do all sorts of things just to bring this level of functionality to their cloud, whether public or private: using OpenVPN with open source Vyatta or commercial software with extensions not available in the open source version, or using the firewall rules built into Linux.
Vyatta vRouter gives users a decent graphical user interface, Chef integration and Puppet management tools, and CloudStack and OpenStack cloud controller integration which is only available in Vyatta's Network OS Enterprise Edition. In its hybrid cloud environment, Rackspace had to often install firewall, physical VPN, and routing appliances for their customers.
Engates said, “With Vyatta, customers can now get industrial-strength firewall, routing, and VPN into the cloud.” It does this in a way that integrates with the Cloud Networks multi-tiered Layer 2 networking service, part of both the public cloud and the RackConnect service.
Vyatta vRouter: Advancements To The Cloud
Rackspace bases their Cloud Networks service on VMware's NVP OpenFlow controller and Open vSwitch virtual switch, which connects to the Citrix Systems XenServer hypervisor. This is the base of Rackspace's OpenStack-based public cloud.
The Vyatta vRouter software has the capability to link systems within a private data center to the Rackspace Cloud via RackConnect. In the past, RackConnect needed an F5 Big-IP or Cisco ASA hardware appliance, and the vRouter is just one more option customers can choose in order to customize the cloud hosting experience to their needs.
Another bonus, according to Engates: both the Vyatta vRouter service and the Cloud Networks service are IPv6 compliant. No messing with IPv4!
Vyatta vRouter: When Will It Be Available?
As of right now, the Vyatta vRouter is very limited in availability, being in the early adopter stage. Engates says within the next month, Rackspace will fine tune the use of the virtual router, firewall, NAT, and VPN software in order to roll it out to the masses. It will cost you a mere 18 cents more per hour compared with what you are paying now for your cheap hosting in the cloud.
“We are recommending that people start with a 1GB RAM server instances,” said Engates. This will allow roughly 30Mb/sec of bandwidth for firewall traffic. Starting at this point, it will cost about 6 cents per hour. When all is said and done, that's a virtual firewall for about 24 cents per hour, $2,100 per year.
Do you require 100Mb/sec of bandwidth on the firewall? Rackspace suggests a 4GB server instance, costing about 24 cents per hour for the server and an additional 18 cents each hour, about $3,680 per year.
Are you excited for Rackspace's newest cloud offering?
