Overview
The challenges faced by network operators
Network administrators have always had to spend a large portion of their energy managing the machines and connections that comprise their networks. However, as networks become not only more complicated, but also more geographically distributed, this task is increasingly difficult manage. Furthermore, administrators must not only manage a set of distributed machines, but they must also manage a set of distributed network services. This adds yet another degree of complexity.
These services must be deployed quickly at any given subset of pops in the network, sometimes they must be updated or removed at a moment's notice. The effects of adding and removing services to a well-tuned network are nearly impossible to predict, and troubleshooting problems caused by errant new services can be an expensive, frustrating and time-consuming experience. What's more, network services often compete with each other for limited compute resources, so when one service comes down with a memory or CPU problem it can easily bring down other services sharing those resources.
Managing a distributed set of user-facing network services also presents problems of security and accountability. Oftentimes a third party service developer will need access to your network in order to help deploy or maintain his service, and as a network administrator, you are naturally hesitant to give him root access to one of your machines that might be running another service also.
For legal reasons, organizations must also be able to keep track of the activities of the different services running in your network. If your organization receives a complaint, you need to be able to quickly track down the offending service.
The PlanetWorks platform software also provides a simple, safe and powerful way to let third party developers have access to your network platform without endangering the security of your organization's network resources.
The challenges faced by network operators
Network administrators have always had to spend a large portion of their energy managing the machines and connections that comprise their networks. However, as networks become not only more complicated, but also more geographically distributed, this task is increasingly difficult manage. Furthermore, administrators must not only manage a set of distributed machines, but they must also manage a set of distributed network services. This adds yet another degree of complexity.
These services must be deployed quickly at any given subset of pops in the network, sometimes they must be updated or removed at a moment's notice. The effects of adding and removing services to a well-tuned network are nearly impossible to predict, and troubleshooting problems caused by errant new services can be an expensive, frustrating and time-consuming experience. What's more, network services often compete with each other for limited compute resources, so when one service comes down with a memory or CPU problem it can easily bring down other services sharing those resources.
Managing a distributed set of user-facing network services also presents problems of security and accountability. Oftentimes a third party service developer will need access to your network in order to help deploy or maintain his service, and as a network administrator, you are naturally hesitant to give him root access to one of your machines that might be running another service also.
For legal reasons, organizations must also be able to keep track of the activities of the different services running in your network. If your organization receives a complaint, you need to be able to quickly track down the offending service.
The PlanetWorks platform software also provides a simple, safe and powerful way to let third party developers have access to your network platform without endangering the security of your organization's network resources.
