Force10 Enhances Open Automation Framework With SmartScripts And HyperLink

Force10 is announcing SmartScripts, which lets administratorswrite and run scripts on Force10 switches. The company is also announcing HyperLink,which integrates Force10 switches with hypervisors. Both features are part ofForce10's Open Automation Framework initiative announced in March, 2010.SmartScripts and Hyperlink streamline switch management by automating the manytedious network management tasks. Automation is foundational for getting themost out of a virtualized data center design. Automation features for switchmanagement and systems integration can also reduce human error.

SmartScripts is Force10's foray into on-switch scripting.The goal is to automate switch management functions based on events such as anincrease in dropped Ethernet frames that crosses a defined threshold or time ofday. On-switch scripting is not new. Cisco NX-OS and Extreme XOS, for example,both support scripting. Force10 supports Perl and Python, both of which are popularand easy to use.  With SmartScripts,administrators can execute any switch command, including commands to get switchstatistics and set configurations. Scripts can store variables in memory, up to1/5 GB is available, though that amount might shrink for other purposes, sothat you can track information over time.

Unfortunately, SmartScripts doesn't have any built-infunction calls or native API calls to query the switch for statistics. Togather dropped frames, the administrator would have to run the appropriatecommand, capture the output, and then use pattern matching or some other meansto capture the dropped frame count. Anyone who has built screen scrape programswill know that perfecting the pattern matching is very difficult and using offsets--capturingtext based on a starting point and ending point in a string--is error prone. NativeAPIs or function libraries that provide an interface with the Force10 OperatingSystems (FTOS) would be much more robust. Force10 did say native APIs areplanned, but didn't have a time frame. Force10 is also planning on allowingusers to add their own Perl or Python libraries in a future release which willmake SmartScripts that much more useful.

Force10's HyperLink integrates with VMwares vSphere 4.0 and4.1 and Citrix Xen 5.6, with additional hypervisors from vendors like Oracleand Microsoft planned for a future release. Hyperlink switches integratedirectly with the as many as eight different hypervisor managers and the  correlates switch ports, hypervisor servers,and virtual machines. Once a move begins, the source and destination switchesknow which switch ports each hypervisor servers is attached to  and ensures VLANs are moved in the propersequence to ensure that connectivity isn't lost. Direct switch-to-hypervisorintegration (which Arista Networks, and now Force10, support)is simpler thaninvolving a management station. Support for both VMware and Citrix furthersForce10's claim to be vendor agnostic.

SmartScripts and HyperLink will be available in Q4 2010 forForce10's newer switches such as the S60, S55, S4810, and newer models. Olderswitch models won't be supported. Both features will be bundled together.  Force10 didn't have pricing information ready.We'll be sure to follow up.