SDN and NFV Simplified: A Visual Guide to Understanding Software Defined Networks and Network Function Virtualization 1st Edition

SDN and NFV Simplified: A Visual Guide to Understanding Software Defined Networks and Network Function VirtualizationIt would be an absolute delight for anyone, for IT folks in general and Network guys in specific to read Jim Doherty's SDN/NFV simplified book. It is written in a lucid style, easy to understand and covers the topic exhaustively. The core topic of SDN/NFV is brought to the attention of the reader in gradual steps starting with the fundamentals of server virtualization. Conceptually, how SDN is akin to server virtualization (while drawing parallels between the controller and the Hypervisor) and Wireless LAN controllers (with Light weight access points) is fascinating. Jim covers the topic both from a vendor offerings and open source perspective, painting the canvas explaining VMWare NSX, Cisco ACI, ODL, Openflow, Open stack etc. How Software programmability can simplify optimized traffic flows, policy driven automation is brilliantly explained. This indeed is an exciting and evolving technology and the details of the various vendor implementations and standards is enlightening. This book definitely needs to be read by every CIO/CTO to gain a quick overview (both from a Business and technology perspective) and gain insights to this topic that cant just be ignored.Few of the other notable highlights of the book include- How to establish a SDN Business case for different usage scenarios- Demonstrate a path and roadmap explaining how companies can adopt SDN/NFV - Status check on where Enterprises and telcos are on SDN/NFV implementations- What Google does is not directly relevant for enterprises as the nature of the problem to be solved is different and why we cant do a one to one mapping- How controller intelligence with Global view reduces convergence time- How ODL (Open day light) controller supports a centralized and distributed model -- How IT organization structures would evolve in the new era- How security monitoring gets enforced in a DevOps world The above review just covers tip of the iceberg,To summarize it is definitely a classic for anyone interested in this exciting topic.

As it states in the beginning, this book is for a high-level overview of the benefits and why you would use SDN/NFV concepts. I found this book very good in explaining the WHY/WHEN aspects of SDN/NFV. As a network engineer, we are beginning to broaden our role and learn new concepts regarding virtualization techniques in the data center. I recommend this book to anyone who is new to network virtualization or an IT manager/director that plan to adopt some of these concepts in their infrastructure.

It is a great book, takes you from basic level of knowledge to have complete understanding of the topics, though it is not for anybody looking for hands on information.

I strongly recommend to anyone needing a background on this subject or needing a refresher on SDN and NFV. Great read

I am newbie to networking. This book really helped me understand SDN and NFV.

Not bad, but as a few other reviewers have pointed out, this is really a book mostly about using VMware for virtualization. There is a minimal treatment of SDN and NFV in the last few chapters of the book, but IMO, not nearly enough to justify the title. That said, the book is reasonably well-written and put together, it's just very light on actual SDN and NFV examples and content. I could be wrong, but it seems to me this started off as a book on VMs and virtualization in general, and then someone suggested the SDN/NFV angle late in its development. Overall, a decent book if you go into it with the right expectations, but the title makes promises it doesn't really keep.

A lot of general repeated text without getting into the subject. I wish I could take my money back.

Just a few observations from a virtualization/network engineer's perspective.I wanted something that gave a high level overview of SDN/NFV concepts as a launching point into more comprehensive and in-depth study.This book is definitely only a scratch of the surface and seems to be written with limited technical understanding in mind. That is in no way a negative as it is "Simplified" but the technical content is all but absent and the conceptual is weak at best. It reads much more like an advertisement for VMware in the beginning (I like VMware just fine) and a collection of buzz words and general info on industry trends with little depth thereafter.I was only able to stomach about 2/3rds of the book before I scanned the rest and left it on the shelf. I really wanted to get through the book regardless of how introductory it was because that's where I wanted to start. However, there were enough examples of serious misinformation on topics I'm well acquainted with that I began to question whether the rest of the content could be trusted. Unfortunately I reached a point where I lost all confidence. That's when I decided to move on.Interestingly I looked up the author's credentials and they appear quite impressive. Sadly this work did not live up to those standards.