1 OpenDaylight concepts and tools
2 ===============================
4 In this section we discuss some of the concepts and tools you encounter with
5 basic use of OpenDaylight. The guide walks you through the installation process
6 in a subsequent section, but for now familiarize yourself with the information
9 * To date, OpenDaylight developers have formed more than 50 projects to address
10 ways to extend network functionality. The projects are a formal structure for
11 developers from the community to meet, document release plans, code, and
12 release the functionality they create in an OpenDaylight release.
14 *The typical OpenDaylight user will not join a project team*, but you should
15 know what projects are as we refer to their activities and the functionality
16 they create. The Karaf features to install that functionality often share the
19 * **Apache Karaf** provides a lightweight runtime to install the Karaf features
20 you want to implement and is included in the OpenDaylight platform software.
21 By default, OpenDaylight has no pre-installed features.
22 * After installing OpenDaylight, you install your selected features using the
23 Karaf console to expand networking capabilities. In the Karaf feature list
24 below are the ones you’re most likely to use when creating your network
27 As a short example of installing a Karaf feature, OpenDaylight Beryllium
28 offers Application Layer Traffic Optimization (ALTO). The Karaf feature to
29 install ALTO is odl-alto-all. On the Karaf console, the command to install it
32 feature:install odl-alto-all
34 * **DLUX** is a web-based interface that OpenDaylight provides for you to manage
35 your network. Its Karaf feature installation name is “odl-dlux-core”.
37 a. DLUX draws information from OpenDaylight’s topology and host databases to
38 display the following information:
44 #. To enable the DLUX UI after installing OpenDaylight, run:
46 feature:install odl-dlux-core
50 * **Network embedded Experience (NeXt)** is a developer toolkit that provides
51 tools to draw network-centric topology UI elements that offer visualizations
54 a. Large complex network topologies
55 #. Aggregated network nodes
56 #. Traffic/path/tunnel/group visualizations
57 #. Different layout algorithms
59 #. Preset user-friendly interactions
61 NeXt can work with DLUX to build OpenDaylight applications. Check out the
62 NeXt_demo_ for more information on the interface.
64 * Model-Driven Service Abstraction Layer (MD-SAL) is the OpenDaylight framework
65 that allows developers to create new Karaf features in the form of services
66 and protocol drivers and connects them to one another. You can think of the
67 MD-SAL as having the following two components:
69 a. A shared datastore that maintains the following tree-based structures:
71 i. The Config Datastore, which maintains a representation of the desired
73 #. The Operational Datastore, which is a representation of the actual
74 network state based on data from the managed network elements.
76 b. A message bus that provides a way for the various services and protocol
77 drivers to notify and communicate with one another.
79 * If you’re interacting with OpenDaylight through DLUX or the REST APIs while
80 using the the OpenDaylight interfaces, the microservices architecture allows
81 you to select available services, protocols, and REST APIs.
83 .. _NeXt_demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBsUDu8aucs