Cumulus is a specialized network operating system designed to work on switches without an operating system with the ONIE installation environment. Created by Cumulus Networks for switches used in data centers , it is designed to expand the functionality of switches by using standard Linux applications for orchestrating, managing, configuring, and automating functioning.
| Cumulus linux | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer | Cumulus networks |
| OS family | network OS |
| Latest version | 2.2 ( August 5, 2014 ) |
| Kernel type | Monolithic core |
| Interface | Command interpreter |
| License | Proprietary |
| condition | relevant |
| Web site | www.cumulusnetworks.com |
Content
History
Cumulus Linux was founded in 2010 by a group of former Cisco , VMware, and 3Com engineers. Their task was to create a fully functional Linux-based operating system for network equipment used in data centers. Since October 2012, Cumulus Linux began to be used on real working projects.
ONIE Installation Features
Unlike conventional operating systems, Cumulus Linux requires a special ONIE boot environment on its hardware to install. ONIE is a small Linux distribution preinstalled on the switch, the task of which is to search for the first start of a full-fledged network OS, install it and, in the future, transfer control to it. At the same time, the search for the OS installation source considers such options for the possible distribution of the OS distribution as a USB drive, a URL from a DHCP server, and a URL from DNS-SD.
Key Supported Protocols
- L2: STP (IEEE 802.1d), RSTP (IEEE 802.1w), PVRST, PVST; IEEE 802.1q, LACP (IEEE 802.3ad), LLDP, CDP; Host-MLAG; IGMPv2 / v3 snooping, MLDv1 / v2 snooping; Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP).
- L3: Quagga IPv4 / v6 including OSPFv2, OSPFv3, BGPv4 / v6, ECMP; Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD).
- Support for VXLAN, Lightweight Network Virtualization (LNV).
- Management using standard Linux tools such as OpenSSH, SCP, FTPS.
- Traditional monitoring using SNMPv2 / v3 and network MIB, analysis through SPAN, ERSPAN, ACL counters.
- Advanced Search and Problem Solving with Prescriptive Topology Manager.
- Class of Service (CoS)-based QoS (IEEE 802.1p) or DSCP. Classification based on ACL tags.
Supported Hardware
Currently, the list of supported Cumulus Linux hardware consists of switches based on the following switching matrices:
- Broadcom Firebolt2
- Broadcom Triumph2
- Broadcom Apollo2
- Broadcom trident
- Broadcom Trident +
- Broadcom Trident II
This list contains about two dozen rack-mount switches manufactured by such companies as Agema, Dell, Edge-Core, ETegro, Mellanox, Penguin Computing; with ports 1G (Base-T), 10G (SFP +) and 40G (QSFP +). Both models on Power PC processors and on x86 processors are supported.