HP announces OpenSwitch, an open-source network operating system

So I look at a random source file, and find:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;git.openswitch.net&#x2F;cgit&#x2F;openswitch&#x2F;ops-arpmgrd&#x2F;tree&#x2F;src&#x2F;arpmgrd.c" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;git.openswitch.net&#x2F;cgit&#x2F;openswitch&#x2F;ops-arpmgrd&#x2F;tree&#x2F;...</a><p><pre><code> &#x2F;* Build hash key for a given vrf name and ip address *&#x2F; static int get_hash_key(char* vrf_name, char *ip, char *key) { sprintf(key, &quot;%s-%s&quot;, vrf_name, ip); return strlen(key); } &#x2F;* get_hash_key *&#x2F; </code></pre> What could possibly go wrong?<p>Definitely not thinking hard about security over there.

&quot;OpenSwitch is a network operating system for disaggregated switches that are built around OCP compliant hardware and that utilizes the ONIE boot loader to install and uninstall network operating systems. It is aimed at accelerating the transition to open networking as well as the adoption of disaggregated data center networks.&quot;

This is a &quot;me too&quot; move by HP. Open network linux already exists, already uses ONIE, and is already a part of the open compute project. <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;opennetlinux.org&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;opennetlinux.org&#x2F;</a><p>This is just a land grab by HP.

This seems like a good, if belated, move on HPs part. Ethernet switches have become trivial to build with off the shelf parts. If you open up the software then you can focus on things like build quality and reliability.

How is this any better&#x2F;different than Open vSwitch?<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;openvswitch.org&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;openvswitch.org&#x2F;</a>

The hardware compatibility list is pretty slim at the moment:<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.openswitch.net&#x2F;documents&#x2F;user&#x2F;hardware-compatibility" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.openswitch.net&#x2F;documents&#x2F;user&#x2F;hardware-compatibil...</a>

Their Github organization is empty, but you can see the code at: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;git.openswitch.net&#x2F;cgit" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;git.openswitch.net&#x2F;cgit</a>.

Gonna be hard to compete with the likes of Cisco Nexus... I mean after almost 5 years of the Nexus 1000V platform they come to the table with an &quot;open-source&quot; software platform to be used on hardware that no one is currently using?<p>I could see this getting traction if they announced it was compatible with some of the newer switches

As I stopped knowing anything about datacenters around 2001, can anyone tell me what a network operating system is?<p>I am going to guess large high throughput switches and some degree of software defined networks that knock putting your printers on one C-network and your servers on another into a cock hat<p>Apart from raw power, is there some way I can reconfigure my network without moving a cable that I previously could not?<p>(It&#x27;s late, so just to be sure, I&#x27;m not trolling)

In my experience HP has never been good at software or networking - that their two weak points. Will be interesting to see how this pans out.

I was recently polling for some hp Openflow switches; which are not supported here...<p>Isn&#x27;t this just another move to sell more switches?<p>Will there ever be code for some of the older MIPS based switches?