IONOS Builds a Distributed and Scalable High-Performance Network with VyOS

“VyOS gave us the freedom to build a resilient, distributed network without sacrificing performance or control. We can scale to hundreds of nodes efficiently and securely.”
— Tomás Montero, Head of Hosting Network Services at IONOS

Customer Overview

IONOS is a global leader in web hosting, cloud infrastructure, and digital services for businesses of all sizes. With a strong presence across international markets, IONOS supports millions of customers worldwide by providing reliable, scalable, and secure platforms. IONOS transformed its Bare Metal platform with VyOS to support a highly distributed, scalable, and efficient network architecture. With a large number of VyOS instances in production, the IONOS network team achieved high throughput, reduced risk domain, and a cost-effective path to future growth.

Challenge

IONOS required a scalable infrastructure with a limited and controlled risk and impact domain. The conventionally used centralised network architecture presented several inherent drawbacks. The concentration of critical functions at central nodes created considerable risk of service interruption in the event of hardware or software failure. Furthermore, scalability was costly and complex and not without inherent risk. As demand for services increased, it became apparent that the only way to meet this demand was to scale up, which entailed significant investments in hardware and raised capital expenditure.

Why VyOS

IONOS thoroughly evaluated a range of options, including traditional network appliances and open-source platforms. VyOS was the optimal choice based on its robust networking capabilities, flexible architecture, scalability options, and elimination of licensing overhead. Key drivers included:

Distributed Architecture Support: Supports vertical scaling to increase throughput per cluster and horizontal scaling to enhance overall aggregate throughput.
Cost Saving: VyOS offers the flexibility to scale out without the burden of per-instance licensing, whereas proprietary licensing models can make operating a large number of instances financially unsustainable.
Advanced Network Services: VyOS provides robust network capabilities, including dynamic routing, secure traffic handling, IPv6 stack, NAT, and access to an underlying Linux distribution for custom scripts and automation.

Implementation

The transition involved moving from a traditional centralized architecture to a fault-tolerant, distributed model. The deployment focused on:

Integration: Implemented a large amount of VyOS instances across distributed architecture, ensuring a highly resilient and redundant infrastructure.
Optimization: The flexible architecture decoupled software and hardware, ensuring efficient performance across diverse physical and virtual environments without being tied to specific hardware.
Automation: Leveraging access to an underlying Linux distribution for custom scripts and automation to support complex networking.

Results

By adopting VyOS, the organization successfully eliminated the licensing overhead associated with traditional vendors, driving significant cost savings. Key metrics included:

Throughput: VyOS achieved speeds of hundreds of Gbps on an aggregated basis, achieving a peak throughput per cluster of 20 Gbps and 1.5 million packets per second (PPS).
Reliability: Transitioned to a fault-tolerant, distributed model, significantly enhancing system reliability and minimizing the risk of service disruption.
Efficiency: Created a scalable infrastructure capable of dynamically scaling to meet growing demands while maintaining a cost-efficient balance in both CAPEX and OPEX.

Looking Ahead

ONOS will continue investing in VyOS as a foundational network element. Future plans include:

VPP Adoption: Plans to adopt VPP (Vector Packet Processing) in version 1.5 for greater throughput and efficiency.
Deeper Integration: The team is exploring deeper integration with orchestration frameworks and additional load-balancing technologies.