Modern Networking Without the Lock-In: How Planet Labs Uses VyOS for High-Availability Hybrid Infrastructure

“VyOS combines the flexibility of Linux with the reliability of enterprise networking. It feels familiar but performs like the best in class, and that’s exactly what we need.”
— Jon McCarthy, Network Administrator, Planet Labs

Customer Overview

Planet Labs PBC, headquartered in San Francisco, operates the world’s largest fleet of Earth imaging satellites, delivering daily data that helps businesses, researchers, and governments monitor change at a global scale. To support that mission across office, data center, and cloud-connected environments, Planet Labs needed networking that was highly available, low-latency, and fully under its control. VyOS became a flexible and dependable foundation for that architecture.

Challenge

As Planet Labs expanded into a new data center and supported distributed office environments, the team needed a networking platform that could support redundancy, hybrid connectivity, and long-term operational consistency without adding more vendor dependency or management overhead.

Three needs stood out:

Legacy constraints and rising cost: Traditional appliance-based vendors introduced monthly fees and eliminated control over hardware decisions.
Hybrid connectivity requirements: The environment needed to support site-to-site VPN, NAT, and automated failover across multiple ISPs within a resilient production architecture.
Operational familiarity and control: The team wanted a transparent, Linux-native platform instead of a closed, black-box system.

Why VyOS

VyOS gave Planet Labs a more flexible alternative to legacy platforms, without compromising on performance or reliability.

Enterprise-grade networking capabilities: VyOS delivers routing, firewalling, VPN, and dynamic protocol support, including BGP, OSPF, and IPsec.
High availability without lock-in: Two-node deployments at each site gave the team failover and resilience while preserving hardware freedom.
Familiar operations model: With a CLI and Linux-native environment, VyOS fits naturally into the team’s workflow and simplifies day-two operations.
Proven reliability: Planet Labs has run VyOS for more than six years with minimal intervention beyond routine updates and policy changes.

Implementation

Planet Labs deployed VyOS across office and data center environments as the foundation for a highly available hybrid networking architecture. Each site was built with two VyOS firewalls to support failover and maintain continuity across critical services.

VyOS was used for:

Routing and firewalling across distributed environments
Site-to-site VPN with automated failover
OSPF between VLANs and locations
Site-to-site VPN with automated failover
Site-to-site VPN with automated failover

This gave Planet Labs a consistent networking layer that could support both current operations and future growth.

Results

With VyOS in place, Planet Labs gained a more resilient and controllable networking foundation:

High availability across sites: Redundant VyOS instances with VRRP and automated failover ensure continuous operation during hardware or link failures.
Greater infrastructure control: The team reduced dependence on proprietary hardware and kept flexibility over deployment choices.
Hybrid-ready architecture: VyOS supported the combination of VPN, dynamic routing, and cloud connectivity required across modern environments.
Reliable long-term operations: Once deployed, the platform required little day-to-day intervention beyond standard firewall policy updates.

Operational and Cost Impact

VyOS gave Planet Labs a more sustainable operating model for enterprise networking, with full visibility into configuration, freedom over hardware choices, and a familiar Linux-based platform that reduced operational friction. In short, Planet Labs gained stronger control, fewer constraints, and a networking platform built to last.

Looking Ahead

With a stable hybrid networking foundation already in place, Planet Labs is well-positioned to evaluate VyOS 1.5 and its high-performance capabilities, including VPP for demanding VPN, NAT, and routing workloads.