Re: Free Open Source Network Operating Systems

[Jason Lixfeld <jason+nanog () lixfeld ca>]

I could be making this up, but my understanding is that the Broadcom SDK is not free, and without the SDK, hardware 
interaction is limited.

At one time ONL was a free ONIE NOS but sans SDK.

https://github.com/opencomputeproject/OpenNetworkLinux <https://github.com/opencomputeproject/OpenNetworkLinux> ?

Sent from my iPhone

On Mar 9, 2019, at 11:08 AM, Colton Conor <colton.conor () gmail com <mailto:colton.conor () gmail com>> wrote:

> What free, opensouce, network operating systems currently exist that run on whitebox broadcom or other merchant 
> silicon switches?
>
> I know Cumulus is very popular, but I don't believe they have a free version that runs on whitebox switches right? 
> Only on a virtual machine from what I can tell. 
>
> I think if one of these vendors would release a free and truly opensource network operating system, with the option 
> for paid support if needed, then whitebox switching would really take off. This would be similar to the Redhat model, 
> but for the networking world. 
>
> Right now, the cost of the whitebox plus a paid network operating system seems to equal the same cost as a discounted 
> Juniper, Cisco, or Arista. I am not seeing the savings on paper. 
>
> If we could just buy the whitebox hardware, and have a free operating system on there, then financially whitebox 
> switches would be half the cost of a similar Cisco switch after discount.
>
> Am I missing something?