Aviz Networks details vASN, a virtualized ASN with AWS DPDK or AF_PACKET support
Aviz Networks introduced vASN, a virtualized version of its Aviz Service Node that provides deep packet inspection and subscriber-aware metadata functions with a lighter CPU and RAM footprint for cloud, edge, and virtual environments.
Research Overview
The vendor positions vASN as a lightweight, cloud-native edition of the Aviz Service Node (ASN) for software-defined packet intelligence workloads that run on virtual machines, containers, and non-DPDK environments.
It is described as retaining 100% of ASN core functionality while offering DC (Data Center/Cloud) and TELCO operating modes.
Key Findings
vASN includes deep packet inspection for 2,700+ applications and 9,000+ subcategories, along with 4G, 5G-NSA, and 5G-SA correlation and exporting subscriber-aware metadata.
The post also describes metadata extraction across protocols including HTTP, DNS, TLS, and QUIC, plus traffic optimization features such as packet deduplication, flow sampling, and forensic packet capture.
Technical Breakdown
For behavioral analysis, the blog cites real-time behavioral analysis and dynamic signature updates with zero downtime, alongside metadata export options through JSON plus Kafka Streams, Syslog, and REST APIs.
It states integration paths with SIEM and analytics tooling including Splunk and Elastic, plus Prometheus and Grafana and data lakes.
Product Update
The architecture is described as resource-efficient, running on commodity x86 servers in a VM, container, or other virtualized form, with CPU and RAM use characterized as lower than the full ASN.
For data plane flexibility, the blog says vASN supports DPDK where available and uses AF_PACKET as a fallback for broader compatibility.
Operational Impact
The post describes centralized management through Aviz Flow Vision for orchestration, monitoring, policy enforcement, and unified visibility across a packet broker and service node fleet.
It also states that deployments can be automated with Terraform scripts and that settings can be pushed from the Flow Vision UI, covering instance type, data path, IP services, and interface selection.
Deployment and Configuration Options
In AWS EC2, the blog lists two operational modes: DPDK mode using Elastic Network Interface (ENI) support with DPDK PMD drivers for line-rate packet processing, and AF_PACKET mode for environments without DPDK PMD availability or suitability.
It describes configuration controls including asn_instance values for “virtual” (CPU cores for packet processing with pthreads for non-packet tasks) and “onprem” (dedicated cores), along with data_path values for “dpdk” and “af_packet.”
The blog also describes ip_services as enabling IPv4 configuration on packet processing ports when set to “true,” and disabling it when set to “false,” plus selected_interfaces for AF_PACKET mode to choose Linux interfaces to monitor.
Blog Signals brief: Aviz Networks’ vASN adds a virtual, resource-efficient packaging of the Aviz Service Node’s DPI, subscriber correlation, metadata extraction, traffic optimization, and metadata export functions, with centralized Flow Vision management and AWS deployment options using DPDK or AF_PACKET. This is a fact-based summary of the vendor blog.