Aviz Networks details vASN virtualized service node capabilities

Aviz Networks introduced vASN, a virtualized version of its Aviz Service Node that retains core DPI and metadata capabilities while targeting lower CPU and RAM use for cloud, edge, virtualized, and non-DPDK environments.

Research Overview

The vendor positions vASN as the lightweight edition of the Aviz Service Node (ASN), aimed at deployments where full bare-metal performance is not required. It is presented as working across data center and telecom-style modes.

The post focuses on what vASN includes, how its data paths operate, and how customers can deploy and configure it in AWS and other environments.

Key Findings

vASN is described as offering 100% of the core functionality in the full ASN, including deep packet inspection for 2,700+ applications and 9,000+ subcategories. The post also states that it provides 4G and 5G-NSA/5G-SA correlation and subscriber-aware metadata export.

The vendor also links vASN to traffic optimization features such as packet deduplication, flow sampling, and forensic packet capture, plus real-time behavioral analysis and dynamic signature updates with “zero downtime.”

Technical Breakdown

The post lists metadata extraction across protocol types including HTTP, DNS, TLS, and QUIC, along with subscriber intelligence. It also describes output paths for metadata delivery via JSON + Kafka Streams, Syslog, and REST APIs, with integrations referenced for SIEM and analytics tools.

For traffic handling, vASN is described as using DPDK where available and falling back to AF_PACKET for broader compatibility. The AWS section adds that AF_PACKET mode is intended for environments where DPDK PMD drivers are not available, while still leveraging optimized DPDK mechanisms for receiving from the kernel.

Operational Impact

Deployment and management are described as centralized through Aviz Flow Vision, covering orchestration, monitoring, policy enforcement, and unified visibility across packet broker and service node fleets. The post also states that vASN can be deployed using Terraform scripts and that settings can be pushed from the Flow Vision UI without manual config file editing.

Configuration examples include an asn_instance option that uses CPU cores and pthreads for packet processing balance in “virtual” mode, and a dedicated-core approach in “onprem” mode. Data path choices are “dpdk” for PMD-based RX/TX and “af_packet” for pulling traffic from the Linux network stack using DPDK PMD mechanisms.

vASN is the vendor’s virtualized, resource-efficient packaging of the Aviz Service Node designed to keep core DPI, correlation, metadata extraction, and export capabilities while supporting cloud-native and non-DPDK environments. This Blog Signals brief is a fact-based summary of the vendor blog.