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Tungsten Fabric

Tungsten Fabric is an open-source

Software Defined Networking (SDN) (network virtualization) platform that provides virtual networking, security, and analytics for cloud and container environments.

  • SDN-based virtual networking for cloud, Virtual Machine (VM), and container workloads (network virtualization).
  • Policy-based network security and microsegmentation for virtualized environments (network security).
  • Integrated control, configuration, and analytics stack for virtual networks (network operations and observability).
  • Support for multi-cloud and hybrid cloud networking architectures (cloud networking).
  • Integration with cloud management and orchestration platforms for automated network provisioning (infrastructure automation).

More About Tungsten Fabric

Tungsten Fabric is an open-source SDN (network virtualization) platform within the LF Networking ecosystem that delivers virtual networking, security, and analytics for cloud, VM, bare-metal, and container-based infrastructures. It addresses Network Virtualization (NV), multi-tenant segmentation, and policy-based connectivity for Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) deployments.

The platform provides a virtual network overlay (network virtualization) implemented through a distributed architecture that separates the control plane from the data plane. It typically uses virtual routers on hypervisors or container hosts to implement overlay networks, while centralized controllers manage routing, policies, and configuration. This model supports creation of virtual networks, logical routers, and network services that are decoupled from underlying physical network topology.

Tungsten Fabric includes a controller, configuration, and analytics components (network control and observability) that coordinate virtual network state and collect telemetry. The controller manages routes and policies, the configuration subsystem defines logical objects such as virtual networks and security groups, and the analytics engine stores and exposes operational data for monitoring and troubleshooting. The system makes extensive use of Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) and related technologies (routing protocols) to distribute routes and service information between virtual and physical network elements.

The project provides policy-based security (network security) through constructs such as security groups, network policies, and microsegmentation rules that govern traffic between workloads, tenants, and external networks. These policies can be applied consistently across virtual machines, containers, and bare-metal servers, which supports multi-tenant isolation and controlled exposure of services. Service chaining capabilities (service function chaining) allow insertion of network functions such as firewalls or load balancers into traffic flows.

In enterprise environments, Tungsten Fabric is used to build virtual networks for private clouds, telco and service provider platforms, and edge or Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) deployments (cloud networking and NFV). It integrates with cloud and container orchestration platforms (infrastructure automation) to automatically provision networking resources in response to workload lifecycle events. The project is positioned in directories and taxonomies under categories such as SDN, NV, virtual network overlay, and cloud networking, with relevance for architects designing multi-cloud, virtualized, and containerized infrastructures.