This blog post is the fourth in a series of 10 summarizing the sessions from the OCP DENT Mini Summit. Please see previous posts here:
Part 1: https://dent.dev/blog/2024/03/19/2023-ocp-dent-mini-summit-part-1-leading-the-evolution-of-nos/
Part 2: https://dent.dev/blog/2024/03/21/2023-ocp-dent-mini-summit-part-2-introduction-to-dent/
Part 3: https://dent.dev/blog/2024/03/26/2023-ocp-dent-mini-summit-series-part-3-vision-of-dent/
The DENT community hosted a Mini Summit during the OCP Global Summit to gather industry leaders, engineers, developers, and stakeholders interested in DENT within the framework of the OCP.
2023 marked the most active year in DENT’s history. Taskin Ucpinar, Senior Director of Software with Edgecore Networks Corporation and Amazon representative, detailed DENT’s 2023 journey.
DENT embraced a new era with the release of Cynthia 3.0, 3.1 and 3.2, with unprecedented focus on stability and deployability.
DENT v3.0, released March 30th, 2023, implemented a new LTS kernel, following kernel upstream best practices. DENT 3.0 ushered in the technical community’s move to a rapid innovation/release cycle, enabling earlier access to requested features in a modern DevOps world that includes 802.1x, QoS, IGMP Snooping, and Egress Policing.
DENT 3.0 built on a solid foundation of fundamental OS features for networking, three years in the making, that included SwitchDev, POE+ and others. Specific feature updates in 3.0 include:
DENT v3.1 soon followed in accordance with DENT’s rapid release cycle. Released June 22nd, 2023, v3.1 included over 240 new test suites and fully vetted versions of IEEE 802.1x, QoS, IPv6, and IGMP Snooping.
DENT continued its acceleration of retail marketing momentum with the launch of DENT v3.2. Enhancements include a fortified test suite covering critical network protocols, an upgrade to Debian 10 LTS for leveraging latest Linux features, virtualization support for running DENT on VMs, virtual routing and forwarding for network segmentation, and support for TN48M2-SWDEV, a 48-port 10G switch with 6 40G uplinks from Delta Electronics.
2024: The Year of DENT v4 Deep Thought. DENT plans to migrate to Debian 12, enhance LLDP and PoE support, introduce a firmware upgrader, and expand testing for protocols and authentication methods. DENT remains committed to compatibility and efficiency, integrating with the Linux kernel and offering OCPI for application development. The introduction of Switch Manager streamlines integration between DENT and OCPI.
Future aspirations include package streaming, ZTP, OpenConfig support, multicast routing, and fortified security measures. Users are encouraged to explore DENT’s resources, from open-source repositories on GitHub to comprehensive documentation on the DENT website. With each step forward, DENT reaffirms its commitment to empowering users and driving innovation in networking technology.