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Tungsten Fabric 5.1 added container service chaining for multi-interface workloads, flexible routing and BGPaaS control-node peering options, plus data-plane performance mechanisms such as fat flows, Cuckoo hashing, and DPDK batch processing. Those performance benefits were described qualitatively, not backed by benchmark figures. Although the 2019 announcement headline mentions security, its feature details do not identify a specific new security control.
What Tungsten Fabric 5.1 changed
The Linux Foundation announced Tungsten Fabric 5.1 on June 12, 2019, describing it as the latest release at that time. The changes centered on networking for containers and hybrid-cloud deployments, control-plane availability options, and vRouter data-plane performance. The announcement also reported community quality work, but that is distinct from a documented security feature.
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Container service chaining
Version 5.1 extended service chaining to cloud-native and container workloads by supporting containers with multiple network interfaces. This is relevant when a containerized workload needs to participate in a service chain; it does not mean every container deployment requires multiple interfaces.
Routing policy and BGPaaS
The release added support for extended communities in the control plane, allowing more flexible routing policies intended to fit existing network designs. The announcement does not specify particular policy syntax or guarantee compatibility with every existing network.
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For BGPaaS, 5.1 added selective peering with control nodes. The release notes describe configuration using control-node zones, including primary and secondary zones that can each contain one or more control nodes. This provides an availability-oriented configuration option for BGP-speaking VNFs; the documentation does not establish that failover is automatic in every deployment.
What performance improvements were included?
The release announcement names three mechanisms for improving data-plane behavior. It describes their intended effects but publishes no throughput, latency, scale, or comparative benchmark results. Treat them as release claims about design goals, not as quantified or independently measured gains.
| Mechanism | What it does | Stated purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Fat flows | Aggregates flows in high-flow situations, such as subscriber internet access. | Reduce flow-setup latency. |
| Cuckoo hashing | Used for vRouter flow-table lookups. | Address lookup bottlenecks under heavy load. |
| DPDK batch processing | Processes data-plane work in batches. | Increase performance and support throughput demands. |
Because the announcement supplies no numerical results or test conditions, it cannot show how much faster a particular workload would run or whether these mechanisms would improve a given deployment.
Which platforms and deployment scenarios did 5.1 cover?
The platform list below reflects the Linux Foundation announcement of June 12, 2019. It is historical release information, not a current support matrix; confirm present-day support and maintenance status before planning a deployment.
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| Platform or environment | What the 2019 announcement or release notes said |
|---|---|
| Kubernetes | Announcement listed Kubernetes 1.12. |
| OpenShift | Announcement listed OpenShift 3.11. |
| OpenStack | Announcement listed Ocata and newer. Release notes also describe adding a compute node to an existing containerized OpenStack cluster by configuring instances.yaml. |
| VMware vCenter | Announcement listed vCenter 6.7. |
| AWS and Azure | Both were listed as supported in the 2019 announcement. |
| Google Cloud Platform (GCP) | Support was described as in progress in the 2019 announcement. |
| Mesosphere DC/OS and Apache Mesos | Release notes describe DC/OS support and overlay and non-overlay network virtualization features in an Apache Mesos environment. |
The Mesos coverage matters for teams using that environment, while the OpenStack note describes an expansion workflow rather than merely naming a platform. Neither should be read as a statement about current compatibility.
Did Tungsten Fabric 5.1 add a security feature?
The reviewed announcement and 5.1 release notes do not detail a specific new security control. The word “Security” in the announcement headline is not, by itself, evidence of a new firewall, encryption feature, access-control change, or vulnerability fix.
The Linux Foundation announcement reported that the Tungsten Fabric community had addressed more than 1,600 P1 and P2 bugs and that there were zero known P1 and P2 issues at release time. Those are release-time claims reported by the announcement, not an independent audit, a guarantee that the software had no vulnerabilities, or a current security assessment.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How to judge whether the 5.1 capabilities fit
For a historical evaluation of 5.1, assess the capability against the actual deployment requirement rather than relying on the general release headline:
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- Platform fit: Match the required orchestrator or cloud to the dated versions and support statements listed above; do not assume they remain supported today.
- Service chaining: Check whether the container workload needs service chaining and whether it uses multiple network interfaces.
- Control-plane availability: Determine whether selective BGPaaS peering and primary/secondary control-node zones fit the intended availability design.
- Flow behavior: Compare the workload’s flow scale and lookup demands with the stated goals of fat flows, Cuckoo hashing, and DPDK batch processing; the release announcement offers no benchmark to predict a numerical gain.
- Current operational risk: Separately verify whether a maintained release, present platform compatibility, and an up-to-date security posture can be established. The 2019 release materials do not answer those current-state questions.
Sources
- The Linux Foundation, “Introducing Tungsten Fabric 5.1: Security, Feature, and Performance Enhancements for Network Operators & Developers,” June 12, 2019.
- Tungsten Fabric Documentation, “Tungsten Fabric Release 5.1 Release Notes.”
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