AsterNOS Architecture

Overview

AsterNOS is a production-hardened distribution built on SONiC (Software for Open Networking in the Cloud). It packages the open-source switching stack with Asterfusion integrations, hardware support, and turnkey tooling so you can deploy the same NOS across data center switches, campus access devices, routing gateways, and packet brokers.

At a high level, AsterNOS separates concerns into:

Data plane — packet forwarding on the ASIC (or VPP/user-space datapath on gateway platforms), programmed through SAI and the switching stack.
Control plane — routing protocols, EVPN, ACL/QoS policy, and management agents running in isolated services.
Management plane — CLI, configuration persistence, streaming telemetry, and (where supported) NETCONF/gNMI.

SONiC foundation

SONiC runs on a Linux host and orchestrates network functions as Docker containers coordinated through a central Redis configuration database. The most important building blocks are:

Component	Role
syncd	Talks to the switch ASIC through SAI; applies forwarding state from the database.
swss (orchagent)	Orchestrates L2/L3 objects (routes, neighbors, VLANs, ACLs) into ASIC programming.
teamd / BGP / FRR	Control-plane protocols and link aggregation, depending on feature and image.
database / config	`config_db.json` and Redis tables hold the intended configuration; `config reload` and `write` manage persistence.

AsterNOS extends this foundation with product-specific feature containers, hardware abstraction for Asterfusion switch platforms, and a Cisco-like CLI that maps operator commands to the underlying SONiC configuration model.

Deployment roles by product line

The documentation on this site is organized by where AsterNOS runs in your network, not by a single monolithic feature list:

Product line	Network role	Typical features
Data Center & AI Fabric	Leaf, spine, AI backend fabric	BGP EVPN VxLAN, MC-LAG, RoCEv2 PFC/ECN, ECMP
Enterprise & Campus	Access, aggregation, core	STP/MSTP, 802.1X, PoE, DHCP snooping, QoS
Routing & Gateway	Edge, DC gateway, virtual appliance	NAT, IPsec, VPP forwarding, HQoS, nginx/PPPoE
Packet Broker	Visibility fabric	Port mirroring, filtering, traffic replication
Asteria Controller	Management overlay	Topology design, ZTP, monitoring, lifecycle

The same SONiC principles apply everywhere—containers, Redis, and structured configuration—but each product line documents the features and CLI surface relevant to that deployment.

Data plane vs. control plane

Control-plane protocols (BGP, OSPF, LLDP, SNMP, etc.) compute reachability and policy, then publish state into the configuration database. Orchestration agents translate that state into ASIC or datapath programming. This split is why many troubleshooting workflows start with:

Verify the protocol or feature in Linux (show bgp, show vlan, etc.).
Confirm the configuration database reflects the intended state.
Validate forwarding with show ip route, show mac, or platform-specific show commands.

On VPP-based gateway images, a high-performance user-space datapath handles forwarding while management still follows the AsterNOS CLI and configuration patterns documented under Routing & Gateway.

Management interfaces

Interface	Availability	Notes
CLI	All product lines	Primary configuration surface; Cisco-like hierarchical views.
NETCONF	Enterprise v6	Structured configuration for campus deployments.
SNMP / sFlow / telemetry	Platform-dependent	Documented per product configuration guide.
Asteria Controller UI	Controller deployments	Intent-based design, provisioning, and operations.

Configuration changes made through the CLI are typically runtime until saved with write (persisted to /etc/sonic/config_db.json).

Asteria Controller in the architecture

Asteria Controller is an optional management layer for campus and AIDC fabrics. It does not replace SONiC on switches; it automates design, provisioning, and operations across many AsterNOS devices:

Campus — spine–aggregation–leaf designs, policy rollout, monitoring.
AIDC (Beta) — data-center-style automation and visualization for AI fabrics.

Operators still refer to switch-level guides in the relevant product line for protocol and feature details; controller guides explain how to model and deploy those features at scale.

How this documentation site is structured

Top tabs        → product line (Data Center, Enterprise, …)
Version picker  → Enterprise v5/v6, Controller Campus/AIDC
Left sidebar    → chapters for the active product/version
Search          → cross-product command and feature lookup

New to AsterNOS? Read this page, then open the product tab that matches your hardware role and start from the Configuration Guide → Preface chapter in the sidebar.

Get Started with AsterNOS — documentation map and reading paths.
Data Center & AI Fabric — EVPN, RoCE, and fabric design guides.
Enterprise & Campus v6 — campus switching and NETCONF.
Routing & Gateway — edge and virtual gateway scenarios.