Integrating Control and Application Planes

Some organizations will create very specific boundaries between the control and application planes. This might be a network boundary or some other architectural construct that separates these two planes. This has advantages for some organizations in that it allows these planes to be configured, managed, and operated based on the unique needs of each plane. It also introduces opportunities to design more secure interactions between these planes.

With this in mind, we can then start to consider different approaches to integrating the control and application planes. The integration strategy you choose here will be heavily influenced by the nature of the interactions between the planes, the geographic footprint of your solution, and the security profile of your environment.

Some teams may opt for a more loosely-coupled model that is more event/message driven while others may require a more native integration that enables more direct control of the application plane resources. There are few absolutes here and there are a wide range of technologies that bring different possibilities to this discussion. The key here is to be thoughtful in picking an integration model that enables the level of control that fits the needs of your particular domain, application, and environment.

Tip

Much of the discussion here leans toward a model where the application and control planes are deployed and managed in separate infrastructure. While the merits of separating these planes is compelling, it’s important to note that there is no rule that suggests that these planes must be divided along some hard boundary. There are valid scenarios where a SaaS provider may choose to deploy the control and application planes into a shared environment. The needs of your environment, the nature of your technology, and a range of other considerations will determine how/if you deploy these planes with more concrete architectural boundaries. They key here to ensure that you divide your system into these distinct planes–regardless of how/where they are deployed.

As we dig into the specifics of the control plane, we can look at the common touch points between these two planes and get into the specific integration use cases and their potential solutions. For now, though, just know that integration is a key piece of the overall control/application plane model.