HPE Aruba Networking Fabric Composer vs Kube-OVN
HPE Aruba Networking Fabric Composer
arubanetworking.hpe.comKube-OVN
kubeovn.github.ioSide by side
| Figure | HPE Aruba Networking Fabric Composer | Kube-OVN |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | — | Free |
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | — |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 6 | 1 |
| Spec score · Software-Defined Networking Software | 7.3 (#11) | 7.7 (#5) |
| Integrations | Supported integration packs include HPE Aruba Networking NetEdit, HPE iLO Amplifier, ODIM, HPE SimpliVity, Nutanix Prism, Pensando PSM, VMware NSX-T, VMware vSphere and vSAN, and VMware Cloud Foundation SDDC Manager. | Documented integrations include Cilium, MetalLB, OpenStack, Submariner, and OVN interconnect. |
| Purpose | Fabric Composer is an intelligent, API-based, software-defined orchestration solution for day-to-day operations across rack-scale compute and storage infrastructure. | Kube-OVN combines OVN and Open vSwitch with Kubernetes to provide cloud-native network orchestration. |
Plans
HPE Aruba Networking Fabric Composer
- Device Management Service Tier 3 Switch 1y Subscription E-STUPrice not published
- Device Management Service Tier 3 Switch 3y Subscription E-STUPrice not published
- Device Management Service Tier 3 Switch 5y Subscription E-STUPrice not published
- Device Management Service Tier 4 Switch 1y Subscription E-STUPrice not published
- Device Management Service Tier 4 Switch 3y Subscription E-STUPrice not published
- Device Management Service Tier 4 Switch 5y Subscription E-STUPrice not published
In their own words
HPE Aruba Networking Fabric Composer
HPE Aruba Networking Fabric Composer is a paid, API-based orchestration solution for day-to-day operations across rack-scale compute and storage infrastructure. It provides unified network and security management for HPE Aruba Networking CX platforms, including switch configurations and firewall policies. Guided workflows automate discovery, leaf-spine deployment, VSX, BGP or OSPF underlay, BGP EVPN overlay, VLAN groups, VRF, EVPN, firmware services, and micro-segmentation. Version 7.4.0 supports up to 500 switches. Integration packs include NetEdit, HPE iLO Amplifier, ODIM, HPE SimpliVity, Nutanix Prism, Pensando PSM, and VMware environments. Fabric Composer centrally orchestrates segmentation, stateless ACLs, and stateful distributed-firewall policies, with separate NetOps and SecOps roles for Aruba CX 10K switches. It is delivered as an ISO or virtual-machine OVA for virtual or physical hosts, running as one instance or a highly available three-node cluster. Audit logs record actions, users, roles, endpoints, and session details.
Kube-OVN
Kube-OVN combines OVN and Open vSwitch with Kubernetes for cloud-native network orchestration. Its documented features include subnet management, static IP allocation, gateways, hybrid underlay and overlay networks, VPC features, QoS, ACLs, and traffic mirroring. VPC networks provide tenants with separate address spaces and networking resources. The project recommends it for Kubernetes environments needing KubeVirt support or multi-tenant networking; KubeVirt virtual machines can live-migrate without network interruption. Documented integrations include Cilium, MetalLB, OpenStack, Submariner, and OVN interconnect. With Cilium chaining, Kube-OVN network abstractions can be used with Cilium eBPF monitoring and security capabilities. The project runs on x86_64 and arm64, and its documentation provides one-click installation scripts. It is free under Apache-2.0, deployed on-premises, and uses a centralized control plane. The project advises against it for OpenShift, public-cloud managed Kubernetes, and cases requiring an all-in-one CNI, ingress, service mesh, and observability stack.