Introduction

Cenvero Stratum is a software-defined networking platform for bare-metal infrastructure. It runs your entire network stack — switching and routing, DHCP and DNS, load balancing, and firewalling — as a single agent on the servers you already own. There is no external controller to operate, no hardware appliance to buy, and no per-port licensing.

A node runs a single agent. It handles packet processing in the kernel and manages the host's network interfaces, putting them back if something changes them outside Stratum. Each node is a complete, self-contained fabric of its own; several nodes work together over overlays and BGP that you set up between them.

What you get

• In-kernel data plane. Packet processing happens in the kernel on a fast path for line-rate forwarding, with an optional kernel module that detects out-of-band changes to managed interfaces so the agent reconciles them back to their intended configuration.
• Batteries included. DHCP, authoritative DNS, an L4 load balancer, a stateful firewall (it allows what no rule denies until you set its default action to deny), BGP edge routing, and per-tenant bandwidth control ship in the box — no add-ons.
• Multi-host when you want it. A VXLAN overlay you set up between nodes carries a network across hosts, racks, and data centers, and a workload's endpoint can keep its addressing as it moves between hosts. Join nodes into a cluster with a one-time code (agent 1.0.0-rc.81 or later) and manage them all from any one of them (see Clustering Overview).
• Operable. A single configuration file per node, one CLI (cenvero-str-ctl), and a management panel for fleet-wide releases, updates, and licensing.

Every node is the same node

There is one kind of node. It hosts workloads and attaches their endpoints to the fabric, and it routes traffic between the fabric and the outside world — NAT, upstream route exchange, north-south load balancing. You do not pick a node type at install, and any node can take on any of that later.

What limits a node is how many interfaces it has free, not what it was installed as. See Nodes and Interfaces.

Earlier versions split nodes into Compute and Gateway. That split has been removed, and a node updating from an older version is migrated automatically.

The two bridges

Stratum separates management traffic from workload traffic on every node:

• A management bridge — agent control and the traffic between nodes.
• A workload bridge — carries workload traffic.

This keeps the control plane reachable even when workload networks are saturated or misconfigured.

How a node is managed

The agent reads a single configuration file per node, keeps its local state on disk, and writes its own logs. You drive it locally with cenvero-str-ctl and centrally from the management panel.

Where to go next

If you are evaluating or learning:

• Concepts — the vocabulary used throughout these docs.
• How Stratum Works — the components, the packet path, and what survives what.

If you are deploying:

• Installation — get the agent onto a node and activated.
• Quick Start — define a network and attach your first endpoint.
• Configuration — the node configuration model in depth.

If you are running it:

• Operations — logs, updates, health checks, troubleshooting.
• Monitoring — which source answers which question.
• Security Model — what is enforced, and your hardening checklist.
• Licensing — plans, activation, and enforcement.
• API Reference — the agent's local REST/operator API.

If you are in the Compute early access:

• Compute (early access) — virtual machines on your nodes, connected by the same networking.

The whole documentation set is also downloadable as JSON from the documentation index, for offline reading or indexing.

Stratum is licensed software. Installation and binary downloads require a valid license — see Licensing to get one.