DISCO: Distributed Multi-domain SDN Controllers

Modern multi-domain networks now span over datacenter networks, enterprise networks, customer sites and mobile entities. Such networks are critical and, thus, must be resilient, scalable and easily extensible. The emergence of Software-Defined Networking (SDN) protocols, which enables to decouple the data plane from the control plane and dynamically program the network, opens up new ways to architect such networks. In this paper, we propose DISCO, an open and extensible DIstributed SDN COntrol plane able to cope with the distributed and heterogeneous nature of modern overlay networks and wide area networks. DISCO controllers manage their own network domain and communicate with each others to provide end-to-end network services. This communication is based on a unique lightweight and highly manageable control channel used by agents to self-adaptively share aggregated network-wide information. We implemented DISCO on top of the Floodlight OpenFlow controller and the AMQP protocol. We demonstrated how DISCO's control plane dynamically adapts to heterogeneous network topologies while being resilient enough to survive to disruptions and attacks and providing classic functionalities such as end-point migration and network-wide traffic engineering. The experimentation results we present are organized around three use cases: inter-domain topology disruption, end-to-end priority service request and virtual machine migration

Reactive controller assignment for failure resilience in software defined networks

Resilience in SDN control plane is a challenging goal when a single controller is employed. Thus, distributed controllers are deployed to realize a resilient and reliable software defined network. However, such a strategy can not succeed without an efficacious controller-switch assignment scheme. In addition to zero-day assignment, online re-assignment is crucial since due to network failures, the connections between controllers and switches may break off intermittently and impair the network operation. In this paper, we propose a reactive assignment model against network failures using integer linear programming based on load distribution of controllers. We augment our proposal with simulated annealing and random assignment approaches for switch, link and controller failures. The experimental results show that our model gives resilience against network failures and load-awareness is a effective strategy for controller assignment

Are We Ready to Drive Software-Defined Networks? A Comprehensive Survey on Management Tools and Techniques

In the context of the emergent Software-Defined Networking (SDN) paradigm, the attention is mostly directed to the evolution of control protocols and networking functionalities. However, network professionals also need the right tools to reach the same level—and beyond—of monitoring and control they have in traditional networks. Current SDN tools are developed on an ad hoc basis, for specific SDN frameworks, while production environments demand standard platforms and easy integration. This survey aims to foster the definition of the next generation SDN management framework by providing the readers a thorough overview of existing SDN tools and main research directions

NetIDE: Removing vendor lock-in in SDN

The Software-Defined Networking (SDN) paradigm allows networking hardware to be made “malleable” and remotely manageable by the so-called SDN controllers. However, the current SDN landscape is extremely fragmented. Different open and closed source controller frameworks such as Open-Daylight [1], Ryu [2], Floodlight [3], etc. exist. Porting SDN applications from one such platform to another is practically impossible and so, SDN users like network operators face a situation where they are either confined to applications working for the platform of their choice, or forced to re-implement their solutions every time they encounter a new platform

NetIDE: All-in-one framework for next generation, composed SDN applications

Software-Defined Networking (SDN) is bringing DevOps [1] capabilities to current networks, reducing the time-to-market for new services and thereby providing a strong incentive for adoption to Service Providers and Network Operators. However, the current SDN landscape is extremely fragmented, so that different open and closed source controller frameworks such as OpenDaylight [2], Ryu [3], Floodlight [4] or ONOS [5] exist. This jeopardises the gains of introducing SDN, since porting SDN applications from one platform to another is time consuming and requires high effort. As a consequence, SDN users (e.g. network operators) face the danger of vendor (or platform) lock-in: they are confined to applications working for the platform of their choice, or forced to re-implement their solutions when they choose a new platform