A survey

In recent years, with the rapid development of current Internet and mobile communication technologies, the infrastructure, devices and resources in networking systems are becoming more complex and heterogeneous. In order to efficiently organize, manage, maintain and optimize networking systems, more intelligence needs to be deployed. However, due to the inherently distributed feature of traditional networks, machine learning techniques are hard to be applied and deployed to control and operate networks. Software defined networking (SDN) brings us new chances to provide intelligence inside the networks. The capabilities of SDN (e.g., logically centralized control, global view of the network, software-based traffic analysis, and dynamic updating of forwarding rules) make it easier to apply machine learning techniques. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive survey on the literature involving machine learning algorithms applied to SDN. First, the related works and background knowledge are introduced. Then, we present an overview of machine learning algorithms. In addition, we review how machine learning algorithms are applied in the realm of SDN, from the perspective of traffic classification, routing optimization, quality of service/quality of experience prediction, resource management and security. Finally, challenges and broader perspectives are discussed.

A Survey of Machine Learning Techniques Applied to Software Defined Networking (SDN): Research Issues and Challenges

As opposed to the decentralized control logic underpinning the devising of the Internet as a complex bundle of box-centric protocols and vertically integrated solutions, the software-defined networking (SDN) paradigm advocates the separation of the control logic from hardware and its centralization in software-based controllers. These key tenets offer new opportunities to introduce innovative applications and incorporate automatic and adaptive control aspects, thereby, easing network management and guaranteeing the user’s quality of experience. Despite the excitement, SDN adoption raises many challenges including the scalability and reliability issues of centralized designs that can be addressed with the physical decentralization of the control plane. However, such physically distributed, but logically centralized systems bring an additional set of challenges. This paper presents a survey on SDN with a special focus on the distributed SDN control. Besides reviewing the SDN concept and studying the SDN architecture as compared to the classical one, the main contribution of this survey is a detailed analysis of state-of-the-art distributed SDN controller platforms which assesses their advantages and drawbacks and classifies them in novel ways (physical and logical classifications) in order to provide useful guidelines for SDN research and deployment initiatives. A thorough discussion on the major challenges of distributed SDN control is also provided along with some insights into emerging and future trends in that area.

Distributed SDN Control: Survey, Taxonomy, and Challenges

The emergence of two new technologies, namely, software defined networking (SDN) and network function virtualization (NFV), have radically changed the development of network functions and the evolution of network architectures. These two technologies bring to mobile operators the promises of reducing costs, enhancing network flexibility and scalability, and shortening the time-to-market of new applications and services. With the advent of SDN and NFV and their offered benefits, the mobile operators are gradually changing the way how they architect their mobile networks to cope with ever-increasing growth of data traffic, massive number of new devices and network accesses, and to pave the way toward the upcoming fifth generation networking. This survey aims at providing a comprehensive survey of state-of-the-art research work, which leverages SDN and NFV into the most recent mobile packet core network architecture, evolved packet core. The research work is categorized into smaller groups according to a proposed four-dimensional taxonomy reflecting the: 1) architectural approach, 2) technology adoption, 3) functional implementation, and 4) deployment strategy. Thereafter, the research work is exhaustively compared based on the proposed taxonomy and some added attributes and criteria. Finally, this survey identifies and discusses some major challenges and open issues, such as scalability and reliability, optimal resource scheduling and allocation, management and orchestration, and network sharing and slicing that raise from the taxonomy and comparison tables that need to be further investigated and explored.

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SDN/NFV-Based Mobile Packet Core Network Architectures: A Survey

A survey on software defined networking with multiple controllers

Software-defined networking offers several benefits for networking by separating the control plane from the data plane. However, networks’ scalability, reliability, and availability remain as a big issue. Accordingly, multicontroller architectures are important for SDN-enabled networks. This paper gives a comprehensive overview of SDN multicontroller architectures. It presents SDN and its main instantiation OpenFlow. Then, it explains in detail the differences between multiple types of multicontroller architectures, like the distribution method and the communication system. Furthermore, it provides already implemented and under research examples of multicontroller architectures by describing their design, their communication process, and their performance results.

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An Overview on SDN Architectures with Multiple Controllers

An East-West interface for distributed SDN control plane

Software Defined Networking (SDN) has gained significant attention from network researchers and industry in recent years Indeed, the SDN concept provides many advantages such as programmability and easy management of the network However, it generates new challenges as scalability and performances issues, understanding in-depth the performances and limitations of the SDN concept is a prerequisite to its implementation and deployment in real networks In this paper, we aim to present in a comprehensive way, the most important works that focus on performances of SDN As SDN separates the control plane from the data plane, we first present research efforts made to enhance the performances of data plane devices, then, we give an overview of different solutions proposed to improve controller performances We provide also an overview on recent control plane architectures with multiple controllers that have been proposed to meet performances and scalability constraints Finally, we present the different techniques and tools used in literature to evaluate the performances of software defined networks

Performances of OpenFlow-Based Software-Defined Networks: An overview

Over the last four years there has been significant growth in the interest that researchers and IT industry have shown in a new network architecture approach called Software-Defined Networking (SDN). This new approach is based on the separation between the control plane (routing decisions) and the data plane (packet forwarding). Communication between these two planes is mainly established today by the OpenFlow protocol. The interest of SDN is that it allows network programmability through applications acting on the control plane and hence it facilitates the development of new network protocols and services. However, there are some problems of performance and scalability when a single centralized controller is deployed in an SDN architecture. In this paper, we briefly introduce SDN, OpenFlow and review performance studies. After, we study through some experiments the performance issues of the Ruy OpenFlow controller especially in a large-scale network case.

Short: A Case Study of the Performance of an OpenFlow Controller

The present article is aimed to show how we can take profit from similarities between Multiprotocol Label Switching Transport Profile (MPLS-TP) architecture and Software Defined Network SDN implementation. We will outline how the SDN model can be useful for MPLS-TP network and how to meet Transport carrier requirements. We are also proposing an operational model able to satisfy one of the important Key Performance Indicators KPI related to Delay by using Delay Measurement’s DM operation and maintenance OAM procedure. This concept shows how real traffic engineering is done based on DM application module on top of Openflow controller.

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Redouane Benaini

Papers

An Overview on SDN Architectures with Multiple Controllers

An East-West interface for distributed SDN control plane

Performances of OpenFlow-Based Software-Defined Networks: An overview

Short: A Case Study of the Performance of an OpenFlow Controller

Delay Measurement in Openflow-Enabled MPLS-TP Network