Abstract
The usage of multiple flow tables (MFT) has significantly extended the flexibility and applicability of software-defined networking (SDN). However, the size of MFT is usually limited due to the use of expensive ternary content addressable memory (TCAM). Moreover, the pipeline mechanism of MFT causes long flow processing time. In this paper a novel approach called Agg-ExTable is proposed to efficiently manage the MFT. Here the flow entries in MFT are periodically aggregated by applying pruning and the Quine–Mccluskey algorithm. Utilizing the memory space saved by the aggregation, a front-end ExTable is constructed, keeping popular flow entries for early match. Popular entries are decided by the Hidden Markov model based on the match frequency and match probability. Computer simulation reveals that the proposed scheme is able to save about 45% of space of MFT, and efficiently decrease the flow processing time compared to the existing schemes.
Highlights
In software-defined networking (SDN) [1,2] efficient network management is achieved by separating the control plane from the data plane, and providing programmable interfaces to the application layer to flexibly enable the customization of the network management functions.The traditional legacy network services often require various processing of data packets such as routing, monitoring, access control, and load balancing
Computer simulation reveals that the proposed scheme is able to save about 45% of space of multiple flow tables (MFT), and efficiently decrease the flow processing time compared to the existing schemes
In SDN, the OpenFlow switches just forward the flows through the MFT which are composed of data packets, and the operation is managed by OpenFlow controllers
Summary
In software-defined networking (SDN) [1,2] efficient network management is achieved by separating the control plane from the data plane, and providing programmable interfaces to the application layer to flexibly enable the customization of the network management functions. If all the services are provided in a single network infrastructure, the development of the network will be very complicated and adapting to a variety of functional requirements will be difficult In this regard, SDN provides a new direction of networking services and drastically changes the traditional network with distinctive features including the separation of controller and forwarding unit, virtualization, programmable service, dynamic reconfiguration, and centralized management [3]. In SDN, the OpenFlow switches just forward the flows through the MFT which are composed of data packets, and the operation is managed by OpenFlow controllers. In this paper we advocate a novel approach called Agg-ExTable which efficiently reduces the memory overhead and flow forwarding time of MFT. The ExTable scheme substantially reduces the flow processing time by placing a table containing the entries of high match probability up front.
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