Investigation of data forwarding schemes for network resiliency in POX software defined networking controller

Abstract

Software defined networking (SDN) is an emerging networking architectural framework which aims to provide the complete separation of data forwarding plane and control plane. The two main benefits of SDN are lower cost and improved management. OpenFlow is a well-known architecture that facilitates SDN. The core idea of OpenFlow is to control the switches or routers through programming from the centralised controller. The connection reliability is a major concern for network service providers to meet quality of service requirements. Hence, an investigation of network resiliency is required for this new paradigm. The resiliency is the network's ability to survive against attacks and other component failures. This study investigates and compares different data forwarding algorithms currently supported by the POX OpenFlow controller standards for network protection and restoration. A thorough investigation of existing approaches or standards in SDN not only is essential for the research community to better understand the topic, but also plays a crucial role in realising or improving network resiliency or protection and restoration in practice. The authors also provide the extension of one of the components in POX for improvement. The restoration scheme in the current POX components as well as in the modified component is evaluated and compared.