SDN Capabilities Research Articles

Sorted-GFF: An efficient large flows placing mechanism in software defined network datacenter

The emerged SDN innovation moves the intelligent routing functions out of forwarding devices into the centralized controller to provide the centralization and flexibility. It detaches the two planes (control and data) via its new architecture and programming solutions. Data centers benefit from SDN capabilities in the modern scalable network environments and tends to be managed by a central entity basing on its global view and intelligent dynamic decisions. Researches showed that elephant flows carried the largest amount of data in such data centers. These Large flows need to be detected and managed to enhance the resources utilization of the recent multi-path topologies.In this work, we developed the requirements for an efficient TE mechanism basing on an intelligent elephant flows management, and proposed the Sorted-GFF flow scheduler. Mininet simulation is used to calibrate the performance of the Sorted-GFF as compared to the GFF and the ECMP routing via examining them on a scalable low cost fat tree data center for various generated traffic patterns.

Evolving to an SDN-enabled isp backbone: key technologies and applications

Software-defined networking provides a promising approach to build and operate high-performance networks with high efficiency and affordable cost. While SDN is of great importance to ISPs, it is infeasible to replace the entire existing infrastructure with a clean slate of SDN design. Most early SDN practices concentrate on small-scale greenfield designs. Here, we focus on mission-critical large-scale backbone networks, and discuss the key technologies and applications for ISPs' SDN adoption. Taking an evolutionary viewpoint, we discuss strategies and approaches to integrate SDN capabilities with traditional technologies to achieve the high-performance traffic engineering, fast service provisioning, and rapid failure restoration required for existing network operations.

Inter-domain networking innovation on steroids: empowering ixps with SDN capabilities

While innovation in inter-domain routing has remained stagnant for over a decade, Internet exchange points (IXPs) are consolidating their role as economically advantageous interconnection points for reducing path latencies and exchanging ever increasing amounts of traffic. As such, IXPs appear as a natural place to foster network innovation and assess the benefits of SDN, a recent technological trend that has already boosted innovation within data center networks. In this article, we give a comprehensive overview of use cases for SDN at IXPs, which leverage the superior vantage point of an IXP to introduce advanced features like load balancing and DDoS mitigation. We discuss the benefits of SDN solutions by analyzing real-world data from one of the largest IXPs. We also leverage insights into IXP operations to shape benefits not only for members but also for operators.