Single Software Defined Networking Research Articles

Implementation Aspects of Smart Grids Cyber-Security Cross-Layered Framework for Critical Infrastructure Operation

Communication networks in power systems are a major part of the smart grid paradigm. It enables and facilitates the automation of power grid operation as well as self-healing in contingencies. Such dependencies on communication networks, though, create a roam for cyber-threats. An adversary can launch an attack on the communication network, which in turn reflects on power grid operation. Attacks could be in the form of false data injection into system measurements, flooding the communication channels with unnecessary data, or intercepting messages. Using machine learning-based processing on data gathered from communication networks and the power grid is a promising solution for detecting cyber threats. In this paper, a co-simulation of cyber-security for cross-layer strategy is presented. The advantage of such a framework is the augmentation of valuable data that enhances the detection as well as identification of anomalies in the operation of the power grid. The framework is implemented on the IEEE 118-bus system. The system is constructed in Mininet to simulate a communication network and obtain data for analysis. A distributed three controller software-defined networking (SDN) framework is proposed that utilizes the Open Network Operating System (ONOS) cluster. According to the findings of our suggested architecture, it outperforms a single SDN controller framework by a factor of more than ten times the throughput. This provides for a higher flow of data throughout the network while decreasing congestion caused by a single controller’s processing restrictions. Furthermore, our CECD-AS approach outperforms state-of-the-art physics and machine learning-based techniques in terms of attack classification. The performance of the framework is investigated under various types of communication attacks.

Multiple-level threshold load balancing in distributed SDN controllers

The distributed Software-Defined Networking (SDN) approach has been adopted to address the scalability issue linked to the use of a single SDN controller, particularly in large-scale networks. However, this method gives rise to a new challenge of uneven load balance on the distributed SDN controller. Several studies tried to solve this issue but they have focused only on balancing the load when an overload occurs and have not achieved the load balance continuously. In this paper, we propose the multiple threshold load balance (MTLB) switch migration scheme to achieve continuous load balancing among the controllers. This approach classifies the load into several gradual levels that represents the basis for the switch migration when the load of a controller differs from others, which lead the threshold value to be dynamically adjusted. Moreover, our scheme reduces the overhead of unwanted update operations among the controllers by adopting the controller load status as an indicator for disseminating the load information. We implement our scheme using the Floodlight controller and Mininet emulator. The experimental results show that our scheme has better comprehensive performance than the other schemes in terms of response time, control overhead, and throughput rate.

A chaotic grey wolf controller allocator for Software Defined Mobile Network (SDMN) for 5th generation of cloud-based cellular systems (5G)

There has been a significant increase in mobile data traffic in recent years and by the advent of the IoT (Internet of Things), it will continue to rise. Since the current wireless systems cannot handle this amount of traffic, the next generation of the mobile standard is planning to overcome the obstacles by using new technologies such as Cloud Computing, Software Defined Networking (SDN), and Network Function Virtualization (NFV). Cloud Computing will provide sufficient resources, required for the mobile networks, to handle the ever-increasing amount of traffic. Additionally, using SDN as well as NFV in cloud datacenters can lead to better manageability in the networks and easier development of network applications in the future. Since cloud datacenters as well as mobile networks are inherently large-scale networks, a single SDN controller (traditional SDN) cannot handle decision-making processes of these networks and control plane must be distributed between several software SDN controllers. Therefore, allocating SDN controllers efficiently in these networks becomes important, which can lead to lesser energy consumption, lesser CAPEX, and lesser OPEX. In addition, the highly variable pattern of these networks makes it necessary to allocate controllers dynamically. However, by the growth of the networks, dynamic allocation of controllers can turn into an NP-Hard problem and using metaheuristic algorithms instead of deterministic ones to solve this problem can show better results as well as better computation time. In this study, we proposed a metaheuristic-based framework for dynamic controller allocation for the 5th generation of mobile technology (5G). We simulated our framework in MATLAB, compared our framework with static allocation technique, and compared our algorithm with another metaheuristic algorithm—PSO. Simulation results show that our algorithm ameliorates computation time and the computed solutions for different Quality of Services (QoS) are feasible, acceptable, and accurate.

Traffic Allocation Strategies in WSS-Based Dynamic Optical Networks

Elastic optical networking (EON) is a viable solution to meet future dynamic capacity requirements of Internet service provider and inter-datacenter networks. At the core of EON, wavelength selective switches (WSSs) are applied to individually route optical circuits, while assigning an arbitrary bandwidth to each circuit. Critically, the WSS control scheme and configuration time may delay the creation time of each circuit in the network. In this paper, we first detail the WSS-based optical data-plane implementation of a metropolitan network test-bed. Then, we review a software-defined networking (SDN) application designed to enable dynamic and fast circuit setup. Subsequently, we introduce a WSS logical model that captures the WSS time-sequence and is used to estimate the circuit-setup response time. Then, we present two batch service policies that aim to reduce the circuit-setup response time by bundling multiple WSS reconfiguration steps into a single SDN command. Resulting performance gains are estimated through simulation.

SDN orchestration architectures and their integration with Cloud Computing applications

Emerging cloud-based applications, running in geographically distributed data centers (DCs), generate new dynamic traffic patterns which claim for a more efficient management of the traffic flows. Geographically distributed DCs interconnection requires automatic and more dynamic provisioning and deletion of end-to-end (E2E) connectivity services, through heterogeneous network domains. Each network domain may use a different data transport technology but also a different control/management system. The fast development of Software Defined Networking (SDN) and the interworking with current control plane technologies such as Generalized Multi-protocol Label Switching (GMPLS), demand orchestration over the heterogeneous control instances to provide seamless E2E connectivity services to external applications (i.e. Cloud Computing applications).In this work, we present different orchestration architectures based on the SDN principles which use the Path Computation Element (PCE) as a fundamental component. In particular, a single SDN controller orchestration approach is compared with an orchestration architecture based on the Application Based Network Operations (ABNO) defined within the International Engineering Task Force (IETF), in order to find the potential benefits and drawbacks of both architectures. Finally, the SDN IT and Network Orchestration (SINO) platform which integrates the management of Cloud Computing infrastructure with the network orchestration, it is used to validate both architectures by evaluating their performance providing two inter-DC connectivity services: E2E connectivity and Virtual Machine (VM) migration.

On network operating system security

SummaryThe emerging concept of software‐defined networking (SDN) enables new opportunities for building future networks. In such setups, a so‐called network operating system (NOS), which is also known as SDN controller, provides services to manage the underlying and programmable network infrastructure. On top, the so‐called SDN applications leverage NOS services and implement business needs in order to orchestrate the network as required. Thereby, such applications have access to all kinds of operations (including critical ones) to use valuable NOS and SDN resources. In case of faulty and malicious SDN applications, we demonstrate that today's NOSs can be significantly harmed, for example, by fatal errors and the adverse use of critical operations. To tackle this problem, we propose a sandbox system, which allows us to restrict not only SDN applications but also internal NOS components to access only a configurable set of critical operations. This enables operators to prevent the entire NOS from crashing in case a single SDN application or NOS component runs into a fatal error. Furthermore, operators can deny access to unwanted critical operations in order to prevent the potential misuse of such operations. For our proposal, we provide two proof‐of‐concept implementations: one for the industry's leading open‐source NOS called OpenDaylight and another one for the HP controller, which serves as foundation for the world's first SDN App Store. As a result of our work, we harden a mandatory SDN component, that is, the NOS, and achieve robustness as well as pro‐active security against faulty and malicious SDN software. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Control and Orchestration of Multidomain Optical Networks With GMPLS as Inter-SDN Controller Communication [Invited

Emerging use cases, such as the orchestration of heterogeneous domains or the interconnection of remote data centers, require the design of new network control, management, and orchestration architectures that are adapted to the requirements associated with end-to-end services. This heterogeneity, stemming from actual deployments, is related to the involved data and control technologies or due to network segmentation. It is acknowledged that, in these scenarios, the deployment of a single software- defined networking (SDN) controller may not be practical or may have fundamental limitations, in terms of either scalability, complexity, or interoperability. To address this trend, and as a means to cope with the complexity growth, research in this area is considering the concept of SDN orchestration (the coordinated control of heterogeneous systems), abstraction (the selection of entityrelevant attributes), and the use of multiple controllers, commonly arranged in hierarchical or flat configurations. In this paper, we consider a hybrid approach combining elements from distributed control with elements from centralized control, relying on the concepts of abstraction and aggregation and hierarchical traffic engineering (TE). We propose a multidomain and multivendor network control architecture organized in layers, the abstract network layer and the control-specific layer, resulting in a mesh of generic SDN controllers that use generalized multiprotocol label switching (GMPLS) protocols as their east/west interfaces (open shortest path first TE and Resource Reservation Protocol with extensions for TE as inter- SDN controller communications protocols), forming an abstracted topology. To validate the approach, and to evaluate factors such as end-to-end network service deployment delay or control overhead, the proposed architecture is implemented and validated in a control plane testbed. While emphasis is given to the control of optical (flexi-grid) networks, the proposed approach can be generalized to other transport technologies.

SDN orchestration for dynamic end-to-end control of data center multi-domain optical networking

New and emerging use cases, such as the interconnection of geographically distributed data centers (DCs), are drawing attention to the requirement for dynamic end-to-end service provisioning, spanning multiple and heterogeneous optical network domains. This heterogeneity is, not only due to the diverse data transmission and switching technologies, but also due to the different options of control plane techniques. In light of this, the problem of heterogeneous control plane interworking needs to be solved, and in particular, the solution must address the specific issues of multi-domain networks, such as limited domain topology visibility, given the scalability and confidentiality constraints. In this article, some of the recent activities regarding the Software-Defined Networking (SDN) orchestration are reviewed to address such a multi-domain control plane interworking problem. Specifically, three different models, including the single SDN controller model, multiple SDN controllers in mesh, and multiple SDN controllers in a hierarchical setting, are presented for the DC interconnection network with multiple SDN/ OpenFlow domains or multiple OpenFlow/ Generalized Multi-Protocol Label Switching (GMPLS) heterogeneous domains. In addition, two concrete implementations of the orchestration architectures are detailed, showing the overall feasibility and procedures of SDN orchestration for the end-to-end service provisioning in multi-domain data center optical networks.

Toward Elastic Distributed SDN/NFV Controller for 5G Mobile Cloud Management Systems

Future 5G mobile network architecture is expected to offer capacities to accommodate the inexorable rise in mobile data traffic and to meet further stringent latency and reliability requirements to support diverse high data rate applications and services. Mobile cloud computing (MCC) in 5G has emerged as a key paradigm, promising to augment the capability of mobile devices through provisioning of computational resources on demand, and enabling resource-constrained mobile devices to offload their processing and storage requirements to the cloud infrastructure. Follow-me cloud (FMC), in turn, has emerged as a concept that allows seamless migration of services according to the corresponding users mobility. Meanwhile, software-defined networking (SDN) is a new paradigm that permits the decoupling of the control and data planes of traditional networks and provides programmability and flexibility, allowing the network to dynamically adapt to change traffic patterns and user demands. While the SDN implementations are gaining momentum, the control plane is still suffering from scalability and performance concerns for a very large network. In this paper, we address these scalability and performance issues in the context of 5G mobile networks by introducing a novel SDN/OpenFlow-based architecture and control plane framework tailored for MCC-based systems and more specifically for FMC-based systems where mobile nodes and network services are subject to constraints of movements and migrations. Contrary to a centralized approach with a single SDN controller, our approach permits the distribution of the SDN/OpenFlow control plane on a two-level hierarchical architecture: a first level with a Global FMC Controller (G-FMCC), and a second level with several Local FMC Controllers (L-FMCCs). Thanks to our control plane framework and Network Function Virtualization (NFV) concept, the L-FMCCs are deployed on-demand, where and when needed, depending on the global system load. Results obtained via analysis show that our solution ensures more efficient management of control plane, performance maintaining, and network resources preservation.