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Ten Things to Look for in an SDN Controller

Presentation · December 2015

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.10148.42880

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Behnam Farzaneh
Isfahan University of Technology
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Ten Things to Look for in an SDN Controller

Behnam Farzaneh

winter2015
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contents

 SDN definition
 Software-Defined Network Architecture
 Ten Things to Look for in an SDN Controller
 Conclusions
 References
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SDN Definition

 Replacement of the control plane on the switch

with a programmatic interface
 Migration of the control planes of the switches to a
controller
 Provision of programmatic interfaces into the
controller
 Support both physical and virtual equipment
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Software-Defined Network
Architecture

 SDN Application
 SDN Controller
 SDN Data path
 Northbound API
 Southbound API
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Ten Things to Look for in an SDN
Controller

 Open flow support

 Network Virtualization
 Network Functionality
 Scalability
 Performance
 Network Programmability
 Reliability
 Security of the Network
 Centralized Monitoring and Visualization
 The SDN Controller Vendor
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openflow support

 Basic functionality that any OpenFlow controller should be able to

support includes:
 Match on any field in the 12 tuple
 Support for OpenFlow actions such as header rewriting
 Discovering the network using the Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP)

 Need to understand the OpenFlow functionality that the controller

currently supports
 Need to understand the vendor’s roadmap to implement new versions
of OpenFlow
 Need to understand the vendor’s support for the many optional features
in the OpenFlow protocol and vendor extensions to the protocol
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Network Virtualization

 Types of network virtualization:

 virtual LAN (VLAN)

 Virtual Routing and Forwarding (VRF)

 Virtual network topology decoupled from the physical

network topology

 Ability to create flexible virtual networks to meet diverse

requirements

 Ability to provide end-to-end networking

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Network Functionality

 Discover multiple paths and split traffic over different links

 Define Qos parameters on a flow-by-flow basis
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Scalability

 Controller manages the network like it was one devise

 The number of switches that a controller can support
 The ability to create an sdn that spans multiple sites
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Performance

 Minimize flow setup time(proactively or reactively)

 The key factors that affect flow setup time:
 Processing power of the switches
 Processing and I/O performance of the Controller
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Network Programmability

 Provide templates that enable the creation of

scriptable CLIs that allow for the dynamic
programming of the network
 Apply new configurations according to network
status and/or application requests
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Reliability

 Ability to discover multiple paths from origin to destination

 Using both hardware/software redundancy features
 Enable clustering
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Security of the Network

 Support enterprise class authentication and authorization

 Completely isolate each virtual network
 Ability to both rate-limit the control communications
 Support security applications
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Centralized Monitoring and
Visualization

 Able to use OpenFlow data to identify problems in the

network and automatically change the path that a
given flow takes
 Monitor some classes of traffic and not others
 Visualize the physical network and the virtual networks
 Monitor the SDN controller using standard protocols and
techniques(SNMP)
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The SDN Controller Vendor

 Have the financial and technical resources to support the

ongoing development that will be associated with SDN
 Demonstrate its long-term position and momentum in the
SDN marketplace
 Five commercial SDN controllers:
 Cisco Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (APIC)
 HP Virtual Application Networks (VAN) SDN Controller
 NEC ProgrammableFlow PF6800 Controller
 Nuage Networks Virtualized Services Controller (VSC)
 VMware NSX Controller
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Conclusions

 Need to understand the OpenFlow functionality that the controller currently supports
 Virtual network topology decoupled from the physical network topology
 Define QoS parameters on a flow-by-flow basis
 The number of switches that a controller can support
 The key factors that affect flow setup time(Processing power of the switches and
Processing and I/O performance of the Controller)
 Apply new configurations according to network status and/or application requests
 Ability to discover multiple paths from origin to destination
 Support enterprise class authentication and authorization
 Able to use OpenFlow data to identify problems in the network and automatically
change the path that a given flow takes
 Have the financial and technical resources to support the ongoing development that
will be associated with SDN
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References

 Manar Jammal ,et al, “Software-Defined Networking: State of the

Art and Research Challenges”, Elsevier, October 2014.
 Jim Metzeler ,et al, “Ten Things to Look for in an SDN Controller ”,
Technical Report ,May 2013.
 Open Networking Foundation“, Software-Defined Networking:
The New Norm for Networks” , white paper, Apr 2012.
 K. Chowdhury, R. Boutaba, "Network virtualization: state of the art
and research challenges,“ Comm. Mag 47, 7JUL 2009.

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