See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/352010438

Energy Efficiency in Software Defined Networking: A Survey

Article in SN Computer Science · June 2021

CITATION READS

1 647

5 authors, including:

Suchismita Rout Kshira Sagar Sahoo

KIIT Deemed to be University Odisha Umeå University
24 PUBLICATIONS 67 CITATIONS 122 PUBLICATIONS 1,677 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Bibhudatta Sahoo Sudhansu SHEKHAR Patra

National Institute of Technology Rourkela KIIT University
308 PUBLICATIONS 3,063 CITATIONS 98 PUBLICATIONS 444 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by Sudhansu SHEKHAR Patra on 01 June 2021.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

SN Computer Science (2021) 2:308
https://doi.org/10.1007/s42979-021-00659-9

REVIEW ARTICLE

Energy Efficiency in Software Defined Networking: A Survey

Suchismita Rout1 · Kshira Sagar Sahoo2 · Sudhansu Sekhar Patra3 · Bibhudatta Sahoo4 · Deepak Puthal5

Received: 24 December 2020 / Accepted: 26 April 2021

© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd 2021

Abstract
Software defined networking has solved many challenging issues in the field of networking industry. It separates the control
plane from the data forwarding plane. This makes SDN to be more powerful than traditional networking. However, energy
cost enhances the overall network cost. Therefore, this issue needs to be addressed to improve design requirements and boost
the networking performance. In this article, several energy efficiency techniques have been discussed. To represent it in
more detail, a thematic taxonomy of energy efficiency techniques in SDN is given by considering several technical studies
of the past research. These studies have been categorized into three sub categories of traffic aware model, end-host aware
model and finally rule placement. These models are provided with detailed objective functions, parameters, constraints
and detailed information. Furthermore, useful visions of each approach, its advantages and disadvantages and compressive
analysis of energy efficiency techniques are also discussed. Finally, the paper is highlighted with the future directions for
energy efficiency in SDN.

Keywords Software defined networking · SDN · Energy efficiency · Rule placement · Traffic aware · End-host aware

Introduction is capable of providing the solutions without the knowledge

The field of information technology is expanding in a very
alarming rate. With the rise in the consumers and devices
connected to the internet, the networking industry has
gone through many challenges [1]. The commencement of
new technologies such as internet-of-things (IoT) [2], Fog
computing [3–5], Cloud computing [6, 7], Bigdata [8–10],
etc. welcome numerous numbers of applications. Manag-
ing such huge technical services is becoming a challeng-
ing task. To overcome these difficulties, Software Defined
Networking (SDN) provides eminent solutions and quite
popular in efficient management of the network [11]. SDN
* Suchismita Rout
Suchismita.rout28@gmail.com
1
Department of CSE, Silicon Institute of Technology,
Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India
2
Department of Computer Science and Engineering, SRM
University, Amaravati, AP, India
3
School of Computer Applications, KIIT University,
Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India
4
Department of CSE, NIT Rourkela, Rourkela, Odisha, India
5
School of Computing, Newcastle University,
Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
of underground complex network architecture. It is capable
of nourishing the growing demands of all the networking
components, flexibility in exponential routing management,
ease of implementation of routing information, etc. All these
features are possible due to the separation of data plane and
control plane. For its innovative architecture, it is widely
accepted in a variety of platforms. The programmable con-
troller is efficiently handling the routing decisions. There-
fore, SDN is accomplished in managing the network glob-
ally and not restricted with vendor-specific policies unlike
traditional networks [12–15].
Despite of so many advantages in SDN technology, it
has many disadvantages also. The programmable control-
ler must be used in an intelligent manner to give the solu-
tions for energy consumption by networking infrastruc-
ture [16–19]. The performance of SDN is monitored by
its energy consumptions [20–27]. Various approaches are
adopted to reduce unnecessary energy consumption in SDN
which may hamper its performance. The performance of net-
work depends on full utilization of its various components
as switches and links connecting to them. Underutilized
components are one of the important reasons behind energy
consumption. Depending on incoming traffic pattern energy
consumption factor may vary. Minimization of energy can

SN Computer Science
Vol.:(0123456789)
308 Page 2 of 15 SN Computer Science (2021) 2:308

be possible by turning off network components in low traffic.
Flow table can be monitored carefully to decrease energy
consumption. High link speed has also negative impact on
network energy consumption [28, 29].
Energy optimization can be applied to several compo-
nents of the SDN. In [30], authors classified the energy-
efficient mechanisms in SDN into four different catego-
ries. Energy optimization can be traffic aware, compacting
TCAM, end-host aware, and rule placement. In SDN con-
text, few network components are often underutilized. So,
the traffic-aware energy efficiency ensures to turn on or off-
network components based on the traffic load. SDN switches
use TCAM, which is high-speed memory and typically
power-hungry. An optimal strategy can be devised by com-
pacting the information stored in TCAM, by which energy
can be minimized. The rule placement strategies concentrate
essentially on how the rules are placed on the forwarding
devices. Given the network policies, the SDN controller
implements a way to convert the high-level policies into
forwarding device-understandable rules.
By considering all these above factors, care must be taken
to minimize delay and loss probability. To support this idea,
all the three layers of SDN have to work to accomplish this
single goal. Therefore, it is significant to find out some solu-
tion to minimize energy consumption in SDN.
Table 1 presents the comparison between different sur-
vey papers [31–39]. The table columns show the survey
papers, year, overview, performance, energy, security,
load balancing, QoS. The column in the table with ‘ + ’
sign indicates the area of the discussion of the paper.
For instance, on QoS, a detailed survey has made by [31,
34–36]. On energy, Rawat et al. has made a survey on the
different strategies that are implemented to achieve energy
efficiency and network security through SDN architecture
[32]. Xie et al. explored that how machine learning algo-
rithms are employed and helpful in the SDN context, in
terms of traffic classification, routing optimization, energy
minimization, resource management, and security [34].
Assefa et al. made a classification of SDN based energy-
efficient solutions into different classes such as end system
aware and traffic aware. In another work, Abbas et al. [36],
investigate the potential of uniting SDN and blockchain to
alleviate a few challenges. Particularly, they focus on the
security and energy-efficient blockchain-enabled SD-IoT
controllers with a new routing protocol.
Apart from the above-mentioned columns, there are
many survey papers focusing on different areas of SDN.
Scope and Contribution
In this paper, we spotlight on energy issues of SDN.
Energy consumption is considered to be an integral part
of SDN. Many research works are being carried out in
this direction to find out the solutions for it. To find out
the effective solutions, more up-to-date information is
required. The major goal of this review paper is to present
the architecture, components details, applications, and
challenges about SDN. Along with that, it also focuses on
energy consumption issues that hindrance in enhancing
the network performance. The contributions of this paper
include:
a. This paper presents the compressive studies of energy
efficiency in SDN. The selection criteria for the papers
depend on the citation, year of publication, merit, pub-
lished in high impact journal and good international
conferences in the last decades.
b. This paper also provides a thematic taxonomy of energy
efficiency techniques in current SDN by classifying into
three sub categories.
c. This paper analyses the energy efficiency procedures
based on this taxonomy.
d. Finally, the paper puts the recent future works in the
direction of energy efficiency and provides the scope for
further research opportunities.

Table 1  Comparison of review Survey Year Overview of Performance Energy Security Load balancing QoS
works in SDN SDN and Open-
Flow

Farhady et al. [31] 2015 + + +

Rawat et al. [32] 2016 + + + +
Tuysuz et al. [33] 2017 + + +
Xie et al. [34] 2018 + + + + +
Assefa et al. [30] 2019 + + +
Sultana et al. [35] 2019 + + + +
Abbas et al. [36] 2020 + + + + +
Darade et al. [37] 2020 + + +
Aujla et al. [38] 2020 + + +

SN Computer Science
SN Computer Science (2021) 2:308
Paper Organization
This survey expounds and deliberates the different aspects
of the topic. A brief description of SDN background includ-
ing architecture, components, application, challenges and
research issues are presented in the next section. The fol-
lowing section represents the energy consumption in SDN.
The taxonomy for energy efficiency is presented in the last
section. It represents the solution model into three categories
of traffic aware, end-host aware and rule placement model.
Following section focuses on future scope. Finally, the paper
is concluded in the last section.
Background of SDN
After a rigorous process of research based on networking,
many solutions come from various research communities.
Software Defined Networking has received much reputation
in this context. Solving the complex networking problems
in few seconds, SDN adds more flexibility in networking
operation [40]. It provides an efficient platform in which
innovative ideas can be implemented in much simpler way
as compared to the traditional networking. The key architect
behind SDN is the management of network operation effi-
ciently through software programs. It adds intelligence in
networking. The network is globally controlled to take all the
decision easily without any local interaction. SDN removes
all the middle boxes which are cumbersome on the way,
for taking the right decision about where to send the actual
packet. Removing all such obstacles in traditional network-
ing, SDN makes a programmable network where the router
is free from all complex time consuming and computation-
ally expensive routing algorithms [37, 41, 42].
Architecture of SDN
Two types of controller are used in SDN: centralized and dis-
tributed. Each one has its own advantage and disadvantages.
The features supported by different infrastructure. Finally, by
combining benefits of both, there is a hybrid model.
Centralized Model
In centralized model, a single central controller takes the
overall decision of the network [43]. Being the single point
of decision maker, the central controller globally monitors
the network despite of its heterogeneous underlying network
architecture. It is also responsible for routing all the incom-
ing packets. All the information related to routing, errors,
algorithms are linked to the controller. This is done with the
help of OpenFlow protocol. This information is helpful for
Page 3 of 15 308
the controller to solve many problems related to routing such
as congestion, energy consumption, switch overload [44].
Distributed Model
Unlike centralized controller the distributed SDN model
does not have the single point of control, rather the load
is distributed among several controllers. In data centers,
the controller controls all the network-related events. The
users and application programs are more adaptable to this
architecture. This model is more robust to efficiently han-
dle event handling.
The distributed controller is divided into three classes.
The foremost class concentrates on the improvement of
controller performance. It includes Maestro [45] and
McNettle [46]. Different switches are processed in paral-
lel using switch level parallelism. The second is about the
distributed controllers. For example, Hyperflow [47], Onix
[48] and Devolved [49]. The control plane is distributed
by the controllers between various network partitions by
a centralized controller logically, between locally selected
paths. A third class is about a multilayered distributed con-
troller, Kandoo [50, 51]. It has two layers of hierarchy:
(i) bottom-layer and (ii) the top-layer. The first layer is
formed by the group of distributed controllers, which are
not connected. The second layer consists of a root control-
ler that is logically centralized. This top layer maintains a
network-wide state.
Hybrid Model
The hybrid SDN architecture derives the advantages of both
centralized and distributed SDN architectures. This model
manages the simple control of data flow with the centralized
model and scalability and resilience with distributed model.
In the distributed environment, several key components such
as standard interfaces, policies and mechanisms are manipu-
lated with control planes to implement the hybrid architec-
ture. At the same time, it gives support for high availability
and fault tolerance capabilities [52]. In case of overhead of
control plane, hybrid architecture uses the management poli-
cies to solve various issues related to security, network opti-
mization and state synchronization, network up-gradation
and its migration.
Table 2 summarizes on different models, its architectures
and contribution. Both centralized and distributed models
have their own advantages and disadvantages. The use of
each model is depending upon the system requirement and
its performance. For instance, Procera [46], Hyperflow [47]
Onix [48, 49] like architectures follows distributed model.
In [48], the suggested distributed model follows multiple
independent controllers. Similarly, in [50], the discussed
SN Computer Science
 308 Page 4 of 15 SN Computer Science (2021) 2:308

Table 2  Overview of contributions through SDN architecture

Model SDN architecture Descriptions

Maple. [40, 42]
6TiSCH [42, 43]
DMCQR [43, 44]
Kim et al. [44, 45]
Maestro [45, 46]
Procera [46, 47]
Hyperflow [47, 48]
Onix [48, 49]
Devolved [49, 50]
Kandoo [50, 51]
Centralized model Multi core scheduler is used to record reusable decisions
Centralized model 6TiSCH and DetNet is used for Low Power Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs)
Centralized model Multi-constrained QoS resource allocation model
Centralized model Network QoS control framework for converged fabrics
Distributed Model Simple programming model with additional throughput optimisation technique
Distributed model A control architecture for software-defined networking (SDN) using a declara-
tive policy language
Distributed model An event-based control plane
Distributed model A platform for distributed system
Distributed Model Use of multiple independent controllers
Distributed model Two-layer controller architecture

model comprises of two-layer control architecture. On the
other hand, Maple [40], DMCQR [43] architecture follows
centralized model.
Components of SDN
In a traditional network, the router act as both control and
data plane. In the control plane, the router updates the
routing table regular basis and gets the status of the net-
work. In the data plane, the device forwards the incoming
packets, to the intended destination based on the routing
table information. A typical traditional network architec-
ture has demonstrated in Fig. 1a. On the other hand, ONF
in [53] divided SDN into three main functional layers as
given Fig. 1b.
Infrastructure layer: Being the bottom layer of SDN,
it serves as a data plane of routers. This layer consists of
forwarding devices like the physical switch, router, etc.
Software switches which can be accessible via open inter-
faces, also part of this layer.
Control layer: This layer controls the network through
software programs based on open APIs. It supervises the
network. Control layer lets the network administrator to
apply custom policies to the infrastructure layer devices.
About the controller functionalities will be briefly discussed
next.
Application layer: It consists of end user business applica-
tions [54, 55]. Business application such as energy-efficient
networking, security monitoring, network virtualization, etc.

Fig. 1  Traditional network architecture vs. three-layered software-defined networking architecture

SN Computer Science
SN Computer Science (2021) 2:308
SDN controller works with the four interfaces: North-
bound [56], Southbound [57], Eastbound [58] and West-
bound [59] interfaces.
Northbound interface: It is an application driven network.
It is running on top of networks to exchange information
between control layer and application layer. The frequency
of this interface varies with network application. This net-
work is not yet standardized. Various vendors, giving a pro-
posal of REST (Representational State Transfer) API [57] to
provide an interface for business applications.
Southbound interface: This interface is well located
between control layer and infrastructure layer. This is taking
care about information exchange between these two layers.
The example of southbound API consists of OpenFlow and
NetConf (Network configuration protocol) [58, 59].
Eastbound interface: This interface helps in the intercon-
nection of IP networks with SDN networks. This interface is
not required to be standardized and it depends on non-SDN
network for its implementation.
Westbound interface: In heterogeneous domain, various
information is exchanged between different controllers with
the help of westbound interface. This enhances the controller
decisions and is responsible to accomplish the global net-
work view. A group of controllers is taking the responsibility
to synchronize high availability state [60].
Fig. 2  Research direction of SDN
Page 5 of 15 308
Challenges in SDN
Despite of several benefits of SDN, there are major chal-
lenges present in SDN which is not yet solved. Many
fundamental issues are still present in SDN, which has
not much grown up technically [60–63]. There are many
issues which are required to be standardized and adopted.
ONF provides the complete definition of SDN. At the
same time, it specifies the OpenFlow protocol for SDN.
But OpenFlow is not the only solutions provided for SDN
and a mature solution. Till now OpenFlow driver is not yet
developed for SDN controller. There is still a requirement
of high-level programming language. A healthy system is
yet to be developed combining SDN application develop-
ers, network consumers.
The transition from traditional networking to Software
Defined Networking is in its earliest stage and it needs
more expertise worker, more technical supports. Till now
SDN deployment is limited to small test bed, it requires
more attention and more research concerns.
Research Issues in SDN
There are various research issues in SDN as given in
Fig. 2. Out of which, the prime focus of this work is
energy saving in SDN. For this, three layers of SDN has
SN Computer Science
308 Page 6 of 15
considered. In infrastructure layer, it has been tried to
reduce the number of flow table entries to lessen energy
consumption in SDN. In control layer using control traf-
fic balancing, we try to minimize energy consumption in
SDN. In the application layer using traffic engineering and
the load-balancing approach, energy savings issues have
been focused.
Energy Consumption in SDN
With the increase in the popularity of SDN, the rate of the
energy consumption in the data center is becoming a very
challenging problem. Worldwide this figure is closer to 30
billion watts that is equal to 30 nuclear plants. The rate of
global internet energy consumption is 19% over 2022 [33].
Therefore, a very careful attention must be given towards
the monitoring process of this energy consumption pro-
cess. Various techniques must be applied to achieve the
goal of energy savings. The data center plays various roles
like computing, storage and diverse services. This is only
possible with the help of a number of switches and servers.
Though there is always a change of flow in a data center
which varies with the time, but the power consumption
remains a constant factor and huge in number [64].
In ICT energy consumption and ­CO2 emissions are the
major causes of inefficiency of SDN. From the Gartner
report in 2007 [65], and later report in succeeding years
[65–69], it shows that the impact of rapid growth of tech-
nology has adverse effect on the environment. This rate of
environmental damage will increase in most rapid stage
with gradual increase with expansion of IT industry [70].
This reduces the growth rate of ICT [71]. To increase the
popularity of ICT it is required from ICT to take various
steps to decrease the rate of energy consumption and C ­ O2
emissions. For this environmental improvement, ICT has
to come forward to use some strategies. Instead of huge
differences between the wired and wireless network in
terms their technological and technical challenges there
is a trade-off between network performance and energy
expenditure [72–74]. Various methods are used to save
energy in both of these cases. In SDN, the overall of deci-
sion is taken at the central controller in control plane, the
data plane is free from all computation work. The control-
ler can use the sleep method policy to put the idle switch
into sleep mode for a predefined period. In other words,
it also increases bandwidth and delay in packet recep-
tion. The data rate can be controller. In some scenario to
decrease energy consumption, it is advised to decrease
data rate of transmission as it is directly proportional to
energy consumption.
In energy minimization procedure, SDN can take the
step to reduce energy consumption by incorporating
SN Computer Science
SN Computer Science (2021) 2:308
various rules. Network programmability gives flexibility
in adding various rules as to manage the data rate or incor-
porating sleep rules in switches [75]. Dynamically the
controller manages to minimize energy consumption by
monitoring the traffic load at a particular time. The other
way of achieving energy saving is by monitoring TCAM
(Ternary Content Addressable Memory) entries [76–79].
But frequent modification to flow entries also sometimes
unnecessarily consumes more energy. Frequent access of
TCAM is also another cause. The controller can replace
some of the frequent rule entries under the switches. Vir-
tualization is another method of energy saving in SDN
[80–86]. Using virtual machine, several systems can work
as a single whole system. It decreases the inefficient use
of several system efficiencies. The global network view
of SDN enables this management. These are the various
reasons in which controller puts intelligent algorithms to
minimize energy consumption.
Taxonomy of Energy‑Efficient Solutions
in SDN
The energy-efficient solutions in SDN are classified into
three subcategories of traffic aware, end-host aware and rule
placement [33]. The objective function, parameters and con-
straints for each model are represented in Fig. 3.
Traffic Aware Model
Objective
The network traffic can be defined as the number of pack-
ets transmitted in a network at given point of time. Traffic
management gives the effective solution in reducing the net-
work congestion, energy usage, load balancing, bandwidth
management and security enhancements, etc. The network
performance can be increased by effectively analyzing the
network traffic [87].
In SDN the controller takes the packet routing decisions
globally. It periodically collects the status information for
the switches, links, end system devices, other networking
components. This information helps in changing the net-
working policy due to the addition of new devices, failure to
network components or link. In dynamic traffic conditions,
the controller uses this status information to maintain steady
network performance. Energy optimization can be done by
utilizing this information to decide when to power off some
of the devices in low traffic conditions. Traffic aware model
gives the solution of utilizing the network traffic condi-
tion to minimize energy consumption in SDN. For better
understanding, a list of notations have been used as shown
in Table 3.
SN Computer Science (2021) 2:308 Page 7 of 15 308

Fig. 3  Taxonomy of energy-efficient solutions in SDN

From the traffic point of view the major components for

Table 3  Notation table the energy capabilities in SDN are considered to be links
and switches. To achieve better energy savings, number of
Notations Description
switches and links need to be reduced to carry the network
Z Switch set traffic.
E Link set An undirected weighted graph G =  < Z, E > is used to rep-
Eij link between switches zi and zj resent the network traffic. Here, Z and E represent the number
wij Band width of the link between zi and zj of switches and links, respectively, such that zi ∈ Z and eij ∈ E.
CSi Power consumption of switch zi eij is a link between switches zi and zj. The C is represented by
Ci Power consumption of link eij wij. The status of the switch is given by the following equation.
f Flow of the network { }
Sr, ds Source switch, destination switch 1 if switch zi is active
^f Rate of flow
Si = . (1)
0 otherwise
Pri Amount of resource type r available on PMi
Vjr Demand of VMj for resource type r The power consumption of switch zi and the link eij are
Hin and Hout Incoming host and outgoing host represented by C
­ Si and Cij, respectively. It is measured in watt.
𝜆f The pocket rate of flow f The flow of network traffic is represented by f where f ∈
Lij Binary variable indicating whether edge eij F can be defined as f = (sr ds f̂ ). sr , ds ∈ Z are the source
is in active state or not and destination switch, respectively. ˄f is the rate of flow and f
f
ai Flow f installed on switch zi measured in bytes/sec.
Si Status of the switch

Mathematical Model

SN Computer Science
 308 Page 8 of 15
( )
∑ ∑ ∑ It is maintained through Network Information Base (NIB).
Minimize
∀f ∀eij
Fij × Cij + S
∀Si i
× CSi .
∑ stood. This gives a complete information about all network-
s.t
∀f
Fij × ≤ Wij , ∀eij .
∑ ∑
∀f
Fai =
∀f
Fib, zi ≠ sr , ds ∈ fsr ,ds ,𝜆f .
Fmj = Fin , zm = sr , zn = ds , ∀ emj , ∀ein .
Fij ≤ Sj , ∀zj ∈ z.
Fij ≤ Si , ∀zi ∈ z.
∑ switch is under the control of one authority switch, which is
Si ≤
∀f
[fij + fji ], ∀zi ∈ z.
Here, Eq. 2 minimizes the total energy expenditure in
a network through switches and links. From the two terms
used, the former represents energy consumption through
links and later through switches. The flow rate between
switches is given in Eq. 3. The rate of flows should not go
beyond the link capacity. Equation 4 shows the flow infor-
mation in and out through a switch. Equation 5 conforms
the flow entering from source is reached at the destination.
Equation 6 and 7 give guarantees of flow is not connected to
the inactive switch. Equation 8 gives information for making
the switch off which sits idle.
Solutions
In this model, the network traffic is analyzed to increase the
network performance in both traffic level and resource level
[88, 89]. It helps to give many immense solutions in conges-
tion control problem. TE algorithms can be implemented in
SDN with the help of the central controller. TE mechanism
has many advantages as compare to other approaches [90,
91]. However, it is very difficult to implement same in con-
ventional network.
HyperFlow [47, 48] is a distributed control plane. Using
network centralization, it solves network scalability problem.
Each switch is under the control of the best controller in its
locality. Each controller controls the flow table of its corre-
sponding switches. In case of heavy traffic as the flow table
decision is distributed, it helps in minimizing the response
time. The synchronization among all the controllers are
maintained using cross controller mechanism. It helps in
sharing the network wide decision to control the network.
Onix [48, 49] is a type of distributed controller. Here,
more than one physical server is working in a distributed
manner. The network control logic is present in Onix API.
SN Computer Science
SN Computer Science (2021) 2:308
(2) It represents all the network entities in the form of a graph.
From this graph, the performance parameter is well under-
(3) ing components. It is shared among all controllers. It helps
a lot to give solution for scalability problem.
Kandoo [50, 51] is a type of hierarchical controller. Kan-
(4) doo supports two levels of hierarchy. One controller is used
for local application execution. Another one is used for non-
(5) local application of the controller. It is also called as root
controller. It is centralized in nature. It controls all local
controllers. The local controllers update the flow table of
(6) the switches as per the instruction given by the root control-
ler. The local controller installs all the flow entries in the
(7) switches.
Difane [91, 92] uses the authority switches concept. Each
(8) under one controller. These switches update the flow table
for data plane operation of all the incoming packets in the
network. These rules are present in TCAM. TCAM is very
much power hungry and expensive. Energy consumption is
more to store large flow entries in TCAM. Some of the fre-
quent entries are stored in cached rules of authority switches.
For any incoming packet, if the switch does not find the
corresponding route information in its flow table then, it is
bypassed to authority switches not to the controller directly.
Most common rules are present in authority switches. To
implement this mechanism, there is a requirement in modi-
fication of controlling action of authority switches.
BalanceFlow [92, 93] is an example of distributed con-
troller. It is following the concept for distributing the flow
requests dynamically among the other controllers. The flow
requests statistics are maintained by the controllers. This
information is shared among all the controllers using cross
controller mechanism. Two types of controllers are used for
this operation. The former is super controller and another is
normal controller. Controller information is balanced among
all the normal controllers with the help of super controller. It
first selects the imbalanced controller where the load value is
greater than threshold value. The super controller redirects
its load to other controllers based on the load statistics col-
lected about all the controllers. The overall load of network
is adjusted by the performance of super controller and net-
work device components.
Andrew et al. in [93, 94] focused on energy savings of
the network to improve network performance. They proved
that network performance depends upon the energy savings.
They also focused on routing throughout of the network to
persuade demand rate requirements. For this they did not
consider cost of energy consumption. Power down approach
is used for the next level. With the help of ON–OFF mecha-
nism, energy consumption in routing can be reduced. They
SN Computer Science (2021) 2:308 Page 9 of 15 308

studied two metrics for this given approach: one for energy
consumption and other is end-to-end delay.
Nedevschi et al. in [94, 95] proved a significant amount
of energy reduction in SDN is possible with the help of
power down and rate adaptation technique. This improved
energy savings amount without much affecting on packet
loss and delay in packet reception. However, both of these
approaches are not possible in traditional network. Here it
is very hard to get network wide status, node information,
link utilization value. However, in SDN the device-related
information can be collected globally. The controller con-
trols all the routing-related information for the network.
It also decides when to switch off the link based on its
utilization factor. Depending on the load information, it
dynamically sets link rate.
Wang et al. in [95, 96] used dynamic data rate for links to
reroute traffic. The rate of each link varies with the amount
of traffic it carries. Using adaptive link rate, good amount of
energy savings can be possible. It provides good solutions
for uniform demand.
End‑host Aware Model
Objective
In SDN, the controller has decided the route of all the
incoming packets and the forwarding path, so the controller
at the same time can decide the utilization of each node and
link. The switch has no decision taking capabilities, it just
acts as a forwarding device to forward the packet as per the
instruction of the controller. Each switch is either in active or
inactive state, decided by the controller based on incoming
traffic status. In active state, the switch has consumed maxi-
mum power, whether it is fully utilized or in idle state. But
in sleep state, this value is almost zero. All the links linked
with more than one switch, have the same power profiles as
switch. The link has consumed no power in sleep state and
maximum power when it is active. In active mode, a link can
be fully utilized or in idle state depending on incoming traf-
fic. If a link or switch is idle for a long duration of time, then
it is better to put into switch off state to save more power. In
such condition the number of active network components
will be less.
Mathematical Model
The goal of this model is to minimize active physical
machines. It is done by migrating the VMs to a smaller num-
ber of physical devices.
Let, X be the placement matrix where,
{ }
1 if VM j is placed on physical machine i
Xij = . (9)
0 otherwise
The number of resources r available in PMi is given by Pri
and in PM j is given by Vjr . The status of a physical machine
PM is given by the binary variable PMi. The value is 1 if PM
is on, otherwise 0.
∑
Minimize PMi . (10)
i
∑
s.t Vr × Xij ≤ Pi r ∀i, r. (11)
j=1 j
∑
Xij = 1 ∀ j. (12)
i
PMi ≥ Xij ∀ i, j. (13)
where, 1 <  = i < =|P|
1< = j < =|V| and r ∈ R
Equation 10 minimizes the number of PM turned on.
Equation 11 clarifies that the number of VMs cannot be
more than capacity of PM.
Equation 12 assures that each VM can be placed on
exactly one PM.
Equation 13 indicates that PMi can be turned ON or OFF
based on its usage.
Solutions
Christensen et al. [96, 97] proposed power management
approach in SDN to save a major amount of power using
the sleep state of end devices. Rout et al. in [95 used a rate
of traffic flow that vary as per the incoming traffic status. In
all this paper, link utilization is a vital parameter to take the
decision regarding link usage.
In SDN, right number of choices of switches and links
can save energy to a certain amount. The switch or link con-
sumes power at its maximum level when it is on provided
there is not much to carry traffic. To overcome this problem
and giving maximum energy efficiency, Heller et al. [97, 98]
proposed elastic tree. This concept is based on the selection
of the right number of switches and links as per the traffic
status. This is based on three-layer Fat-tree architecture.
Shang et al. [99, 100] proposed an approach for finding
the route with the help of minimum number of switches in
data centers. However, it introduces a delay in data transmis-
sion. This provides major amount of energy saving in data
centers for delay sensitive operation. But however, this is not
an acceptable one for delay insensitive operation.

SN Computer Science
308 Page 10 of 15 SN Computer Science (2021) 2:308

For uniform distribution of network traffic, author pro- The dimension of this matrix is decided by the number of
posed FSR (Fair Share Routing) algorithm [72]. It is based switches involved in this matrix.
on the fact of equal sharing of load among all the switches The edge ­eij is active or not is decided by a binary vari-
and links involved in the network. Here, a subset of links able Lij.
is selected and the total traffic is uniformly distributed to { }
avoid delays. But the link utilization is not 100% of its total 1, if edge eij is active
Lij = . (16)
capacity. The author assumed that full utilization of links 0, otherwise
and switching off idle links will increase energy consump-
tion. The controller manages whole processes. But however, The flow status through the edge eij is updated by the
this proposed one is not suitable with the fault in normal binary variable Kij .
operation. �
⎧ 1, Fij >= 1⎫
⎪ ⎪
Kij = ⎨ f ∈F ⎬. (17)
Rule Placement Model ⎪ 0, otherwise ⎪
⎩ ⎭
Objective ∑
Minimize aif ∀ f . (18)
Energy expenditure in SDN is becoming a very serious
issue. Various performance measures are considered to ∑
enhance energy saving amount. By controlling the number s.t
∀f
Fij × 𝜆f ≤ Wij , ∀eij . (19)
of flow entries in TCAM, considerable amount of energy
savings can be done. TCAM is very expensive. The energy ∑
consumption value varies directly with the number of entries ∀f
Fij ≤ Gi , ∀ zi . (20)
stored in TCAM. Using the rule placement techniques, the
number of flow entries in TCAM can be replaced with either Fmj = Fin , zm = sr , zn = ds , ∀ emj , ∀ein . (21)
wild card entries or default rule.
Fij ≤ Sj , ∀zj ∈ z. (22)
Mathematical Model
Fij ≤ Si , ∀zi ∈ z. (23)
Using this model, the energy efficiency is possible by mini-
mizing number of flow entries. ∑
Si ≤ [fij + fji ], ∀zi ∈ z. (24)
An undirected weighted graph G =  < Z, E > is used to rep- ∀f

resent the network traffic. Here, Z and E represents the num-

The numbers of rules present in the switches are given
ber of switches and links, respectively, such that zi ∈ Z and
in Eq. 18.
eij ∈ E. eij is a link between switches zi and zj . The bandwidth
Link capacity determines the maximum number of flows
of the link is represented by wij. The status of the switch is
through a given link. It is given on Eq. 19. Similarly, the
given by the following equation.
number of rules installed in a switch cannot go beyond of the
{ } switch capacity, as given in Eq. 20. Equation 21 represents
1 if switch zi is active
Si = . (14) the status of the flow through edge eij. Equation 22 puts the
0 otherwise idle link into inactive state. If that link is used in any flow,
then it becomes active. It is shown in Eq. 23. The flow con-
Hin and Hout are two external nodes used for incoming
servation rule is given Eq. 24.
hosts and outgoing hosts, respectively. 𝜆f is the pocket rate
of flow f ∈ F.
A is the allocation matrix of rules. These rules represent Solutions
the flows to switches. Here,
{ } Compact TCAM [100, 101] focuses on look up procedure to
aif =
1, if rule representing flow f is installed on switch zi
. save maximum amount of energy. TCAM consumes max-
0, otherwise imum amount of energy in matching with the flow table
(15) entry. In compact TCAM, flow-ID concept is used to save
major searching time. In very less time, flow-ID is sufficient
to find a matching entry in the flow table. Using this flow-ID,

SN Computer Science
SN Computer Science (2021) 2:308 Page 11 of 15 308

the switches find out an entry in the flow table. Instead of
using all the flow table entries of a flow table, flow-ID is
sufficient to give a perfect match. It enhances the search time
and energy savings.
Devoflow [101, 102] is a modification of OpenFlow. It
helps to reduce amount of workload done by the controller
to transfer flow in the control plane. It collects the informa-
tion periodically to manage the flows in the network. Due to
this, the controller is overburdened. To eliminate this, some
other mechanisms are considered. One of the remedial solu-
tions is known as rule cloning. Here, a switch clones the rule
locally after a match in flow table. It prevents unnecessary
use of TCAM to search a particular flow in the controller.
Next, for the same packet flow instead of using the control-
ler the switches search first in its local flow table. It reduces
the search time and access of TCAM entry. It gives more
amounts of energy savings.
TCAM Bypass [102, 103] is an approach of reducing the
searching time to find out a route for a new packet. For each
packet, a new identification key is created in input memory.
This key is formed by extracting the important field of the
packet. Instead of using any other details, this key is helpful
in searching and storing of new procedure in the flow table.
GAL [103, 104] is an energy-efficient algorithm. Here,
the controller takes the energy optimization decision. It is
based on the real-time data analysis by the controller by
taking various network components data. Energy-optimized
module is used to give minimum energy. It has three phases.
First phase is called discovery phase, followed by provision-
ing phase and last one is called monitoring phase. In former
phase, the controller collects all the energy-related informa-
tion from various components. Using this information, the
controller arranges the states as per optimal energy state
of network in second phase. Finally, in the last phase, the
controller uses the controls policy to control various network
components as per their traffic.
RMAD [104, 105] stands for Routing by Minimizing
the Active Devices. In this algorithm, it first finds a list
of shortest paths. Form this list, the path with a greater
number of active links is decided. The objective is to
efficiently utilize the active links. At the same time, it
enhances the sleep duration of inactive links. By which,
the inactive links get more time to put in sleep mode. It
helps to enhance energy savings value. This is different
from RMAD + . In RMAD + , the list of shortest paths is
selected. Out of which the path with a smaller number of
active nodes is decided. It gives much emphasis on nodes
than links. Energy consumption in nodes are more than
the links. By considering a path with a smaller number of
nodes, it tries to minimize required energy consumption.
Using this logic, RMAD + saves more energy as compare
to RMAD.
Exclusive Routing [72] minimizes energy expenditure
of network. It is based on two facts. First, it operates active
links at its maximum capacity. Second, it increases energy
savings by turning off maximum number of switches. It
takes several performance measures to decrease number of

Table 4  Overview of energy saving model for SDN

Category Approaches Methods

Traffic aware model Hyperflow [47, 48] Cross controller mechanism

End system aware model
Rule placement model
Onix [48, 49]
Kandoo [50, 51]
Difane [91, 92]
Balanceflow [92, 93]
Andrew et al. [93]
Nedevschi et al. [94, 95]
Wang et al. [95, 96]
Christensen et al. [96, 97]
Rout et al. [97, 98]
Heller et al. [98, 99]
Shang et al. [99, 100]
FSR (Fair share routing) [72]
COMPACT TCAM [104]
DEVOFLOW [101, 102]
TCAM bypass [102, 103]
GAL [103, 104]
RMAD [104, 105]
Exclusive routing [72]
Network control logic
Hierarchical controller architecture
Bypass the traffic to authority switch
Two-layer control architecture
ON–OFF mechanism
Power down and rate adaptation technique
Dynamic data rate for each route
Sleep state of end devices
Link utilization proportional to incoming traffic
Elastic tree
Route with the minimum number of switches
Equal sharing of loads in switches and links
Flow-ID is used for searching
Rule cloning
Reducing the searching time with the help of new identification key
Real time data analysis of the controller
More utilization of active links with increasing sleep duration of inactive links
Decrease active links and switches with low utilization value

SN Computer Science
308 Page 12 of 15
active links and switches with low utilization value. Maxi-
mum amount of energy savings is done in EXR using a
link structure to be utilized efficiently. Priorities are set for
different flow. This helps in easy management of network.
Table 4 shows the taxonomy of the energy saving tech-
niques in SDN under different sub-categories as traffic
aware model, end-system aware model and rule-placement
model. This table explain in brief about the various work-
ing method under each of this category.
Future Scope
SDN brings a new architectural innovation in the field of
networking by separating the data plane from control plane
[106]. Being an independent unit, the control plane helps
to monitor the networking activity closely. It has wide
range of applications running currently. The immense
architecture has more scope in various field in the future.
Telecom industry is changing very rapidly. The demand
of telecom industry is increased after the 4G technology.
Still it needs to be more speedy, flexible network and mov-
ing in the direction of 5G technology. 5G plays a vibrant
role in telecom industry. The operation surely needs SDN.
The combination of 5G and SDN provides more secure
platform to many business industries and improve cus-
tomer experience in a wide range.
In manufacturing industry, automation is widely accepted
as it will help to increase the production and fulfilling the
customer demands. Various branch quarters need to be con-
nected with headquarters and required to be equipped with
sensors, IoT devices and other devices. It needs huge com-
putations job. SDN plays an integral part in this field.
In banking sector, connectivity is the crucial part. The
combinations of 5G and SDN solve the connectivity issues
and provides the solutions in securely monitoring the data
processing.
Many companies are shifted to cloud technology to pro-
vide better services. SDN provides virtualization of their
infrastructure. SD-WAN affords the services in wide area
and decrease the cost of operation with centralized control.
In agriculture field in hilly area, it is very difficult for
monitoring periodically. SDN vehicular sensor network in
agriculture provides automatic vehicular navigation based
on wireless sensor network can lead to efficient precision in
agriculture field. This architecture plays a tremendous role in
providing sustainability and stability in agriculture industry.
The role of SDN is not only limited to provide wide range
of services in various fields, rather it is also extended to
take corrective measures to decrease energy consumption in
processing. Energy saving is a necessary part of providing
all networking services. With the rise in networking ser-
vices, energy consumption brings many harmful effects on
SN Computer Science
SN Computer Science (2021) 2:308
the society and environment. This issue is carefully taken
care to provide the best services in the networking industry.
Conclusions
In SDN, many energy saving techniques are considered to
enhance the network performance. To maintain the trade-
off of energy savings and performance issue, many inno-
vative solutions are proposed by various research groups.
In this article, a comprehensive survey of such energy
saving techniques are proposed. Firstly, the SDN archi-
tecture is discussed followed by its various components.
This is followed by a brief discussion of energy saving
objectives focusing over ­C o 2 emissions and other envi-
ronmental hazards to maximize network throughput and
optimize resource utilization. The energy-efficient tech-
niques are further divided into three broad categories of
traffic aware, end system aware and rule placement mod-
els. Additionally, the objective solutions and energy saving
approaches are proposed under each model. Furthermore,
a comparative analysis and lessons learned from each
model is summarized. Finally, we expose future scope for
the open issues in the direction of energy efficiency that
could enhance the wide acceptance of emerging applica-
tion of SDN performance.
In the future, the research focus should be on inventing
low power consuming security policy that can improve the
overall network performance with great scalability. Moreo-
ver, 5G plays a vibrant role in the telecom industry. The
combination of 5G and SDN provides a more secure plat-
form to many business industries, hence essentially the
research focus must be on minimizing energy consumption
on this new architecture.
Funding This research received no specific grant from any fund-
ing agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
Declarations
Conflict of Interest There is no conflicts of interest to report regarding
the present study.
References
1. Bannour F, Souihi S, Mellouk A. Distributed SDN control:
Survey, taxonomy, and challenges. IEEE Commun Surv Tutor.
2018;20(1):333–54.
2. Rafique W, et al. Complementing IoT services through software
defined networking and edge computing: a comprehensive sur-
vey. IEEE Commun Surv Tutor. 2020;22(3):1761–804.
SN Computer Science (2021) 2:308
3. Habibi P, et al. Fog Computing: A Comprehensive Architectural
Survey. IEEE Access. 2020;8:69105–33.
4. Javadzadeh G, Amir MR. Fog computing applications in smart
cities: a systematic survey. Wirel Netw. 2020;26(2):1433–57.
5. Markus A, Attila K. A survey and taxonomy of simulation envi-
ronments modelling fog computing. Simul Model Pract Theory.
2020;1:101–2.
6. Welsh T, Elhadj B. On resilience in cloud computing: a sur-
vey of techniques across the cloud domain. ACM Comput Surv
(CSUR). 2020;53(3):1–36.
7. Zhu J, et al. TRUS: towards the real-time route update scheduling
in SDN for data centers. IEEE Access. 2020;8:68682–94.
8. Emani CK, Nadine C, Christophe N. Understandable big data: a
survey. Comput Sci Rev. 2015;17:70–81.
9. Chahal M, et al. A survey on software-defined networking in
vehicular ad hoc networks: challenges, applications and use
cases. Sustain Cities Soc. 2017;35:830–40.
10. Shoumy Nusrat J, et al. Multimodal big data affective analytics: a
comprehensive survey using text, audio, visual and physiological
signals. J Netw Comput Appl. 2020;149:102447.
11. Qu K, et al. Dynamic flow migration for embedded services in
SDN/NFV-enabled 5G core networks. IEEE Trans Commun.
2020;68(4):2394–408.
12. Singh S, Rakesh KJ. A survey on software defined networking:
architecture for next generation network. J Netw Syst Manag.
2017;25(2):321–74.
13. Semong T, et al. Intelligent load balancing techniques in software
defined networks: a survey. Electronics. 2020;9(7):1091.
14. Alharbi T. Deployment of blockchain technology in software
defined networks: a survey. IEEE Access. 2020;8:9146–56.
15. Han T, et al. A comprehensive survey of security threats and
their mitigation techniques for next-generation SDN controllers.
Concur Comput Pract Exp. 2020;32(16):e5300.
16. Rout S, Sudhansu SP, Bibhudatta S. Performance evaluation of
the controller in software-defined networking. Comput Intell
Data Min. 2017;1:543–51 ((Springer)).
17. Rout S, et al. Energy efficient routing in software defined net-
working by efficient traffic rule monitoring techniques. J Adv
Res Dyn Control Syst. 2018;10(14-Special Issue):650–62.
18. Tayyaba SK, et al. Software-defined networks (SDNs) and Inter-
net of Things (IoTs): a qualitative prediction for 2020. Network.
2016;7(11):1.
19. Shaghaghi A, et al. Software-Defined Network (SDN) data plane
security: issues, solutions, and future directions. In: Handbook of
computer networks and cyber security. Cham: Springer; 2020. p.
341–87.
20. Rout S, et al. Energy minimization technique in SDN using
efficient routing policy. J Xi’an Univ Archit Technol (Scopus).
2020;12(4):3512–9.
21. Shirmarz A, Ali G. Performance issues and solutions in SDN-
based data center: a survey. J Supercomput. 2020;1:1–49.
22. Rout, S et al. Load balancing in SDN using effective traffic engi-
neering method. 2017 International conference on signal pro-
cessing and communication (ICSPC). IEEE, Coimbatore, Tamil
Nadu, India 2017. pp 452–456.
23. Qu K, et al. Traffic engineering for service-oriented 5G networks
with SDN-NFV integration. IEEE Netw. 2020;34(4):234–41.
24. Liu Y, et al. A novel load balancing and low response delay
framework for edge-cloud network based on SDN. IEEE Internet
Things J. 2019;7(7):5922–33.
25. Chakravarthy VD, Amutha B. Path based load balancing for
data center networks using SDN. Int J Electr Comput Eng.
2019;9(4):2088–8708.
26. Kang B, Choo H. An SDN-enhanced load-balancing technique
in the cloud system. J Supercomput. 2018;74(11):5706–29.
Page 13 of 15 308
27. Sahoo, KS et al. A comprehensive tutorial on software defined
network: the driving force for the future internet technology. Pro-
ceedings of the international conference on advances in informa-
tion communication technology and computing. Bikaner, India,
2016; pp 1–8
28. Bista BB, et al. Reducing energy consumption in wired Open-
Flow-based networks. Int J Control Autom. 2014;7(6):401–12.
29. Modieginyane KM, et al. Software defined wireless sensor net-
works application opportunities for efficient network manage-
ment: a survey. Comput Electr Eng. 2018;66:274–87.
30. Assefa BG, Öznur Ö. A survey of energy efficiency in SDN:
software-based methods and optimization models. J Netw Com-
put Appl. 2019;137:127–43.
31. Farhady H, Hyun YL, Akihiro N. Software-defined networking:
a survey. Comput Netw. 2015;81:79–95.
32. Rawat DB, Reddy SR. Software defined networking architec-
ture, security and energy efficiency: a survey. IEEE Commun
Surv Tutor. 2016;19(1):325–46.
33. Tuysuz MF, Zekiye KA, Didem G. A survey on energy efficiency
in software defined networks. Comput Netw. 2017;113:188–204.
34. Xie J, et al. A survey of machine learning techniques applied to
software defined networking (SDN): research issues and chal-
lenges. IEEE Commun Surv Tutor. 2018;21(1):393–430.
35. Sultana N, et al. Survey on SDN based network intrusion detec-
tion system using machine learning approaches. Peer-to-Peer
Netw Appl. 2019;12(2):493–501.
36. Yazdinejad A, et al. An energy-efficient SDN controller archi-
tecture for IoT networks with blockchain-based security. IEEE
Trans Serv Comput. 2020;13(4):625–38.
37. Darade SA, Akkalakshmi M. Extensive literature survey on load
balancing in software-defined networking. Int J Bus Data Com-
mun Netw (IJBDCN). 2020;16(2):1–19.
38. Aujla GS, et al. BlockSDN: blockchain-as-a-service for soft-
ware defined networking in smart city applications. IEEE Netw.
2020;34(2):83–91.
39. Barakabitze AA, et al. 5G network slicing using SDN and NFV: a
survey of taxonomy, architectures and future challenges. Comput
Netw. 2020;167:106984.
40. Voellmy A, et al. Maple: simplifying SDN programming using
algorithmic policies. ACM SIGCOMM Comput Commun Rev.
2013;43(4):87–98.
41. Sahoo KS, Bibhudatta S. CAMD: a switch migration based load
balancing framework for software defined networks. IET Netw.
2019;8(4):264–71.
42. Thubert P, Maria RP, Thomas E. 6TiSCH centralized scheduling:
When SDN meet IoT. 2015 IEEE conference on standards for
communications and networking (CSCN). Tokyo, Japan, IEEE,
2015
43. Zhu S, et al. Centralized QoS routing using network calcu-
lus for SDN-based streaming media networks. IEEE Access.
2019;7:146566–76.
44. Kim W, et al. Automated and scalable QoS control for network
convergence. INM/WREN. 2010;10(1):1–6.
45. Cai Z, Alan LC, TS Ng. Maestro: A system for scalable openflow
control. 2010.
46. Voellmy A, Hyojoon K, Nick F. Procera: a language for high-
level reactive network control. Proceedings of the first workshop
on Hot topics in software defined networks. 2012
47. Tootoonchian A, Yashar G. Hyperflow: a distributed control
plane for openflow. Proceedings of the 2010 internet network
management conference on research on enterprise networking.
Vol. 3. Helsinki, Finland, 2010.
48. Koponen T, et al. Onix: a distributed control platform for large-
scale production networks. OSDI. 2010;10:1–6.
49. Tam AS-W, Kang X, Jonathan Chao H (2011) Use of devolved
controllers in data center networks. 2011 IEEE conference on
SN Computer Science
308 Page 14 of 15
computer communications workshops (INFOCOM WKSHPS).
IEEE, Shanghai, China, 2011.
50. Hassas YS, Yashar G."Kandoo: a framework for efficient and
scalable offloading of control applications. Proceedings of the
first workshop on Hot topics in software defined networks. 2012
51. Sinha Y, Haribabu K. A survey: hybrid sdn. J Netw Comput
Appl. 2017;100:35–55.
52. Jain R, Paul S. Network virtualization and software defined net-
working for cloud computing: a survey. IEEE Commun Mag.
2013;51(11):24–31.
53. Berde, P et al. ONOS: towards an open, distributed SDN OS. Pro-
ceedings of the third workshop on Hot topics in software defined
networking. 2014, pp 1–6
54. Fielding RT, Taylor RN. Architectural styles and the design of
network-based software architectures, vol. 7. Irvine: University
of California; 2000.
55. Ndlovu S, Pragasen M, Olukayode AO. Evaluating the energy
efficiency of software defined networking controllers for differ-
ent topologies. 2020 International conference on artificial intel-
ligence, big data, computing and data communication systems
(icABCD). IEEE, Durban, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, 2020.
56. Enns R et al. Network configuration protocol (NETCONF).
(2011)
57. Yu J, Imad Al A. An empirical study of the NETCONF pro-
tocol. 2010 Sixth international conference on networking and
services. IEEE, Cancun, Mexico, 2010.
58. Hu F, Hao Qi, Bao Ke. A survey on software-defined network
and openflow: from concept to implementation. IEEE Commun
Surv Tutor. 2014;16(4):2181–206.
59. Sahoo KS, et al. ESMLB: efficient switch migration-based load
balancing for multi-controller SDN in IoT. IEEE Internet Things
J. 2019;7(7):5852–60.
60. Tiwary M, et al. Response time optimization for cloud-
lets in mobile edge computing. J Parallel Distrib Comput.
2018;119(2018):81–91.
61. Koné B, Ahmed DK, Adama N. A software-defined networking
solution for rural connectivity. 2020 43rd international confer-
ence on telecommunications and signal processing (TSP). IEEE,
Milan, Italy, 2020 pp 162–165.
62. Cui L, Richard YF, Qiao Y. When big data meets software-
defined networking: SDN for big data and big data for SDN.
IEEE Netw. 2016;30(1):58–65.
63. Alexander DS, et al. The SwitchWare active network architecture.
IEEE Netw. 1998;12(3):29–36.
64. Gartner EICT. Industry accounts for 2 percent of global ­co2 emis-
sions, 2007. URL: http://w
​ ww.g​ artne​ r.c​ om/n​ ewsro​ om/i​ d/5​ 03867.
[10] IPCC-Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2012)
65. Pickavet M et al. Worldwide energy needs for ICT: the rise of
power-aware networking. 2008 2nd international symposium
on advanced networks and telecommunication systems. IEEE,
Mumbai, India, 2008
66. Van Heddeghem W, et al. Trends in worldwide ICT elec-
tricity consumption from 2007 to 2012. Comput Commun.
2014;50:64–76.
67. Sun G, et al. Energy-efficient provisioning for service function
chains to support delay-sensitive applications in network function
virtualization. IEEE Internet Things J. 2020;7(7):6116–31.
68. Nam TM et al. Energy-aware routing based on power profile of
devices in data center networks using SDN. 2015 12th interna-
tional conference on electrical engineering/electronics, computer,
telecommunications and information technology (ECTI-CON).
IEEE, Hua Hin, Thailand, 2015.
69. Gelenbe E, Yves C. The impact of information technol-
ogy on energy consumption and carbon emissions. Ubiquity.
2015;1:1–15.
SN Computer Science
SN Computer Science (2021) 2:308
70. Qureshi, A et al. Cutting the electric bill for internet-scale sys-
tems. Proceedings of the ACM SIGCOMM 2009 conference on
data communication. Barcelona, Spain, 2009.
71. Li D, Shang Y, Chen C (2014) Software defined green data center
network with exclusive routing. In: IEEE INFOCOM 2014-IEEE
conference on computer communications. IEEE, Toronto, Can-
ada, pp. 1743–1751.
72. Molina E, Eduardo J. Software-defined networking in cyber-
physical systems: a survey. Comput Electr Eng. 2018;66:407–19.
73. Uddin M, Azizah AR, Jamshed M. Carbon sustainability frame-
work to reduce CO2 emissions in data centres. Int J Green Econ.
2011;5(4):353–69.
74. Bolla R, et al. Energy efficiency in the future internet: a survey
of existing approaches and trends in energy-aware fixed network
infrastructures. IEEE Commun Surv Tutor. 2010;13(2):223–44.
75. Xu S, et al. Routing optimization for cloud services in SDN-
based Internet of Things with TCAM capacity constraint. J Com-
mun Netw. 2020;22(2):145–58.
76. Wen X et al. RuleTris: Minimizing rule update latency for
TCAM-based SDN switches. 2016 IEEE 36th international con-
ference on distributed computing systems (ICDCS). IEEE, Nara,
Japan, 2016.
77. Banerjee S, Kalapriya K. Tag-in-tag: efficient flow table manage-
ment in sdn switches. 10th international conference on network
and service management (CNSM) and workshop. IEEE, Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil, 2014.
78. Huang H, et al. Green datapath for TCAM-based software-
defined networks. IEEE Commun Mag. 2016;54(11):194–201.
79. Kitindi EJ, et al. Wireless network virtualization with SDN and
C-RAN for 5G networks: requirements, opportunities, and chal-
lenges. IEEE Access. 2017;5:19099–115.
80. Bizanis N, Kuipers FA. SDN and virtualization solutions for the
Internet of Things: a survey. IEEE Access. 2016;4:5591–606.
81. Kaur K et al. An energy-driven network function virtualization
for multi-domain software defined networks. IEEE INFOCOM
2019-IEEE conference on computer communications workshops
(INFOCOM WKSHPS). IEEE, Paris, France, 2019.
82. Choi Y, Muhammad RKA, Deokjai C. Latency minimization
for energy internet communications with SDN virtualization
infrastructure. 2019 IEEE international conference on commu-
nications, control, and computing technologies for smart grids
(SmartGridComm). IEEE, Beijing, China, 2019.
83. Son J, et al. SLA-aware and energy-efficient dynamic overbook-
ing in SDN-based cloud data centers. IEEE Trans Sustain Com-
put. 2017;2(2):76–89.
84. Soldani D, Manzalini A. Horizon 2020 and beyond: on the 5G
operating system for a true digital society. IEEE Veh Technol
Mag. 2015;10(1):32–42.
85. Alam I, et al. A survey of network virtualization techniques
for internet of things using SDN and NFV. ACM Comput Surv
(CSUR). 2020;53(2):1–40.
86. Naudts B et al. Techno-economic analysis of software defined
networking as architecture for the virtualization of a mobile net-
work. 2012 European workshop on software defined networking.
IEEE, Darmstadt, Germany Germany, 2012.
87. Wei Y, et al. Energy-aware traffic engineering in hybrid SDN/IP
backbone networks. J Commun Netw. 2016;18(4):559–66.
88. Abbasi MR, Ajay G, Mandalika SD. Traffic engineering in soft-
ware defined networks: a survey. J Telecommun Inf Technol.
2016
89. Agarwal S, Murali K, Lakshman TV. Traffic engineering in
software defined networks. 2013 Proceedings IEEE INFOCOM.
IEEE, Turin, Italy, 2013.
90. Guo Y et al. Traffic engineering in SDN/OSPF hybrid net-
work. 2014 IEEE 22nd international conference on network
protocols. IEEE, Raleigh, NC, USA, 2014.
SN Computer Science (2021) 2:308
91. Minlan Yu, et al. Scalable flow-based networking with DIFANE.
ACM SIGCOMM Comput Commun Rev. 2010;40(4):351–62.
92. Hu Y et al. Balanceflow: controller load balancing for openflow
networks. 2012 IEEE 2nd international conference on cloud com-
puting and intelligence systems. Vol. 2. IEEE, 2012
93. Andrews M, et al. Routing and scheduling for energy and
delay minimization in the powerdown model. Networks.
2013;61(3):226–37.
94. Nedevschi S, et al. Reducing network energy consumption via
sleeping and rate-adaptation. NsDI. 2008;8:1.
95. Wang L et al. Energy-efficient network routing with discrete cost
functions. International conference on theory and applications of
models of computation. Springer, Berlin, Beijing, China, 2012.
96. Christensen K, Nordman B, Brown R. Power management in
networked devices. Computer. 2004;37(8):91–3.
97. Rout S, Sudhansu SP, Bibhudatta S. Saving energy and improv-
ing performance in SDN using rate adaptation technique. Int J
Eng Technol. 2018;7:77.
98. Heller B, et al. Elastictree: saving energy in data center networks.
Nsdi. 2010;10:1.
99. Shang Y, Dan L, Mingwei X. Energy-aware routing in data center
network. Proceedings of the first ACM SIGCOMM workshop on
Green networking. New Delhi, India, 2010.
100. Kannan K, Subhasis B. Compact TCAM: Flow entry compaction
in TCAM for power aware SDN. International conference on dis-
tributed computing and networking. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg,
Mumbai, India, 2013.
View publication stats
Page 15 of 15 308
101. Mogul JC et al. Devoflow: cost-effective flow management for
high performance enterprise networks. Proceedings of the 9th
ACM SIGCOMM workshop on hot topics in networks. Monte-
rey, California, 2010.
102. Congdon PT, et al. Simultaneously reducing latency and power
consumption in openflow switches. IEEE/ACM Trans Netw.
2013;22(3):1007–20.
103. Bolla R, et al. The green abstraction layer: a standard power-
management interface for next-generation network devices. IEEE
Internet Comput. 2013;17(2):82–6.
104. Oda, S et al. Flow-based routing schemes for minimizing network
energy consumption using OpenFlow. The fourth international
conference on smart grids, green communications and IT energy-
aware technologies. Chamonix, France, 2014.
105. Sahoo KS, et al. DSSDN: demand-supply based load balancing
in software-defined wide-area networks. Int J Network Manag.
2018;28(4):e2022.
106. Sahoo KS, et al. Software defined network: the next generation
internet technology. Modern Education and Computer Science
Press, 2017.
Publisher’s Note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to
jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
SN Computer Science