On the feasibility and efficacy of control traffic protection in software-defined networks

Software Defined Networking (SDN) is an emerging networking paradigm that assumes a logically centralized control plane separated from the data plane. Despite all its advantages, separating the control and data planes introduces new challenges regarding resilient communications between the two. That...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science China. Information sciences 2015-12, Vol.58 (12), p.1-19
Main Authors: Hu, YanNan, Wang, WenDong, Gong, XiangYang, Que, XiRong, Cheng, ShiDuan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Algorithms
Computer Science
Controllers
Information Systems and Communication Service
Network latency
Networks
Performance degradation
Planes
Research Paper
Software
Software-defined networking
Switches
Switching theory
Topology
Traffic control
Traffic engineering
Traffic flow
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Summary:Software Defined Networking (SDN) is an emerging networking paradigm that assumes a logically centralized control plane separated from the data plane. Despite all its advantages, separating the control and data planes introduces new challenges regarding resilient communications between the two. That is, disconnections between switches and their controllers could result in substantial packet loss and performance degradation. This paper addresses this challenge by studying the issue of control traffic protection in SDNs with arbitrary numbers of controllers. Specifically, we propose a control traffic protection scheme that combines both local rerouting and constrained reverse path forwarding protections, through which switches can locally react to failures and redirect the control traffic using standby backup forwarding options. Our goal is then to find a set of primary routes for control traffic, called protected control network, where as many switches as possible can benefit from the proposed protection scheme. We formulate the protected control network problem, prove its NP-hardness, and develop an algorithm that reconciles protectability and performance (e.g., switch-to-control latency). Through extensive simulations based on real topologies, we show that our approach significantly improves protectability of control traffic. The results should help further the process of deploying SDN in real-world networks.
ISSN:1674-733X
1869-1919
DOI:10.1007/s11432-015-5483-7