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

论软件定义网络中控制流保护的可行性和有效性

  • Research Paper
  • Special Focus on Future Internet Architecture and Protocol
  • Published:
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Abstract

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.

摘要

创新点

  1. 1、

    提出了多控制器软件定义网络中, 同时使用本地重路由保护和受限的逆向路径转发保护的使用方法.

  2. 2、

    对可保护控制网络问题进行建模, 并证明了计算一个允许一定逆向路径转发跳数的可保护控制网络是 NP-难问题, 并分析了保证可保护性的充分条件.

  3. 3、

    提出了一种新的基于模拟退火的可保护控制网络计算算法. 该算法不但考虑了多控制器环境中控制流保护方案的应用, 而且在优化可保护性的同时最小化了对网络传播延时的影响.

  4. 4、

    进行了基于真实网络拓扑的详尽实验, 对所提出的控制流保护机制及算法加以验证.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Networking and Switching Technology, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing, 100876, China

    YanNan Hu, WenDong Wang, XiangYang Gong, XiRong Que & ShiDuan Cheng

Authors
  1. YanNan Hu
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  2. WenDong Wang
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  3. XiangYang Gong
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  4. XiRong Que
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  5. ShiDuan Cheng
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Correspondence to WenDong Wang.

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Hu, Y., Wang, W., Gong, X. et al. On the feasibility and efficacy of control traffic protection in software-defined networks. Sci. China Inf. Sci. 58, 1–19 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11432-015-5483-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11432-015-5483-7

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