Skip to main content
Springer Nature Link
Log in

Evaluating heuristic techniques as a solution of controller placement problem in SDN

  • Original Research
  • Published:
Journal of Ambient Intelligence and Humanized Computing Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

SDN has dramatically changed the landscape of the current network paradigm by regulating the network through software in the control plane, called a controller. However, owing to scalability issues in WAN, multiple controllers are deployed for better management of the network. In this paper, we first design the mathematical model for the Controller Placement Problem (CPP) and Reliable CPP (RCPP). While solving CPP and RCPP, we are trying to minimize the total average latency and take the capacity of the controller, and load on the switch as constraints. Afterward, we simulated our proposed approach Varna Based Optimization (VBO), and compared it with other traditional population-based heuristic algorithms such as PSO, TLBO, Jaya, BOA, and WOA. It has been observed and found that VBO provides better results in comparison to others in most of the cases. In order to establish the validity of simulation results, we have deployed the results obtained from simulation over a real and operational emulation-based setup created via ONOS controller and mininet. The emulation results exhibit the same behaviour as simulation.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13
Fig. 14
Fig. 15
Fig. 16
Fig. 17

Similar content being viewed by others

Explore related subjects

Discover the latest articles, news and stories from top researchers in related subjects.

References

  • Aoki H, Shinomiya N (2016) Controller placement problem to enhance performance in multi-domain SDN networks. In: Proceedings of ICN

  • Arora S, Singh S (2019) Butterfly optimization algorithm: a novel approach for global optimization. Soft Comput 23(3):715–734

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arya V, Garg N, Khandekar R, Meyerson A, Munagala K, Pandit V (2004) Local search heuristics for k-median and facility location problems. SIAM J Comput 33(3):544–562

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Ateya AA, Muthanna A, Vybornova A, Algarni AD, Abuarqoub A, Koucheryavy Y, Koucheryavy A (2019) Chaotic salp swarm algorithm for SDN multi-controller networks. Eng Sci Technol Int J 22(4):1001–1012

    Google Scholar 

  • Bari MF, Roy AR, Chowdhury SR, Zhang Q, Zhani MF, Ahmed R, Boutaba R (2013) Dynamic controller provisioning in software defined networks. In: CNSM, p 18–25

  • Bhushan K, Gupta BB (2019) Distributed denial of service (DDOS) attack mitigation in software defined network (SDN)-based cloud computing environment. J Ambient Intell Human Comput 10(5):1985–1997

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Oliveira RLS, Schweitzer CM, Shinoda AA, Prete LR (2014) Using mininet for emulation and prototyping software-defined networks. In: 2014 IEEE Colombian conference on communications and computing (COLCOM), p 1–6. IEEE

  • Eberhart R, Kennedy J (1995) A new optimizer using particle swarm theory. In: Micro machine and human science, 1995. MHS’95., proceedings of the sixth international symposium on, p 39–43. IEEE

  • Gao C, Wang H, Zhu E, Zhai L, Yi S (2015) A particle swarm optimization algorithm for controller placement problem in software defined network. In: International conference on algorithms and architectures for parallel processing, p 44–54. Springer

  • Gude N, Koponen T, Pettit J, Pfaff B, Casado M, McKeown N, Shenker S (2008) NOX: towards an operating system for networks. ACM SIGCOMM Comput Commun Rev 38(3):105–110

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harikrishna P, Amuthan A (2020) SDN-based DDOS attack mitigation scheme using convolution recursively enhanced self organizing maps. Sādhanā 45:1–12

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heller B, Sherwood R, McKeown N (2012) The controller placement problem. In: Proceedings of the first workshop on Hot topics in software defined networks, p 7–12. ACM

  • Hu Y-N, Wang W-D, Gong X-Y, Que X-R, Cheng S-D (2012) On the placement of controllers in software-defined networks. J China Univ Posts Telecommun 19:92–171

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hu Y, Wang W, Gong X, Que X, Cheng S (2014) On reliability-optimized controller placement for software-defined networks. China Commun 11(2):38–54

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jammal M, Singh T, Shami A, Asal R, Li Y (2014) Software defined networking: state of the art and research challenges. Comput Netw 72:74–98

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jararweh Y, Alsmirat M, Al-Ayyoub M, Benkhelifa E, Darabseh A, Gupta B, Doulat A (2017) Software-defined system support for enabling ubiquitous mobile edge computing. Comput J 60(10):1443–1457

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnston M, Modiano E (2015) Controller placement for maximum throughput under delayed CSI. In: 2015 13th international symposium on modeling and optimization in mobile, ad hoc, and wireless networks (WiOpt), p 521–528. IEEE

  • Khondoker R, Zaalouk A, Marx R, Bayarou K (2014) Feature-based comparison and selection of software defined networking (SDN) controllers. In: 2014 world congress on computer applications and information systems (WCCAIS), p 1–7. IEEE

  • Killi BPR, Rao SV (2018) Link failure aware capacitated controller placement in software defined networks. In: 2018 international conference on information networking (ICOIN), p 292–297. IEEE

  • Killi BPR, Rao SV (2016) Optimal model for failure foresight capacitated controller placement in software-defined networks. IEEE Commun Lett 20(6):1108–1111

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knight S, Nguyen HX, Falkner N, Bowden R, Roughan M (2011) The internet topology zoo. IEEE J Select Areas Commun 29(9):1765–1775

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liao J, Sun H, Wang J, Qi Q, Li K, Li T (2017) Density cluster based approach for controller placement problem in large-scale software defined networkings. Comput Netw 112:24–35

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lima R, EWO Seminar (2010) IBM ILOG CPLEX-what is inside of the box? In: Proceedings of 2010 EWO Seminar, p 1–72

  • Liu S, Wang H, Yi S, Zhu F (2015) NCPSO: a solution of the controller placement problem in software defined networks. In: International conference on algorithms and architectures for parallel processing, p 213–225. Springer

  • McKeown N, Anderson T, Balakrishnan H, Parulkar G, Peterson L, Rexford J, Shenker S, Turner J (2008) Openflow: enabling innovation in campus networks. ACM SIGCOMM Comput Communi Rev 38(2):69–74

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Medved J, Varga R, Tkacik A, Gray K (2014) Opendaylight: towards a model-driven SDN controller architecture. In: Proceeding of IEEE international symposium on a world of wireless, mobile and multimedia networks 2014, p 1–6. IEEE

  • Mirjalili S, Lewis A (2016) The whale optimization algorithm. Adv Eng Softw 95:51–67

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mishra A, Gupta N, Gupta BB (2021) Defense mechanisms against DDoS attack based on entropy in SDN-cloud using pox controller. Telecommun Syst 77:1–16

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Müller LF, Oliveira RR, Luizelli MC, Gaspary LP, Barcellos MP (2014) Survivor: an enhanced controller placement strategy for improving SDN survivability. In: 2014 IEEE global communications conference, p 1909–1915. IEEE

  • Nasiri AA, F Derakhshan (2018) Assignment of virtual networks to substrate network for software defined networks. Int J Cloud Appl Comput (IJCAC) 8(4):29–48

    MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  • Pillutla H, Arjunan A (2019) Fuzzy self organizing maps-based DDoS mitigation mechanism for software defined networking in cloud computing. J Ambient Intel Human Comput 10(4):1547–1559

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ramya G, Manoharan R (2020) Enhanced optimal placements of multi-controllers in SDN. J Ambient Intell Human Comput 12:1–18

    Google Scholar 

  • Rao RV (2016) Jaya: a simple and new optimization algorithm for solving constrained and unconstrained optimization problems. Int J Ind Eng Comput 7(1):19–34

    Google Scholar 

  • Rao RV, Savsani VJ, Vakharia DP (2011) Teaching-learning-based optimization: a novel method for constrained mechanical design optimization problems. Comput Aided Des 43(3):303–315

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ros FJ, Ruiz PM (2014) Five nines of southbound reliability in software-defined networks. In: Proceedings of the third workshop on hot topics in software defined networking, p 31–36. ACM

  • Ros FJ, Ruiz PM (2016) On reliable controller placements in software-defined networks. Comput Commun 77:41–51

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ruiz-Rivera A, Chin K-W, Soh S (2015) Greco: an energy aware controller association algorithm for software defined networks. IEEE Commun Lett 19(4):541–544

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sallahi A, St-Hilaire M (2014) Optimal model for the controller placement problem in software defined networks. IEEE Commun Lett 19(1):30–33

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sallahi A, St-Hilaire M (2016) Expansion model for the controller placement problem in software defined networks. IEEE Commun Lett 21(2):274–277

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schaller S, Hood D (2017) Software defined networking architecture standardization. Comput Stand Interfaces 54:197–202

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shirmarz Alireza, Ghaffari Ali (2021) Taxonomy of controller placement problem (CPP) optimization in software defined network (SDN): a survey. J Ambient Intell Human Comput 12:1–26

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Silva R, Santos D, Meneses F, Corujo D, Aguiar RL (2021) A hybrid SDN solution for mobile networks. Comput Netw 190:107958

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Singh AK, Srivastava S (2018) A survey and classification of controller placement problem in SDN. Int J Netw Manag 28(3):e2010

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Singh AK, Srivastava S et al (2018) Varna-based optimization: a new method for solving global optimization. Int J Intell Syst Appl 10(12):1

    Google Scholar 

  • Singh AK, Kumar N, Srivastava S (2019) PSO and TLBO based reliable placement of controllers in SDN. Int J Comput Netw Inf Secur (IJCNIS) 11(2):36–42

    Google Scholar 

  • Singh AK, Maurya S, Kumar N, Srivastava S (2020) Heuristic approaches for the reliable SDN controller placement problem. Trans Emerg Telecommun Technol 31(2):e3761

    Google Scholar 

  • Singh AK, Maurya S, Srivastava S (2020) Varna-based optimization: a novel method for capacitated controller placement problem in SDN. Front Comput Sci 14(3):143402

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Srivastava V, Pandey RS (2020) A reward based formal model for distributed software defined networks. Wirel Pers Commun 116:1–17

    Google Scholar 

  • Tirumala A, Cottrell L, Dunigan T (2003) Measuring end-to-end bandwidth with IPERF using web100. In: In Web100, Proceedings of passive and active measurement workshop. Citeseer

  • Ul Huque MTI, Jourjon G, Gramoli V (2015) Revisiting the controller placement problem. In: 2015 IEEE 40th conference on local computer networks (LCN)

  • Ul Huque MTI, Si W, Jourjon G, Gramoli V (2017) Large-scale dynamic controller placement. IEEE Trans Netw Serv Manag 14(1):63–76

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wallner R, Cannistra R (2013) An SDN approach: quality of service using big switch’s floodlight open-source controller. Proc Asia Pac Adv Netw 35:14–19

    Google Scholar 

  • Xiao P, Qu W, Qi H, Li Z, Xu Y (2014) The SDN controller placement problem for wan. In: Proceedings of the international conference on communications in China (ICCC’14)

  • Peng X, Zhiyang L, Heng G, Qi S, Qu W, Yu H-S (2016) A k self-adaptive SDN controller placement for wide area networks. Front Inf Technol Electron Eng 17:620–633

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yao G, Bi J, Li Y, Guo L (2014) On the capacitated controller placement problem in software defined networks. IEEE Commun Lett 18(8):1339–1342

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yeganeh SH, Tootoonchian A, Ganjali Y (2013) On scalability of software-defined networking. IEEE Commun Mag 51(2):136–141

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang T, Bianco A, De Domenico S, Giaccone P (2016) The role of inter-controller traffic for placement of distributed SDN controllers. arXiv preprint arXiv:1605.09268

  • Zhong Q, Wang Y, Li W, Qiu X (2016) A min-cover based controller placement approach to build reliable control network in SDN. In: NOMS 2016-2016 IEEE/IFIP network operations and management symposium, p 481–487. IEEE

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science and Engineering, United College of Engineering & Research, Prayagraj, UP, 211009, India

    Ashutosh Kumar Singh

  2. Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology Allahabad, Prayagraj, UP, 211004, India

    Shashank Srivastava & Shashwati Banerjea

Authors
  1. Ashutosh Kumar Singh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

  2. Shashank Srivastava
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

  3. Shashwati Banerjea
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ashutosh Kumar Singh.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Singh, A.K., Srivastava, S. & Banerjea, S. Evaluating heuristic techniques as a solution of controller placement problem in SDN. J Ambient Intell Human Comput 14, 11729–11746 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12652-022-03733-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12652-022-03733-z

Keywords