Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Load-Balancing Multiple Controllers Mechanism for Software-Defined Networking

  • Published:
Wireless Personal Communications Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Software-Defined Networking (SDN) is a new form for networking that has the potential to have a major impact on Internet technology. Key aspects of SDN include the separation of data plane and the control plane. SDN architecture facilitates the management of complex networks and represents a new solution for future network applications Internet technology. As the size of networks increases, the scalability of the centralized controller becomes increasingly important. This work proposed a load-balancing mechanism for use in a multiple-controller SDN environment by implement a hierarchical control plane with both a meta-control plane and a local control plane. The meta-control plane analyzes the resources and utilization of the local control plane to optimize processing performance. This mechanism supports the load balancing of the local control plane to optimize data plane performance and eliminate the bottleneck of the centralized control in a network. This work analyzes the proposed load-balancing mechanism in a multiple-controller SDN environment. The results indicate that the meta controller based manager mechanism can monitors and effectively deal with the loading of the overloaded local controller. Based on the results thus obtained, the proposed local control plane scheduling balances the loadings of the multiple controllers and increases the network throughput by 12.7 and 9.2 % over those achieved using a centralized controller and multiple controllers without a scheduling mechanism.

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

Access this article

Log in via an institution

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

Instant access to the full article PDF.

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
Fig. 18
Fig. 19
Fig. 20
Fig. 21
Fig. 22
Fig. 23
Fig. 24
Fig. 25
Fig. 26
Fig. 27

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Chen, Y., Gong, X., Wang, W., & Que, X. (2012). VNMC for network virtualization in Openflow network. In Proceedings of the IEEE international conference on cloud computing and intelligent systems (pp. 797–801).

  2. Salvadori, E., Corin, R. D., Broglio, A., & Gerola, M. (2011). Generalizing virtual network topologies in OpenFlow-based networks. In Proceedings of the global telecommunications conference (pp. 1–6).

  3. Corin, R. D., Gerola, M., Riggio, R., Pellegrini, F. D., & Salvadori, E. (2012). VeRTIGO: Network virtualization and beyond. In Proceedings of European workshop on software defined networking, (pp. 24–29).

  4. Shah, S. A., Faiz, J., Farooq, M., Shafi, A., & Mehdi, S. A. (2013). An architectural evaluation of SDN controllers. In Proceedings of the IEEE international conference on communications, (pp. 3504–3508).

  5. Gorbunov, S., Ganjali, Y., Casado, M., & Sherwood, R. (2012). On controller performance in software-defined networks. In Proceedings of the USENIX conference on hot topics in management of internet, (pp. 10–15).

  6. Othman, M. M. O., & Okamura, K. (2013). Enhancing control model to ease off centralized control of flow-based SDNs. In Proceedings of the IEEE annual computer software and applications conference, (pp. 467–470).

  7. Phemius, K., & Bouet, M. (2013). OpenFlow: Why latency does matter. In Proceedings of the IFIP/IEEE international symposium on integrated network management (IM), (pp. 680–683).

  8. Azodolmolky, S., Wieder, P., & Yahyapour, R. (2013). Performance evaluation of a scalable software-defined networking deployment. In Proceedings of second European workshop on software defined networks (pp. 68–74).

  9. Guan, X., Choi, B. Y., & Song, S. (2013). Reliability and scalability issues in software defined network frameworks. In Proceedings of second GENI research and educational experiment workshop, (pp. 102–103).

  10. Min, S., Kim, S., Lee, J., Kim, B., Hong, W., & Kong, J. (2012). Implementation of an OpenFlow network virtualization for multi-controller environment. In Proceedings of international conference on advanced communication technology, (pp. 589–592).

  11. Lin, P., Bi, J., & Hu, H. (2012). ASIC: An architecture for scalable intra-domain control in OpenFlow. In Proceedings of the international conference on future internet technologies, (pp. 21–26).

  12. Huang, W. Y., Hu, J. W., Lin, S. C., & Liu, T. L. (2012). Design and implementation of an automatic network topology discovery system for the future internet across different domains. In Proceedings of 26th international conference on advanced information networking and applications workshops, (pp. 903–908).

  13. Shojafar, M., Cordeschi, N., & Baccarelli, E. (2016). Energy-efficient adaptive resource management for real-time vehicular cloud services. PrePrints: IEEE Transactions on Cloud Computing.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Zhou, Y., Ruan, L., Xiao, L., & Liu, R. (2014). A method for load balancing based on software defined network. Advanced Science and Technology Letters, 45, 43–48.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Bradai, A., Benslimane, A., & Singh, K. (2015). Dynamic anchor points selection for mobility management in software defined networks. Journal of Network & Computer Applications, 57, 1–11.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. He, J., Huang, Y., & Chang, D. (2015). Simulation-based heuristic method for container supply chain network optimization. Advanced Engineering Informatics, 29(3), 339–354.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Wang, W., Hu, Y., Que, X., & Gong, X. (2012). Autonomicity design in OpenFlow based software defined networking. In Proceedings of the IEEE Globecom workshops, (pp. 818–823).

  18. Fernandez, M. P. (2013). Comparing OpenFlow controller paradigms scalability: Reactive and proactive. In Proceedings of the IEEE international conference on advanced information networking and applications (pp. 1009–1016).

  19. Oh, H., Lee, J., & Kim, C. (2011). A flow-based hybrid mechanism to improve performance in NOX and wireless OpenFlow switch networks. In Proceedings of the IEEE vehicular technology conference (pp. 1–4).

  20. Yeganeh, S. H., & Ganjali, Y. (2012). Kandoo: A framework for efficient and scalable offloading of control applications. In Proceedings of the first workshop on hot topics in software defined networks (pp. 19–24).

  21. Koponen, T., Casado, M., Gude, N., Stribling, J., Poutievski, L., Zhu, M., Ramanathan, R., Iwata, Y., Inoue, H., Hama, T., & Shenker, S. (2010). Onix: A distributed control platform for large-scale production networks. In Proceedings of the USENIX conference on operating systems design and implementation (pp. 1–6).

  22. Yao, G., Bi, J., & Guo, L. (2013). On the cascading failures of multi-controllers in software defined networks. In Proceedings of the IEEE international conference on network protocols (pp. 1–2).

Download references

Acknowledgments

Authors thank for financial supports of the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan under contract MOST 103-2221-E-011-069-MY2 and the Institute of Information Industry, Taiwan under project—SDN Test Cases Development and Implementation.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. China Institute of FTZ Supply Chain, Shanghai Maritime University, Shanghai, China

    Yi-Wei Ma

  2. Department of Electrical Engineering, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei, Taiwan

    Jiann-Liang Chen & Kui-He Cheng

  3. Department of Information Management, Hsuan Chuang University, Hsinchu, Taiwan

    Yao-Hong Tsai

  4. Smart Network System Institute, Institute of Information Industry, Taipei, Taiwan

    Wen-Chien Hung

Authors
  1. Yi-Wei Ma
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jiann-Liang Chen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Yao-Hong Tsai
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Kui-He Cheng
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Wen-Chien Hung
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yi-Wei Ma.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Ma, YW., Chen, JL., Tsai, YH. et al. Load-Balancing Multiple Controllers Mechanism for Software-Defined Networking. Wireless Pers Commun 94, 3549–3574 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11277-016-3790-y

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11277-016-3790-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation