SDN Southbound Protocols: A Comparative Study

Software-Defined Network (SDN) is an emerging technology in computer networks. SDN simplifies the design, control, and management of next-generation networks (e.g., 5G, Cloud computing, and Big data) by separating the existing network into a centralized control plane (CP) and a remotely programmable data plane (DP). The SDN southbound interface (SBI) connects the CP and the DP. Since the emergence of the SDN, many SBI protocols have been suggested; nowadays, OpenFlow is the most widely used. This paper provides readers with a deep comparative study on SDN southbound protocols, namely OpenFlow, ForCES, and P4.

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

Access this chapter

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic €32.70 /Month

Buy Now

Price includes VAT (France)

eBook EUR 117.69 Price includes VAT (France)

Softcover Book EUR 158.24 Price includes VAT (France)

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Similar content being viewed by others

Survey on Software-Defined Networking

Chapter © 2015

Performance issues and solutions in SDN-based data center: a survey

Article 30 January 2020

A Survey on Various Architectural Models Using Software-Defined Networks

Chapter © 2022

References

  1. Zhang, Q., Cheng, L., Boutaba, R.: Cloud computing: state-of-the-art and research challenges. J. Internet Serv. Appl. 1(1), 7–18 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13174-010-0007-6ArticleGoogle Scholar
  2. El Makkaoui, K., Ezzati, A., Beni-Hssane, A., Ouhmad, S.: Fast Cloud-Paillier homomorphic schemes for protecting confidentiality of sensitive data in cloud computing. J. Ambient. Intell. Humaniz. Comput. 11(6), 2205–2214 (2020) ArticleGoogle Scholar
  3. Rossi, F.D., Rodrigues, G.D.C., Calheiros, R.N., Conterato, M.D.S.: Dynamic network bandwidth resizing for big data applications. In: 13th International Conference on e-Science (e-Science), pp. 423–431. IEEE (2017) Google Scholar
  4. Yu, W., Liang, F., He, X., et al.: A survey on the edge computing for the Internet of Things. IEEE Access 6, 6900–6919 (2017) ArticleGoogle Scholar
  5. Ahmad, S., Mir, A.H.: Scalability, consistency, reliability and security in SDN controllers: a survey of diverse SDN controllers. J. Netw. Syst. Manage. 29(1), 1–59 (2021) ArticleGoogle Scholar
  6. Maleh, Y., Qasmaoui, Y., El Gholami, K., Sadqi, Y., Mounir, S.: A comprehensive survey on SDN security: threats, mitigations, and future directions. J. Reliable Intell. Environ. 1–39 (2022) Google Scholar
  7. Latif, Z., Sharif, K., Li, F., et al.: A comprehensive survey of interface protocols for software defined networks. J. Netw. Comput. Appl. 156, 102563 (2020) ArticleGoogle Scholar
  8. Limoncelli, T.A.: Openflow: a radical new idea in networking. Commun. ACM 55(8), 42–47 (2012) ArticleGoogle Scholar
  9. Haleplidis, E.: Overview of RFC7426: SDN layers and architecture terminology. IEEE Softwareization (2017) Google Scholar
  10. Haleplidis, E., Salim, J.H., Halpern, J.M., et al.: Network programmability with ForCES. IEEE Commun. Surv. Tutor. 17(3), 1423–1440 (2015) ArticleGoogle Scholar
  11. OpenFlow Switch Consortium. OpenFlow switch specification version 1.0.0. (2009). http://www.openflowswitch.org/documents/openflow-spec-v1.0.0.pdf. Accessed 13 Mar 2022
  12. Vörös, P., Kiss, A.: Security middleware programming using P4. In: Tryfonas, T. (ed.) HAS 2016. LNCS, vol. 9750, pp. 277–287. Springer, Cham (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39381-0_25ChapterGoogle Scholar
  13. POX controller. https://noxrepo.github.io/pox-doc/html. Accessed 13 Mar 2022
  14. RYU controller. https://ryu-sdn.org. Accessed 13 Mar 2022
  15. OpenDaylight controller. https://www.opendaylight.org. Accessed 13 Mar 2022
  16. Floodlight controller. https://floodlight.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/floodlightcontro ller/overview. Accessed 13 Mar 2022
  17. ONOS controller. https://opennetworking.org/onos. Accessed 13 Mar 2022
  18. Shin, M.K., Nam, K.H., Kim, H.J.: Software-defined networking (SDN): a reference architecture and open APIs. In: 2012 International Conference on ICT Convergence (ICTC), pp. 360–361. IEEE (2012) Google Scholar
  19. Schönwälder, J., Björklund, M., Shafer, P.: Network configuration management using NETCONF and YANG. IEEE Commun. Mag. 48(9), 166–173 (2010) ArticleGoogle Scholar
  20. Dallaglio, M., Sambo, N., Cugini, F., Castoldi, P.: Management of sliceable transponder with NETCONF and YANG. In: 2016 International Conference on Optical Network Design and Modeling (ONDM), pp. 1–6. IEEE (2016) Google Scholar
  21. Valenčić, D., Mateljan, V.: Implementation of netconf protocol. In: 2019 42nd International Convention on Information and Communication Technology, Electronics and Microelectronics (MIPRO), pp. 421–430. IEEE (2019) Google Scholar
  22. Čejka, T., Krejčí, R.: Configuration of open vSwitch using OF-CONFIG. In: NOMS 2016–2016 IEEE/IFIP Network Operations and Management Symposium, pp. 883–888. IEEE (2016) Google Scholar
  23. Narisetty, R., Dane, L., Malishevskiy, A., et al.: OpenFlow configuration protocol: implementation for the of management plane. In: 2013 Second GENI Research and Educational Experiment Workshop, pp. 66–67. IEEE (2013) Google Scholar
  24. Mahrach, S., El Mir, I., Haqiq, A., Huang, D.: SDN-based SYN flooding defense in cloud. J. Inf. Assur. Secur. 13(1), 30–39 (2018) Google Scholar
  25. Haleplidis, E., Joachimpillai, D., Salim, J. H., et al.: ForCES applicability to SDN-enhanced NFV. In: 2014 Third European workshop on software defined networks, pp. 43–48. IEEE (2014) Google Scholar
  26. Tarnaras, G., Haleplidis, E., Denazis, S.: SDN and ForCES based optimal network topology discovery. In: Proceedings of the 2015 1st IEEE Conference on Network Softwarization (NetSoft), pp. 1–6. IEEE (2015) Google Scholar
  27. Huang, D., Chowdhary, A., Pisharody, S.: Software-Defined Networking and Security: From Theory to Practice. CRC Press, Boca Raton (2018) BookGoogle Scholar
  28. Bosshart, P., Daly, D., Gibb, G., et al.: P4: Programming protocol-independent packet processors. ACM SIGCOMM Comput. Commun. Rev. 44(3), 87–95 (2014) ArticleGoogle Scholar
  29. Mahrach, S., Haqiq, A.: DDoS flooding attack mitigation in software defined networks. Int. J. Adv. Comput. Sci. Appl. 11(1), 693–700 (2020) Google Scholar
  30. Hauser, F., Schmidt, M., Häberle, M., Menth, M.: P4-MACsec: dynamic topology monitoring and data layer protection with MACsec in P4-based SDN. IEEE Access 8, 58845–58858 (2020) ArticleGoogle Scholar

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. LMASI laboratory, FPD, Mohammed First University, Nador, Morocco Lamiae Boukraa & Redouane Esbai
  2. IR2M laboratory, FST, Hassan First University, Settat, Morocco Safaa Mahrach
  3. LaMAO laboratory, MSC team, FPD, Mohammed First University, Nador, Morocco Khalid El Makkaoui
  1. Lamiae Boukraa