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Intra and inter-flow link aggregation in SDN

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Abstract

Link saturation is a problem in computer networks. We propose a link aggregation solution that is robust and solves this problem. The approach consists of creating a virtual link by combining multiple physical interfaces, summing up their bandwidth. Besides increasing the data transmission throughput, this type of solution enables a fast and clear repair in the case of link unavailability. Since Software-Defined Networking usage is increasing daily in business scenarios, this work demonstrates a way to create link aggregation in such situations. This led to the improvement of services availability, among many advantages. To achieve that, we defined and implemented a system with self-adaptive link aggregation. We study the intra-flow and inter-flow link aggregation. To evaluate the implementation, we created three algorithms under different conditions: Virtual Round-Robin, Traffic Analysis, and Hash Table. We evaluated the three algorithms in real-world and virtual scenarios. We used the Ryu controller and, for packet switching, the OVS (Open vSwitch) and BPFabric. Virtual Round-Robin achieved 95% of fairness and Hash Table provided higher throughput.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the research agencies CNPq, FAPEMIG, CAPES, and grants #15/24494-8 and #2018/23085-5 from FAPESP.

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  1. Departmento de Ciência da Computação, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil

    Ronaldo R. R. Junior, Marcos A. M. Vieira, Luiz F. M. Vieira & Antonio A. F. Loureiro

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  1. Ronaldo R. R. Junior
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Correspondence to Marcos A. M. Vieira.

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Junior, R.R.R., Vieira, M.A.M., Vieira, L.F.M. et al. Intra and inter-flow link aggregation in SDN. Telecommun Syst 79, 95–107 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11235-021-00841-7

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