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OFLOPS: An Open Framework for OpenFlow Switch Evaluation

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Part of the Lecture Notes in Computer Science book series (LNCCN,volume 7192)

Abstract

Recent efforts in software-defined networks, such as OpenFlow, give unprecedented access into the forwarding plane of networking equipment. When building a network based on OpenFlow however, one must take into account the performance characteristics of particular OpenFlow switch implementations. In this paper, we present OFLOPS, an open and generic software framework that permits the development of tests for OpenFlow-enabled switches, that measure the capabilities and bottlenecks between the forwarding engine of the switch and the remote control application. OFLOPS combines hardware instrumentation with an extensible software framework.

We use OFLOPS to evaluate current OpenFlow switch implementations and make the following observations: (i) The switching performance of flows depends on applied actions and firmware. (ii) Current OpenFlow implementations differ substantially in flow updating rates as well as traffic monitoring capabilities. (iii) Accurate OpenFlow command completion can be observed only through the data plane. These observations are crucial for understanding the applicability of Open- Flow in the context of specific use-cases, which have requirements in terms of forwarding table consistency, flow setup latency, flow space granularity, packet modification types, and/or traffic monitoring abilities.

Keywords

  • Data Plane
  • Open Framework
  • Insertion Time
  • Space Granularity
  • Forward Information Base

These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

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© 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Rotsos, C., Sarrar, N., Uhlig, S., Sherwood, R., Moore, A.W. (2012). OFLOPS: An Open Framework for OpenFlow Switch Evaluation. In: Taft, N., Ricciato, F. (eds) Passive and Active Measurement. PAM 2012. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 7192. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-28537-0_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-28537-0_9

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-28536-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-28537-0

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)