Exploring SDN And Its Use Case In Openstack

Abstract

Software Defined Networking (SDN) is a new emerging approach towards networking which makes managing a network easy and efficient. It has advantages like rapid innovation, network-wide view, more flexibility and easy debug. SDN is an emerging networking concept which decouples control plane and data plane. The control plane is called a controller. One such controller is OpenDayLight (ODL). OpenDayLight is a project aiming to make SDN a success. There are various projects under ODL like ODL controller, Dlux, SNMP4SDN, ovsdb-northbound, ovs-openstack. ODL controller acts as a control plane in the SDN architecture and controls the switches lying underneath. OpenDayLight controller can be used to control an emulated network as well as a real ethernet switches. ODL controller described is Helium SR1.1 version. It is benchmarked with a tool called WCBench. To get acquainted with the controller, a network emulator called Mininet is used. Various ways to create custom network in Mininet are also described. Virtual switches like OVS and CPqD are managed using ODL. The procedure to be followed to make the controller interact with real Ethernet switches is discussed. SDN and traditional networks are compared for performance in NS3 simulator. The result could not be validated. The reasons are discussed as well. Cloud computing is gaining momentum. Recent buzz word, OpenStack is in focus. A good understanding on cloud computing and its advantages, particularly to software developers are obtained. Three node architecture Icehouse installation on Ubuntu 14.04 Desktop Operating System is set up. OpenStack uses Open vSwitch switches in its connection. These switches could be managed by ODL too. This brings out the possibility of integrating ODL with OpenStack. The step by step procedure and advantages of integrating them both are highlighted.