A low overhead flow-holding algorithm in software-defined networks

Xuya Jia; Qing Li; Yong Jiang; Zehua Guo; Jie Sun

doi:10.1016/j.comnet.2017.06.009

A low overhead flow-holding algorithm in software-defined networks

Xuya Jia, Qing Li^*, Yong Jiang, Zehua Guo, Jie Sun

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

18 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Software-Defined Networking (SDN) allows flexible and efficient management of networks. However, the limited capacity of flow tables in SDN switches hinders the deployment of SDN. In this paper, we propose a novel routing scheme to improve the efficiency of flow tables in SDNs. To efficiently use the routing scheme, we formulate an optimization problem with the objective to maximize the number of flows in the network, constrained by the limited flow table space in SDN switches. The problem is NP-hard, and we propose the K Similar Greedy Tree (KSGT) algorithm to solve it. We evaluate the performance of KSGT against “traditional” SDN solutions with real-world topologies and traffic. The results show that, compared to the existing solutions, KSGT can reduce about 60% of flow entries when processing the same amount of flows, and improve about 25% of the successful installation and forwarding flows under the same flow table space.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	170-180
Number of pages	11
Journal	Computer Networks
Volume	124
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.comnet.2017.06.009
Publication status	Published - 4 Sept 2017
Externally published	Yes

Keywords

Flow table reuse
MPLS
Overhead
Software-defined networking

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10.1016/j.comnet.2017.06.009

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title = "A low overhead flow-holding algorithm in software-defined networks",

abstract = "Software-Defined Networking (SDN) allows flexible and efficient management of networks. However, the limited capacity of flow tables in SDN switches hinders the deployment of SDN. In this paper, we propose a novel routing scheme to improve the efficiency of flow tables in SDNs. To efficiently use the routing scheme, we formulate an optimization problem with the objective to maximize the number of flows in the network, constrained by the limited flow table space in SDN switches. The problem is NP-hard, and we propose the K Similar Greedy Tree (KSGT) algorithm to solve it. We evaluate the performance of KSGT against “traditional” SDN solutions with real-world topologies and traffic. The results show that, compared to the existing solutions, KSGT can reduce about 60% of flow entries when processing the same amount of flows, and improve about 25% of the successful installation and forwarding flows under the same flow table space.",

keywords = "Flow table reuse, MPLS, Overhead, Software-defined networking",

author = "Xuya Jia and Qing Li and Yong Jiang and Zehua Guo and Jie Sun",

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year = "2017",

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doi = "10.1016/j.comnet.2017.06.009",

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T1 - A low overhead flow-holding algorithm in software-defined networks

AU - Jia, Xuya

AU - Li, Qing

AU - Jiang, Yong

AU - Guo, Zehua

AU - Sun, Jie

PY - 2017/9/4

Y1 - 2017/9/4

N2 - Software-Defined Networking (SDN) allows flexible and efficient management of networks. However, the limited capacity of flow tables in SDN switches hinders the deployment of SDN. In this paper, we propose a novel routing scheme to improve the efficiency of flow tables in SDNs. To efficiently use the routing scheme, we formulate an optimization problem with the objective to maximize the number of flows in the network, constrained by the limited flow table space in SDN switches. The problem is NP-hard, and we propose the K Similar Greedy Tree (KSGT) algorithm to solve it. We evaluate the performance of KSGT against “traditional” SDN solutions with real-world topologies and traffic. The results show that, compared to the existing solutions, KSGT can reduce about 60% of flow entries when processing the same amount of flows, and improve about 25% of the successful installation and forwarding flows under the same flow table space.

AB - Software-Defined Networking (SDN) allows flexible and efficient management of networks. However, the limited capacity of flow tables in SDN switches hinders the deployment of SDN. In this paper, we propose a novel routing scheme to improve the efficiency of flow tables in SDNs. To efficiently use the routing scheme, we formulate an optimization problem with the objective to maximize the number of flows in the network, constrained by the limited flow table space in SDN switches. The problem is NP-hard, and we propose the K Similar Greedy Tree (KSGT) algorithm to solve it. We evaluate the performance of KSGT against “traditional” SDN solutions with real-world topologies and traffic. The results show that, compared to the existing solutions, KSGT can reduce about 60% of flow entries when processing the same amount of flows, and improve about 25% of the successful installation and forwarding flows under the same flow table space.

KW - Flow table reuse

KW - MPLS

KW - Overhead

KW - Software-defined networking

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DO - 10.1016/j.comnet.2017.06.009

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VL - 124

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EP - 180

JO - Computer Networks

JF - Computer Networks

ER -

A low overhead flow-holding algorithm in software-defined networks

Abstract

Keywords

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