Scalable Cache-Based Address Resolution Protocol Handling in Software-Defined Networks

Abstract

In contemporary Ethernet networks, the Address Resolution Protocol is used to resolve Layer 3 IP addresses to Layer 2 MAC addresses. However, the protocol has many shortcomings because of its simplicity. The ARP packets are often broadcasted, resulting in limited performance and scalability of the network. With the advent of software-defined networking, several approaches how to deal with the issues were developed. We propose a new approach that extends the existing ARP handling techniques in these networks. Using automated statistics gathering about the most frequently resolved IP addresses, flow entries are placed at switches, which then serve the role of an ARP resolution cache of a limited size. The proposed solution can automatically alleviate both the data plane and the control plane of most of the ARP traffic without requiring changes either to the protocol stack or the underlying network infrastructure.