A NovaGenesis proxy/gateway/controller for OpenFlow software defined networks

Abstract

Software-defined networking (SDN) is a promising approach to deal with complexity in new generation networks. The idea is to “extract simplicity” from what we have learned in the last decades while “mastering complexity” at designing and deploying network infrastructures. The idea is to decouple control and data planes. In this sense, OpenFlow is a protocol for remote control of switches' forwarding tables, replacing the traditional distributed network control model by a centralized one. An open problem in OpenFlow, and more generally on SDN, is how to integrate network control with services orchestration, i.e. to enable service frameworks to negotiate with network representatives in order to create service-aware networks. In this paper, we employ the design principles of a new architecture called NovaGenesis to implement a proxy/gateway/controller for Open- Flow networks. This service represents, interoperates, and controls a Python OpenFlow controller (POX) in order to expose its resources directly to NovaGenesis services. The POX Agent (POXA), as it is called, innovates on exposing OpenFlow resources to NovaGenesis name-oriented service orchestration, enabling the direct establishment of service level agreements among POX and NovaGenesis services.