Link Failure Detection and Alternate Path Tracing in OpenFlow Based Ethernet Networks

Abstract

Software defined networking technology, centralizes and simplifies the control of network with centralized network provisioning and guaranteed content delivery. The conventional networks face link failure as its one of the major vulnerabilities that occurs within the networking topology. The paper proposes a technique to handle multiple link failure using Bidirectional Forwarding Detection(BFD). The one or more link failures occur due to slow convergence, pre-defined backup bandwidth, and loops resulting in degradation of the network performance. Widely, these failures cause paths that are not valid and reachable within wired networks. The length of every path containing an unsuccessful link is recorded and the total invalid routing time is computed. The out of reach paths record the overall range of paths that are unsuccessful during network partitioning. The multiple link failures are handled using multiple BFD sessions that are maintained by transmitting hello messages within the network. The corresponding neighbour nodes can have synchronized clock to detect failures at the same time.