Applying ADM and OpenFlow to Build High Availability Networks

Abstract

This paper presents an application of using OpenFlow (OF) to build high availability networks. The approach comes from Add-Drop-Multiplexer (ADM) on the legacy SONET network. The use of ADM avoids the complexity of the MAC learning process and prevents broadcast storm in the loop topology. The proposed solution is demonstrated on Mininet with the POX controller and vSwitch. The observed failover time is within the GR-253 requirement of 50ms. We also compared the proposed approach to the fast failover group in the OF specification and showed its limitation in practical use.