SDN docker: Enabling application auto-docking/undocking in edge switch

Abstract

Software-Defined Networking (SDN) enables users to programmatically manage individual data flows in the network. Beyond managing data flows, an SDN enabled switch that automatically manages different applications in the form of an ecosystem has more practical benefits. Recently there is an increasing interest on migrating applications from `Cloud' to the edge switches, such as `Fog' computing for IoTs. To cater to such interests, we envisage an architecture that empowers SDN (beyond Layer-2 flow management) to automatically manage applications embedded within the switch. In this paper, for the first time, we propose an SDN-based auto-docker framework integrated within the switches. The proposed framework augments SDN architecture to enable auto-docking/undocking of applications at the edge switches. By `auto', we mean the required application is automatically identified (agnostic to the users) from the incoming packet, installed seamlessly, and subsequently uninstalled from the switch when it is no longer needed. In this manner, the docker framework automatically and effectively manages the storage, computing, and networking resources of the switch. We develop a working prototype of the framework using off-the-shelf network switches, and evaluate the performance of the proposed docker framework.