Construction of a user-friendly software-defined networking management using a graph-based abstraction layer.

Abstract

The software-defined networking (SDN) paradigm relies on the decoupling of the control plane and data plane. Northbound interfaces enable the implementation of network services through logical centralised control. Suitable northbound interfaces and application-oriented abstractions are the core of the SDN ecosystem. This article presents an architecture to represent the network as a graph. The purpose of this architecture is to implement an abstraction of the SDN controller at the application plane. We abstract all network elements using a graph model, with the attributes of the elements as the attributes of the graph. This virtualized logical abstraction layer, which is not limited by the physical network, enables network administrators to schedule network resources directly in a global view. The feasibility of the presented graph abstraction was verified through experiments in topological display, dynamic route, access control, and data persistence. The performance of the shortest path in the graph-based abstraction layer and graph database proves the necessity of the graph abstraction layer. Empirical evidence demonstrates that the graph-based abstraction layer can facilitate network slicing, maintain a dependable depiction of the real network, streamline network administration and network application development, and provide a sophisticated abstraction that is easily understandable to network administrators.