Performance of software-defined networking controllers for different network topologies

With the increasing complexity of networks, Software Defined Networks (SDNs) have been developed to help administrators configure and operate network services with controllers such as Beacon, OpenDaylight and Floodlight. These controllers provide a suitable platform for high bandwidth applications. In this paper, several SDN controllers are evaluated using different network topologies. Some controllers cannot operate on topologies containing loops such as Pox and Beacon. OpenDaylight can be used on topologies with loops, but does not provide any benefit for multiple paths, i.e. when there is more than one path for a packet to reach its destination. Floodlight is the most efficient and adaptable controller with topologies containing loops and multiple paths. The controllers are evaluated on Mininet using ping and iperf, and the initial packet latency and throughput for the topologies are compared.