Unified model towards Scalability in Software Defined Networks

Software Defined Network is a paradigm that enables the network administrators to manage and control the network from a centralized location using software programs. The limitations and complexities of the traditional network are handled by separating the control plane from the data plane in this setup. The main idea is to have centralized control over network devices. Scalability is one of the main concerns in such a paradigm. Various independent solutions to improve scalability are available in the literature. In this paper, two approaches for the solutions of scalability are studied and implemented: Topology based solutions and Routing based solutions. Different evaluation parameters are selected for evaluating a framework combined with a specific routing protocol. Frameworks from different categories are implemented along with different routing protocols. Putting the routing protocols one by one in a single framework, nine such models are implemented for evaluation. Results are provided for consideration before network setup for the network administrators. Furthermore, the discussions based on the results are presented regarding the combination of a particular framework with routing solution to get better results in specific conditions.