Open Source Software-Defined Networking Controllers—Operational and Security Issues

Abstract

The Software-Defined Networking concept plays an important role in network management. The central controller, which is the main element of SDN, allows the provision of traffic engineering and security solutions in single- and multiple-layer networks based on optical transmission. In this work, we compare selected open-source implementations of SDN controllers. Throughput and latency measurements were analyzed using the CBench program. The simulation of a link failure and a controller failure were conducted using the API provided by the Mininet network simulator. To detect security vulnerabilities, a dedicated program, called sdnpwn, was used. This work provides an overview of the selected controllers, indicating their strengths and weaknesses. Moreover, some implemention suggestions and recommendations are presented.