Fully Integrated Software-Defined Networking (SDN) Testbed Using Open-Source Platforms

With the era of IoT, networking concepts, such as Software-Defined Networking (SDN), Network Function Virtualization (NFV), Cloud Computing, Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC), Network Slicing, etc., were introduced to cater to the demands for performance, portability, scalability and energy efficiency of networks. To overcome the several limitations inherent to traditional networks, such as static configuration, non-scalability and lower efficiency, Software-Defined Networking (SDN) separates the network in to the control plane and the data plane. Generally, the control layer provides the centralized control for all connected devices while the data plane allows programmable network configuration harnessed by SDN applications in the application layer. A controller in the control plane is the brain of the SDN environment used for managing the entire network. It delivers requisite instructions to the underline architecture in handling the packets. However, when managing a large-scale network, a single controller is inadequate and it induces the necessity of using multiple controllers. Consequently, multiple controllers yet again shall transform the SDN environment into a distributed environment. Therefore, a suitable controller must be selected in implementing a distributed SDN environment to avoid any malfunction transpired by the network. In this research, a common platform at the level of Layer 2 was developed to judge the steadiness of the controllers: OpenDaylight (ODL) and Open Networking Operating System (ONOS) consist of different network sizes.