Yuefeng Wang

SDN Management Layer: Design Requirements and Future Direction

Computer networks are becoming increasingly complex and difficult to manage. The research community has been expending a lot of efforts to come up with a general management paradigm that is able to hide the details of the physical infrastructure and enable flexible network management. Software Defined Networking (SDN) is such a paradigm that simplifies network management and enables network innovations. In this survey paper, by reviewing existing SDN management layers (platforms), we identify the general common management architecture for SDN networks, and further identify the design requirements of the management layer that is at the core of the architecture. We also point out open issues and weaknesses of existing SDN management layers. We conclude with a promising future direction for improving the SDN management layer.

Demonstrating RINA Using the GENI Testbed

The inability of the current Internet architecture to accommodate modern requirements has spurred novel designs for future Internet architectures. The Global Environment for Network Innovations (GENI) is a wide-area virtual network testbed which allows experimentation of such architectures for possible deployment. We have contributed to the efforts of redesigning the Internet with a Recursive InterNetwork Architecture (RINA), and in this paper we demonstrate its practicability by running a prototype on the GENI testbed. We focus on testing two fundamental features of our architecture: security and manageability, discussing in detail how the experimentation was carried, and pointing out some lessons learned using the testbed.

Programming Routing Policies for Video Traffic

Making the network programmable simplifies network management and enables network innovations. The Recursive Inter Network Architecture (RINA) is our solution to enable network programmability. ProtoRINA is a user-space prototype of RINA and provides users with a framework with common mechanisms so a user can program recursive-networking policies without implementing mechanisms from scratch. In this paper, we focus on how routing policies, which is an important aspect of network management, can be programmed using ProtoRINA, and demonstrate how ProtoRINA can be used to achieve better performance for a video streaming application by instantiating different routing policies over the GENI (Global Environment for Network Innovations) test bed, which provides a large-scale experimental facility for networking research.

Managing NFV using SDN and control theory

Control theory and SDN (Software Defined Networking) are key components for NFV (Network Function Virtualization) deployment. However little has been done to use a control-theoretic approach for SDN and NFV management. In this paper, we describe a use case for NFV management using control theory and SDN. We use the management architecture of RINA (a clean-slate Recursive InterNetwork Architecture) to manage Virtual Network Function (VNF) instances over the GENI testbed. We deploy Snort, an Intrusion Detection System (IDS) as the VNF. Our network topology has source and destination hosts, multiple IDSes, an Open vSwitch (OVS) and an OpenFlow controller. A distributed management application running on RINA measures the state of the VNF instances and communicates this information to a Proportional Integral (PI) controller, which then provides load balancing information to the OpenFlow controller. The latter controller in turn updates traffic flow forwarding rules on the OVS switch, thus balancing load across the VNF instances. This paper demonstrates the benefits of using such a control-theoretic load balancing approach and the RINA management architecture in virtualized environments for NFV management. It also illustrates that GENI can easily support a wide range of SDN and NFV related experiments.

Experimenting with Routing Policies Using ProtoRINA over GENI

ProtoRINA is a user-space prototype of the Recursive InterNetwork Architecture (RINA), a new architecture that overcomes inherent weaknesses of the current Internet, e:g:, security, mobility, and manageability. By separating mechanisms and policies, RINA supports the programmability of different control and management policies over different communication scopes while using the same mechanisms. GENI (Global Environment for Network Innovations) provides a large-scale virtual network testbed that supports experimentation and possible deployment of future network architectures. In this paper, using ProtoRINA over GENI resources, we demonstrate how RINAs support for the scoping of routing control and management, and instantiation of different routing policies, can be leveraged to yield faster convergence and lower routing overhead in the face of node or link failures.

Multi-layer Virtual Transport Network Design

Service overlay networks and network virtualization enable multiple overlay/virtual networks to run over a common physical network infrastructure. They are widely used to overcome deficiencies of the Internet (e.g., resiliency, security and QoS guarantees). However, most overlay/virtual networks are used for routing/tunneling purposes, and not for providing scoped transport flows (involving all mechanisms such as error and flow control, resource allocation, etc.), which can allow better network resource allocation and utilization. Most importantly, the design of overlay/virtual networks is mostly single-layered, and lacks dynamic scope management, which is important for application and network management. In response to these limitations, we propose a multi-layer approach to virtual transport network (VTN) design. This design is a key part of VTN-based network management, where network management is done via managing various VTNs over different scopes (i.e., ranges of operation). We explain the details of the multi-layer VTN design problem as well as our design algorithms, and focus on leveraging the VTN structure to partition the network into smaller scopes for better network performance. Our simulation and experimental results show that our multi-layer approach to VTN design can achieve better performance compared to the traditional single-layer design used for overlay/virtual networks.

Application-driven network management with ProtoRINA

Traditional network management is tied to the TCP/IP architecture, thus it inherits its many limitations. Additionally there is no unified framework for application management, and service providers have to rely on their own ad-hoc mechanisms to manage their application services. The Recursive InterNetwork Architecture (RINA) is our solution to achieve better network management. RINA provides a unified framework for application-driven network management along with built-in mechanisms. It allows the dynamic formation of secure communication containers for service providers in support of various requirements. In this paper, we focus on how application-driven network management can be achieved over the GENI testbed using ProtoRINA, a user-space prototype of RINA. We use video multicast as an example, and experimental results show that application-driven network management enabled by ProtoRINA can achieve better network and application performance.

Multi-layer virtual transport network management

Abstract Nowadays there is an increasing need for a general paradigm which can simplify network management and further enable network innovations. Software Defined Networking (SDN) is an efficient way to make the network programmable and reduce management complexity, however existing SDN solutions do not realize the full potential of SDN because of their lack of scoping in network management. In response to limitations of current Software Defined Networking (SDN) management solutions, we propose a recursive approach to enterprise network management, where network management is done through managing various Virtual Transport Networks (VTNs) over different scopes (i.e., regions of operation). Our approach offers a generalized and structured framework to realize the full potential of SDN using recursive scoped management, and our VTN-based approach provides communication service with explicit Quality-of-Service (QoS) support for applications via transport flows. Each VTN involves all mechanisms (e.g., addressing, routing, error and flow control, resource allocation) needed to support such transport flows. Based on this approach, we design and implement a management architecture, which recurses the same VTN-based management mechanism for enterprise network management. Our experimental results show that our management architecture achieves better performance demonstrated through unicast and multicast video applications.