A lightweight protocol for consistent policy update on software-defined networking with multiple controllers. (15th November 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Mattos, Diogo Menezes Ferrazani; Duarte, Otto Carlos Muniz Bandeira; Pujolle, Guy
• Is Part Of: Journal of network and computer applications. Volume 122(2018)
• Page Start: 77
• Page End: 87
• Publication Date: 2018-11-15
• Subjects: Software-defined network -- Distributed control -- Control model -- Consistency -- Policy enforcement; Microcomputers -- Periodicals; Computer networks -- Periodicals; Application software -- Periodicals; Micro-ordinateurs -- Périodiques; Réseaux d'ordinateurs -- Périodiques; Logiciels d'application -- Périodiques; Application software; Computer networks; Microcomputers; Periodicals; 004.05; 004
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jnca.2018.08.007
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1084-8045

Abstract

Abstract: Network-policy updates have to be committed in a consistent way on distributed-controller software-defined networking. Otherwise, the network may experience unexpected transitory configuration states, which compromise the performance, the security or, even, the correct operation. In this paper, we propose a scheme that provides consistent policy updates without rule conflicts and transitory states. The main contributions are: (i) a protocol that serializes policy update commitments to provide consistency; (ii) a consensus interface proposal that facilitates controller agreements about the network configuration version; and (iii) an algorithm for checking if a new policy is an update, a refinement, or if it conflicts with already installed policies. We prove that our protocol achieves a global order for all policy updates and that our algorithm correctly composes all policies. Simulation results using real network topologies show that the proposed distributed policy update scheme achieves a per-packet consistent configuration with a low control message overhead.