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Software Defined Networking (SDN) : Data Plane: All The Activities Involving As Well As Resulting From Data Packets Sent

SDN stands for Software Defined Networking which enables control and management of networks using software applications. It separates the control plane from the data plane allowing centralized control of network behavior and devices through open APIs. SDN provides better network connectivity, application deployment, security and control through a centralized software-based controller.

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57 views7 pages

Software Defined Networking (SDN) : Data Plane: All The Activities Involving As Well As Resulting From Data Packets Sent

SDN stands for Software Defined Networking which enables control and management of networks using software applications. It separates the control plane from the data plane allowing centralized control of network behavior and devices through open APIs. SDN provides better network connectivity, application deployment, security and control through a centralized software-based controller.

Uploaded by

jaibecse2003
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Software defined Networking(SDN)

SDN stands for Software Defined Network which is a networking architecture


approach. It enables the control and management of the network using software
applications. Through Software Defined Network (SDN) networking behavior of
the entire network and its devices are programmed in a centrally controlled
manner through software applications using open APIs.
To understand software-defined networks, we need to understand the various
planes involved in networking.
1. Data Plane
2. Control Plane

Data plane: All the activities involving as well as resulting from data packets sent
by the end-user belong to this plane. This includes:
 Forwarding of packets.
 Segmentation and reassembly of data.
 Replication of packets for multicasting.

Control plane: All activities necessary to perform data plane activities but do not
involve end-user data packets belong to this plane. In other words, this is the brain
of the network. The activities of the control plane include:
 Making routing tables.
 Setting packet handling policies.
Why SDN is Important?
 Better Network Connectivity: SDN provides very better network connectivity
for sales, services, and internal communications. SDN also helps in faster data
sharing.
 Better Deployment of Applications: Deployment of new applications,
services, and many business models can be speed up using Software Defined
Networking.
 Better Security: Software-defined network provides better visibility
throughout the network. Operators can create separate zones for devices that
require different levels of security. SDN networks give more freedom to
operators.
 Better Control with High Speed: Software-defined networking provides
better speed than other networking types by applying an open standard
software-based controller.
In short, it can be said that- SDN acts as a “Bigger Umbrella or a HUB” where the
rest of other networking technologies come and sit under that umbrella and get
merged with another platform to bring out the best of the best outcome by
decreasing the traffic rate and by increasing the efficiency of data flow.
Where is SDN Used?
 Enterprises use SDN, the most widely used method for application deployment,
to deploy applications faster while lowering overall deployment and operating
costs. SDN allows IT administrators to manage and provision network services
from a single location.
 Cloud networking software-defined uses white-box systems. Cloud providers
often use generic hardware so that the Cloud data center can be changed and
the cost of CAPEX and OPEX saved.

Components of Software Defining Networking (SDN)


The three main components that make the SDN are:
1. SDN Applications: SDN Applications relay requests or networks through SDN
Controller using API.
2. SDN controller: SDN Controller collects network information from hardware
and sends this information to applications.
3. SDN networking devices: SDN Network devices help in forwarding and data
processing tasks.

SDN Architecture
In a traditional network, each switch has its own data plane as well as the control
plane.
The control plane of various switches exchange topology information and hence
construct a forwarding table that decides where an incoming data packet has to be
forwarded via the data plane.
Software-defined networking (SDN) is an approach via which we take the control
plane away from the switch and assign it to a centralized unit called the SDN
controller.
Hence, a network administrator can shape traffic via a centralized console without
having to touch the individual switches.

The data plane still resides in the switch and when a packet enters a switch, its
forwarding activity is decided based on the entries of flow tables, which are pre-
assigned by the controller.

A flow table consists of match fields (like input port number and packet header)
and instructions.
The packet is first matched against the match fields of the flow table entries. Then
the instructions of the corresponding flow entry are executed.
The instructions can be forwarding the packet via one or multiple ports, dropping
the packet, or adding headers to the packet.

If a packet doesn’t find a corresponding match in the flow table, the switch queries
the controller which sends a new flow entry to the switch.

The switch forwards or drops the packet based on this flow entry.

A typical SDN architecture consists of three layers.


 Application layer: It contains the typical network applications like intrusion
detection, firewall, and load balancing
 Control layer: It consists of the SDN controller which acts as the brain of the
network. It also allows hardware abstraction to the applications written on top
of it.
 Infrastructure layer: This consists of physical switches which form the data
plane and carries out the actual movement of data packets.
The layers communicate via a set of interfaces called the north-bound
APIs(between the application and control layer) and southbound APIs(between
the control and infrastructure layer).
Different Models of SDN
There are several models, which are used in SDN:
1. Open SDN
2. SDN via APIs
3. SDN via Hypervisor-based Overlay Network
4. Hybrid SDN
1. Open SDN: Open SDN is implemented using the OpenFlow switch. It is a
straightforward implementation of SDN. In Open SDN, the controller
communicates with the switches using south-bound API with the help of OpenFlow
protocol.

2. SDN via APIs: In SDN via API, the functions in remote devices like switches are invoked
using conventional methods like SNMP or CLI or through newer methods like Rest API.
Here, the devices are provided with control points enabling the controller to manipulate
the remote devices using APIs.

3. SDN via Hypervisor-based Overlay Network: In SDN via the hypervisor, the configuration
of physical devices is unchanged. Instead, Hypervisor based overlay networks are created
over the physical network. Only the devices at the edge of the physical network are
connected to the virtualized networks, thereby concealing the information of other devices
in the physical network.

4. Hybrid SDN: Hybrid Networking is a combination of Traditional Networking with


software-defined networking in one network to support different types of functions on a
network.

Difference between SDN and Traditional Networking


Advantages of SDN
 The network is programmable and hence can easily be modified via the
controller rather than individual switches.
 Switch hardware becomes cheaper since each switch only needs a data plane.
 Hardware is abstracted, hence applications can be written on top of the
controller independent of the switch vendor.
 Provides better security since the controller can monitor traffic and deploy
security policies. For example, if the controller detects suspicious activity in
network traffic, it can reroute or drop the packets.
Disadvantages of SDN
 The central dependency of the network means a single point of failure, i.e. if
the controller gets corrupted, the entire network will be affected.
 The use of SDN on large scale is not properly defined and explored.

Reference Link: https://www.bmc.com/blogs/software-defined-networking/

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