Scribd
Upload
44 views15 pages

Flow Table

The Flow Table is a critical component in SDN switches, storing rules for packet forwarding known as flow entries, which consist of match fields and associated actions. It allows for dynamic management of packet flows based on network conditions and supports prioritization and wildcard matching for efficient processing. The SDN controller oversees flow table management, ensuring up-to-date entries and enforcing security policies while optimizing performance through techniques like caching and hardware acceleration.

Uploaded by

Ganesh Kumar
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
44 views15 pages

Flow Table

The Flow Table is a critical component in SDN switches, storing rules for packet forwarding known as flow entries, which consist of match fields and associated actions. It allows for dynamic management of packet flows based on network conditions and supports prioritization and wildcard matching for efficient processing. The SDN controller oversees flow table management, ensuring up-to-date entries and enforcing security policies while optimizing performance through techniques like caching and hardware acceleration.

Uploaded by

Ganesh Kumar
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 15

FLOW TABLE

 Flow Table" plays a crucial role in the data plane of network devices,
particularly in switches.
 The Flow Table is where rules for packet forwarding are stored and
processed.
Functionality:
 The Flow Table is a fundamental component of SDN switches. It's parallel
to a database where rules, known as flow entries, are stored.
 Each flow entry consists of match fields and corresponding actions
Match Fields:
 These fields define the characteristics of packets that the switch will
examine to determine whether they match a particular flow entry.
 Common match fields include source and destination addresses, ports,
VLAN tags, and packet header information (e.g., IP protocol, TCP/UDP
ports
Actions:
 Once a packet matches a flow entry, the switch executes specific actions associated with that
entry.
 Actions can include forwarding the packet out a particular port, dropping the packet,
modifying packet headers, or sending the packet to the controller for further processing.
Priority and Wildcard Entries:
 Flow entries in the table have priorities assigned to them. When a packet matches multiple
flow entries, the entry with the highest priority is selected.
 Additionally, wildcard entries can match multiple packets based on common criteria,
simplifying rule management.
Flow Table Lookup:
 When a packet arrives at the switch, it is compared against the flow entries in the table using
the match fields.
 This process is known as a flow table lookup. If a match is found, the corresponding actions
are executed.
 If no match is found (a table miss), the packet is often forwarded to the controller for further
handling
Flow Table Management:
 The SDN controller is responsible for managing the flow table entries.
 It can dynamically add, modify, or remove entries based on network
conditions, policies, or events.
 This dynamic control allows for flexible and programmable packet
forwarding behavior.

Flow Table Capacity:


 The capacity of the flow table varies depending on the capabilities of the
switch hardware and the SDN controller's software.
 Larger capacity allows for more complex forwarding behavior and support
for a greater number of concurrent flows.
Flow Table Aging and Eviction:
 Flow entries may have a limited lifetime, after which they are removed
from the table.
 This process, known as aging, helps manage resource usage and ensures
that the flow table remains up-to-date.
 Entries may also be evicted to make room for new entries when the table
reaches its capacity.
Performance Considerations:
 Efficient flow table lookup is crucial for maintaining network performance.
 Switches employ various techniques, such as caching and hardware
acceleration, to optimize lookup speed and reduce latency
Security and Policy Enforcement:
 The flow table is a central point for enforcing network security policies.
 By carefully configuring flow entries, administrators can control traffic
flows, implement access control policies, and moderate security threats
Match fields: Used to select packets that match the values in the fields.
 Priority: Relative priority of table entries. This is a 16-bit field with 0
corresponding to the lowest priority. In principle, there could be 216 = 64k
priority levels.
 Counters: Updated for matching packets. The OpenFlow specification
defines a variety of counters.
 Instructions: Instructions to be performed if a match occurs.
 Timeouts: Maximum amount of idle time before a flow is expired by the
switch
Match Fields Component
Ingress port: The identifier of the port on this switch on which the packet
arrived. This may be a physical port or a switch-defined virtual port. Required
in ingress tables.
Egress port: The identifier of the egress port from action set. Required in
egress tables.
Ethernet source and destination addresses: Each entry can be an exact
address, a bitmasked value for which only some of the address bits are checked,
or a wildcard value
IPv4 or IPv6 source address, and destination address: Each entry can be an
exact address, a bitmasked value, a subnet mask value, or a wildcard value.
TCP source and destination ports: Exact match or wildcard value.
UDP source and destination ports: Exact match or wildcard value.
Physical port: Used to designate underlying physical port when packet is
VLAN ID and VLAN user priority: Fields in the IEEE 802.1Q virtual LAN
header. SDN support for VLANs is discussed in Chapter 8, “NFV
Functionality.”
SCTP source and destination ports: Exact match or wildcard value for
Stream Transmission Control Protocol.
ICMP type and code fields: Exact match or wildcard value.
IPv6 neighbor discovery target address: In an IPv6 Neighbor Discovery
message.
 OpenFlow can be used with network traffic involving a variety of protocols
and network services
 OpenFlow as currently defined cannot control Layer 2 traffic over wireless
networks.
 Each of the fields in the match fields component either has a specific value
or a wildcard value, which matches any value in the corresponding packet
header field
Flow Table Pipeline
 A switch includes one or more flow tables.
 If there is more than one flow table, they are organized as a pipeline, with
the tables labeled with increasing numbers starting with zero.
 The use of multiple tables in a pipeline, rather than a single flow table,
provides the SDN controller with considerable flexibility.
The OpenFlow specification defines two stages of processing:
Ingress processing
 Ingress processing always happens, beginning with Table 0, and uses the
identity of the input port.
 Table 0 may be the only table, in which case the ingress processing is
simplified to the processing performed on that single table, and there is no
egress processing
Egress processing
 Egress processing is the processing that happens after the determination of
the output port. It happens in the context of the output port

You might also like