Language Abstractions for Software-Defined Networks

Abstract

For the past 30 years, networks have been built the same way: out of special-purpose devices running distributed algorithms that provide functionality such as topology discovery, routing, traffic monitoring, and access control. Recent years, however, have seen growing interest in a new kind of network architecture in which a logically-centralized controller machine manages a distributed collection of programmable switches. These software-defined networks (SDNs) make it possible for programmers to directly control the behavior of the network by configuring the packet- forwarding rules installed on switches [6]. Figure 1 depicts the architecture of a traditional network, where each independent switch consists of tightly-integrated control and data planes, and of an SDN, where a collection of switches are managed by a single program running on the controller.1

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2012
Accession Number
ADA579328

Entities

People

  • Alec Story
  • Christopher Monsanto
  • David Walker
  • Jennifer Rexford
  • Mark Reitblatt
  • Michael J. Freedman
  • Nate Foster
  • Rob Harrison

Organizations

  • Princeton University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Abstracts
  • Compilers
  • Computer Access Control
  • Computing System Architectures
  • Consistency
  • Data Centers
  • Fault Tolerance
  • Information Operations
  • Language
  • Network Architecture
  • Network Topology
  • Networks
  • Software Defined Networks
  • Specifications
  • Topology
  • Universities

Fields of Study

  • Computer science

Readers

  • Computer Networking
  • Computer Science.
  • Systems Analysis and Design