Dedicated backup units to alleviate overload on SDN controllers

Abstract

Software-Defined Networking (SDN) is a rapidly evolving architecture for computer networking that transforms computer networks into software-driven organizations. The traditional SDN architecture relies on a centralized single controller to manage the entire network operations, which may lead to insufficient capacity to carry a substantial amount of information and processing on various time scales. In this paper, we propose a new approach, called a Dedicated Backup Unit (DBU), for improving the processing capabilities of SDNs. DBUs impact the controller by separating the load of intensive operations into different dedicated units to reduce the processing overload from the SDN controller. In order to evaluate the performance of the proposed model, we implement a simulation model to demonstrate the feasibility of the DBUs, and the results confirm that the enhancement of the DBUs shows a 30% decrease in the overall controller load.