Topology Resilience Evaluation and Enhancement in Software Defined Networks

Abstract: Software Defined Networks separates the control and forwarding planes, facilitating and flexibilizing the management of networking. However, the interaction between these planes introduces different vulnerabilities to the network, raising new resilience concerns. To assist the planning phase of a Software Defined Network deployment, this paper proposes the application of topological augmentation algorithms to increase the resilience of topologies as indicated by a resilience factor, through optimizations on both control and forwarding planes. In parallel, a brute force controller placement algorithm is applied, for performance comparisons. Tests results demonstrate that the improvement on the test topologies’ resilience characteristics obtained by the joint optimization of both planes surpasses even the most optimal controller placement.