Virtualized network infrastructure using OpenFlow

Abstract

In this paper, we present an introduction to our architecture for a virtualized network infrastructure and explain its enabling technologies including OpenFlow and Network OS for integrated control plane. To enable easy innovation within network research area, infrastructure virtualization to share a physical infrastructure among researchers and an idea of having programmability in control plane have been paid much attention. For example, OpenFlow defines atomic behaviors for packet handing within each switching element and a protocol interface to manipulate such behaviors from a control server, thus users can program their own network behaviors by injecting their own control programs into the server. In the same way, other protocols may be combined for optical and wireless nodes, or for network measurement. In addition to network control, other components in an infrastructure, such as virtual machines or data storage, would be controllable in the same way. Therefore, by integrating such control interfaces and creating integrated control plane, we propose a basic idea for virtualized infrastructure on which infrastructure creators have their own virtual infrastructure instance coupled with their own control programs on their virtualized control plane. Since on the control plane, a variety of control programs of many creators are installed to control a variety of infrastructure components, and they sometimes cooperates for mashing-up, or are sometimes isolated for virtualization, the role of a platform software of the control plane can be complex but very important. In this paper, we propose a network OS as a platform for such integrated control plane. It can be regarded as an OpenFlow controller but is extended to control entire infrastructure including OpenFlow switches and other IT and network resources. We develop a service model associated with its data structure and control module, and a model to construct a virtual infrastructure by defining the connections among the services. Then, we briefly explain our research projects developed on the network OS.