Driving Software Defined Networks with XSP

Abstract

This paper presents the eXtensible Session Protocol (XSP), which provides a control plane for driving Software Defined Networks (SDNs). The XSP model supports proactive, application-driven configuration of dynamic network resources with support for authentication and authorization, within an extensible protocol framework. We describe XSP application use cases in SDNs using OpenFlow enabled network devices as well as dynamic forwarding rule management that can be implemented on existing router platforms.