Multi-controller Based Software-Defined Networking: A Survey

TLDR

Software‑defined networking (SDN) offers flexible network management, but as network size grows a single centralized controller cannot handle the flow‑processing demand, making multi‑controller architectures a promising solution. This survey compiles and analyzes multi‑controller research in SDN. The authors provide an overview of multi‑controller concepts, then classify research into scalability, consistency, reliability, and load balancing. The survey identifies future research challenges and summarizes the current state of multi‑controller SDN.

Abstract

Software-defined networking (SDN) is a novel network paradigm that enables flexible management for networks. As the network size increases, the single centralized controller cannot meet the increasing demand for flow processing. Thus, the promising solution for SDN with large-scale networks is the multi-controller. In this paper, we present a compressive survey for multi-controller research in SDN. First, we introduce the overview of multi-controller, including the origin of multi-controller and its challenges. Then, we classify multi-controller research into four aspects (scalability, consistency, reliability, and load balancing) depending on the process of implementing the multi-controller. Finally, we propose some relevant research issues to deal with in the future and conclude the multi-controller research.