A recursive orchestration and control framework for large-scale, federated SDN experiments: the FELIX architecture and use cases

Abstract

Programmable networks are a substantial part of current R&D on future internet (FI) in Europe and worldwide, with considerable impact generated by large-scale test bed infrastructures. In such test beds, researchers validate proof-of-concept prototypes for new algorithms and mechanisms for efficiently controlling and managing network resources. One of the key domains for FI research is software-defined networking (SDN), which creates innovations in existing Internet architectures by shifting the control and logic outside the network equipment to Data Centres. International cooperation among leading research centres in Europe, Americas and Asia is key to validate SDN foundations and tools. EU and Japan have jointly funded the FELIX project (federated test-beds for large-scale infrastructure experiments), which defines a common control and orchestration framework to manage federated FI test beds across continents. This framework enables an experimenter to (i) request and obtain resources across different test bed infrastructures dynamically; (ii) manage and control the network paths connecting the federated SDN test beds; (iii) monitor the underlying resources and (iv) use distributed applications executed on the federated infrastructures. This paper describes the high-level architecture of the FELIX framework and details six use cases that will be employed for validation. We present our analysis and end-user considerations, highlighting the necessity for resource accessibility and coherent use of physical connections over a large-scale test bed where different control technologies such as OpenFlow and the network service interface (NSI) are simultaneously used.