Hussain Mudassar, Shah Nadir, Amin Rashid, Alshamrani Sultan S, Alotaibi Aziz, Raza Syed Mohsan
Department of Computer Science, University of Wah, Wah Cantt P.O. Box 47010, Pakistan.
Department of Computer Science, COMSATS University Islamabad, Wah Campus, Wah Cantt P.O. Box 47010, Pakistan.
Sensors (Basel). 2022 Jul 25;22(15):5551. doi: 10.3390/s22155551.
Software-defined networking (SDN) is an innovative network architecture that splits the control and management planes from the data plane. It helps in simplifying network manageability and programmability, along with several other benefits. Due to the programmability features, SDN is gaining popularity in both academia and industry. However, this emerging paradigm has been facing diverse kinds of challenges during the SDN implementation process and with respect to adoption of existing technologies. This paper evaluates several existing approaches in SDN and compares and analyzes the findings. The paper is organized into seven categories, namely network testing and verification, flow rule installation mechanisms, network security and management issues related to SDN implementation, memory management studies, SDN simulators and emulators, SDN programming languages, and SDN controller platforms. Each category has significance in the implementation of SDN networks. During the implementation process, network testing and verification is very important to avoid packet violations and network inefficiencies. Similarly, consistent flow rule installation, especially in the case of policy change at the controller, needs to be carefully implemented. Effective network security and memory management, at both the network control and data planes, play a vital role in SDN. Furthermore, SDN simulation tools, controller platforms, and programming languages help academia and industry to implement and test their developed network applications. We also compare the existing SDN studies in detail in terms of classification and discuss their benefits and limitations. Finally, future research guidelines are provided, and the paper is concluded.
软件定义网络（SDN）是一种创新的网络架构，它将控制平面和管理平面与数据平面分离。它有助于简化网络的可管理性和可编程性，还有其他一些好处。由于其可编程特性，SDN在学术界和工业界都越来越受欢迎。然而，这种新兴范式在SDN实施过程中以及在采用现有技术方面一直面临着各种各样的挑战。本文评估了SDN中的几种现有方法，并对研究结果进行了比较和分析。本文分为七个类别，即网络测试与验证、流规则安装机制、与SDN实施相关的网络安全和管理问题、内存管理研究、SDN模拟器和仿真器、SDN编程语言以及SDN控制器平台。每个类别在SDN网络的实施中都具有重要意义。在实施过程中，网络测试与验证对于避免数据包违规和网络效率低下非常重要。同样，一致的流规则安装，特别是在控制器处发生策略更改的情况下，需要谨慎实施。在网络控制平面和数据平面上，有效的网络安全和内存管理在SDN中起着至关重要的作用。此外，SDN仿真工具、控制器平台和编程语言有助于学术界和工业界实施和测试他们开发的网络应用程序。我们还详细比较了现有SDN研究在分类方面的情况，并讨论了它们的优点和局限性。最后，提供了未来的研究指南，并总结了本文。
