SDN: layers, architecture and perspectives of a key technology for the future internet.

Abstract

Abstract: Software Defined Networking (SDN) refers to a networking technology that provides abstraction of physical resources and network programmability by separating the control plane and the data plane, enabling innovation and a simplified network management. This technology has revolutionized the world of the networked systems, has become an important networking research topic in academia and industry during the past couple of years, and nowadays is considered as a key technology for the deployment of current and future communication systems and as an enabler for the future Internet. Despite the growing popularity of SDN in the last decade and the constant scientific divulgation of the research work done, to get involved with this technology, to know its characteristics and capabilities, and in order to perform research in this interesting but extensive field, is necessary to know in advance some concepts, as well as the behavior of the different components that are part of this networking paradigm. In this insight, this paper addresses these requirements and more, providing a concise information about the concepts, fundamentals and perspectives of SDN. In this work is described the structure of traditional networks in order to contrast the changes, the benefits and the advantages that the SDN paradigm can offer. Further, is presented a chronological evolution of the technology, the levels of abstractions, the elements, the architectural framework as defined by the Internet Research Task Force (IRTF) in the RFC7426, and some fields of application. At the end, a list with the information of more than 130 SDN open-source projects is also provided.