異質和軟體定義網路開發、管理及模擬之開放平台

Abstract

軟體定義網路 (SDN) 是一個快速發展的網路技術。 其藉由將網路的控制平面與資料平面分離、以及軟體化控制平面，提供動態、易管理、高性價比且容易調整的網路架構。 異質和軟體定義網路是由有線、無線、實體、虛擬等各種不同的網路設備組成。 然而，現有的軟體定義網路平台並沒有提供足夠的功能以支援異質和軟體定義網路控制程式的生命週期 (即開發、測試、部署、管理)。 本論文中我們將會比較現有的解決方案，並提出 OpenNet: 一個網路模擬器以及 OpenADM: 一個開發和管理平台以解決先前系統中所發現的問題。

OpenNet 建立於兩個成熟的網路模擬器: ns-3 和 Mininet 之上，利用兩者補足對方的缺點，以提供開發者模擬含有有線和無線網路裝置的大型網路。 此外，OpenNet 更可與實體的軟體定義網路測試平台連接，成為測試平台的延伸。 為了允許更大規模的網路模擬，我們更進一步探索了 OpenNet 的擴展性。 我們改良了原始 Mininet 中的隧道技術以減少傳輸延遲、並引進了部署演算法以更有效率的運用系統中的資源。

OpenADM 是一個讓網路營運人員可以同時管理多個異質和軟體定義網路的開發管理平台。 OpenADM 更具有模組化的設計使其可以輕易被擴充以支援更多種類的網路。

結合兩者，OpenNet 和 OpenADM 支援軟體定義網路控制程式的生命週期。 OpenNet 和 OpenADM 皆為開放原始碼軟體，並在過去一年已被訪問/下載了 4400/560 次。

Software-Defined Networking (SDN) is an emerging technology that provides dynamic, manageable, cost-effective, and adaptable networks by decoupling network control from forwarding plane and making control plane programmable. However, existing SDN platforms do not provide sufficient features to support the software life cycle (i.e. development, testing, deployment and management) of an SDN control software in heterogeneous and software defined networks that consist of wired/wireless and physical/virtual devices. In this dissertation, we are going to compare existing solutions and propose OpenNet, a network simulator and OpenADM, a development and management platform to address the issue we found in previous works.

OpenNet is built on top of ns-3 and Mininet, which are two mature network simulators/emulators that complement each other, and enables large-scale network simulations with both wired and wireless devices. OpenNet can also be attached to a physical SDN testbed as an extension. We further explore the idea of running OpenNet on multiple hosts to allow larger scale simulation. To this end, we enhance the tunneling mechanism in the original Mininet to reduce the latency and introduce placement algorithms for better resource utilization.

OpenADM is a development and management platform that allows network operators to manage multiple heterogeneous and software defined networks simultaneously. Additionally, OpenADM has a modularized design that can be easily extended to support more network types.

Together, OpenNet and OpenADM support the entire life cycle of an SDN control software. OpenNet and OpenADM are open source projects and have been visited/cloned more than 4400/560 times in the last year.