Frontiers of Data and Computing ›› 2020, Vol. 2 ›› Issue (4): 28-43.

doi: 10.11871/jfdc.issn.2096-742X.2020.04.003

Special Issue: 下一代互联网络技术与应用

• Special Issue: Next Generation Internet Technology & Application • Previous Articles     Next Articles

A Flexible and Accurate SDN Switch Southbound Protocol Performance Test System

Zhang Yifan1(),Li Jin2(),Yu Hongfang3,*(),Sun Gang3()   

  1. 1. The 54th Research Institute of China Electronics Technology Group Corporation, Shijiazhuang, Hebei 050000, China
    2. National Key Laboratory of Science and Technology on Information System Security, Beijing 100101, China
    3. University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, Sichuan 611731, China
  • Received:2020-04-10 Online:2020-08-20 Published:2020-09-10
  • Contact: Yu Hongfang E-mail:zhangyfo@163.com;tianyi198012@163.com;yuhf@uestc.edu.cn;gangsun@uestc.edu.cn

Abstract:

[Objective] The SDN switch southbound protocol performance testing system is dedicated to constructing test scenarios, detecting various performance indicators of the switch under test according to a certain traffic strategy, and evaluating whether it meets user performance requirements. [Scope of the literature] This article focuses on the development history of the SDN switch southbound protocols, the published SDN switch performance test results, and related SDN switch performance test literature, etc. [Methods] A flexible and accurate SDN switch southbound protocol performance test system is proposed in this article. A hardware/software co-design architecture is used to ensure scalability of the system, flexible flow construction capability, and nanosecond-level time measurement accuracy. [Results] Based on the FAST architecture, a flexible and accurate SDN switch southbound protocol performance test system for OpenFlow protocol is implemented. This system has conducted a series of OpenFlow protocol performance tests to a H3C switch. [Limitations] The scheme proposed in this article is only applicable to the performance test of a single switch without encryption southbound protocol. The scenario simulation required for SDN switch cluster performance test and the decryption breakthrough of encrypted southbound protocol still need to be further explored. [Conclusions] Through the OpenFlow flow table performance test of the H3C switch, the actual performance of the switch is objectively evaluated, and the availability of this test system is verified.

Key words: software defined networking, SDN switch, southbound protocol, performance testing, hardware/software co-design