Figure 3 demonstrates the 3 layers that make up the SDN structure. Lowest layer represents the Infrastructure Layer or Forwarding Plane, mainly focusing on data forwarding but it also takes care of monitoring local information and gathering statistics.
Next layer represents the Control Layer or Control Plane which is responsible for programming and managing the Forwarding Plane. Control Plane makes use of the information gathered by the Forwarding Plane in order to define the route and operation of the network. It is composed of software controllers that communicate with the forwarding network fundamentals through standard interfaces, referred also as the South Bound Interface.
The last layer is called Application Layer which takes care of …show more content…
North Bound Interface
Northbound APIs must support a wide variety of applications because SDN is bound to the innovative applications it can potentially support and enable. The northbound API is not standardized and often allows fine-grained control of switches. Applications should and do not need to process details of the southbound interface, such as details about the network topology [14].
OpenFlow protocol provides an interface that allows a control software to program switches in the network. Basically, the controller can change the forwarding behaviour of a switch by altering the forwarding table. This is where network programming languages are required in order to ease and automate the configuration and management of the network.
The northbound API presents a network abstraction interface to the applications and management systems at the top of the SDN stack. The information from these applications is passed along through a southbound interface. The southbound interface allows a controller to define the behavior of switches at the bottom of the SDN "stack." Essentially, the northbound interface and southbound interface allow a particular network component to communicate with a higher- or lower-level network component, respectively
Next layer represents the Control Layer or Control Plane which is responsible for programming and managing the Forwarding Plane. Control Plane makes use of the information gathered by the Forwarding Plane in order to define the route and operation of the network. It is composed of software controllers that communicate with the forwarding network fundamentals through standard interfaces, referred also as the South Bound Interface.
The last layer is called Application Layer which takes care of …show more content…
North Bound Interface
Northbound APIs must support a wide variety of applications because SDN is bound to the innovative applications it can potentially support and enable. The northbound API is not standardized and often allows fine-grained control of switches. Applications should and do not need to process details of the southbound interface, such as details about the network topology [14].
OpenFlow protocol provides an interface that allows a control software to program switches in the network. Basically, the controller can change the forwarding behaviour of a switch by altering the forwarding table. This is where network programming languages are required in order to ease and automate the configuration and management of the network.
The northbound API presents a network abstraction interface to the applications and management systems at the top of the SDN stack. The information from these applications is passed along through a southbound interface. The southbound interface allows a controller to define the behavior of switches at the bottom of the SDN "stack." Essentially, the northbound interface and southbound interface allow a particular network component to communicate with a higher- or lower-level network component, respectively