SDN-pinon ulkoisten rajapintojen hyödyntäminen web-pohjaisessa verkonhallinnassa

The thesis is divided into two parts. In the literature study part, state of Software-defined Networking (SDN) standardization is walked through and compared to the current implementations of on-market vendors. In this part the technical possibilities enabled by SDN are mapped and SDN’s probability of becoming the new way of building networks is assessed lightly. In the case study part, prototypes of such value adding services are designed and created. Showcase starts by comparing available SDN solutions and selecting two of them for closer inspection. Case study continues by making technological choices in API and development tool realms. Then, the process of creating a prototype of a management interface on one SDN controller is described. The designed and implemented solution has the capability of dynamically prioritizing the network flows and dynamically changing the route of a network flow from the shortest path (from source to destination) into forcing it to make a detour through intrusion prevention system before being allowed to reach the destination. As a part of the research, a web tool including user interface for achieving described functions is created, because such tools are widely adopted by ISPs as the visible interface for customers to interact with. After the solution has been finalized on one SDN controller platform, the research shifts to analyze the consequences of changing one SDN controller to another. In this part, standardization situation of both south- and northbound interfaces are discussed more closely. Research finds out that because of the lack of standardization in northbound REST APIs, change invalidates most, or all, of the developed SDN applications. Thesis articulates if change with full functionality retained is possible, and analyses the amount of needed work for straightforward code conversion or other means. The study indicates that SDN works as enabling technology and makes it possible to achieve functions in network management that have earlier been impossible through programming, mostly because the lack of relevant application programming interfaces. The thesis validates SDN as a functional technology with huge headroom for service development possibilities, however it finds the standardization of the northbound programming interfaces lacking and brings up questions about market penetration chances for the technology due to some major vendors having less than enthusiastic implementations of the technology