Solving the Software Defined Network Controller Placement Problem Using Complex Network Analysis

Software Defined Network (SDN) is a new architectural design for networking that is constructed based on decoupling the control plane from the data plane in networking devices and providing programmatic interface for the control plane. The introduction of SDN has raised many new networking problems; one of the most interesting debating questions is the SDN controller placement problem. In fact, there is no single best solution for the controller placement problem, as the solution depends on the desired metrics and requirements. Our research addresses the following question: Where is the best place to attach the SDN controller in a given large-scale network? Previous work has answered this question using mathematical models or algorithms. This study proposes a new approach for solving the controller placement problem by using complex network analysis and involves finding the most central node in a given network. Our solution will focus on improving the performance of the network and will be applied to the Internet2 topology by using GENI platform to simulate our experiment.Computer EngineeringMastersUniversity of New Mexico. Dept. of Electrical and Computer EngineeringGregory, HeilemanLamb, ChrisJordán, Ramir