Abstract

A generous range of tools is available for network monitoring and measurement of legacy networks. Most network protocols are well known with a variety of open source and commercial tools to help network engineers with their daily operation. Network Monitoring Systems (NMS) can handle SNMP GETs, ping probes, and traceroute routines natively. Some SNMP MIBs were standardized by the IETF to collect protocol-specific information, such as VLAN utilization and OSPF LSAs. With OpenFlow and SDN, some network characteristics were changed, making some tools and protocols less useful or, sometimes, completely useless. In the past, network engineers assumed the control plane inside the network devices was working properly, focusing most of the troubleshooting process on the data plane or configurations. The lack of specific OpenFlow tools and debugging protocols makes troubleshooting of SDN networks extremely more complex. In OpenFlow and SDN environments, with an entirely new control plane in place, two additional components must be included in the troubleshooting scenario: one is the OpenFlow agent inside the network device, and the second is the OpenFlow controller and its associated application. There is added complexity the moment network engineers have to troubleshoot applications. In some cases, specific knowledge of programming languages is required, a skill almost ignored by most of the network engineers.
The complexity involved in the management of OpenFlow and SDN environments has significantly affected and still affects the AmLight1 network operation. Once AmLight was migrated to an OpenFlow …

Date

2016

Authors

Jeronimo Bezerra, Jorge Marcos, Julio Ibarra, Heidi Morgan, Luis Lopez

Journal

Internet2 Technology Exchange