Description

Software-Defined Networks (SDN) use a logically centralized entity (the SDN controller) to control the data flow in the network. This controller, however, needs control access to its resources, i.e., the SDN switches. Typically, some signaling protocol (e.g., OpenFlow) is used between the controller and its controlled switches, running inside a dedicated, separate control network. This control network needs to be installed, configured, and setup, thereby  causing additional operational burden. A research project at our institute aims at constructing an autonomous in-band control plane, that provides a robust connectivity between controllers and their controlled resources. In-band means that the control connectivity uses the same infrastructure as the data flows.

Tasks

• Training phase to get familiar with the environment (Docker, SDN)
• Small changes to the existing routing protocol and evaluation of these changes
• Implementation of visualization features for building an impressive demonstrator

Work Environment

The Telematics infrastructure provides powerful simulation servers (512 GB RAM) as well as smaller
servers. The evaluation targets 10 000s of nodes. 24/7 access to our pool/infrastructure (Kaiserstr. 40) is
available.

Prerequesits

Good programming knowledge is required (knowing Python is advantageous but not required). Some
background knowledge in the area of communication networks is advantageous. Special knowledge on
SDN is not required.