Software Defined Networks Lab

The concept of separation of network data and control planes enables new methods of network control and management. Central controller operating in the Network Operating System layer with global view of the whole network provides ability for implementation and validation of new modern systems and applications. Software Defined Networks laboratory offers access to heterogeneous SDN resources in three technological domains: OpenFlow switches, „Bare metal” switches and servers with DPDK library for efficient packet processing. Equipment in each group is provided by different vendor to form a heterogeneous experimental environment with over 40 physical devices. All devices are equipped with several 1GE and/or 10GE data plane interfaces (depending on then model) that are either connected directly to other SDN devices or to access routers which allow for on-demand setup of transparent point-to-point connections with any other resources available in PL-LAB2020 (including SDN devices installed in remote sites). Additionally two hardware traffic generators/analyzers are available.

The SDN laboratory allows for performing experiments with multi-domain SDNs, OpenFlow virtualization, NFV, Software Defined Exchange, network infrastructure for ICN and IoT deployments, SDN performance analysis, security in SDN networks etc., in different use cases and scenarios like high quality media transmissions, data mobility, disaster recovery and others.

The laboratory is located in four sites.

National Institute of Telecommunications

NIT’s laboratory is equipped with three types of devices:

  • 4x HP ProLiant DL380 Gen9 server with DPDK (multi-processor DPDK servers on which SDN/OpenFlow controllers can be installed or open software for SDN switches, e.g. Open vSwitch)
  • 3x Pica8 P-3922, 1x Pica8 P-3297 (SDN/OpenFlow switches)
  • 3x QuantaMesh BMS T1048-LB9 (bare metal switches enabling the installation of open source operating system)

Warsaw University of Technology

SDN laboratory of Warsaw University of Technology is equipped with four types of devices:

  • 2x HP ProLiant DL380 Gen9 server with DPDK
  • 2x Pica8 P-3922 switch
  • 3x QuantaMesh BMS 3048-LY8 bare-metal switch
  • 1x IXIA traffic generator/analyser which allows to emulate both SDN/OpenFlow switches and SDN/OpenFlow controllers as well as segment routing protocols

Poznan Supercomputing and Networking Center

SDN Laboratory in PSNC is divided into four domains based on the type of devices:

  • 4x HP ProLiant DL380 Gen9 server with DPDK
  • 4x Pica8 P-5101 switche
  • 4x NoviSwitch 2128 switche
  • 4x QuantaMesh BMS T3048-LY8 bare-metal switche

Internally each of these groups is interconnected directly in full mesh topology and all groups are also interconnected directly between them providing quasi full mesh in the whole PSNC SDN Lab. Apart from that each particular device provides two dedicated links to network access nodes enabling additional data plane connectivity to other resources. All provided data plane links are fiber 10GE and each of devices has up to 8 links.

Silesian University of Technology

SDN laboratory of Silesian University of Technology is equipped with four types of devices:

  • 1x HP ProLiant DL380 Gen9 server with DPDK
  • 3x Pica8 P-3922 switch
  • 3x QuantaMesh BMS T3048-LY8 bare metal switch
  • 1x SPIRENT traffic generator/analyser which enables emulation of all possible protocols, especially both SDN/OpenFlow switches and SDN/OpenFlow controllers