Flow-aware Real-time SDN Analytics (FRSA)
Today at the OpenDaylight Summit in Santa Clara, Ram (Ramki) Krishnan of Brocade Communications presented a framework and set of use cases for applying software defined networking (SDN) techniques control large (elephant) flows. Ramki is a co-author of related Internet Drafts: Large Flow Use Cases for I2RS PBR and QoS and Mechanisms for Optimal LAG/ECMP Component Link Utilization in Networks. The slides from the talk are available on the OpenDaylight Summit web site.This article will review the slides and discuss selected topics in detail.
The FRSA framework identifies four classes of traffic flow based on flow rate and flow duration and identifies long lived large flows as amenable to SDN based control since they can be readily observed, consume significant resources, and last long enough to be effectively controlled. The article, SDN and large flows, discusses the opportunity presented by large flow control in greater detail.
The two elements required in the FRSA framework are real-time traffic analytics - to rapidly identify the large flows (within seconds) and a control mechanism such as integrated hybrid OpenFlow, that allows the normal switch forwarding protocols to handle traffic, but offers a way for the controller to intervene and determine Continue reading







