SDN: Week 6: Future: Module 8.2: Open problems and challenges

[gdt]

This is some highlights

1. Northbound API and applications
- wide area netowrking and interdomain routing
- programming and debugging

2. Control plane
- security, data leak prevention
- combining big data and network mgnt
- orchestration - coordination of increasingly diverse network devices

3. Data plane
- moving beyond (match, action)

New applications and services
- SDN is a tool, not a killer application

Wide area networking
- brittle
- indirect mechanisms
- dst prefix
- influence only neighbour ASs
- use of SDN in IX might be disruptive
- business relationships are coarse-grained, SDNs allows more subtlety.

Programming and debugging
- getting easier
- but still difficult
- composition between controllers is hard
- making debugging and testing easier

Security
- currently no accountability
- security properties are difficult to verify and enforce
- data leaks common

Big data
- no existing technology takes advantage of huge amount of data about networks
- aim is intelligent network controllers

Orchestration and beyond (match, action)
- SDN is any controller controlling multiple data plane units
- still need a unifying control frameork for coordination of increasingly diverse network devices.

Summary: open problems
- northbound API: programming, new applications
- control plane: orchestration
- data plane: beyond (match, action)