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rfc:rfc8456

Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) V. Bhuvaneswaran Request for Comments: 8456 A. Basil Category: Informational Veryx Technologies ISSN: 2070-1721 M. Tassinari

                                            Hewlett Packard Enterprise
                                                             V. Manral
                                                               NanoSec
                                                              S. Banks
                                                        VSS Monitoring
                                                          October 2018
   Benchmarking Methodology for Software-Defined Networking (SDN)
                       Controller Performance

Abstract

 This document defines methodologies for benchmarking the control-
 plane performance of Software-Defined Networking (SDN) Controllers.
 The SDN Controller is a core component in the SDN architecture that
 controls the behavior of the network.  SDN Controllers have been
 implemented with many varying designs in order to achieve their
 intended network functionality.  Hence, the authors of this document
 have taken the approach of considering an SDN Controller to be a
 black box, defining the methodology in a manner that is agnostic to
 protocols and network services supported by controllers.  This
 document provides a method for measuring the performance of all
 controller implementations.

Status of This Memo

 This document is not an Internet Standards Track specification; it is
 published for informational purposes.
 This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force
 (IETF).  It represents the consensus of the IETF community.  It has
 received public review and has been approved for publication by the
 Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG).  Not all documents
 approved by the IESG are a candidate for any level of Internet
 Standard; see Section 2 of RFC 7841.
 Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
 and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
 https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8456.

Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 1] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018

Copyright Notice

 Copyright (c) 2018 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
 document authors.  All rights reserved.
 This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
 Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
 (https://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
 publication of this document.  Please review these documents
 carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
 to this document.  Code Components extracted from this document must
 include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
 the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
 described in the Simplified BSD License.

Table of Contents

 1. Introduction ....................................................4
    1.1. Conventions Used in This Document ..........................4
 2. Scope ...........................................................4
 3. Test Setup ......................................................4
    3.1. Test Setup - Controller Operating in Standalone Mode .......5
    3.2. Test Setup - Controller Operating in Cluster Mode ..........6
 4. Test Considerations .............................................7
    4.1. Network Topology ...........................................7
    4.2. Test Traffic ...............................................7
    4.3. Test Emulator Requirements .................................7
    4.4. Connection Setup ...........................................8
    4.5. Measurement Point Specification and Recommendation .........9
    4.6. Connectivity Recommendation ................................9
    4.7. Test Repeatability .........................................9
    4.8. Test Reporting .............................................9
 5. Benchmarking Tests .............................................11
    5.1. Performance ...............................................11
         5.1.1. Network Topology Discovery Time ....................11
         5.1.2. Asynchronous Message Processing Time ...............13
         5.1.3. Asynchronous Message Processing Rate ...............14
         5.1.4. Reactive Path Provisioning Time ....................17
         5.1.5. Proactive Path Provisioning Time ...................19
         5.1.6. Reactive Path Provisioning Rate ....................21
         5.1.7. Proactive Path Provisioning Rate ...................23
         5.1.8. Network Topology Change Detection Time .............25
    5.2. Scalability ...............................................26
         5.2.1. Control Sessions Capacity ..........................26
         5.2.2. Network Discovery Size .............................27
         5.2.3. Forwarding Table Capacity ..........................29

Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 2] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018

    5.3. Security ..................................................31
         5.3.1. Exception Handling .................................31
         5.3.2. Handling Denial-of-Service Attacks .................32
    5.4. Reliability ...............................................34
         5.4.1. Controller Failover Time ...........................34
         5.4.2. Network Re-provisioning Time .......................36
 6. IANA Considerations ............................................37
 7. Security Considerations ........................................38
 8. References .....................................................38
    8.1. Normative References ......................................38
    8.2. Informative References ....................................38
 Appendix A. Benchmarking Methodology Using OpenFlow Controllers ...39
   A.1. Protocol Overview ..........................................39
   A.2. Messages Overview ..........................................39
   A.3. Connection Overview ........................................39
   A.4. Performance Benchmarking Tests .............................40
     A.4.1. Network Topology Discovery Time ........................40
     A.4.2. Asynchronous Message Processing Time ...................42
     A.4.3. Asynchronous Message Processing Rate ...................43
     A.4.4. Reactive Path Provisioning Time ........................44
     A.4.5. Proactive Path Provisioning Time .......................46
     A.4.6. Reactive Path Provisioning Rate ........................47
     A.4.7. Proactive Path Provisioning Rate .......................49
     A.4.8. Network Topology Change Detection Time .................50
   A.5. Scalability ................................................51
     A.5.1. Control Sessions Capacity ..............................51
     A.5.2. Network Discovery Size .................................52
     A.5.3. Forwarding Table Capacity ..............................54
   A.6. Security ...................................................55
     A.6.1. Exception Handling .....................................55
     A.6.2. Handling Denial-of-Service Attacks .....................57
   A.7. Reliability ................................................59
     A.7.1. Controller Failover Time ...............................59
     A.7.2. Network Re-provisioning Time ...........................61
 Acknowledgments ...................................................63
 Authors' Addresses ................................................64

Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 3] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018

1. Introduction

 This document provides generic methodologies for benchmarking
 Software-Defined Networking (SDN) Controller performance.  To achieve
 the desired functionality, an SDN Controller may support many
 northbound and southbound protocols, implement a wide range of
 applications, and work either alone or as part of a group.  This
 document considers an SDN Controller to be a black box, regardless of
 design and implementation.  The tests defined in this document can be
 used to benchmark an SDN Controller for performance, scalability,
 reliability, and security, independently of northbound and southbound
 protocols.  Terminology related to benchmarking SDN Controllers is
 described in the companion terminology document [RFC8455].  These
 tests can be performed on an SDN Controller running as a virtual
 machine (VM) instance or on a bare metal server.  This document is
 intended for those who want to measure an SDN Controller's
 performance as well as compare the performance of various SDN
 Controllers.

1.1. Conventions Used in This Document

 The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
 "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "NOT RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and
 "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in
 BCP 14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all
 capitals, as shown here.

2. Scope

 This document defines a methodology for measuring the networking
 metrics of SDN Controllers.  For the purpose of this memo, the SDN
 Controller is a function that manages and controls Network Devices.
 Any SDN Controller without a control capability is out of scope for
 this memo.  The tests defined in this document enable the
 benchmarking of SDN Controllers in two ways: standalone mode
 (a standalone controller) and cluster mode (a cluster of homogeneous
 controllers).  These tests are recommended for execution in lab
 environments rather than in live network deployments.  Performance
 benchmarking of a federation of controllers (i.e., a set of SDN
 Controllers) managing different domains, is beyond the scope of this
 document.

3. Test Setup

 As noted above, the tests defined in this document enable the
 measurement of an SDN Controller's performance in standalone mode and
 cluster mode.  This section defines common reference topologies that
 are referred to in individual tests described later in this document.

Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 4] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018

3.1. Test Setup - Controller Operating in Standalone Mode

    +-----------------------------------------------------------+
    |               Application-Plane Test Emulator             |
    |                                                           |
    |        +-----------------+      +-------------+           |
    |        |   Application   |      |   Service   |           |
    |        +-----------------+      +-------------+           |
    |                                                           |
    +-----------------------------+(I2)-------------------------+
                                  |
                                  | (Northbound Interface)
                 +-------------------------------+
                 |       +----------------+      |
                 |       | SDN Controller |      |
                 |       +----------------+      |
                 |                               |
                 |    Device Under Test (DUT)    |
                 +-------------------------------+
                                  | (Southbound Interface)
                                  |
    +-----------------------------+(I1)-------------------------+
    |                                                           |
    |             +-----------+     +-------------+             |
    |             |  Network  |     |   Network   |             |
    |             | Device 2  |--..-| Device n - 1|             |
    |             +-----------+     +-------------+             |
    |                     /    \   /    \                       |
    |                    /      \ /      \                      |
    |                l0 /        X        \ ln                  |
    |                  /        / \        \                    |
    |               +-----------+  +-----------+                |
    |               |  Network  |  |  Network  |                |
    |               |  Device 1 |..|  Device n |                |
    |               +-----------+  +-----------+                |
    |                     |              |                      |
    |           +---------------+  +---------------+            |
    |           | Test Traffic  |  | Test Traffic  |            |
    |           |  Generator    |  |  Generator    |            |
    |           |    (TP1)      |  |    (TP2)      |            |
    |           +---------------+  +---------------+            |
    |                                                           |
    |              Forwarding-Plane Test Emulator               |
    +-----------------------------------------------------------+
                               Figure 1

Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 5] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018

3.2. Test Setup - Controller Operating in Cluster Mode

    +-----------------------------------------------------------+
    |               Application-Plane Test Emulator             |
    |                                                           |
    |        +-----------------+      +-------------+           |
    |        |   Application   |      |   Service   |           |
    |        +-----------------+      +-------------+           |
    |                                                           |
    +-----------------------------+(I2)-------------------------+
                                  |
                                  | (Northbound Interface)
     +---------------------------------------------------------+
     |                                                         |
     | +------------------+           +------------------+     |
     | | SDN Controller 1 | <--E/W--> | SDN Controller n |     |
     | +------------------+           +------------------+     |
     |                                                         |
     |                    Device Under Test (DUT)              |
     +---------------------------------------------------------+
                                  | (Southbound Interface)
                                  |
    +-----------------------------+(I1)-------------------------+
    |                                                           |
    |             +-----------+     +-------------+             |
    |             |  Network  |     |   Network   |             |
    |             | Device 2  |--..-| Device n - 1|             |
    |             +-----------+     +-------------+             |
    |                     /    \   /    \                       |
    |                    /      \ /      \                      |
    |                l0 /        X        \ ln                  |
    |                  /        / \        \                    |
    |               +-----------+  +-----------+                |
    |               |  Network  |  |  Network  |                |
    |               |  Device 1 |..|  Device n |                |
    |               +-----------+  +-----------+                |
    |                     |              |                      |
    |           +---------------+  +---------------+            |
    |           | Test Traffic  |  | Test Traffic  |            |
    |           |  Generator    |  |  Generator    |            |
    |           |    (TP1)      |  |    (TP2)      |            |
    |           +---------------+  +---------------+            |
    |                                                           |
    |              Forwarding-Plane Test Emulator               |
    +-----------------------------------------------------------+
                               Figure 2

Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 6] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018

4. Test Considerations

4.1. Network Topology

 The test cases SHOULD use Leaf-Spine topology with at least two
 Network Devices in the topology for benchmarking.  Test traffic
 generators TP1 and TP2 SHOULD be connected to the leaf Network
 Device 1 and the leaf Network Device n.  To achieve a complete
 performance characterization of the SDN Controller, it is recommended
 that the controller be benchmarked for many network topologies and a
 varying number of Network Devices.  Further, care should be taken to
 make sure that a loop-prevention mechanism is enabled in either the
 SDN Controller or the network when the topology contains redundant
 network paths.

4.2. Test Traffic

 Test traffic is used to notify the controller about the asynchronous
 arrival of new flows.  The test cases SHOULD use frame sizes of 128,
 512, and 1508 bytes for benchmarking.  Tests using jumbo frames are
 optional.

4.3. Test Emulator Requirements

 The test emulator SHOULD timestamp the transmitted and received
 control messages to/from the controller on the established network
 connections.  The test cases use these values to compute the
 controller processing time.

Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 7] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018

4.4. Connection Setup

 There may be controller implementations that support unencrypted and
 encrypted network connections with Network Devices.  Further, the
 controller may be backward compatible with Network Devices running
 older versions of southbound protocols.  It may be useful to measure
 the controller's performance with one or more applicable connection
 setup methods defined below.  For cases with encrypted communications
 between the controller and the switch, key management and key
 exchange MUST take place before any performance or benchmark
 measurements.
    1. Unencrypted connection with Network Devices, running the same
       protocol version.
    2. Unencrypted connection with Network Devices, running different
       protocol versions.
       Examples:
          a. Controller running current protocol version and switch
             running older protocol version.
          b. Controller running older protocol version and switch
             running current protocol version.
    3. Encrypted connection with Network Devices, running the same
       protocol version.
    4. Encrypted connection with Network Devices, running different
       protocol versions.
       Examples:
          a. Controller running current protocol version and switch
             running older protocol version.
          b. Controller running older protocol version and switch
             running current protocol version.

Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 8] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018

4.5. Measurement Point Specification and Recommendation

 The accuracy of the measurements depends on several factors,
 including the point of observation where the indications are
 captured.  For example, the notification can be observed at the
 controller or test emulator.  The test operator SHOULD make the
 observations/measurements at the interfaces of the test emulator,
 unless explicitly specified otherwise in the individual test.  In any
 case, the locations of measurement points MUST be reported.

4.6. Connectivity Recommendation

 The SDN Controller in the test setup SHOULD be connected directly
 with the forwarding-plane and management-plane test emulators to
 avoid any delays or failure introduced by the intermediate devices
 during benchmarking tests.  When the controller is implemented as a
 virtual machine, details of the physical and logical connectivity
 MUST be reported.

4.7. Test Repeatability

 To increase confidence in the measured results, it is recommended
 that each test SHOULD be repeated a minimum of 10 times.

4.8. Test Reporting

 Each test has a reporting format that contains some global and
 identical reporting components, and some individual components that
 are specific to individual tests.  The following parameters for test
 configuration and controller settings MUST be reflected in the test
 report.
 Test Configuration Parameters:
    1.  Controller name and version
    2.  Northbound protocols and versions
    3.  Southbound protocols and versions
    4.  Controller redundancy mode (standalone or cluster mode)
    5.  Connection setup (unencrypted or encrypted)
    6.  Network Device type (physical, virtual, or emulated)
    7.  Number of nodes

Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 9] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018

    8.  Number of links
    9.  Data-plane test traffic type
    10. Controller system configuration (e.g., physical or virtual
        machine, CPU, memory, caches, operating system, interface
        speed, storage)
    11. Reference test setup (e.g., the setup shown in Section 3.1)
 Parameters for Controller Settings:
    1. Topology rediscovery timeout
    2. Controller redundancy mode (e.g., active-standby)
    3. Controller state persistence enabled/disabled
 To ensure the repeatability of the test, the following capabilities
 of the test emulator SHOULD be reported:
    1. Maximum number of Network Devices that the forwarding plane
       emulates
    2. Control message processing time (e.g., topology discovery
       messages)
 One way to determine the above two values is to simulate the required
 control sessions and messages from the control plane.

Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 10] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018

5. Benchmarking Tests

5.1. Performance

5.1.1. Network Topology Discovery Time

 Objective:
    Measure the time taken by the controller(s) to determine the
    complete network topology, defined as the interval starting with
    the first discovery message from the controller(s) at its
    southbound interface and ending with all features of the static
    topology determined.
 Reference Test Setup:
    This test SHOULD use one of the test setups illustrated in
    Section 3.1 or Section 3.2 of this document.
 Prerequisites:
    1. The controller MUST support network discovery.
    2. The tester should be able to retrieve the discovered topology
       information through either the controller's management
       interface or northbound interface to determine if the discovery
       was successful and complete.
    3. Ensure that the controller's topology rediscovery timeout has
       been set to the maximum value, to avoid initiation of the
       rediscovery process in the middle of the test.
 Procedure:
    1. Ensure that the controller is operational and that its network
       applications, northbound interface, and southbound interface
       are up and running.
    2. Establish the network connections between the controller and
       the Network Devices.
    3. Record the time for the first discovery message (Tm1) received
       from the controller at the forwarding-plane test emulator
       interface (I1).

Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 11] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018

    4. Query the controller every t seconds (the RECOMMENDED value for
       t is 3) to obtain the discovered network topology information
       through the northbound interface or the management interface,
       and compare it with the deployed network topology information.
    5. Stop the trial when the discovered topology information matches
       the deployed network topology or when the discovered topology
       information returns the same details for three consecutive
       queries.
    6. Record the time for the last discovery message (Tmn) sent to
       the controller from the forwarding-plane test emulator
       interface (I1) when the trial completes successfully (e.g.,
       when the topology matches).
 Measurements:
    Topology Discovery Time (DT1) = Tmn - Tm1
                                            DT1 + DT2 + DT3 .. DTn
    Average Topology Discovery Time (TDm) = -----------------------
                                                 Total Trials
                                             SUM[SQUAREOF(DTi - TDm)]
    Topology Discovery Time Variance (TDv) = ------------------------
                                                 Total Trials - 1
 Reporting Format:
    The Topology Discovery Time results MUST be reported in tabular
    format, with a row for each successful iteration.  The last row of
    the table indicates the Topology Discovery Time variance, and the
    previous row indicates the Average Topology Discovery Time.
    If this test is repeated with a varying number of nodes over the
    same topology, the results SHOULD be reported in the form of a
    graph.  The X coordinate SHOULD be the number of nodes (N), and
    the Y coordinate SHOULD be the Average Topology Discovery Time.

Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 12] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018

5.1.2. Asynchronous Message Processing Time

 Objective:
    Measure the time taken by the controller(s) to process an
    asynchronous message, defined as the interval starting with an
    asynchronous message from a Network Device after the discovery of
    all the devices by the controller(s) and ending with a response
    message from the controller(s) at its southbound interface.
 Reference Test Setup:
    This test SHOULD use one of the test setups illustrated in
    Section 3.1 or Section 3.2 of this document.
 Prerequisite:
    The controller MUST have successfully completed the network
    topology discovery for the connected Network Devices.
 Procedure:
    1. Generate asynchronous messages from every connected Network
       Device to the SDN Controller, one at a time in series from the
       forwarding-plane test emulator for the Trial Duration.
    2. Record every request transmit time (T1) and the corresponding
       response received time (R1) at the forwarding-plane test
       emulator interface (I1) for every successful message exchange.
 Measurements:
   Asynchronous Message Processing Time (APT1) =
                                                 SUM{Ri} - SUM{Ti}
                                               -----------------------
                                                          Nrx
      Where Nrx is the total number of successful messages exchanged.
   Average Asynchronous Message Processing Time =
                                            APT1 + APT2 + APT3 .. APTn
                                            --------------------------
                                                   Total Trials

Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 13] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018

   Asynchronous Message Processing Time Variance (TAMv) =
                                            SUM[SQUAREOF(APTi - TAMm)]
                                            --------------------------
                                                  Total Trials - 1
      Where TAMm is the Average Asynchronous Message Processing Time.
 Reporting Format:
    The Asynchronous Message Processing Time results MUST be reported
    in tabular format, with a row for each iteration.  The last row of
    the table indicates the Asynchronous Message Processing Time
    variance, and the previous row indicates the Average Asynchronous
    Message Processing Time.
    The report SHOULD capture the following information, in addition
    to the configuration parameters captured per Section 4.8:
  1. Successful messages exchanged (Nrx)
  1. Percentage of unsuccessful messages exchanged, computed

using the formula 1)

1)
1 - Nrx/Ntx) * 100), where Ntx is the
          total number of messages transmitted to the controller
    If this test is repeated with a varying number of nodes with the
    same topology, the results SHOULD be reported in the form of a
    graph.  The X coordinate SHOULD be the number of nodes (N), and
    the Y coordinate SHOULD be the Average Asynchronous Message
    Processing Time.
5.1.3. Asynchronous Message Processing Rate
 Objective:
    Measure the number of responses to asynchronous messages (a new
    flow arrival notification message, link down, etc.) for which the
    controller(s) performed processing and replied with a valid and
    productive (non-trivial) response message.
    Using a single procedure, this test will measure the following two
    benchmarks on the Asynchronous Message Processing Rate (see
    Section 2.3.1.3 of [RFC8455]):
       1. Maximum Asynchronous Message Processing Rate
       2. Loss-Free Asynchronous Message Processing Rate
Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 14] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018
    Here, two benchmarks are determined through a series of trials
    where the number of messages sent to the controller(s) and the
    responses received from the controller(s) are counted over the
    Trial Duration.  The message response rate and the Message Loss
    Ratio are calculated for each trial.
 Reference Test Setup:
    This test SHOULD use one of the test setups illustrated in
    Section 3.1 or Section 3.2 of this document.
 Prerequisites:
    1. The controller(s) MUST have successfully completed the network
       topology discovery for the connected Network Devices.
    2. Choose and record the Trial Duration (Td), the sending rate
       STEP size, the tolerance on equality for two consecutive trials
       (P%), and the maximum possible message-sending rate (Ntx1/Td).
 Procedure:
    1. Generate asynchronous messages continuously at the maximum
       possible rate on the established connections from all the
       emulated/simulated Network Devices for the given Trial
       Duration (Td).
    2. Record the total number of responses received (Nrx1) from the
       controller as well as the number of messages sent (Ntx1) to the
       controller within the Trial Duration (Td).
    3. Calculate the Asynchronous Message Processing Rate (APR1) and
       the Message Loss Ratio (Lr1).  Ensure that the controller(s)
       has returned to normal operation.
    4. Repeat the trial by reducing the asynchronous message-sending
       rate used in the last trial by the STEP size.
    5. Continue repeating the trials and reducing the sending rate
       until both the maximum value of Nrxn (number of responses
       received from the controller) and the Nrxn corresponding to a
       Loss Ratio of zero have been found.
Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 15] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018
    6. The trials corresponding to the benchmark levels MUST be
       repeated using the same asynchronous message rates until the
       responses received from the controller are equal (+/-P%) for
       two consecutive trials.
    7. Record the number of responses received (Nrxn) from the
       controller as well as the number of messages sent (Ntxn) to the
       controller in the last trial.
 Measurements:
                                                  Nrxn
    Asynchronous Message Processing Rate (APRn) = -----
                                                   Td
    Maximum Asynchronous Message Processing Rate = MAX(APRn) for all n
                                                Nrxn
    Asynchronous Message Loss Ratio (Lrn) = 1 - -----
                                                Ntxn
    Loss-Free Asynchronous Message Processing Rate = MAX(APRn)
       given Lrn = 0
 Reporting Format:
    The Asynchronous Message Processing Rate results MUST be reported
    in tabular format, with a row for each trial.
    The table should report the following information, in addition to
    the configuration parameters captured per Section 4.8, with
    columns:
  1. Offered rate (Ntxn/Td)
  1. Asynchronous Message Processing Rate (APRn)
  1. Loss Ratio (Lr)
  1. Benchmark at this iteration (blank for none, Maximum
Asynchronous Message Processing Rate, Loss-Free Asynchronous
          Message Processing Rate)
    The results MAY be presented in the form of a graph.  The X axis
    SHOULD be the offered rate, and dual Y axes would represent the
    Asynchronous Message Processing Rate and the Loss Ratio,
    respectively.
Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 16] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018
    If this test is repeated with a varying number of nodes over the
    same topology, the results SHOULD be reported in the form of a
    graph.  The X axis SHOULD be the number of nodes (N), and the
    Y axis SHOULD be the Asynchronous Message Processing Rate.  Both
    the Maximum Asynchronous Message Processing Rate and the Loss-Free
    Asynchronous Message Processing Rate should be plotted for each N.
5.1.4. Reactive Path Provisioning Time
 Objective:
    Measure the time taken by the controller to set up a path
    reactively between source and destination nodes, defined as the
    interval starting with the first flow provisioning request message
    received by the controller(s) at its southbound interface and
    ending with the last flow provisioning response message sent from
    the controller(s) at its southbound interface.
 Reference Test Setup:
    This test SHOULD use one of the test setups illustrated in
    Section 3.1 or Section 3.2 of this document.  The number of
    Network Devices in the path is a parameter of the test that may be
    varied from two to the maximum discovery size in repetitions of
    this test.
 Prerequisites:
    1. The controller MUST contain the network topology information
       for the deployed network topology.
    2. The controller should know the location of the destination
       endpoint for which the path has to be provisioned.  This can be
       achieved through dynamic learning or static provisioning.
    3. Ensure that the default action for "flow miss" in the Network
       Device is configured to "send to controller".
    4. Ensure that each Network Device in a path requires the
       controller to make the forwarding decision while paving the
       entire path.
Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 17] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018
 Procedure:
    1. Send a single traffic stream from test traffic generator TP1 to
       test traffic generator TP2.
    2. Record the time of the first flow provisioning request message
       sent to the controller (Tsf1) from the Network Device at the
       forwarding-plane test emulator interface (I1).
    3. Wait for the arrival of the first traffic frame at the endpoint
       (i.e., test traffic generator TP2) or the expiry of the Trial
       Duration (Td).
    4. Record the time of the last flow provisioning response message
       received from the controller (Tdf1) to the Network Device at
       the forwarding-plane test emulator interface (I1).
 Measurements:
    Reactive Path Provisioning Time (RPT1) = Tdf1 - Tsf1
    Average Reactive Path Provisioning Time =
                                            RPT1 + RPT2 + RPT3 .. RPTn
                                            --------------------------
                                                    Total Trials
    Reactive Path Provisioning Time Variance (TRPv) =
                                            SUM[SQUAREOF(RPTi - TRPm)]
                                            --------------------------
                                                   Total Trials - 1
       Where TRPm is the Average Reactive Path Provisioning Time.
 Reporting Format:
    The Reactive Path Provisioning Time results MUST be reported in
    tabular format, with a row for each iteration.  The last row of
    the table indicates the Reactive Path Provisioning Time variance,
    and the previous row indicates the Average Reactive Path
    Provisioning Time.
    The report should capture the following information, in addition
    to the configuration parameters captured per Section 4.8:
  1. Number of Network Devices in the path
Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 18] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018 5.1.5. Proactive Path Provisioning Time
 Objective:
    Measure the time taken by the controller to set up a path
    proactively between source and destination nodes, defined as the
    interval starting with the first proactive flow provisioned in the
    controller(s) at its northbound interface and ending with the last
    flow provisioning response message sent from the controller(s) at
    its southbound interface.
 Reference Test Setup:
    This test SHOULD use one of the test setups illustrated in
    Section 3.1 or Section 3.2 of this document.
 Prerequisites:
    1. The controller MUST contain the network topology information
       for the deployed network topology.
    2. The controller should know the location of the destination
       endpoint for which the path has to be provisioned.  This can be
       achieved through dynamic learning or static provisioning.
    3. Ensure that the default action for "flow miss" in the Network
       Device is "drop".
 Procedure:
    1. Send a single traffic stream from test traffic generator TP1 to
       test traffic generator TP2.
    2. Install the flow entries so that the traffic travels from test
       traffic generator TP1 until it reaches test traffic
       generator TP2 through the controller's northbound interface or
       management interface.
    3. Wait for the arrival of the first traffic frame at test traffic
       generator TP2 or the expiry of the Trial Duration (Td).
    4. Record the time when the proactive flow is provisioned in the
       controller (Tsf1) at the management-plane test emulator
       interface (I2).
    5. Record the time of the last flow provisioning message received
       from the controller (Tdf1) at the forwarding-plane test
       emulator interface (I1).
Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 19] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018
 Measurements:
    Proactive Flow Provisioning Time (PPT1) = Tdf1 - Tsf1
    Average Proactive Path Provisioning Time =
                                            PPT1 + PPT2 + PPT3 .. PPTn
                                            --------------------------
                                                    Total Trials
    Proactive Path Provisioning Time Variance (TPPv) =
                                            SUM[SQUAREOF(PPTi - TPPm)]
                                            --------------------------
                                                 Total Trials - 1
       Where TPPm is the Average Proactive Path Provisioning Time.
 Reporting Format:
    The Proactive Path Provisioning Time results MUST be reported in
    tabular format, with a row for each iteration.  The last row of
    the table indicates the Proactive Path Provisioning Time variance,
    and the previous row indicates the Average Proactive Path
    Provisioning Time.
    The report should capture the following information, in addition
    to the configuration parameters captured per Section 4.8:
  1. Number of Network Devices in the path
Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 20] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018 5.1.6. Reactive Path Provisioning Rate
 Objective:
    Measure the maximum number of independent paths a controller can
    concurrently establish per second between source and destination
    nodes reactively, defined as the number of paths provisioned per
    second by the controller(s) at its southbound interface for the
    flow provisioning requests received for path provisioning at its
    southbound interface between the start of the test and the expiry
    of the given Trial Duration.
 Reference Test Setup:
    This test SHOULD use one of the test setups illustrated in
    Section 3.1 or Section 3.2 of this document.
 Prerequisites:
    1. The controller MUST contain the network topology information
       for the deployed network topology.
    2. The controller should know the location of destination
       addresses for which the paths have to be provisioned.  This can
       be achieved through dynamic learning or static provisioning.
    3. Ensure that the default action for "flow miss" in the Network
       Device is configured to "send to controller".
    4. Ensure that each Network Device in a path requires the
       controller to make the forwarding decision while provisioning
       the entire path.
 Procedure:
    1. Send traffic with unique source and destination addresses from
       test traffic generator TP1.
    2. Record the total number of unique traffic frames (Ndf) received
       at test traffic generator TP2 within the Trial Duration (Td).
Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 21] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018
 Measurements:
                                              Ndf
    Reactive Path Provisioning Rate (RPR1) = ------
                                              Td
    Average Reactive Path Provisioning Rate =
                                            RPR1 + RPR2 + RPR3 .. RPRn
                                            --------------------------
                                                   Total Trials
    Reactive Path Provisioning Rate Variance (RPPv) =
                                            SUM[SQUAREOF(RPRi - RPPm)]
                                            --------------------------
                                                  Total Trials - 1
       Where RPPm is the Average Reactive Path Provisioning Rate.
 Reporting Format:
    The Reactive Path Provisioning Rate results MUST be reported in
    tabular format, with a row for each iteration.  The last row of
    the table indicates the Reactive Path Provisioning Rate variance,
    and the previous row indicates the Average Reactive Path
    Provisioning Rate.
    The report should capture the following information, in addition
    to the configuration parameters captured per Section 4.8:
  1. Number of Network Devices in the path
  1. Offered rate
Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 22] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018 5.1.7. Proactive Path Provisioning Rate
 Objective:
    Measure the maximum number of independent paths a controller can
    concurrently establish per second between source and destination
    nodes proactively, defined as the number of paths provisioned per
    second by the controller(s) at its southbound interface for the
    paths requested in its northbound interface between the start of
    the test and the expiry of the given Trial Duration.  The
    measurement is based on data-plane observations of successful path
    activation.
 Reference Test Setup:
    This test SHOULD use one of the test setups illustrated in
    Section 3.1 or Section 3.2 of this document.
 Prerequisites:
    1. The controller MUST contain the network topology information
       for the deployed network topology.
    2. The controller should know the location of destination
       addresses for which the paths have to be provisioned.  This can
       be achieved through dynamic learning or static provisioning.
    3. Ensure that the default action for "flow miss" in the Network
       Device is "drop".
 Procedure:
    1. Send traffic continuously with unique source and destination
       addresses from test traffic generator TP1.
    2. Install corresponding flow entries so that the traffic travels
       from simulated sources at test traffic generator TP1 until it
       reaches the simulated destinations at test traffic
       generator TP2 through the controller's northbound interface or
       management interface.
    3. Record the total number of unique traffic frames (Ndf) received
       at test traffic generator TP2 within the Trial Duration (Td).
Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 23] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018
 Measurements:
                                               Ndf
    Proactive Path Provisioning Rate (PPR1) = ------
                                               Td
    Average Proactive Path Provisioning Rate =
                                            PPR1 + PPR2 + PPR3 .. PPRn
                                            --------------------------
                                                    Total Trials
    Proactive Path Provisioning Rate Variance (PPPv) =
                                            SUM[SQUAREOF(PPRi - PPPm)]
                                            -------------------------
                                                 Total Trials - 1
       Where PPPm is the Average Proactive Path Provisioning Rate.
 Reporting Format:
    The Proactive Path Provisioning Rate results MUST be reported in
    tabular format, with a row for each iteration.  The last row of
    the table indicates the Proactive Path Provisioning Rate variance,
    and the previous row indicates the Average Proactive Path
    Provisioning Rate.
    The report should capture the following information, in addition
    to the configuration parameters captured per Section 4.8:
  1. Number of Network Devices in the path
  1. Offered rate
Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 24] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018 5.1.8. Network Topology Change Detection Time
 Objective:
    Measure the amount of time taken by the controller to detect any
    changes in the network topology, defined as the interval starting
    with the notification message received by the controller(s) at its
    southbound interface and ending with the first topology
    rediscovery message sent from the controller(s) at its southbound
    interface.
 Reference Test Setup:
    This test SHOULD use one of the test setups illustrated in
    Section 3.1 or Section 3.2 of this document.
 Prerequisites:
    1. The controller MUST have successfully discovered the network
       topology information for the deployed network topology.
    2. The periodic network discovery operation should be configured
       to twice the Trial Duration (Td) value.
 Procedure:
    1. Trigger a topology change event by bringing down an active
       Network Device in the topology.
    2. Record the time when the first topology change notification is
       sent to the controller (Tcn) at the forwarding-plane test
       emulator interface (I1).
    3. Stop the trial when the controller sends the first topology
       rediscovery message to the Network Device or the expiry of the
       Trial Duration (Td).
    4. Record the time when the first topology rediscovery message is
       received from the controller (Tcd) at the forwarding-plane test
       emulator interface (I1).
Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 25] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018
 Measurements:
    Network Topology Change Detection Time (TDT1) = Tcd - Tcn
    Average Network Topology Change Detection Time =
                                            TDT1 + TDT2 + TDT3 .. TDTn
                                            --------------------------
                                                    Total Trials
    Network Topology Change Detection Time Variance (NTDv) =
                                            SUM[SQUAREOF(TDTi - NTDm)]
                                            --------------------------
                                                  Total Trials - 1
       Where NTDm is the Average Network Topology Change
          Detection Time.
 Reporting Format:
    The Network Topology Change Detection Time results MUST be
    reported in tabular format, with a row for each iteration.  The
    last row of the table indicates the Network Topology Change
    Detection Time variance, and the previous row indicates the
    Average Network Topology Change Detection Time.
5.2. Scalability 5.2.1. Control Sessions Capacity
 Objective:
    Measure the maximum number of control sessions the controller can
    maintain, defined as the number of sessions that the controller
    can accept from Network Devices, starting with the first control
    session and ending with the last control session that the
    controller(s) accepts at its southbound interface.
 Reference Test Setup:
    This test SHOULD use one of the test setups illustrated in
    Section 3.1 or Section 3.2 of this document.
 Prerequisites:
    None
Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 26] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018
 Procedure:
    1. Establish control connections with the controller from every
       Network Device emulated in the forwarding-plane test emulator.
    2. Stop the trial when the controller starts dropping the control
       connections.
    3. Record the number of successful connections established (CCn)
       with the controller at the forwarding-plane test emulator.
 Measurement:
    Control Sessions Capacity = CCn
 Reporting Format:
    The Control Sessions Capacity results MUST be reported in addition
    to the configuration parameters captured per Section 4.8.
5.2.2. Network Discovery Size
 Objective:
    Measure the network size (number of nodes, links, and hosts) that
    a controller can discover, defined as the size of a network that
    the controller(s) can discover, starting with a network topology
    provided by the user for discovery and ending with the number of
    nodes, links, and hosts that the controller(s) were able to
    successfully discover.
 Reference Test Setup:
    This test SHOULD use one of the test setups illustrated in
    Section 3.1 or Section 3.2 of this document.
 Prerequisites:
    1. The controller MUST support automatic network discovery.
    2. The tester should be able to retrieve the discovered topology
       information through either the controller's management
       interface or northbound interface.
Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 27] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018
 Procedure:
    1. Establish the network connections between the controller and
       the network nodes.
    2. Query the controller every t seconds (the RECOMMENDED value for
       t is 30) to obtain the discovered network topology information
       through the northbound interface or the management interface.
    3. Stop the trial when the discovered network topology information
       remains the same as that of the last two query responses.
    4. Compare the obtained network topology information with the
       deployed network topology information.
    5. If the comparison is successful, increase the number of nodes
       by 1 and repeat the trial.
       If the comparison is unsuccessful, decrease the number of nodes
       by 1 and repeat the trial.
    6. Continue the trial until the comparison (step 5) is successful.
    7. Record the number of nodes for the last trial run (Ns) where
       the topology comparison was successful.
 Measurement:
     Network Discovery Size = Ns
 Reporting Format:
    The Network Discovery Size results MUST be reported in addition to
    the configuration parameters captured per Section 4.8.
Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 28] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018 5.2.3. Forwarding Table Capacity
 Objective:
    Measure the maximum number of flow entries a controller can manage
    in its Forwarding Table.
 Reference Test Setup:
    This test SHOULD use one of the test setups illustrated in
    Section 3.1 or Section 3.2 of this document.
 Prerequisites:
    1. The controller's Forwarding Table should be empty.
    2. "Flow idle time" MUST be set to a higher or infinite value.
    3. The controller MUST have successfully completed network
       topology discovery.
    4. The tester should be able to retrieve the Forwarding Table
       information through either the controller's management
       interface or northbound interface.
 Procedures:
    o  Reactive Flow Provisioning Mode:
       1. Send bidirectional traffic continuously with unique source
          and destination addresses from test traffic generators TP1
          and TP2 at the Asynchronous Message Processing Rate of the
          controller.
       2. Query the controller at a regular interval (e.g., every
          5 seconds) for the number of learned flow entries from its
          northbound interface.
       3. Stop the trial when the retrieved value is constant for
          three consecutive iterations, and record the value received
          from the last query (Nrp).
Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 29] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018
    o  Proactive Flow Provisioning Mode:
       1. Install unique flows continuously through the controller's
          northbound interface or management interface until a failure
          response is received from the controller.
       2. Record the total number of successful responses (Nrp).
       Note:
       Some controller designs for Proactive Flow Provisioning mode
       may require the switch to send flow setup requests in order to
       generate flow setup responses.  In such cases, it is
       recommended to generate bidirectional traffic for the
       provisioned flows.
 Measurements:
    Proactive Flow Provisioning Mode:
       Max Flow Entries = Total number of flows provisioned (Nrp)
    Reactive Flow Provisioning Mode:
       Max Flow Entries = Total number of learned flow entries (Nrp)
    Forwarding Table Capacity = Max Flow Entries
 Reporting Format:
    The Forwarding Table Capacity results MUST be tabulated with the
    following information, in addition to the configuration parameters
    captured per Section 4.8:
  1. Provisioning Type (Proactive/Reactive)
Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 30] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018 5.3. Security 5.3.1. Exception Handling
 Objective:
    Determine the effects of handling error packets and notifications
    on performance tests.  The impact MUST be measured for the
    following performance tests:
       1. Path Provisioning Rate
       2. Path Provisioning Time
       3. Network Topology Change Detection Time
 Reference Test Setup:
    This test SHOULD use one of the test setups illustrated in
    Section 3.1 or Section 3.2 of this document.
 Prerequisites:
    1. This test MUST be performed after obtaining the baseline
       measurement results for the performance tests listed above.
    2. Ensure that the invalid messages are not dropped by the
       intermediate devices connecting the controller and Network
       Devices.
 Procedure:
    1. Perform the above-listed performance tests, and send 1% of the
       messages from the Asynchronous Message Processing Rate test
       (Section 5.1.3) as invalid messages from the connected Network
       Devices emulated at the forwarding-plane test emulator.
    2. Perform the above-listed performance tests, and send 2% of the
       messages from the Asynchronous Message Processing Rate test
       (Section 5.1.3) as invalid messages from the connected Network
       Devices emulated at the forwarding-plane test emulator.
    Note:
    Invalid messages can be frames with incorrect protocol fields or
    any form of failure notifications sent towards the controller.
Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 31] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018
 Measurements:
    Measurements MUST be done as per the equation defined in the
    "Measurements" section of the corresponding test listed under
    "Objective".
 Reporting Format:
    The Exception Handling results MUST be reported in tabular format,
    with a column for each of the below parameters and row for each of
    the above-listed performance tests:
  1. Without Exceptions
  1. With 1% Exceptions
  1. With 2% Exceptions
5.3.2. Handling Denial-of-Service Attacks
 Objective:
    Determine the effects of handling DoS attacks on performance and
    scalability tests.  The impact MUST be measured for the following
    tests:
       1. Path Provisioning Rate
       2. Path Provisioning Time
       3. Network Topology Change Detection Time
       4. Network Discovery Size
 Reference Test Setup:
    This test SHOULD use one of the test setups illustrated in
    Section 3.1 or Section 3.2 of this document.
 Prerequisite:
    This test MUST be performed after obtaining the baseline
    measurement results for the performance tests listed above.
Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 32] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018
 Procedure:
    Perform the above-listed tests, and launch a DoS attack towards
    the controller while the trial is running.
    Note: DoS attacks can be launched on one of the following
    interfaces:
       1. Northbound (e.g., query for flow entries continuously on the
          northbound interface)
       2. Management (e.g., Ping requests to the controller's
          management interface)
       3. Southbound (e.g., TCP SYN messages on the southbound
          interface)
 Measurements:
    Measurements MUST be done as per the equation defined in the
    "Measurements" section of the corresponding test listed under
    "Objective".
 Reporting Format:
    The results regarding the handling of DoS attacks MUST be reported
    in tabular format, with a column for each of the below parameters
    and a row for each of the above-listed tests.
  1. Without any attacks
  1. With attacks
    The report should also specify the nature of the attack and the
    interface in question.
Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 33] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018 5.4. Reliability 5.4.1. Controller Failover Time
 Objective:
    Measure the time taken to switch from an active controller to the
    backup controller when the controllers work in redundancy mode and
    the active controller fails, defined as the interval starting when
    the active controller is brought down and ending with the first
    rediscovery message received from the new controller at its
    southbound interface.
 Reference Test Setup:
    This test SHOULD use the test setup illustrated in Section 3.2 of
    this document.
 Prerequisites:
    1. Master controller election MUST be completed.
    2. Nodes are connected to the controller cluster per the
       implemented redundancy mode (e.g., active-standby).
    3. The controller cluster should have successfully completed the
       network topology discovery.
    4. The Network Device MUST send all new flows to the controller
       when it receives them from the test traffic generator.
    5. The controller should have learned the location of the
       destination (D1) at test traffic generator TP2.
Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 34] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018
 Procedure:
    1. Send unidirectional traffic continuously with incremental
       sequence numbers and source addresses from test traffic
       generator TP1 at the rate at which the controller can process
       the traffic without any drops.
    2. Ensure that there are no packet drops observed at test traffic
       generator TP2.
    3. Bring down the active controller.
    4. Stop the trial when the first frame after the failover
       operation is received on test traffic generator TP2.
    5. Record the time at which the last valid frame was received (T1)
       at test traffic generator TP2 before the sequence error and the
       time at which the first valid frame was received (T2) after the
       sequence error at test traffic generator TP2.
 Measurements:
    Controller Failover Time = (T2 - T1)
    Packet Loss = Number of missing packet sequences
 Reporting Format:
    The Controller Failover Time results MUST be tabulated with the
    following information:
  1. Number of cluster nodes
  1. Redundancy mode
  1. Controller Failover Time
  1. Packet Loss
  1. Cluster keep-alive interval
Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 35] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018 5.4.2. Network Re-provisioning Time
 Objective:
    Measure the time taken by the controller to reroute traffic when
    there is a failure in existing traffic paths, defined as the
    interval starting with the first failure notification message
    received by the controller and ending with the last flow
    re-provisioning message sent by the controller at its southbound
    interface.
 Reference Test Setup:
    This test SHOULD use one of the test setups illustrated in
    Section 3.1 or Section 3.2 of this document.
 Prerequisites:
    1. A network with a specified number of nodes and redundant paths
       MUST be deployed.
    2. The controller MUST know the location of test traffic
       generators TP1 and TP2.
    3. Ensure that the controller does not pre-provision the alternate
       path in the emulated Network Devices at the forwarding-plane
       test emulator.
 Procedure:
    1. Send bidirectional traffic continuously with a unique sequence
       number from test traffic generators TP1 and TP2.
    2. Bring down a link or switch in the traffic path.
    3. Stop the trial after receiving the first frame after network
       reconvergence.
    4. Record the time of the last received frame prior to the frame
       loss at test traffic generator TP2 (TP2-Tlfr) and the time of
       the first frame received after the frame loss at test traffic
       generator TP2 (TP2-Tffr).  There must be a gap in sequence
       numbers of these frames.
    5. Record the time of the last received frame prior to the frame
       loss at test traffic generator TP1 (TP1-Tlfr) and the time of
       the first frame received after the frame loss at test traffic
       generator TP1 (TP1-Tffr).
Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 36] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018
 Measurements:
    Forward Direction Path Re-provisioning Time (FDRT)
                                               = (TP2-Tffr - TP2-Tlfr)
    Reverse Direction Path Re-provisioning Time (RDRT)
                                               = (TP1-Tffr - TP1-Tlfr)
    Network Re-provisioning Time = (FDRT + RDRT)/2
    Forward Direction Packet Loss = Number of missing sequence frames
       at test traffic generator TP1
    Reverse Direction Packet Loss = Number of missing sequence frames
       at test traffic generator TP2
 Reporting Format:
    The Network Re-provisioning Time results MUST be tabulated with
    the following information:
  1. Number of nodes in the primary path
  1. Number of nodes in the alternate path
  1. Network Re-provisioning Time
  1. Forward Direction Packet Loss
  1. Reverse Direction Packet Loss
6. IANA Considerations
 This document has no IANA actions.
Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 37] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018 7. Security Considerations
 The benchmarking tests described in this document are limited to the
 performance characterization of controllers in a lab environment with
 isolated networks.
 The benchmarking network topology will be an independent test setup
 and MUST NOT be connected to devices that may forward the test
 traffic into a production network or misroute traffic to the test
 management network.
 Further, benchmarking is performed on a "black-box" basis, relying
 solely on measurements observable external to the controller.
 Special capabilities SHOULD NOT exist in the controller specifically
 for benchmarking purposes.  Any implications for network security
 arising from the controller SHOULD be identical in the lab and in
 production networks.
8. References 8.1. Normative References
 [RFC2119]  Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
            Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119,
            DOI 10.17487/RFC2119, March 1997,
            <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2119>.
 [RFC8174]  Leiba, B., "Ambiguity of Uppercase vs Lowercase in
            RFC 2119 Key Words", BCP 14, RFC 8174,
            DOI 10.17487/RFC8174, May 2017,
            <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8174>.
 [RFC8455]  Bhuvaneswaran, V., Basil, A., Tassinari, M., Manral, V.,
            and S. Banks, "Terminology for Benchmarking
            Software-Defined Networking (SDN) Controller Performance",
            RFC 8455, DOI 10.17487/RFC8455, October 2018,
            <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8455>.
8.2. Informative References
 [OpenFlow-Spec]
            ONF, "OpenFlow Switch Specification" Version 1.4.0 (Wire
            Protocol 0x05), October 2013,
            <https://www.opennetworking.org/wp-content/
            uploads/2014/10/openflow-spec-v1.4.0.pdf>.
Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 38] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018 Appendix A. Benchmarking Methodology Using OpenFlow Controllers
 This section gives an overview of the OpenFlow protocol
 [OpenFlow-Spec] and provides a test methodology for benchmarking SDN
 Controllers supporting the OpenFlow southbound protocol.  The
 OpenFlow protocol is used as an example to illustrate the
 methodologies defined in this document.
A.1. Protocol Overview
 OpenFlow [OpenFlow-Spec] is an open standard protocol defined by the
 Open Networking Foundation (ONF) and used for programming the
 forwarding plane of network switches or routers via a centralized
 controller.
A.2. Messages Overview
 The OpenFlow protocol supports three message types -- namely,
 controller-to-switch, asynchronous, and symmetric.
 Controller-to-switch messages are initiated by the controller and
 used to directly manage or inspect the state of the switch.  These
 messages allow controllers to query/configure the switch ("features"
 messages, configuration messages), collect information from a switch
 (Read-State messages), send packets on a specified port of a switch
 (OFPT_PACKET_OUT messages), and modify the switch forwarding plane
 and state (Modify-State messages, Role-Request messages, etc.).
 Asynchronous messages are generated by the switch without a
 controller soliciting them.  These messages allow switches to update
 controllers to denote an arrival of a new flow (OFPT_PACKET_IN
 messages), switch state changes ("flow-removed" messages, port-status
 messages), and errors (Error messages).
 Symmetric messages are generated in either direction without
 solicitation.  These messages allow switches and controllers to set
 up a connection (Hello messages), verify liveness (Echo messages),
 and offer additional functionalities (Experimenter messages).
A.3. Connection Overview
 The OpenFlow channel is used to exchange OpenFlow messages between an
 OpenFlow switch and an OpenFlow controller.  The OpenFlow channel
 connection can be set up using plain TCP or TLS.  By default, a
 switch establishes a single connection with the SDN Controller.  A
 switch may establish multiple parallel connections to a single
 controller (auxiliary connection) or multiple controllers to handle
 controller failures and load balancing.
Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 39] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018 A.4. Performance Benchmarking Tests A.4.1. Network Topology Discovery Time
 Procedure:
    Network Devices               OpenFlow                    SDN
                                 Controller               Application
          |                            |                           |
          |                            |<Initialize controller     |
          |                            |app., NB and SB interfaces>|
          |                            |                           |
          |<Deploy network with        |                           |
          | given no. of OF switches>  |                           |
          |                            |                           |
          |    OFPT_HELLO Exchange     |                           |
          |<-------------------------->|                           |
          |                            |                           |
          |   OFPT_PACKET_OUT with LLDP|                           |
          |             to all switches|                           |
     (Tm1)|<---------------------------|                           |
          |                            |                           |
          |    OFPT_PACKET_IN with LLDP|                           |
          |          rcvd from Switch 1|                           |
          |--------------------------->|                           |
          |                            |                           |
          |    OFPT_PACKET_IN with LLDP|                           |
          |          rcvd from Switch 2|                           |
          |--------------------------->|                           |
          |            .               |                           |
          |            .               |                           |
          |                            |                           |
          |    OFPT_PACKET_IN with LLDP|                           |
          |          rcvd from Switch n|                           |
     (Tmn)|--------------------------->|                           |
          |                            |                           |
          |                            |    <Wait for the expiry of|
          |                            |   the Trial Duration (Td)>|
          |                            |                           |
          |                            |   Query the controller for|
          |                            |  discovered n/w topo. (Di)|
          |                            |<--------------------------|
          |                            |                           |
          |                            |    <Compare the discovered|
          |                            |       n/w topology and the|
          |                            |      offered n/w topology>|
          |                            |                           |
Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 40] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018
 Legend:
    NB: Northbound
    SB: Southbound
    OF: OpenFlow
    OFP: OpenFlow Protocol
    LLDP: Link-Layer Discovery Protocol
    Tm1: Time of reception of first LLDP message from controller
    Tmn: Time of last LLDP message sent to controller
 Discussion:
    The Network Topology Discovery Time can be obtained by calculating
    the time difference between the first OFPT_PACKET_OUT with an LLDP
    message received from the controller (Tm1) and the last
    OFPT_PACKET_IN with an LLDP message sent to the controller (Tmn)
    when the comparison is successful.
Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 41] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018 A.4.2. Asynchronous Message Processing Time
 Procedure:
       Network Devices            OpenFlow                    SDN
                                 Controller               Application
          |                            |                           |
          |OFPT_PACKET_IN with single  |                           |
          |OFP match header            |                           |
      (T0)|--------------------------->|                           |
          |                            |                           |
          |OFPT_PACKET_OUT with single |                           |
          |          OFP action header |                           |
      (R0)|<---------------------------|                           |
          |          .                 |                           |
          |          .                 |                           |
          |          .                 |                           |
          |                            |                           |
          |OFPT_PACKET_IN with single  |                           |
          |OFP match header            |                           |
      (Tn)|--------------------------->|                           |
          |                            |                           |
          |OFPT_PACKET_OUT with single |                           |
          |          OFP action header |                           |
      (Rn)|<---------------------------|                           |
          |                            |                           |
          |<Wait for the expiry of the |                           |
          |Trial Duration>             |                           |
          |                            |                           |
          |<Record the number of       |                           |
          |OFPT_PACKET_INs/            |                           |
          |OFPT_PACKET_OUTs            |                           |
          |exchanged (Nrx)>            |                           |
          |                            |                           |
 Legend:
    T0,T1, ..Tn: transmit timestamps of OFPT_PACKET_IN messages
    R0,R1, ..Rn: receive timestamps of OFPT_PACKET_OUT messages
    Nrx: Number of successful OFPT_PACKET_IN/OFPT_PACKET_OUT
         message exchanges
 Discussion:
    The Asynchronous Message Processing Time will be obtained by
    calculating the sum of ((R0 - T0),(R1 - T1)..(Rn - Tn))/Nrx.
Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 42] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018 A.4.3. Asynchronous Message Processing Rate
 Procedure:
       Network Devices           OpenFlow                    SDN
                                Controller               Application
          |                            |                          |
          |OFPT_PACKET_IN with single  |                          |
          |OFP match header            |                          |
          |--------------------------->|                          |
          |                            |                          |
          |OFPT_PACKET_OUT with single |                          |
          |          OFP action header |                          |
          |<---------------------------|                          |
          |                            |                          |
          |            .               |                          |
          |            .               |                          |
          |            .               |                          |
          |                            |                          |
          |OFPT_PACKET_IN with single  |                          |
          |OFP match header            |                          |
          |--------------------------->|                          |
          |                            |                          |
          |OFPT_PACKET_OUT with single |                          |
          |          OFP action header |                          |
          |<---------------------------|                          |
          |                            |                          |
          |<Repeat the steps until     |                          |
          |the expiry of the           |                          |
          |Trial Duration>             |                          |
          |                            |                          |
          |<Record the number of OFP   |                          |
    (Ntx1)|match headers sent>         |                          |
          |                            |                          |
          |<Record the number of OFP   |                          |
    (Nrx1)|action headers rcvd>        |                          |
          |                            |                          |
    Note: The Ntx1 on initial trials should be greater than Nrx1.
    Repeat the trials until the Nrxn for two consecutive trials equals
    (+/-P%).
Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 43] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018
 Discussion:
    Using a single procedure, this test will measure two benchmarks:
       1. The Maximum Asynchronous Message Processing Rate will be
          obtained by calculating the maximum OFPT_PACKET_OUTs (Nrxn)
          received from the controller(s) across n trials.
       2. The Loss-Free Asynchronous Message Processing Rate will be
          obtained by calculating the maximum OFPT_PACKET_OUTs
          received from the controller(s) when the Loss Ratio equals
          zero.  The Loss Ratio is obtained by calculating
          1 - Nrxn/Ntxn.
A.4.4. Reactive Path Provisioning Time
 Procedure:
     Test Traffic     Test Traffic      Network Devices      OpenFlow
    Generator TP1    Generator TP2                          Controller
          |             |                      |                     |
          |             |G-ARP (D1)            |                     |
          |             |--------------------->|                     |
          |             |                      |                     |
          |             |                      |OFPT_PACKET_IN(D1)   |
          |             |                      |-------------------->|
          |             |                      |                     |
          |Traffic (S1,D1)                     |                     |
    (Tsf1)|----------------------------------->|                     |
          |             |                      |                     |
          |             |                      |                     |
          |             |                      |                     |
          |             |                      |OFPT_PACKET_IN(S1,D1)|
          |             |                      |-------------------->|
          |             |                      |                     |
          |             |                      |  FLOW_MOD(D1)       |
          |             |                      |<--------------------|
          |             |                      |                     |
          |             |Traffic (S1,D1)       |                     |
          |       (Tdf1)|<---------------------|                     |
          |             |                      |                     |
Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 44] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018
 Legend:
    G-ARP: Gratuitous ARP message
    Tsf1: Time of first frame sent from TP1
    Tdf1: Time of first frame received from TP2
 Discussion:
    The Reactive Path Provisioning Time can be obtained by finding the
    time difference between the transmit and receive times of the
    traffic (Tsf1 - Tdf1).
Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 45] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018 A.4.5. Proactive Path Provisioning Time
 Procedure:
 Test Traffic  Test Traffic    Network Devices OpenFlow       SDN
 Generator TP1 Generator TP2                  Controller   Application
       |            |               |                  |             |
       |            |               |                  |             |
       |            |               |                  |<Install flow|
       |            |               |                  |  for S1,D1> |
       |            |G-ARP (D1)     |                  |             |
       |            |-------------->|                  |             |
       |            |               |                  |             |
       |            |               |OFPT_PACKET_IN(D1)|             |
       |            |               |----------------->|             |
       |            |               |                  |             |
       |Traffic (S1,D1)             |                  |             |
 (Tsf1)|--------------------------->|                  |             |
       |            |               |                  |             |
       |            |               |   FLOW_MOD(D1)   |             |
       |            |               |<-----------------|             |
       |            |               |                  |             |
       |            |Traffic (S1,D1)|                  |             |
       |      (Tdf1)|<--------------|                  |             |
       |            |               |                  |             |
 Legend:
    G-ARP: Gratuitous ARP message
    Tsf1: Time of first frame sent from TP1
    Tdf1: Time of first frame received from TP2
 Discussion:
    The Proactive Path Provisioning Time can be obtained by finding
    the time difference between the transmit and receive times of the
    traffic (Tsf1 - Tdf1).
Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 46] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018 A.4.6. Reactive Path Provisioning Rate
 Procedure:
     Test Traffic     Test Traffic   Network Devices         OpenFlow
    Generator TP1    Generator TP2                         Controller
          |             |                    |                      |
          |             |                    |                      |
          |             |                    |                      |
          |             |G-ARP (D1..Dn)      |                      |
          |             |--------------------|                      |
          |             |                    |                      |
          |             |                    |OFPT_PACKET_IN(D1..Dn)|
          |             |                    |--------------------->|
          |             |                    |                      |
          |Traffic (S1..Sn,D1..Dn)           |                      |
          |--------------------------------->|                      |
          |             |                    |                      |
          |             |                    |OFPT_PACKET_IN(S1..Sn,|
          |             |                    |               D1..Dn)|
          |             |                    |--------------------->|
          |             |                    |                      |
          |             |                    |        FLOW_MOD(S1)  |
          |             |                    |<---------------------|
          |             |                    |                      |
          |             |                    |        FLOW_MOD(D1)  |
          |             |                    |<---------------------|
          |             |                    |                      |
          |             |                    |        FLOW_MOD(S2)  |
          |             |                    |<---------------------|
          |             |                    |                      |
          |             |                    |        FLOW_MOD(D2)  |
          |             |                    |<---------------------|
          |             |                    |             .        |
          |             |                    |             .        |
          |             |                    |                      |
          |             |                    |        FLOW_MOD(Sn)  |
          |             |                    |<---------------------|
          |             |                    |                      |
          |             |                    |        FLOW_MOD(Dn)  |
          |             |                    |<---------------------|
          |             |                    |                      |
          |             | Traffic (S1..Sn,   |                      |
          |             |             D1..Dn)|                      |
          |             |<-------------------|                      |
          |             |                    |                      |
          |             |                    |                      |
Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 47] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018
 Legend:
    G-ARP: Gratuitous ARP message
    D1..Dn: Destination Endpoint 1, Destination Endpoint 2 ...,
            Destination Endpoint n
    S1..Sn: Source Endpoint 1, Source Endpoint 2 ...,
            Source Endpoint n
 Discussion:
    The Reactive Path Provisioning Rate can be obtained by finding the
    total number of frames received at test traffic generator TP2
    after the Trial Duration.
Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 48] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018 A.4.7. Proactive Path Provisioning Rate
 Procedure:
 Test Traffic  Test Traffic   Network Devices   OpenFlow        SDN
 Generator TP1 Generator TP2                   Controller  Application
       |            |                |                 |             |
       |            |G-ARP (D1..Dn)  |                 |             |
       |            |--------------->|                 |             |
       |            |                |                 |             |
       |            |                |OFPT_PACKET_IN   |             |
       |            |                |         (D1..Dn)|             |
       |            |                |---------------->|             |
       |            |                |                 |             |
       |Traffic (S1..Sn,D1..Dn)      |                 |             |
 (Tsf1)|---------------------------->|                 |             |
       |            |                |                 |             |
       |            |                |                 |<Install flow|
       |            |                |                 |  for S1,D1> |
       |            |                |                 |             |
       |            |                |                 |       .     |
       |            |                |                 |<Install flow|
       |            |                |                 |  for Sn,Dn> |
       |            |                |                 |             |
       |            |                |  FLOW_MOD(S1)   |             |
       |            |                |<----------------|             |
       |            |                |                 |             |
       |            |                |  FLOW_MOD(D1)   |             |
       |            |                |<----------------|             |
       |            |                |                 |             |
       |            |                |       .         |             |
       |            |                |  FLOW_MOD(Sn)   |             |
       |            |                |<----------------|             |
       |            |                |                 |             |
       |            |                |  FLOW_MOD(Dn)   |             |
       |            |                |<----------------|             |
       |            |                |                 |             |
       |            |Traffic (S1..Sn,|                 |             |
       |            |         D1..Dn)|                 |             |
       |      (Tdf1)|<---------------|                 |             |
       |            |                |                 |             |
Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 49] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018
 Legend:
    G-ARP: Gratuitous ARP message
    D1..Dn: Destination Endpoint 1, Destination Endpoint 2 ...,
            Destination Endpoint n
    S1..Sn: Source Endpoint 1, Source Endpoint 2 ...,
            Source Endpoint n
 Discussion:
    The Proactive Path Provisioning Rate can be obtained by finding
    the total number of frames received at test traffic generator TP2
    after the Trial Duration.
A.4.8. Network Topology Change Detection Time
 Procedure:
     Network Devices              OpenFlow                    SDN
                                 Controller               Application
          |                            |                           |
          |                            |     <Bring down a link in |
          |                            |                 Switch S1>|
          |                            |                           |
       T0 |PORT_STATUS with link down  |                           |
          | from S1                    |                           |
          |--------------------------->|                           |
          |                            |                           |
          |First OFPT_PACKET_OUT with  |                           |
          |LLDP to OF switch           |                           |
       T1 |<---------------------------|                           |
          |                            |                           |
          |                            |      <Record time of first|
          |                            |       OFPT_PACKET_OUT with|
          |                            |                   LLDP T1>|
          |                            |                           |
 Discussion:
    The Network Topology Change Detection Time can be obtained by
    finding the difference between the time that OpenFlow Switch S1
    sends the PORT_STATUS message (T0) and the time that the OpenFlow
    controller sends the first topology rediscovery message (T1) to
    OpenFlow switches.
Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 50] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018 A.5. Scalability A.5.1. Control Sessions Capacity
 Procedure:
       Network Devices                        OpenFlow
                                             Controller
          |                                       |
          |    OFPT_HELLO Exchange for Switch 1   |
          |<------------------------------------->|
          |                                       |
          |    OFPT_HELLO Exchange for Switch 2   |
          |<------------------------------------->|
          |                  .                    |
          |                  .                    |
          |                  .                    |
          |    OFPT_HELLO Exchange for Switch n   |
          |X<----------------------------------->X|
          |                                       |
 Discussion:
    The value of Switch (n - 1) will provide the Control Sessions
    Capacity.
Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 51] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018 A.5.2. Network Discovery Size
 Procedure:
     Network Devices              OpenFlow                    SDN
                                 Controller               Application
          |                            |                           |
          |                            |     <Deploy network with  |
          |                            |given no. of OF switches N>|
          |                            |                           |
          |    OFPT_HELLO Exchange     |                           |
          |<-------------------------->|                           |
          |                            |                           |
          |   OFPT_PACKET_OUT with LLDP|                           |
          |      to all switches       |                           |
          |<---------------------------|                           |
          |                            |                           |
          |    OFPT_PACKET_IN with LLDP|                           |
          |          rcvd from Switch 1|                           |
          |--------------------------->|                           |
          |                            |                           |
          |    OFPT_PACKET_IN with LLDP|                           |
          |          rcvd from Switch 2|                           |
          |--------------------------->|                           |
          |            .               |                           |
          |            .               |                           |
          |                            |                           |
          |    OFPT_PACKET_IN with LLDP|                           |
          |          rcvd from Switch n|                           |
          |--------------------------->|                           |
          |                            |                           |
          |                            |    <Wait for the expiry of|
          |                            |   the Trial Duration (Td)>|
          |                            |                           |
          |                            |   Query the controller for|
          |                            |  discovered n/w topo. (N1)|
          |                            |<--------------------------|
          |                            |                           |
          |                            |   <If N1==N, repeat Step 1|
          |                            |           with N + 1 nodes|
          |                            |               until N1<N >|
          |                            |                           |
          |                            |   <If N1<N, repeat Step 1 |
          |                            | with N=N1 nodes once and  |
          |                            | exit>                     |
          |                            |                           |
Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 52] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018
 Legend:
    n/w topo: Network topology
    OF: OpenFlow
 Discussion:
    The value of N1 provides the Network Discovery Size value.  The
    Trial Duration can be set to the stipulated time within which the
    user expects the controller to complete the discovery process.
Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 53] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018 A.5.3. Forwarding Table Capacity
 Procedure:
 Test Traffic     Network Devices        OpenFlow          SDN
 Generator TP1                           Controller     Application
      |                 |                      |                 |
      |                 |                      |                 |
      |G-ARP (H1..Hn)   |                      |                 |
      |---------------->|                      |                 |
      |                 |                      |                 |
      |                 |OFPT_PACKET_IN(D1..Dn)|                 |
      |                 |--------------------->|                 |
      |                 |                      |                 |
      |                 |                      |<Wait for 5 secs>|
      |                 |                      |                 |
      |                 |                      |  <Query for FWD |
      |                 |                      |          entry> |(F1)
      |                 |                      |                 |
      |                 |                      |<Wait for 5 secs>|
      |                 |                      |                 |
      |                 |                      |  <Query for FWD |
      |                 |                      |          entry> |(F2)
      |                 |                      |                 |
      |                 |                      |<Wait for 5 secs>|
      |                 |                      |                 |
      |                 |                      |  <Query for FWD |
      |                 |                      |          entry> |(F3)
      |                 |                      |                 |
      |                 |                      | <Repeat Step 2  |
      |                 |                      |until F1==F2==F3>|
      |                 |                      |                 |
 Legend:
    G-ARP: Gratuitous ARP message
    H1..Hn: Host 1 .. Host n
    FWD: Forwarding Table
 Discussion:
    Query the controller's Forwarding Table entries multiple times,
    until three consecutive queries return the same value.  The last
    value retrieved from the controller will provide the Forwarding
    Table Capacity value.  The query interval is user configurable.
    The interval of 5 seconds shown in this example is for
    representational purposes.
Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 54] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018 A.6. Security A.6.1. Exception Handling Procedure: Test Traffic Test Traffic Network Devices OpenFlow SDN Generator TP1 Generator TP2 Controller Application
 |          |                |                      |                |
 |          |G-ARP (D1..Dn)  |                      |                |
 |          |--------------->|                      |                |
 |          |                |                      |                |
 |          |                |OFPT_PACKET_IN(D1..Dn)|                |
 |          |                |--------------------->|                |
 |          |                |                      |                |
 |Traffic (S1..Sn,D1..Dn)    |                      |                |
 |-------------------------->|                      |                |
 |          |                |                      |                |
 |          |                |OFPT_PACKET_IN(S1..Sa,|                |
 |          |                |               D1..Da)|                |
 |          |                |--------------------->|                |
 |          |                |                      |                |
 |          |                |OFPT_PACKET_IN        |                |
 |          |                |            (Sa+1..Sn,|                |
 |          |                |             Da+1..Dn)|                |
 |          |                |     (1% incorrect OFP|                |
 |          |                |         match header)|                |
 |          |                |--------------------->|                |
 |          |                |                      |                |
 |          |                |      FLOW_MOD(D1..Dn)|                |
 |          |                |<---------------------|                |
 |          |                |                      |                |
 |          |                |      FLOW_MOD(S1..Sa)|                |
 |          |                |           OFP headers|                |
 |          |                |<---------------------|                |
 |          |                |                      |                |
 |          |Traffic (S1..Sa,|                      |                |
 |          |         D1..Da)|                      |                |
 |          |<---------------|                      |                |
 |          |                |                      |                |
 |          |                |                      |   <Wait for the|
 |          |                |                      |   expiry of the|
 |          |                |                      |           Trial|
 |          |                |                      |       Duration>|
 |          |                |                      |                |
 |          |                |                      |      <Record Rx|
 |          |                |                      |       frames at|
 |          |                |                      |      TP2 (Rn1)>|
Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 55] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018
 |          |                |                      |                |
 |          |                |                      |        <Repeat |
 |          |                |                      |     Step 1 with|
 |          |                |                      |    2% incorrect|
 |          |                |                      |OFPT_PACKET_INs>|
 |          |                |                      |                |
 |          |                |                      |      <Record Rx|
 |          |                |                      |       frames at|
 |          |                |                      |      TP2 (Rn2)>|
 Legend:
    G-ARP: Gratuitous ARP message
    OFPT_PACKET_IN(Sa+1..Sn,Da+1..Dn): OFPT_PACKET_IN with
                                       wrong version number
    Rn1: Total number of frames received at Test Port 2
         with 1% incorrect frames
    Rn2: Total number of frames received at Test Port 2
         with 2% incorrect frames
 Discussion:
    The traffic rate sent towards the OpenFlow switch from Test Port 1
    should be 1% higher than the Path Programming Rate.  Rn1 will
    provide the Path Provisioning Rate of the controller when 1% of
    incorrect frames are received, and Rn2 will provide the Path
    Provisioning Rate of the controller when 2% of incorrect frames
    are received.
    The procedure defined above provides test steps to determine the
    effects of handling error packets on the Path Programming Rate.
    The same procedure can be adapted to determine the effects on
    other performance tests listed in this benchmarking test.
Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 56] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018 A.6.2. Handling Denial-of-Service Attacks Procedure: Test Traffic Test Traffic Network Device OpenFlow SDN Generator TP1 Generator TP2 Controller Application
  |          |                 |                      |             |
  |          |G-ARP (D1..Dn)   |                      |             |
  |          |---------------->|                      |             |
  |          |                 |                      |             |
  |          |                 |OFPT_PACKET_IN(D1..Dn)|             |
  |          |                 |--------------------->|             |
  |          |                 |                      |             |
  |Traffic (S1..Sn,D1..Dn)     |                      |             |
  |--------------------------->|                      |             |
  |          |                 |                      |             |
  |          |                 |OFPT_PACKET_IN(S1..Sn,|             |
  |          |                 |               D1..Dn)|             |
  |          |                 |--------------------->|             |
  |          |                 |                      |             |
  |          |                 |TCP SYN attack        |             |
  |          |                 |from a switch         |             |
  |          |                 |--------------------->|             |
  |          |                 |                      |             |
  |          |                 |FLOW_MOD(D1..Dn)      |             |
  |          |                 |<---------------------|             |
  |          |                 |                      |             |
  |          |                 | FLOW_MOD(S1..Sn)     |             |
  |          |                 |      OFP headers     |             |
  |          |                 |<---------------------|             |
  |          |                 |                      |             |
  |          |Traffic (S1..Sn, |                      |             |
  |          |         D1..Dn) |                      |             |
  |          |<----------------|                      |             |
  |          |                 |                      |             |
  |          |                 |                      |<Wait for the|
  |          |                 |                      |expiry of the|
  |          |                 |                      |        Trial|
  |          |                 |                      |    Duration>|
  |          |                 |                      |             |
  |          |                 |                      |   <Record Rx|
  |          |                 |                      |    frames at|
  |          |                 |                      |   TP2 (Rn1)>|
  |          |                 |                      |             |
Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 57] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018
 Legend:
    G-ARP: Gratuitous ARP message
 Discussion:
    A TCP SYN attack should be launched from one of the
    emulated/simulated OpenFlow switches.  Rn1 provides the Path
    Programming Rate of the controller upon handling a denial-of-
    service attack.
    The procedure defined above provides test steps to determine the
    effects of handling denial of service on the Path Programming
    Rate.  The same procedure can be adapted to determine the effects
    on other performance tests listed in this benchmarking test.
Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 58] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018 A.7. Reliability A.7.1. Controller Failover Time Procedure: Test Traffic Test Traffic Network Device OpenFlow SDN Generator TP1 Generator TP2 Controller Application
 |            |               |                       |             |
 |            |G-ARP (D1)     |                       |             |
 |            |-------------->|                       |             |
 |            |               |                       |             |
 |            |               |OFPT_PACKET_IN(D1)     |             |
 |            |               |---------------------->|             |
 |            |               |                       |             |
 |Traffic (S1..Sn,D1)         |                       |             |
 |--------------------------->|                       |             |
 |            |               |                       |             |
 |            |               |                       |             |
 |            |               |OFPT_PACKET_IN(S1,D1)  |             |
 |            |               |---------------------->|             |
 |            |               |                       |             |
 |            |               |FLOW_MOD(D1)           |             |
 |            |               |<----------------------|             |
 |            |               |FLOW_MOD(S1)           |             |
 |            |               |<----------------------|             |
 |            |               |                       |             |
 |            |Traffic (S1,D1)|                       |             |
 |            |<--------------|                       |             |
 |            |               |                       |             |
 |            |               |OFPT_PACKET_IN(S2,D1)  |             |
 |            |               |---------------------->|             |
 |            |               |                       |             |
 |            |               |FLOW_MOD(S2)           |             |
 |            |               |<----------------------|             |
 |            |               |                       |             |
 |            |               |OFPT_PACKET_IN         |             |
 |            |               |             (Sn-1,D1) |             |
 |            |               |---------------------->|             |
 |            |               |                       |             |
 |            |               |OFPT_PACKET_IN(Sn,D1)  |             |
 |            |               |---------------------->|             |
 |            |               |          .            |             |
 |            |               |          .            |<Bring down  |
 |            |               |          .            | the active  |
 |            |               |                       | controller> |
 |            |               |  FLOW_MOD(Sn-1)       |             |
 |            |               |    X<-----------------|             |
Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 59] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018
 |            |               |                       |             |
 |            |               |FLOW_MOD(Sn)           |             |
 |            |               |<----------------------|             |
 |            |               |                       |             |
 |            |Traffic (Sn,D1)|                       |             |
 |            |<--------------|                       |             |
 |            |               |                       |             |
 |            |               |                       |<Stop the    |
 |            |               |                       |test after   |
 |            |               |                       |recv. traffic|
 |            |               |                       |upon         |
 |            |               |                       |failure>     |
 Legend:
    G-ARP: Gratuitous ARP message
 Discussion:
    The time difference between the last valid frame received before
    the traffic loss and the first frame received after the traffic
    loss will provide the Controller Failover Time.
    If there is no frame loss during the Controller Failover Time, the
    Controller Failover Time can be deemed negligible.
Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 60] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018 A.7.2. Network Re-provisioning Time Procedure: Test Traffic Test Traffic Network Devices OpenFlow SDN Generator TP1 Generator TP2 Controller Application
|             |                |                      |              |
|             |G-ARP (D1)      |                      |              |
|             |--------------->|                      |              |
|             |                |                      |              |
|             |                |OFPT_PACKET_IN(D1)    |              |
|             |                |--------------------->|              |
|             |G-ARP (S1)      |                      |              |
|----------------------------->|                      |              |
|             |                |                      |              |
|             |                |OFPT_PACKET_IN(S1)    |              |
|             |                |--------------------->|              |
|             |                |                      |              |
|Traffic (S1,D1,Seq. no (1..n))|                      |              |
|----------------------------->|                      |              |
|             |                |                      |              |
|             |                |OFPT_PACKET_IN(S1,D1) |              |
|             |                |--------------------->|              |
|             |                |                      |              |
|             | Traffic (D1,S1,|                      |              |
|             | Seq. no (1..n))|                      |              |
|             |--------------->|                      |              |
|             |                |                      |              |
|             |                |OFPT_PACKET_IN(D1,S1) |              |
|             |                |--------------------->|              |
|             |                |                      |              |
|             |                |FLOW_MOD(D1)          |              |
|             |                |<---------------------|              |
|             |                |                      |              |
|             |                |FLOW_MOD(S1)          |              |
|             |                |<---------------------|              |
|             |                |                      |              |
|             | Traffic (S1,D1,|                      |              |
|             |     Seq. no(1))|                      |              |
|             |<---------------|                      |              |
|             |                |                      |              |
|             | Traffic (S1,D1,|                      |              |
|             |     Seq. no(2))|                      |              |
|             |<---------------|                      |              |
|             |                |                      |              |
Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 61] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018
|             |                |                      |              |
|    Traffic (D1,S1,Seq. no(1))|                      |              |
|<-----------------------------|                      |              |
|             |                |                      |              |
|    Traffic (D1,S1,Seq. no(2))|                      |              |
|<-----------------------------|                      |              |
|             |                |                      |              |
|    Traffic (D1,S1,Seq. no(x))|                      |              |
|<-----------------------------|                      |              |
|             |                |                      |              |
|             | Traffic (S1,D1,|                      |              |
|             |     Seq. no(x))|                      |              |
|             |<---------------|                      |              |
|             |                |                      |              |
|             |                |                      |              |
|             |                |                      |  <Bring down |
|             |                |                      | the switch in|
|             |                |                      |    the active|
|             |                |                      | traffic path>|
|             |                |                      |              |
|             |                |PORT_STATUS(Sa)       |              |
|             |                |--------------------->|              |
|             |                |                      |              |
|             | Traffic (S1,D1,|                      |              |
|             | Seq. no(n - 1))|                      |              |
|             |  X<------------|                      |              |
|             |                |                      |              |
|Traffic (D1,S1,Seq. no(n - 1))|                      |              |
|    X<------------------------|                      |              |
|             |                |                      |              |
|             |                |                      |              |
|             |                |FLOW_MOD(D1)          |              |
|             |                |<---------------------|              |
|             |                |                      |              |
|             |                |FLOW_MOD(S1)          |              |
|             |                |<---------------------|              |
|             |                |                      |              |
|    Traffic (D1,S1,Seq. no(n))|                      |              |
|<-----------------------------|                      |              |
|             |                |                      |              |
|             | Traffic (S1,D1,|                      |              |
|             |     Seq. no(n))|                      |              |
|             |<---------------|                      |              |
|             |                |                      |              |
|             |                |                      |<Stop the test|
|             |                |                      |  after recv. |
|             |                |                      |  traffic upon|
|             |                |                      |   failover>  |
Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 62] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018
 Legend:
    G-ARP: Gratuitous ARP message
    Seq. no: Sequence number
    Sa: Neighbor switch of the switch that was brought down
 Discussion:
    The time difference between the last valid frame received before
    the traffic loss (packet with sequence number x) and the first
    frame received after the traffic loss (packet with sequence
    number n) will provide the Network Re-provisioning Time.
    Note that the trial is valid only when the controller provisions
    the alternate path upon network failure.
Acknowledgments
 The authors would like to thank the following individuals for
 providing their valuable comments regarding the earlier draft
 versions of this document: Al Morton (AT&T), Sandeep Gangadharan
 (HP), M. Georgescu (NAIST), Andrew McGregor (Google), Scott Bradner,
 Jay Karthik (Cisco), Ramki Krishnan (VMware), Boris Khasanov
 (Huawei), and Brian Castelli (Spirent).
Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 63] RFC 8456 SDN Controller Benchmarking Methodology October 2018 Authors' Addresses
 Bhuvaneswaran Vengainathan
 Veryx Technologies Inc.
 1 International Plaza, Suite 550
 Philadelphia, PA  19113
 United States of America
 Email: bhuvaneswaran.vengainathan@veryxtech.com
 Anton Basil
 Veryx Technologies Inc.
 1 International Plaza, Suite 550
 Philadelphia, PA  19113
 United States of America
 Email: anton.basil@veryxtech.com
 Mark Tassinari
 Hewlett Packard Enterprise
 8000 Foothills Blvd.
 Roseville, CA  95747
 United States of America
 Email: mark.tassinari@hpe.com
 Vishwas Manral
 NanoSec Co
 3350 Thomas Rd.
 Santa Clara, CA  95054
 United States of America
 Email: vishwas.manral@gmail.com
 Sarah Banks
 VSS Monitoring
 930 De Guigne Drive
 Sunnyvale, CA  94085
 United States of America
 Email: sbanks@encrypted.net
Bhuvaneswaran, et al. Informational [Page 64]
/data/webs/external/dokuwiki/data/pages/rfc/rfc8456.txt · Last modified: 2018/10/30 22:56 by 127.0.0.1

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