A Software-Defined Network (SDN) is a network architecture with a centralized fully programmable controller that has a view of all the paths and devices of a network in one entity. That is why, it is considered as a single point of configuration. This huge automation shift adds great value to a corporate network. The graph below represent the different SDN layers and the interactions between them:
In the classic networking stack, every component implements two aspects: control and data entities. But in SDNs, we isolate these two panels. The following diagram illustrates the difference between the two networking approaches:
There are three main SDN models:
- The network virtualization model
- The evolutionary model
- The OpenFlow model
A typical SDN architecture is composed of the following three main components:
- SDN controller: This...