Modeling of OpenFlow-related handover messages in mobile networks

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Modeling of OpenFlow‑related handover messages in mobile networks Strahil Panev1   · Pero Latkoski1

© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020

Abstract Software defined networking (SDN) and its most popular southbound implementation OpenFlow (OF) are already greatly exploited in the existing mobile cellular networks as part of data centers and mobile core networks. Due to user’s mobility, it is of upmost importance for the operators to provide the shortest possible interruption when the mobile users are performing the procedure of handover. In this work, we proposed a novel analytical approach to model the OF-related handover messages exchanged between the OF-switches and the SDN controller. We modeled two different OF-switch implementations and we compared the results: (1) single shared buffer used for the control and data plane; (2) two priority buffers, where the data plane packets are served only when there are no packets to be processed in the control plane. We numerically evaluated the two systems and we validated the model by using simulations. The obtained results clearly point that although the priority buffering increased the complexity, it effectively provided the shortest handover delay. Therefore, the priority buffering should be the preferred mechanism for mobile networks. Keywords  Queuing theory · SDN · OpenFlow · Mobile networks

1 Introduction Mobile core networks today are facing challenges due to the use of proprietary protocols, poor scalability, telecommunication’s vendor specific hardware, and high operational costs [1]. The next generation of mobile networks, 5G, in its very core of architectural development is addressing these problems mainly by deploying the concepts of network softwarization, based on SDN and network functions virtualization (NFV). SDN allows for separation of the control and data plane and enables open standard programmability by using open protocols, whereas NFV decouples the applications from the hardware and enables deployment of application over any commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware. Furthermore, SDN allows a complex network that is constituted of many devices in the user plane, to be managed and * Strahil Panev [email protected] Pero Latkoski [email protected] 1



Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technologies, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje, Republic of North Macedonia

programmed as a single entity [2]. The latter basically means that there is an SDN controller (SDNC) that is part of the control plane, which has the role of central intelligence with full information of network topology and with full authority to make central decisions to reconfigure the network. The most popular protocol for controller-to-switch communication today is OpenFlow (OF) [3]. The average service time of an OF-switch is heavily impacted by the capacity of the output buffer. This buffer is used for temporary storage of the incoming packets. Before the switch can actually serve the packets (has available processi