Abstract:
The languages currently used for describing network policies are not so e -
cient and well known. The
ow entries stored in network switches forwarding
tables, can be considered as distributed databases. SQL, originally designed
for relational databases, can be used for maintaining these distributed network
switches forwarding tables. SQL inherently includes CRUD (Create,
Retrieve, Update, and Delete) actions which are also used in network switch
forwarding tables. In our work we have proposed that by writing well known
SQL instructions using SQL framework on top of OpenFlow, we can leverage
the DBMS CRUD actions for OpenFlow enabled network switches distributed
databases changes. SQL being a well-known language has number
of open source implementations available. We have built a controller that
can understand SQL statements and translate them into OpenFlow instructions
for applying CRUD actions on the switch
ow tables in a network. By
using this approach we can bene t from SQL features like ACID (Atomicity,
Consistency, Isolation, and Durability) with little or no e ort. For the implementation
and testing of our proposed solution, we built a controller that
accepts SQL instructions as input and deploys respective rules or query data
to and from the switches distributed
ow tables.
