SDN based emulation of an academic networking testbed

This paper proposes an emulated model of an academic networking testbed by using SDN. This emulated model consists of switching and routing topologies and has been tested to be successfully working for layer (data link) two and layer three functionality. The increasing prices of the every new generation of networking hardware puts budgetary challenges to academic units. The need of the addition of new equipment in the networking infrastructure further pushes the pre-existing budgetary limits. This work intends to present an alternative (such as a virtual setup with SDN by using virtual resources) to the conventional physical networking resources. The overall objective is to reduce the cost of ownership to achieve the same functionality as that of physical resources. This work also identifies the challenges and obstacles in the adoption of SDN for such an emulation.