Optimization of low-efficiency traffic in OpenFlow Software Defined Networks

This paper proposes a method for optimizing bandwidth usage in Software Defined Networks (SDNs) based on OpenFlow. Flows of small packets presenting a high overhead, as the ones generated by emerging services, can be identified by the SDN controller, in order to remove header fields that are common to any packet in the flow, only during their way through the SDN. At the same time, several packets can be multiplexed together in the same frame, thus reducing the number of sent frames. Four kinds of small-packet traffic flows are considered (VoIP, UDP and TCP-based online games, and ACKs from TCP flows). Both IPv4 and IPv6 are tested, and significant bandwidth savings (up to 68 % for IPv4 and 78 % for IPv6) can be obtained for the considered kinds of traffic.