Providing Network Resilience through an Intelligent SDN Network

This paper focuses on examining whether software-based networks can offer the required resilience to DDoS attacks and to quantify the impact of such attacks. Flood attacks have been conducted by the authors on an ONOS controller, and the load, response time and bandwidth results were measured. The execution included four different scenarios, including measurements during the simulated DDoS attack, measurements during the simulated DDoS attack with simultaneous IDS/IPS system operation, and measurements during simulated DDoS attack of a varied intensity with simultaneous IDS/IPS system operation. In this study we present the detailed results of the tests and propose an appropriate model design so that the resilience of the SDN networks can be increased, also improving the resilience against DDoS attacks.Based on the results, we concluded that software-based networks are particularly vulnerable to DDoS attacks and that additional measures must be taken to ensure their resilience. These measures could include implementing distributed control planes and utilizing anomaly detection systems to identify and mitigate attacks in real-time.