A Review on the Overall Performance of SDN Controllers

Studies evaluating the performance of Software-Defined Networking (SDN) controllers often adopt an empirical approach, which typically limits them to a narrow range of parameters and controllers. This paper provides a comprehensive literature review of such studies, covering a total of seventeen distinct controllers and sixteen evaluated parameters, aiming to identify the most efficient open-source controllers. Experimental data from the reviewed studies were systematically organized and made available, highlighting controllers that excel or underperform in relation to each network parameter analyzed. Studies utilizing Mininet and Mininet-WiFi were examined separately to assess the performance of controllers under the distinct conditions of wireless networks. Finally, an overall ranking was developed, taking into account the assessments of each parameter as well as the frequency with which each controller was mentioned in the tests. The controllers ONOS, Floodlight, and RYU achieved the highest rankings in the final classification.