Compositional model checking of an SDN platform

Software-Defined Network (SDN) technology provides the possibility to turn the network infrastructure into a dynamic programmable fabric capable of meeting the application needs in real-time. Thanks to the independence of the control plane from the data plane, the control entity, generally called as controller, has also the flexibility to implement proprietary complex algorithms. Within such a dynamic and complex environment, this document advocates for applying formal verification methods and more precisely composition model checking to ensure the correct behavior of the overall SDN system at design phase. To illustrate this purpose, it proposes to build different comprehensive formal models of a typical SDN platform selected here as a study object. Thorough performance results related to each model are provided and discussed. Thanks to such formal verifications, it is possible to pinpoint issues such as the one regarding network isolation within a complex SDN architecture. Although dealing with formal methods, this document attempts to strike a balance between theory, experimental work and network architecture discussion.