Energy consumption optimization based joint routing and flow allocation algorithm for software defined networking

Software-defined networking (SDN) is expected to dramatically simplify network control process, enable the convenient deployment of sophisticated networking functions, and support user applications with guaranteed quality of service (QoS). To achieve data packet transmission between two switches in SDN, efficient routing algorithms should be applied. In this paper, we study joint routing selection and flow allocation problem for SDN. The problem is formulated as an optimization problem which minimizes the energy consumption from source switch to destination switch under the constraints of network topology and links capacity. Through applying the negative cost cycle algorithm, the optimization problem is solved and the optimal routing and flow allocation strategy is obtained. Numerical results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.