SDNbox: A portable open-source testbed for SDN study

Software defined networking (SDN) technology promises a new bright future to IP network. Significant number of SDN researches have been done so far to facilitate network operation and management efficiently. However, until now there are only few frameworks to support emulation, verification, and implementation of the SDN. Mininet is one of the most popular tools because of the openness, cost effectiveness, and full Openflow support. By default, Mininet helps to create a stand alone typical SDN network along with lightweight clients. In this article, we contribute the extended functions of network topology emulation in Mininet based on Virtualbox, such as Internet connection, independent OS clients, standard routing controller, and automatic flow logging. It is highly expected to bring an easier and convenient facility to SDN research and training.