An implementation of software defined network with Raspberry Pi

In traditional networking architecture, for each problem a specific protocol is dedicated to network devices and these devices are configured manually. Since they are hardware-based, the implementation of new ideas and technologies to these devices is very difficult. However, today's increasing use of smartphones and other mobile data devices has increased the data traffic, and with the addition of service diversity and the needs of users, the existing network structure has become much more complex. Software Defined Networks (SDN) is a new network paradigm that allows a programmable central controller mechanism which separates the control plane from the data plane. With the advantage of a centralized control mechanism, SDN ensures that network structures can respond more quickly to current demands, be more flexible and reprogrammable. In addition, all these processes are implemented at a lower cost compared to traditional networking architecture. To evaluate the performance of SDN architectures, testbeds are used by researchers. In this paper, a small-scale and cost-effective SDN testbed is designed and implemented. The testing environment is realized using Raspberry Pi 3, Floodlight and Open vSwitch. Controller performance has been observed with the MACtracker application.