SFabric: A scalable SDN based large layer 2 data center network fabric

Data centers with millions of virtual end hosts are now the basis for many Internet and cloud computing services. Compared with existing large layer 2 network technologies, Software Defined Networking (SDN) is emerging as an promising solution due to its agile control and flexible management based on the separation of control and data planes. However, the huge number of routing rules needed in switches and the limited efficiency of the centralized SDN Controller are the two main challenges that affects its scalability. Therefore, this paper proposes a novel SDN based large layer 2 network fabric for data centers: SFabric, which highly reduces the number of routing rules and the interactions between the Controller and switches since the paths are constructed on switch level and most of the rules are installed in advance. A prototype is developed and the experimental results prove the good scalability and efficiency of SFabirc.