Table 2.
Summary of flow rules installation mechanisms.
| Studies | Techniques | Description | Strengths | Weaknesses |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORPP [88,89] | Mininet, OpenFlow | Resolves the offline and online ORPP problem for the known set of flows, which varies over time | Flow rule prioritization and optimal placement | Does not consider the forthcoming load in low priority path/flow rules |
| vCRIB [90] | VM, Open vSwitch, TCAM | Provision of an abstraction for specifying and managing flow rules by automatic partitioning | Considers cost-effective resource utilization and machine performance constraints | Low scalability for dynamic flow demands |
| DevoFlow [17] | NOX, TCAM, OpenFlow | Modifies OpenFlow model by breaking the coupling between network control and global visibility without imposing unnecessary costs | Provision of fine-grained flow management and simplification of OpenFlow switches | Does not reveal how to deploy the default path |
| Infinite CacheFlow [91] | Ryu Controller, OpenFlow 1.0, Open vSwitch | Proposes a hardware/software hybrid switch design that relies on rule caching to provide large rule tables at low cost | Flow rule dependencies mapped to a graph, flow rule segregation, preserves the network rule semantics | Reactive flow placement Overhead and inconsistent dependencies of flow rules |
| Switch Reduce [92] | NOX Controller, OpenFlow | Number of rules at any switch should not exceed the set of unique processing actions to decrease switch state | Controller intervention minimization by stateful data plane | Efficient memory utilization and deletion mechanism for useless entries is lacking |
| Flow Entry MGT Scheme [93] | Mininet, Open vSwitch | Resolves the cache-missing problem and keeps recently used flow entries, which increases flow entry matching ratio | Enhances the flow rule matching in flow tables of OpenFlow-enabled switches | Less efficient in networks where the behaviour and demand are not specified |
| Traffic Engineering [94] | TCAM, OpenFlow, ITALYNET | Proposes a flow rule multiplexing approach that optimizes flow rule allocation and traffic engineering | Enhances QoS | Considers only identical flow rules that may not be semantically streamlined |
| DomainFlow [95] | Virtual extensible LAN, TCAM, VMware vCloud | Presents a flow-level control- and granularity-based mechanism in ethernet switches by using OpenFlow protocol | Exact match rule mechanism supports granular security processing | Only supports limited flow rules and fixed number of switches |
| Source Flow [96] | TCAM, OpenFlow, Open vSwitch | Handles many flows without affecting flow granularity | Offers a comprehensive mechanism for scalability | Synchronization problem |
| DIFANE [102] | NOX, OpenFlow Switch, TCAM | Load balances the functionalities between network switches and controller | Enhances the SDN scalability and decreases the controller load | Increases load at switches and under-utilizes the controller |
| Efficient flow rule installation [106,107,109] | Network performance, QoS and security increases | Detects the network reachability change and computes reconfiguration | Supports resiliency | Introduces end-to-end delay due to policy composition and version comparison |