An SDN-inspired Model for Faster Network Experimentation.

Assessing the impact of changes in a production network (e.g., new routing protocols or topologies) requires simulation or emulation tools capable of providing results as close as possible to those from a real-world experiment. Large traffic loads and complex control-data plane interactions constitute significant challenges to these tools. To meet these challengeswe propose a model for the fast and convenient evaluation of SDN as well as legacy networks. Our approach emulates the network's control plane and simulates the data plane, to achieve high fidelity necessary for control plane behavior, while being capable of handling large traffic loads. We design and implement a proof of concept from the proposed model. The initial results of the prototype, compared to a state-of-the-art solution, shows it can increase the speed of network experiments by nearly 95% in the largest tested network scenario.