Flow-based performance enhancements of SAGE Visualcasting using OpenFlow programmable networking

OpenFlow protocol allows researchers to use programmable networking techniques to flexibly assign networking resources and manage network traffic according to user demands. In this paper, by taking SAGE Visualcasting as an example user application, we propose that OpenFlow-based programmable networking can be interactively utilized together with other monitoring schemes to enhance the performance of SAGE Visualcasting. By visually identifying (i.e., separating) SAGE Visualcasting flows from all lists of flows (i.e., flowspace) and by monitoring current status of all involved nodes, we can interactively capture how flow-related parameters of SAGE Visisualcasting performance vary over time. Then, by linking it with the visible performance (i.e., displayed visual quality) of SAGE Visualcasting, we can interactively apply flow-based enhancement (e.g., alternating the paths of flows in trouble) by taking advantage of OpenFlow-based programmable networking.