An extended SDN architecture for network function virtualization with a case study on intrusion prevention

In conventional software-defined networking (SDN), a controller classifies the traffic redirected from a switch to determine the path to network function virtualization (NFV) modules. The redirection generates a large volume of control-plane traffic. We propose an extended SDN architecture to reduce the traffic overhead to the controller for providing NFV. The extension includes two-layer traffic classification in the data plane, extended OpenFlow protocol messages and service chaining mechanisms. Network events are analyzed in the data plane instead of the control plane. The efficiency is evaluated with a case study of intrusion prevention. The evaluation shows that only 0.12 percent of the input traffic is handled by the controller, while 77.23 percent is handled on the controller in conventional SDN.