A Survey on Software-Defined Network (SDN): From Concept to Implementation

Abstract

Software-defined network (SDN) has become one of the most important architectures for the management of large scale, complex
networks which may require re-policing or reconfigurations from time to time. SDN achieves easy re-policing by decoupling the
control plane from data plane. Thus the network routers/switches just simply forward packets by following the flow table rules set
by the control plane. SDN is a relatively new area, it has attracted much attentions from both academia and industry. In this
paper we will conduct a comprehensive survey of the important topics in SDN implementation, including the basic concept,
language abstraction ,controller, virtualization, Quality of service (QoS), security, as well as its integration with optical networks.
We will discuss the future research trends in this exciting area. This survey can help both industry and academia R&D people to
understand the latest progress of SDN designs.