A hardware approach for organisation of software defined network switches based on FPGA

Abstract

In this paper, we present a novel method for a hardware-based search in the rule tables of software defined network (SDN) switches. We describe the design features of modern SDNs based on the open standard OpenFlow, and highlight the main problems of modern OpenFlow switches. We then propose a new approach for a flow table search based on field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). The proposed method allows searching by means of a mask in all bits of the header of incoming packages and therefore to expand the usability of SDNs.