Enabling Information Centric Networking in IP Networks Using SDN

In this paper, we show how to enable Information- Centric Networking (ICN) on existing IP networks, such as ISP or data center networks, using Software-Defined Networking (SDN) functions and control. We describe a mechanism that (i) enables addressing and transfer through non-SDN controlled networks (i. e., the Internet), (ii) allows to identify ICN requests and responses, (iii) decouples forwarding from the object name, (iv) requires neither new or extended network/L3 and transport/L4 protocols nor changes of client and server OS, and (v) supports aggregation of routes inside the SDN controlled network. In addition, the proposed solution is agnostic of the specific ICN protocol in use, and does not require all network elements to be SDN-enabled. It supports advanced ICN routing features like request aggregation and forking, as well as loadbalancing, traffic engineering, and explicit path steering (e. g., through ICN caches). We present the design as well as our first implementation of the proposed scheme-based on the Trema OpenFlow controller-framework and CCNx-along with initial performance measurements showing the feasibility of our approach.