Visually Guided Flow Tracking in Software-Defined Networking

Software-defined network/ing (SDN) is a novel configuration technique that has the potential to become the future backbone of computer networking. In contrast to conventional networking techniques, SDN utilizes controller elements to configure groups of networking nodes, resulting in a hierarchy. SDNs have to be simulated and analyzed to identify applicable configuration settings for real world applications. To determine the quality of a SDN configuration, its packet flow is an important indicator for the analysis. This work presents an interactive system for the analysis of SDN data. An intuitive overview of the SDN hierarchy and the underlying packet flow is provided. The ability to track packets through the SDN and to interlink multiple views of the SDN forms an interactive analysis tool that is successfully applied to a simulated SDN dataset.