Title:
Lithium: Event-Driven Network Control
Lithium: Event-Driven Network Control
Author(s)
Kim, Hyojoon
Voellmy, Andreas
Burnett, Sam
Feamster, Nick
Clark, Russ
Voellmy, Andreas
Burnett, Sam
Feamster, Nick
Clark, Russ
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Abstract
This paper introduces event-driven network control, a network
control framework that makes networks easier to manage
by automating many tasks that must currently be performed
by manually modifying low-level, distributed, and
complex device configuration. We identify four policy domains
that inherently capture many events: time, user, history,
and traffic flow. We then present Lithium, an event-driven
network control framework that can implement policies
expressed using these domains. Lithium can support
policies that automatically react to a wide range of events,
from fluctuations in traffic volumes to changes in the time of
day. Lithium allows network operators to specify networkwide
policies in terms of a high-level, event-driven policy
model, as opposed to configuring individual network devices
with low-level commands. To show that Lithium is practical,
general, and applicable in different types of network scenarios,
we have deployed Lithium in both a campus network and
a home network and used it to implement more flexible and
dynamic network policies. We also perform evaluations to
show that Lithium introduces negligible overhead beyond a
conventional OpenFlow-based control framework.
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Date Issued
2012
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Resource Type
Text
Resource Subtype
Technical Report