How to handle ARP in a software-defined network

• Published in: 2016 IEEE NetSoft Conference and Workshops (NetSoft) pp. 63 - 67
• Main Authors: di Lallo, Roberto, Lospoto, Gabriele, Rimondini, Massimo, Di Battista, Giuseppe
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 01-06-2016
• Subjects: Hardware; IP networks; Ports (Computers); Protocols; Scalability; Software
• DOI: 10.1109/NETSOFT.2016.7502444

The Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) enables communication between IP-speaking nodes in a local network by reconstructing the hardware (MAC) address associated with the IP address of an interface. This is not needed in a Software-Defined Network (SDN), because each device can forward packets without the need to learn this association. We tackle the interoperability problem arising between standard network devices (end systems, routers), that rely on ARP, and SDN datapaths, that do not handle ARP packets natively. In particular, we propose a general approach to handle ARP in a SDN, that is applicable in several network scenarios, is transparent for existing devices, and can coexist with any packet forwarding logic implemented in the controller. Our approach reduces ARP traffic by confining it to the edge of SDNs and requires a minimal set of flow entries in the datapaths. We argument about its applicability and confirm it with experiments performed on SDN datapaths from a range of different vendors.