Openflow Overview - Lenovo RackSwitch G8264 Application Manual

OpenFlow Overview

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G8264 Application Guide for ENOS 8.4
OpenFlow architecture consists of a control plane residing outside of the switch
(typically on a server) and a data plane residing in the switch. The control plane is
called OpenFlow controller. The data plane which resides in the switch consists of
a set of flows which determine the forwarding of data packets.
The OpenFlow protocol is described in the OpenFlow Switch Specification 1.0.0
and OpenFlow Switch Specification 1.3.1.
An OpenFlow network consists of simple flow‐based switches in the data path,
with a remote controller to manage all switches in the OpenFlow network.
OpenFlow maintains a TCP channel for communication of flow management
between the controller and the switch. All controller‐switch communication takes
place over the switchʹs management network.