COFC: Cost Optimized Flow Control In Software Defined Networks

In a software defined network, there are various hosts and switches. Often multiple connections exist from one host to another through the switches. These connections require different amount of bandwidth as well as time delay. The proposed work Cost Optimized Flow Control (COFC) aims at finding the most efficient path between a pair of hosts and accordingly deactivates certain switches to let them go to sleep. This requires knowledge about topology of the network which is stored in a software-defined-network (SDN) controller. SDN decouples all the flow control activity from physical forwarding of packets. Flow control is entirely performed by the SDN controller as it determines the switches that can remain in sleep mode unless cost in its alternative paths crosses a threshold. This preserves energy and also optimizes the objectives bandwidth and delay.