Integrating MPLS on the Data Plane to Enhance Throughput and Response Time of SDN

Abstract

­­­­Software defined network (SDN) is an emerging technology that enables open networking. Recently, many works have been done to improve the performance of SDN systems. However, there are gaps in integrating multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) on the data plane. Implementing MPLS on the data plane will help us to handle small group of packet flow without the involvement of the controller. The aim of this paper is to implement MPLS on the data plane and investigate throughput, response time and the effect of type of switch on the performance of the SDN. We employed policy-based routing and MPLS with distributed controllers to avoid single point of failure and manage traffics. We classified users as low-level, medium-level, or high-level users, and then we let MPLS handle low-level packet flows, while using policy-based routing to handle the remaining high-level and medium-level packet flows. The proposed scheme reduced the response time to 0.2ms, and it enhanced the overall throughput.  Based on the simulation results, we concluded that integrating MPLS with SDN is an efficient method to improve the overall performance of SDN.