OpenDaylight Controller OverviewΒΆ

The OpenDaylight controller is JVM software and can be run from any operating system and hardware as long as it supports Java. The controller is an implementation of the Software Defined Network (SDN) concept and makes use of the following tools:

  • Maven: OpenDaylight uses Maven for easier build automation. Maven uses pom.xml (Project Object Model) to script the dependencies between bundle and also to describe what bundles to load and start.

  • OSGi: This framework is the back-end of OpenDaylight as it allows dynamically loading bundles and packages JAR files, and binding bundles together for exchanging information.

  • JAVA interfaces: Java interfaces are used for event listening, specifications, and forming patterns. This is the main way in which specific bundles implement call-back functions for events and also to indicate awareness of specific state.

  • REST APIs: These are northbound APIs such as topology manager, host tracker, flow programmer, static routing, and so on.

The controller exposes open northbound APIs which are used by applications. The OSGi framework and bidirectional REST are supported for the northbound APIs. The OSGi framework is used for applications that run in the same address space as the controller while the REST (web-based) API is used for applications that do not run in the same address space (or even the same system) as the controller. The business logic and algorithms reside in the applications. These applications use the controller to gather network intelligence, run its algorithm to do analytics, and then orchestrate the new rules throughout the network. On the southbound, multiple protocols are supported as plugins, e.g. OpenFlow 1.0, OpenFlow 1.3, BGP-LS, and so on. The OpenDaylight controller starts with an OpenFlow 1.0 southbound plugin. Other OpenDaylight contributors begin adding to the controller code. These modules are linked dynamically into a Service Abstraction Layer (SAL).

The SAL exposes services to which the modules north of it are written. The SAL figures out how to fulfill the requested service irrespective of the underlying protocol used between the controller and the network devices. This provides investment protection to the applications as OpenFlow and other protocols evolve over time. For the controller to control devices in its domain, it needs to know about the devices, their capabilities, reachability, and so on. This information is stored and managed by the Topology Manager. The other components like ARP handler, Host Tracker, Device Manager, and Switch Manager help in generating the topology database for the Topology Manager.

For a more detailed overview of the OpenDaylight controller, see the OpenDaylight Developer Guide.