topic Re: Automatic flow creation when using Mininet in Software Defined Networking

Automatic flow creation when using Mininet

PaulZanna — Thu, 26 Sep 2013 22:58:20 GMT

I have noticed that when using the "pingall" command in Mininet that flow entries are automatically added to each switch to allow the packets to reach their destination. Is this the default behavior and if so which component is implementing the flows - Controller, switches, Mininet. Also is this configurable?

Thanks,

Re: Automatic flow creation when using Mininet

Shaila — Fri, 27 Sep 2013 19:08:51 GMT

When an ARP/IP packet is received from an end host, controller inserts this bidirectional flow on all the datapaths from source to destination to establish a path so that the two end hosts can talk to each other. These flows expire in about 60 seconds.

Re: Automatic flow creation when using Mininet

PaulZanna — Sun, 29 Sep 2013 22:29:34 GMT

Is it possible to disable this ?

Re: Automatic flow creation when using Mininet

Shaila — Wed, 02 Oct 2013 23:09:02 GMT

You can stop PathDaemon bundle from Applications tab. This will result in not installing these flows on datapaths.

Re: Automatic flow creation when using Mininet

PaulZanna — Wed, 02 Oct 2013 23:31:56 GMT

Thanks Shaila, I just noticed that in the new Network Services Modules document -

http://h17007.www1.hp.com/docs/networking/solutions/sdn/devcenter/08_-_HP_SDN_Network_Services_Modules_TSG_v1_3013-10-01.pdf

Re: Automatic flow creation when using Mininet

chuck-tallac — Thu, 03 Oct 2013 16:01:03 GMT

Thanks for the information Shaila!

I have a follow-up question (or two):

Does the PathDaemon handle both ARP as well as the installing the bidirectional flows related to the paths between two endpoints?
Does the PathDaemon, when it sets up paths, operate in topologies with loops? I.e. is it independent of Spanning Tree, suppressing broadcasts because of the ARP functionality on the controller, etc.?

Thanks!

Re: Automatic flow creation when using Mininet

sambati — Fri, 04 Oct 2013 17:20:14 GMT

Please find the answers inline -

• Does the PathDaemon handle both ARP as well as installing the bidirectional flows related to the paths between two endpoints?
- Yes it does.

• Does the PathDaemon, when it sets up paths, operate in topologies with loops? I.e. is it independent of Spanning Tree, suppressing broadcasts because of the ARP functionality on the controller, etc.?
- Yes Path Daemon can operate in topologies with loops. It gets path information between two endpoints from Topology service.