Software Defined Networks provide the ability to manage networks from a centralised point through separating control plane from the data plane. This brings opportunities in terms of manageability, flexibility and cost savings in network operations. This centralisation, however, also brings about a potentially serious performance bottleneck and poses a scalability issue in high performance networks. This paper investigates performance of Software Defined Networks in general, and the OpenFlow protocol, to provide insight into the components of control path delay incurred by packets and ways to optimise flow forwarding. Two Openflow controllers (Floodlight and Pox) were used to validate performance measurements in relation to their theoretical composition. Secondly, the packet processing dynamics of switches, in particular OpenVSwitch are examined, looking at the control packet forwarding behaviour in the kernel module to meet high performance network and traffic engineering demand.

Software Defined Networking (SDN) is an emerging paradigm that changes the way networks are managed by separating the control plane from data plane and making networks programmable. The separation brings about flexibility, automation, orchestration and offers savings in both capital and operational expenditure. Despite all the advantages offered by SDN it introduces new threats that did not exist before or were harder to exploit in traditional networks, making network penetration potentially easier. One of the key threat to SDN is the authentication and authorisation of network applications that control network behaviour (unlike the traditional network where network devices like routers and switches are autonomous and run proprietary software and protocols to control the network). This paper proposes a mechanism that helps the control layer authenticate network applications and set authorisation permissions that constrict manipulation of network resources.

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