Benchmarking Methodology for Software-Defined Networking (SDN) Controller Performance

This document defines methodologies for benchmarking control plane performance of SDN controllers. SDN controller is a core component in software-defined networking architecture that controls the network behavior. SDN controllers have been implemented with many varying designs in order to achieve their intended network functionality. Hence, the authors have taken the approach of considering an SDN controller as a black box, defining the methodology in a manner that is agnostic to protocols and network services supported by controllers. The intent of this document is to provide a method to measure the performance of all controller implementations.