Formalization of SNMP messages using composite-elements based on extenics for software-defined networking

As for the traditional Internet, network management usually did not evolve together with the newly introduced networking technology, and becomes a post-technology these days. In order to avoid patching Software-Defined Networking (SDN) later, an additional management plane may possibly be of great significance. Currently, both SDN management and non-SDN network management still coexist, and Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is a network management protocol widely applied in non-SDN environment, which might be utilized for SDN management, especially the management of SDN devices. This paper then introduces the thinking of Extenics to the formalization of management messages for future networks and proposes the application of composite-elements based on Extenics to promote the formalization of SNMP messages. Since Object Identifiers (OIDs) are used for variable binding in the Protocol Data Unit (PDU) part of the SNMP messages and obtaining OIDs is of great importance to formalize SNMP-based network management for SDN, this paper finally discusses some implementation issues by proposing an algorithm to obtain OIDs and validating the feasibility of realizing the formalization of SNMP messages with the use of composite-elements based on Extenics.