Implementation of Load Balancing Algorithms in Software Defined Networks using OpenDaylight

In today’s world, the pressure on the traditional network infrastructure is on the rise with complex applications and services in use. Software Defined Networks, SDN, can support these changing requirements by providing flexible and centralized management of the network. Load balancing within SDN ensures that the network resources are used wisely, providing better performance, fewer disruptions and the ability to handle changing demands smoothly. This paper explores and simulates load balancing in an SDN environment employing OpenFlow and harnessing the capabilities of OpenDaylight as the SDN Controller. Mininet is utilized to construct a fat tree topology, a popular data center network architecture, to model and analyze load balancing strategies. Two load balancing algorithms namely Round Robin and dynamic load balancing are implemented in this work. The results demonstrates improved performance proving the need for load balancing in network infrastructure as significant.