DCLab: A Reconfigurable SDN Testbed for Datacenter Networks

The SDN paradigm allows network management applications to configure and manage network devices directly. Researchers use simulators, emulation platforms, and experimental testbeds to evaluate ideas. Emulation and simulation platforms offer the advantages of more flexibility and larger scale; using a testbed produces more realistic and accurate results. Although they support SDN, the switches used in data centers pose an economic barrier for researchers. We propose DCLab that creates a low-cost reconfigurable SDN testbed using white-box switches. This letter explains the architecture of DCLab and reports experiments that demonstrate how it allows to overlay various logical topologies on a physical topology.