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

This document defines methodologies for benchmarking the control-plane performance of Software-Defined Networking (SDN) Controllers. The SDN Controller is a core component in the SDN architecture that controls the behavior of the network. SDN Controllers have been implemented with many varying designs in order to achieve their intended network functionality. Hence, the authors of this document have taken the approach of considering an SDN Controller to be a black box, defining the methodology in a manner that is agnostic to protocols and network services supported by controllers. This document provides a method for measuring the performance of all controller implementations.