The multi-path routing problem in the Software Defined Network

In the architecture of the Software Defined Network (SDN), the control plane, always centralized, is separated from the forwarding plane. Based on this feature, we present a genetic algorithm for solving the bandwidth-constrained multi-path optimization problem in the SDN. After implementing the proposed algorithm via programming, we load it into a SDN controller and perform further simulations with Mininet and Floodlight for a typical network topology. The results not only validate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed algorithm in the SDN, but also manifest the advantages of the SDN network architecture in terms of global optimization and flexibility in controlling.