OpenFlow features and benefits

• With the addition of OpenFlow Specification 1.3, the following features are supported:

  • Multiple Flow tables

  • Pipeline processing

  • Custom pipeline processing

  • Multi-VLAN instances

  • Groups in hardware

  • OpenFlow physical, logical, and reserved ports

  • Version negotiation

  • Group tables

  • Auxiliary connections

  • OpenFlow Extensible Match (OXM)

  • Multiple controllers

  • Support for IPv6 flows

• OpenFlow switch side configuration enables the user to:

  • Enable or disable OpenFlow

  • Create OpenFlow instances and configure controller connections

  • Display OpenFlow related configuration

  • Availability of Config support to retain OpenFlow configuration across a reboot

• OpenFlow supports high availability:

  • The OpenFlow flow table is preserved across Management Module failover

  • The OpenFlow configuration is synced from the AMM (Active Management Module) to the SMM (Standby Management Module).

• OpenFlow includes tools for limiting resources:

  • Support for limiting the percentage of policy engine and IP control table resources used by OpenFlow

  • Support for rate-limiting the amount of OpenFlow traffic sent to the controller

  • Support for rate-limiting the amount of OpenFlow traffic that gets forwarded by the policy engine rules programmed by OpenFlow

• OpenFlow modes of operation:

  • Support for hardware-only mode where only flows that can be programmed into hardware are accepted from the controller.

  • Support for active mode (default) where new flows are sent to the controller by the switch.

  • The switch normally handles support for passive mode where new flows no longer are sent to the controller.

IPv6 and OpenFlow

Directing IPv6 traffic using OpenFlow is supported beginning with OpenFlow Specification 1.3. For more information on configuring IPv6 on switches, see the IPv6 Configuration Guide for your switch.