Introduction to Software-defined Networking (Winter 2015/2016)

Details

Note: Please register for the course. In order to register, please subscribe to the mailing list "Sdn_course_16@gwdg.de" by subscribing at the following site (and write a message of the SDN course(s) that you plan to attend): https://listserv.gwdg.de/mailman/listinfo/sdn_course_16

Workload/ECTS Credits:	150h, 5 ECTS
Module:	AI: M.Inf.1130: Software-defined Networks (SDN); ITIS: 3.31
Lecturer:	Dr. David Koll
Teaching assistant:	Sameer Kulkarni, MSc
Time:	15th to 19th February 2016 (temporary, subject to change)
Place:	TBA
UniVZ	[1]

Course Overview

Software-defined networking (SDN) has recently attracted both researchers in academia and big players in communication technologies, and is currently probably the 'hottest' topic in computer networking. In this course, we will discuss the basics of SDN.

The course is organized as a block course as follows: Initially, two lectures introducing the main motivation, concepts and state-of-the-art of SDN will be given. Afterwards, we will have a short peak into the most recent research from both industry and academia, which is going to define the future of SDN. In this session, students will select one paper of interest that they will present towards the end of the course. The course then continues with an introduction to Mininet [2], and students are expected to perform some basic experiments on creating and using a virtual network based on Mininet. After the experimentations, students will present the paper they selected earlier.

For all parts of the course, exercises will be provided, in which students must obtain at least 50% of the total points to be admitted to the examination of this course. The exam is taken by submitting a report of 10-15 pages summarizing the lessons learned during the lectures and exercises as well as the research papers investigated (a LaTeX template will be provided). Depending on the number of attendees, several parts will be conducted in teams of students.

The course Advanced Software-defined Networking (M. Inf.1230) will follow a similar structure to provide a more profound knowledge of SDN.

Schedule (tentative)

Date	Morning Session I	Morning Session II	Afternoon Session I	Afternoon Session II
Time	9:15 - 10:45	11:00 - 12:30	14:00 - 15:30	15:30 -
15.02.2016	Lecture I: Introduction to SDN I	Exercise I	Lecture II: OpenFlow & Controllers	Exercise II and Quiz I
16.02.2016	Lecture III: Network Virtualization	Exercise III & Presentation Selection	How-to: Paper Reading and Presentation	Exercise IV & Quiz II
17.02.2016	Lecture IV: SDN in Real-World Networks	Exercise IV	Tutorial I: Mininet	Exercise V and Quiz III
18.02.2016	Tutorial II: Mininet	Exercise VI	Tutorial III: Mininet	Exercise VII and Quiz IV
19.02.2016	Tutorial IV: Mininet	Exercise IX	Tutorial V: Mininet	Exercise X and Quiz V
March 2016	Final Presentations	Final Presentations

Requirements

• Basic knowledge in computer networking (e.g., successfull completion of the course "Computer Networks") and object oriented programming is required.
• Knowledge of the Python programming language. Students can pursue some online learning courses to get to know Python syntax. (See, for instance, here) There will only be a short recap on Python during the class.
• Each participant is required to actively attend the course and earn 50% of the points of the exercises.
• There will be a quiz at the end of each day of the course.
• Students will be required to do a short presentation after the end of the course (Date to be announced).
• Written report at the end of the course.
• No exam.

Grading

• Grading will be based on the report, which includes:
  • Slides used for presentation (25%)
  • A review of a SDN research paper (25%)
  • Quizzes (25%)
  • Two graded exercises (25%)

Reading List

If you are interested in reading into some material before the course starts, NEC maintains a somewhat up-to-date reading list.