RDNA Balance: Load Balancing by Isolation of Elephant Flows using Strict Source Routing

Abstract

Data center networks need load balancing mechanisms to dynamically serve a large number of flows with different service requirements. However, traditional load-balancing approaches do not allow the full utilization of network resources in a simple, programmable, and scalable way. In this context, this paper proposes RDNA Balance that exploits elephant flow isolation and source routing in core nodes. Flow classification operations are performed on the edge using features of the OpenFlow protocol. The results show that with this approach it is possible to provide a simple, scalable, and programmable load balancing for data centers.