Software Defined Networking (SDN) has been recognized as the next-generation networking paradigm that decouples the data plane and control plane, allowing network resources to be managed by a logically centralized controller. The inclusion of Machine Learning (ML) techniques can improve network optimization and the automated provisioning of the network's service capabilities, as well as enhancing the SDN's ability to fulfil Quality of Service (QoS) requirements in a variety of applications. In particular, the recent emergence of Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) allowed more complex problems with high-dimensional state and action space to be solved, making them ideal for Routing Optimization (RO) in complex network environments with rapid changes in continuous time. In this paper, we introduce an Adaptive RO Model for QoS-aware SDNs using DRL (AROM-DRL). AROM-DRL dynamically considers various QoS parameters, such as latency, throughput, packet loss, and jitter, in combination with statically determined parameters, to generate a powerful and dynamically determined action-reward strategy for the DRL system as part of an iterative RO mechanism. In a QoS-aware SDN system, network operators and service providers can use AROM-DRL to assist in offering high-quality services to increase customer satisfaction and reduce customer churn. Future work will include an AROM-DRL implementation to be evaluated against both SDN and non-SDN benchmarks, which have been discussed, implemented, and evaluated in this paper.

This is all found in Code_User_Manual.

1. Launch Oracle VM Virtual box, followed by launching the Floodlight-Ubuntu VM, which is already configured with Mininet v.2.2.1, Floodlight v1.1, and OpenvSwitch.
   • https://floodlight.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/floodlightcontroller/pages/8650780/Floodlight+VM
2. Upgrade Floodlight v1.1 to Floodlight v1.2.
   • https://floodlight.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/floodlightcontroller/pages/1343544/Installation+Guide
3. Download and install D-ITG.
   • http://sdnopenflow.blogspot.com/2015/05/using-of-d-itg-traffic-generator-in.html
4. Place our code folder (or git clone repo) inside the launched VM.
5. To build and run the non-SDN network described in the paper:
   • Navigate to code by running cd ~/AROM-DRL_Adaptive-Routing-Optimization-for-QoS-aware-SDNs-using-Deep-Reinforcement-Learning/code/
   • Run sudo python advancedtopo_no_sdn.py in terminal.
   • Once the network is built, you will be prompted with the Mininet CLI. Run sh ovs-ofctl add-flow [switch] action=normal in the Mininet CLI for every single switch (s1, s2, … , s15) to manually add flows to the flow table and turn them into normal L2 devices. E.g. for switch 1: "sh ovs-ofctl add-flow s1 action=normal"
   • Now proceed to step 8. Otherwise, proceed to step 6 to build SDN topo.
6. Launch the Floodlight controller in Terminal (Only applies when you are running the SDN simulation).
   • https://floodlight.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/floodlightcontroller/pages/8650780/Floodlight+VM
7. To build and run the SDN network described in the paper:
   • Navigate to code by running cd ~/AROM-DRL_Adaptive-Routing-Optimization-for-QoS-aware-SDNs-using-Deep-Reinforcement-Learning/code/
   • Run sudo python advancedtopo_with_sdn.py in terminal.
   • You will then be prompted with the Mininet CLI, proceed with Step 8.
8. To run the D-ITG flows for either network:
   • Using Mininet CLI, open xterm instances for each network host, including host 17 (ITG Log server)
   • Inside each xterm instance, go to where the D-ITG folder is installed E.g. cd ~/D-ITG-2.8.1-r1023/bin
   • Initiate Log host on h17, the ITGLog Server E.g. ./ITGLog
   • Initiate each even host # from 2 to 16 as ITGRecv E.g. ./ITGRecv
   • Initiate hosts 1, 3, 5 and 11 as ITGSend E.g. ./ITGSend [the_associated_quickflow_script>] -l [name_of_sender_log_file] -L 10.0.0.17 UDP -X 10.0.0.17 TCP -x [name_of_receiver_log_file]
   • All flows will be marked as finished when done.
   • Terminate each ITGRecv host, followed by the ITGLog host (ITGSend hosts terminate by themselves after sending flows) E.g. ^C (to terminate each ITGRecv and ITGLog instances).
   • NOTE: If you have not moved the quickflow scripts from our code package into the D-ITG-2.8.2-r1023/bin folder, you will have to include the full path to their location (~/AROM-DRL_Adaptive-Routing-Optimization-for-QoS-aware-SDNs-using-Deep-Reinforcement-Learning/code/D-ITG flow scripts/)
9. To decode and analyze the produced log files and generate a report:
   • Can utilize ITGDec on the desired log file from any host E.g. ./ITGDec [name_of_log_file]
   • Inside each xterm instance, go to where the D-ITG folder is installed E.g. cd ~/D-ITG-2.8.1-r1023/bin
   • To generate .dat files, which are utilized by ITGPlot E.g. ./ITGDec [name_of_log_file] [QoS_metric] [time] [name_of_outputted_.dat_file] where [QoS_metric] is either -p (packet loss), -j (jitter), -d (delay), -b (throughput), and where [time] is the sampling interval in milliseconds.
10. To generate the plots via ITGPlot:
    • Run ~/D-ITG-2.8.1-r1023/src/ITGPlot/ITGplot [input.dat] [number_of_the_flow] where [number_of_the_flow] is an optional value, if nothing is indicated, all flows are plotted on the same graph.
    • This generates a .eps file (the resulting plot file).
    • This file is located in ~/D-ITG-2.8.1-r1023/src/ITGPlot/
11. Once all simulation activities are completed, exit the Mininet CLI mininet> exit and run sudo mn -c prior to running any further simulations to end and delete the simulation.