In a software-defined network (SDN) architecture, the northbound application program interfaces (APIs) are used to communicate between the SDN Controller and the services and applications running over the network. SDN Northbound APIs are also used to integrate the SDN Controller with automation stacks, such as Puppet, and CFEngine. The goal is to abstract the inner-workings of the network, so that application developers can 'hook' into the network and make changes to accommodate the needs of the application without having to understand exactly what that means for the network. In a software-defined network (SDN) architecture, southbound application program interfaces (APIs) (or SDN southbound APIs) are used to communicate between the SDN Controller and the switches and routers of the network. They can be open or proprietary. SDN Controllers in a software-defined network (SDN) are the "brain" of the network. It is the application that acts as the control point in the SDN network, manage flow control to the switches/routers 'below' (via southbound APIs) and the applications and business logic 'above' (via northbound APIs) to deploy intelligent networks. An SDN Controller platform contains a collection of "pluggable" modules that can perform different network tasks. Some of the basic tasks including inventorying what devices are within the network and the capabilities of each, gathering network statistics, etc. Extensions can be inserted that enhance the functionality and support more advanced capabilities, such as running algorithms to perform analytic and orchestrating new rules throughout the network. Two of the most well-known protocols used by SDN Controllers to communicate with the switches/routers is Open Flow and OVSDB. Others protocols that could be used by an SDN Controller is YANG or NetConf.
North-bound and South-bound API: In Software Defined Networking (SDN), Northbound and Southbound APIs are used to describe how interfaces operate between the different planes - data plane, control plane and application plane.
Southbound interfaces define the way the SDN controller should interact with the data plane (aka forwarding plane) to make adjustments to the network, so it can better adapt to changing requirements. OpenFlow is a well-known southbound interface. With OpenFlow, entries can be added and removed to the internal flow-table of switches and potentially routers to make the network more responsive to real-time traffic demands.
Northbound interfaces define the way the SDN controller should interact with the application plane. Applications and services are things like load-balancers, firewalls, security services and cloud resources. The idea is to abstract the inner-workings of the network, so that application developers can ‘hook’ into the network and make changes to accommodate the needs of the application without having to understand exactly what that means for the network.
Separation of Control plane and Data plane: The term Software Defined Networks (SDN) refers to the concept of separating control and data plane in the network. The separation of the layer enables external management and control of distributed lower layer transport functionalities.
Data plane: The term data plane refers to the tasks that a networking device does to forward a message. In other words, anything to do with receiving data, processing it, and forwarding that same data - whether you call the data a frame, a packet, or, more generically, a message - is part of the data plane.
Control plane: The term control plane refers to any action that controls the data plane. Most of these actions have to do with creating the tables used by the data plane, tables like the IP routing table, an IP Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) table, a switch MAC address table, and so on. By adding to, removing, and changing entries to the tables used by the data plane, the control plane processes control what the data plane does.
Management plane: The control plane performs overhead tasks that directly impact the behavior of the data plane. The management plane performs overhead work as well, but that work does not directly impact the data plane. Instead, the management plane includes protocols that allow network engineers to manage the devices. The management plane includes protocols that allow network engineers to manage the devices. Telnet and Secure Shell (SSH) are two of the most obvious management plane protocols. Control plane is essential for meaningful traffic to flow through the network whereas a management plane is not an essential component. For example, think about two routers: one configured to allow Telnet and SSH into the router and one that does not. Both could still be running a routing protocol and routing packets, whether or not they support Telnet and SSH.
