University of Sao Paulo 2015 Projects

At the Laboratory of Computer Networks and Architecture, researchers are working with Science DMZ and software defined networks to improve large scale data transfer.

Using SDN for Security and Optimization

There are two problems faced by large scale data transfers. The first one is security: some security mechanisms such as firewalls may significantly impact the transfer, as they are not usually projected for this type of flow, demanding novel approaches. The second one is latency: for some transfers, especially the ones related to visualization, the latency introduced by some network equipments (e.g., routers) may have an adverse impact on usability, demanding the use of layer-2 circuits for improving this transfer.
On this project we are investigating the applicability of the SDN paradigm for these problems: once a special network flow is identified (by means of packet inspection or SDN-enabled data transfer applications), it is possible to handle security differently, using SDN for dynamically defining the security perimeter for the transfer, or optimize the transfer by rerouting the traffic to a Layer 2 circuit. These ideas should be validated in a remote visualization scenario, where data is processed at OSDC and transferred to Brazil for visualization.