Abstract

Network configuration updates are a routine necessity, and must be performed in a way that minimizes transient effects caused by inter-mediate states of the network. This challenge is especially critical in Software Defined Networks, where the control plane is man-aged by a logically centralized controller, and configuration up-dates occur frequently. In this paper we discuss the tradeoff be-tween maintaining consistency during configuration updates and the update performance. We introduce an approach that uses time to coordinate network configuration and reconfiguration. We show a simple time-based configuration approach called TIMECONF and show that this approach offers significant advantages over existing update approaches at the cost of a brief inconsistency. We also show that time can be used as a tool for simplifying existing update approaches without compromising consistency.