Essential Open‑Source SDN Controllers and Switches You Should Know

SDN has grown rapidly thanks to contributions from open‑source communities, resulting in a plethora of projects ranging from controllers to switches and network‑virtualization tools. Below is a curated, non‑ranked list of notable open‑source SDN projects for reference.

Controllers

1. OpenDaylight

OpenDaylight is a Java‑based open‑source framework driven by the community, offering a modular, pluggable, and highly flexible controller platform for SDN networks.

2. ONOS

ONOS, developed by ON.Lab with Java and Apache, is an open‑source SDN operating system targeting service providers and enterprise backbones, emphasizing reliability, performance, and flexibility through north‑bound and south‑bound APIs.

3. Floodlight

Floodlight, built by Big Switch Networks using Apache and Java, is an OpenFlow controller that works with switches, routers, virtual switches, and other OpenFlow‑compatible devices.

4. RYU

RYU, designed by NTT in Japan, is a Python‑based open‑source SDN controller supporting OpenFlow 1.0/1.2/1.3 and deployment on OpenStack, providing centralized management via APIs.

5. POFController

POFController, from Huawei, is a BSD/Apache‑licensed Java OpenFlow controller with a GUI for managing switches and enhancing OpenFlow protocol support.

6. MUL

MUL is a multithreaded OpenFlow controller written in C, supporting OpenFlow 1.0 and 1.3, designed for performance and reliability with one‑click installation, CLI, and web GUI.

7. POX

POX, developed at Stanford in Python, is an OpenFlow controller that routes protocol packets from switches to specified software modules.

8. NOX

NOX, created by Nicira in Python, was the first SDN controller offering a generic interface for building network control applications.

9. IRIS

IRIS, from the ETRI research team, is a Java‑based recursive SDN OpenFlow controller aimed at telecom‑grade scalability, high availability, and multi‑domain support.

10. Jaxon

Jaxon is a Java OpenFlow controller that provides a port for bridging NOX with Java applications.

11. Trema

Trema, developed by NEC using Ruby and C, is a highly usable OpenFlow controller framework.

12. Beacon

Beacon, designed by Stanford’s David Erickson and others in Java, is an open‑source controller known for efficiency, stability, cross‑platform support, multithreading, and a UI for access control.

13. Maestro

Maestro, presented in a LSU thesis and implemented in Java under LGPL V2.1, is a multithreaded controller suited for research environments and various operating systems.

14. NodeFlow

NodeFlow, led by Cisco CTO Gary Berger, is a highly simplified OpenFlow controller written in JavaScript for Node.js applications.

15. Mc‑Nettle

Mc‑Nettle, from Yale University, is a high‑performance OpenFlow controller designed for large data‑center workloads, capable of handling tens of millions of flow requests per second.

Switches

1. Open vSwitch

Open vSwitch, created by Nicira in C and Python, is a production‑grade, multilayer virtual switch that enables automated network configuration, management, and maintenance across distributed environments.

2. POFSwitch

POFSwitch, from Huawei, is a BSD‑licensed virtual switch implemented in C on Linux, working together with POFController to enhance OpenFlow support.

3. Pica8 (XORPlus)

XORPlus, provided by Pica8, is an Open vSwitch‑based software platform that supports L2/L3 protocols under a controlled source‑code license.

4. Indigo

Indigo, from Big Switch Networks, is a C‑based open‑source OpenFlow implementation for physical switches, delivering line‑rate performance on ASICs and supporting up to 48 10 Gbps ports.

5. ONetSwitch

ONetSwitch, by ONet, is the world’s first Zynq‑based OpenFlow switch, offering a programmable, reconfigurable, and extensible platform for SDN research and education.

6. Pantou (OpenWRT)

Pantou, based on BackFire OpenWrt (Linux 2.6.32), turns commercial wireless routers into OpenFlow‑enabled switches, supporting a range of Broadcom and Atheros devices.

7. Of13softswitch

Of13softswitch, from Ericsson Innovation Center Brazil, is a user‑space software switch compatible with OpenFlow 1.3, including datapath, secure channel, library, and configuration tools.

8. LINC

LINC, led by FlowForwarding, is an Apache‑2‑licensed OpenFlow 1.2/1.3.1 implementation that runs on x86 hardware across Linux, Solaris, Windows, macOS, and FreeBSD via Erlang.

9. Switch Light

Switch Light, from Big Switch, builds on the Indigo open‑source stack to provide a deployable OpenFlow switch for physical or virtual environments, integrating with other Big Switch SDN products.