Software Defined Networking

The University of Chicago

About this Course

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In this course, you will learn about software defined networking and how it is changing the way communications networks are managed, maintained, and secured.

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Approx. 32 hours to complete

English

Subtitles: Arabic, French, Portuguese (European), Chinese (Simplified), Italian, Vietnamese, Korean, German, Russian, Turkish, English, Spanish

Instructor

Instructor rating

4.61/5 (39 Ratings)

Dr. Nick Feamster

Professor

Department of Computer Science

49,136 Learners

1 Course

Shareable Certificate

Earn a Certificate upon completion

100% online

Start instantly and learn at your own schedule.

Flexible deadlines

Reset deadlines in accordance to your schedule.

Approx. 32 hours to complete

English

Subtitles: Arabic, French, Portuguese (European), Chinese (Simplified), Italian, Vietnamese, Korean, German, Russian, Turkish, English, Spanish

Offered by

The University of Chicago

One of the world's premier academic and research institutions, the University of Chicago has driven new ways of thinking since our 1890 founding. Today, UChicago is an intellectual destination that draws inspired scholars to our Hyde Park and international campuses, keeping UChicago at the nexus of ideas that challenge and change the world.

Syllabus - What you will learn from this course

Week

Week 1

4 hours to complete

Week One

This week, I'll introduce an overview of the course and then dive into the history and evolution of SDNs.

4 hours to complete

11 videos (Total 162 min), 4 readings, 2 quizzes

11 videos

Introduction to SDN (Summer 2015): What's New4m

Overview Part 14m

Overview Part 28m

Central Control6m

Active Networks11m

Network Virtualization12m

From FORCES to Ethane: Control Plane Evolution9m

The Road to SDN7m

Martin Casado Interview27m

Nick McKeown Interview1h 7m

Tutorial: Setup Vagrant/Mininet Course VM Setup1m

4 readings

Syllabus10m

Scoring and Logistics10m

Week One10m

Set up Your Own Virtual Network: A Virtual Box/Mininet Environment for SDN10m

2 practice exercises

Pre-Assesment Quiz30m

Quiz 1: History and Evolution of SDN30m

Week

Week 2

5 hours to complete

Week Two

In this module, you will learn about the motivation and history behind the separation of the control and data plane, as well as the challenges and opportunities that this architectural paradigm offers.

5 hours to complete

8 videos (Total 178 min), 2 readings, 3 quizzes

8 videos

Mininet Topologies and Mininet Python API16m

Control/Data Separation6m

Opportunities in Various Domains13m

Challenges in Separating the Data and Control Planes13m

Routing Control Platform10m

The 4D Network Architecture10m

David Clark Interview1h 1m

Teemu Koponen Interview45m

2 readings

Week Two10m

Mininet Quiz Instructions10m

3 practice exercises

Quiz 2: Mininet Setup30m

Quiz 2.1: Control and Data Separation30m

Quiz 2.2: Routing Control Platform and 4D30m

Week

Week 3

3 hours to complete

Week Three

In this lesson, you will gain experience with OpenFlow/SDN control, gain some exposure to different SDN controllers, learn about the tradeoffs of using different SDN controllers, and gain some experience of using SDN to customize control-plane behavior.

3 hours to complete

8 videos (Total 133 min), 1 reading, 1 quiz

8 videos

The Control Plane15m

Overview of SDN Controllers7m

Customizing SDN Control (Part 1: Switching)16m

Customizing SDN Control (Part 2: Firewalls)10m

Commercial-Grade Controllers: ODL9m

Commercial-Grade Controllers: Ryu5m

Jennifer Rexford Interview31m

Guido Appenzeller Interview35m

1 reading

Week Three10m

1 practice exercise

Quiz 3: The Control Plane30m

Week

Week 4

5 hours to complete

Week Four

By the end of this module, you should have a good understanding of what network virtualization is, what it is used for, and how it relates to software defined networking.

5 hours to complete

11 videos (Total 197 min), 1 reading, 3 quizzes

11 videos

Virtualization14m

Applications of Virtual Networking10m

Network Virtualization with Mininet10m

Slicing Network Control7m

Virtualization in Multi-Tenant Datacenters8m

Network Functions Virtualization5m

Docker and Containerization4m

Networking in Docker5m

Brent Salisbury Interview40m

Larry Peterson Interview42m

Rob Sherwood Interview46m

1 reading

Week Four10m

3 practice exercises

Quiz 4.1: Virtual Networking30m

Quiz 4.2: Data-Center Virtualization30m

Quiz 4.3: NFV and Docker30m

Week

Week 5

4 hours to complete

Week Five

This module is relatively independent from some of the other modules, as programmable data planes involve new types of technology. Still, you should by now have a very good understanding of SDN-based control and virtualization. OpenFlow's design was somewhat of an accident of the hardware support that was available at the time. More recently, people are exploring how programmable hardware can help us design a control protocol with the benefit of being able to change the data plane.

4 hours to complete

10 videos (Total 200 min), 1 reading, 2 quizzes

10 videos

Programmable Data Planes8m

Making Software Faster: RouteBricks13m

Programmable Hardware Overview2m

Programmable Chipsets: RMT13m

High-Level Programming Languages: P49m

P4 Examples3m

Intermediate Representations: NetASM7m

Pat Bosshart Interview51m

Chang Kim Interview47m

Dan Daly Interview43m

1 reading

Week Five10m

2 practice exercises

Quiz 5.1: Programmable Data Planes30m

Quiz 5.2: Protocol Independent Forwarding30m

Week

Week 6

3 hours to complete

Week Six

In this part of the course, you'll learn about programming languages and controllers that make this programmability possible. We will focus on one language in particular, Pyretic, which is from the Frenetic family of languages. We will also look at a runtime and northbound API called Resonance, which allows network programmers to write policies that respond to changing network conditions (e.g., security events, shifts in peak vs. off-peak time, traffic fluctuations or link failures).

3 hours to complete

7 videos (Total 139 min), 1 reading, 1 quiz

7 videos

Motivation for "Northbound APIs" and SDN Programming Languages8m

Frenetic: A Programming Language for SDNs10m

Composing SDN Policies9m

Pyretic: A Language for Composing SDN Policies7m

Kinetic: Event-Based SDN Control9m

Nate Foster Interview50m

Josh Reich Interview44m

1 reading

Week Six10m

1 practice exercise

Quiz 6: Programming SDNs30m

Week

Week 7

4 hours to complete

Week Seven

In this module, we will apply that knowledge to explore how SDN can be used to solve problems in various networking domains. We'll start by looking at data-center networking, where SDN has arguably gained the strongest foothold (to date). We'll then explore applications of SDN to interdomain routing, where new applications and deployments are emerging. Finally, we'll explore the application of SDN in home networks, which has seen some preliminary work, deployments, and ideas.

4 hours to complete

8 videos (Total 185 min), 1 reading, 1 quiz

8 videos

Data Centers9m

Internet Exchange Points8m

Wide-Area Backbone Networks6m

Home Networks7m

Bryan Larish Interview29m

Bob Lantz Interview39m

Umesh Krishnaswamy Interview45m

Amin Vahdat Interview37m

1 reading

Week Seven10m

1 practice exercise

Quiz 7: SDN Use Cases30m

Week

Week 8

4 hours to complete

Week Eight

In this module, we'll be looking at another control framework built using Pyretic called "Kinetic". Kinetic is a domain-specific language embedded in Pyretic that allows programmers and network operators to automatically verify the correctness properties of the control program. Your previous experience with Pox and Pyretic should provide you with very useful experience and perspective for comparing the three ways of programming a controller. In the assignment, we ask you to compare Kinetic to either Pox or Pyretic, so the experience you gained from those assignments should prove very useful.

4 hours to complete

9 videos (Total 215 min), 1 reading, 1 quiz

9 videos

Configuration Verification9m

Data Plane Verification12m

Control Plane Verification10m

Brighten Godfrey Interview42m

Shriram Krishnamurthy Interview43m

Wireless6m

Open Problems and Next Steps8m

Madhu Venugopal Interview39m

Russ Clark Interview41m

1 reading

Week Eight10m

1 practice exercise

Quiz 8.1: Verification30m

Frequently Asked Questions

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Will I earn university credit for completing the Course?
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Software Defined Networking