Creating complex testbed networks to explore SDN-based all-campus science DMZs

Researchers from almost all academic disciplines - who now rely on large data sets for their work - are increasingly facing 'middlebox' bottlenecks (e.g., firewalls, NAT, IDS/IDP) that limit performance when transferring data sets across the campus network. To address this problem, we are exploring Software Defined Networking (SDN) campus network designs that allow researchers to 'bypass' rate-limiting middleboxes for certain approved data transfers. However, testing and evaluating new bypass control software for a campus-wide SDN network is challenging for a variety of reasons, beginning with the need to create a realistic test environment. To address this problem, we created three different testbeds that emulate the complexities of a campus network, and have been using these testbeds to evaluate our approach and prototype implementation. In particular, we developed (1) a GENI network testbed, (2) a lab-based physical network testbed, and (3) a limited campus network testbed. We describe the challenges and obstacles encountered while creating these testbed networks, and we report on the solutions developed that produced three realistic but unique 'campus network' testbeds. We describe the experiments we were able to perform on the testbeds as well as performance results.