An OpenFlow switch is a software program or hardware device that forwards packets in a
software-defined networking (SDN)
environment. OpenFlow switches are either based on the
OpenFlow protocol or
compatible with it.
In a conventional switch, packet forwarding (the data plane) and high-level routing (the
control plane) occur on the same device. In software-defined networking, the data plane is
decoupled from the control plane. The data plane is still implemented in the switch itself but the
control plane is implemented in software and a separate SDN
controller makes high-level routing decisions. The switch and controller communicate by means
of the OpenFlow protocol.
This was last updated in March 2013
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