Are We Ready to Drive Software-Defined Networks? A Comprehensive Survey on Management Tools and Techniques.

In the context of the emergent Software-Defined Networking (SDN) paradigm, the attention is mostly directed to the evolution of control protocols and networking functionalities. However, network professionals also need the right tools to reach the same level—and beyond—of monitoring and control they have in traditional networks. Current SDN tools are developed on an ad hoc basis, for specific SDN frameworks, while production environments demand standard platforms and easy integration. This survey aims to foster the definition of the next generation SDN management framework by providing the readers a thorough overview of existing SDN tools and main research directions.