A Survey of Link Failure Detection and Recovery in Software-Defined Networks

Software-defined networking (SDN) is an innovative paradigm that separates the control and data planes, introducing centralized network control. SDN is increasingly being adopted by Carrier Grade networks, offering enhanced network management capabilities than those of traditional networks. However, because SDN is designed to ensure high-level service availability, it faces additional challenges. One of the most critical challenges is ensuring efficient detection and recovery from link failures in the data plane. Such failures can significantly impact network performance and lead to service outages, making resiliency a key concern for the effective adoption of SDN. Since the recovery process is intrinsically dependent on timely failure detection, this research surveys and analyzes the current literature on both failure detection and recovery approaches in SDN. The survey provides a critical comparison of existing failure detection techniques, highlighting their advantages and disadvantages. Additionally, it examines the current failure recovery methods, categorized as either restoration-based or protection-based, and offers a comprehensive comparison of their strengths and limitations. Lastly, future research challenges and directions are discussed to address the shortcomings of existing failure recovery methods.