Hi everyone!
My name is Arne Kappen and this is the beginning of my second participation in GSoC for Freifunk.
Last year, I implemented an extension for LEDE’s netifd which enabled network device handling logic to be outsourced to an external program and still integrate with netifd via ubus. My work included a proof-of-concept implementation of such an external device handler allowing the creation and configuration of OpenVSwitch OpenFlow switches from the central /etc/config/network file [1].
Sticking with Software-Defined Networking (SDN), this year I am going to provide the tools to build SDN applications which manage wireless access points via OpenFlow. The main component will be establishing the necessary message types for the control channel. I am going to extend LoxiGen to achieve this. In the end, there should be OpenFlow libraries for C and Java for the development of SDN applications and their agents running on LEDE.
I will also write one such agent and a control application for the ONOS platform to test my implementation.
My ideal outcome would be a REST interface putting as many of the APs configuration parameters under control of the SDN application as possible. Such a system could provide comfortable management of a larger deployment of LEDE access points and be a stepping stone for more complex use cases in the future.
I am looking forward to working with Freifunk again. Last year’s GSoC was a great experience during which I learned a lot.