PyTapDEMon - Part 1 Introduction

PyTapDEMON is a project that I am working on for a Python class at UW Extension. It is a Distributed Ethernet MOnitoring (DEMon) using OpenFlow-enabled switch with POX as the controller. This is not a new concept, Rich Groves presented this project at Sharkfest. There a number of reports and commercial offerings on the idea. 

• sFlow SDN Packet Broker
• SDNCentral Report on Rich's Presentation at ONS 2013
• 2013 Lippis Report on Rich's presentation
• BigTap from BigSwitch Networks
• Rich Grrove's Sharkfest Presentation in 2012

I believe this has a lot of potential in offering a cheap, distributed system that is capable of monitoring datacetner-scale networks with extensible capabilities. 

Here is a simple overview: 

Here is the GitHub link for the project: https://github.com/ericchou-python/PyTapDEMON

Here are some links for the tools I will be using to develop this project:

• OpenFlow Tutorial
• Mininet from Stanford
• POX Controller
• DPKT
• Scapy

Hardware used for initial testing

Here is a list of the hardware that I will be using to test the setup: 

1. A Linksys WRT54GL flashed with OpenWRT OpenFlow image, http://www.openflow.org/wp/openwrt/.

2. Raspberry Pi for physical hosts, although virtual host will do also.

3. A dump hub to simulate tap ports.



Will update when there are enough progress to warrant an update. Leave me comments if you have any suggestions or questions. :)

Cheers.