Traffic Classification in Software-Defined Networking Using Genetic Programming Tools

The classification of Software-Defined Networking (SDN) traffic is an essential tool for network management, network monitoring, traffic engineering, dynamic resource allocation planning, and applying Quality of Service (QoS) policies. The programmability nature of SDN, the holistic view of the netw...

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Main Authors: Spiridoula V. Margariti, Ioannis G. Tsoulos, Evangelia Kiousi, Eleftherios Stergiou
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2024-09-01
Series:Future Internet
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/1999-5903/16/9/338
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author Spiridoula V. Margariti
Ioannis G. Tsoulos
Evangelia Kiousi
Eleftherios Stergiou
author_facet Spiridoula V. Margariti
Ioannis G. Tsoulos
Evangelia Kiousi
Eleftherios Stergiou
author_sort Spiridoula V. Margariti
collection DOAJ
description The classification of Software-Defined Networking (SDN) traffic is an essential tool for network management, network monitoring, traffic engineering, dynamic resource allocation planning, and applying Quality of Service (QoS) policies. The programmability nature of SDN, the holistic view of the network through SDN controllers, and the capability for dynamic adjustable and reconfigurable controllersare fertile ground for the development of new techniques for traffic classification. Although there are enough research works that have studied traffic classification methods in SDN environments, they have several shortcomings and gaps that need to be further investigated. In this study, we investigated traffic classification methods in SDN using publicly available SDN traffic trace datasets. We apply a series of classifiers, such as MLP (BFGS), FC2 (RBF), FC2 (MLP), Decision Tree, SVM, and GENCLASS, and evaluate their performance in terms of accuracy, detection rate, and precision. Of the methods used, GenClass appears to be more accurate in separating the categories of the problem than the rest, and this is reflected in both precision and recall. The key element of the GenClass method is that it can generate classification rules programmatically and detect the hidden associations that exist between the problem features and the desired classes. However, Genetic Programming-based techniques require significantly higher execution time compared to other machine learning techniques. This is most evident in the feature construction method where at each generation of the genetic algorithm, a set of learning models is required to be trained to evaluate the generated artificial features.
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spelling doaj-art-7d212c3e1a8a40b8aede10f9523806f82025-08-20T01:55:27ZengMDPI AGFuture Internet1999-59032024-09-0116933810.3390/fi16090338Traffic Classification in Software-Defined Networking Using Genetic Programming ToolsSpiridoula V. Margariti0Ioannis G. Tsoulos1Evangelia Kiousi2Eleftherios Stergiou3Department of Informatics and Telecommunications, University of Ioannina, 45110 Ioannina, GreeceDepartment of Informatics and Telecommunications, University of Ioannina, 45110 Ioannina, GreeceDepartment of Informatics and Telecommunications, University of Ioannina, 45110 Ioannina, GreeceDepartment of Informatics and Telecommunications, University of Ioannina, 45110 Ioannina, GreeceThe classification of Software-Defined Networking (SDN) traffic is an essential tool for network management, network monitoring, traffic engineering, dynamic resource allocation planning, and applying Quality of Service (QoS) policies. The programmability nature of SDN, the holistic view of the network through SDN controllers, and the capability for dynamic adjustable and reconfigurable controllersare fertile ground for the development of new techniques for traffic classification. Although there are enough research works that have studied traffic classification methods in SDN environments, they have several shortcomings and gaps that need to be further investigated. In this study, we investigated traffic classification methods in SDN using publicly available SDN traffic trace datasets. We apply a series of classifiers, such as MLP (BFGS), FC2 (RBF), FC2 (MLP), Decision Tree, SVM, and GENCLASS, and evaluate their performance in terms of accuracy, detection rate, and precision. Of the methods used, GenClass appears to be more accurate in separating the categories of the problem than the rest, and this is reflected in both precision and recall. The key element of the GenClass method is that it can generate classification rules programmatically and detect the hidden associations that exist between the problem features and the desired classes. However, Genetic Programming-based techniques require significantly higher execution time compared to other machine learning techniques. This is most evident in the feature construction method where at each generation of the genetic algorithm, a set of learning models is required to be trained to evaluate the generated artificial features.https://www.mdpi.com/1999-5903/16/9/338software-defined networkinggenetic algorithmsoptimizationneural networksgenetic programming
spellingShingle Spiridoula V. Margariti
Ioannis G. Tsoulos
Evangelia Kiousi
Eleftherios Stergiou
Traffic Classification in Software-Defined Networking Using Genetic Programming Tools
Future Internet
software-defined networking
genetic algorithms
optimization
neural networks
genetic programming
title Traffic Classification in Software-Defined Networking Using Genetic Programming Tools
title_full Traffic Classification in Software-Defined Networking Using Genetic Programming Tools
title_fullStr Traffic Classification in Software-Defined Networking Using Genetic Programming Tools
title_full_unstemmed Traffic Classification in Software-Defined Networking Using Genetic Programming Tools
title_short Traffic Classification in Software-Defined Networking Using Genetic Programming Tools
title_sort traffic classification in software defined networking using genetic programming tools
topic software-defined networking
genetic algorithms
optimization
neural networks
genetic programming
url https://www.mdpi.com/1999-5903/16/9/338
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AT evangeliakiousi trafficclassificationinsoftwaredefinednetworkingusinggeneticprogrammingtools
AT eleftheriosstergiou trafficclassificationinsoftwaredefinednetworkingusinggeneticprogrammingtools