ESnet Network Operating System (ENOS)

Abstract

ENOS is a prototype next-generation ESnet architecture for handling data-intensive science workflows. The concept of a 'network operating system', a software layer that enables applications to get information about the network and to program it to meet its needs, has been around in academic papers for a while but appears to be feasible now due to the wide adoption of the Software-Defined Networking (SDN) paradigm. The SDN paradigm constitutes a network architecture that separates the control plane from the distributed data plane and provides logical centralization of the network control and state. These logical central control plane capabilities can be evolved to become the operating system through which the network policies are implemented across the entire network and applications can program network behavior.