Software-Defined Networking

aid: software-defined-networking
name: Software-Defined Networking
description: Software-Defined Networking (SDN) is a network architecture approach that decouples the network control plane
  from the data forwarding plane, enabling dynamic, programmatically efficient network configuration. SDN controllers expose
  northbound REST APIs for network applications to define routing, load balancing, and security policies, while southbound
  APIs communicate with switches and routers. Key SDN controllers include OpenDaylight, ONOS, and Floodlight.
url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/software-defined-networking/refs/heads/main/apis.yml
tags:
- Cloud Infrastructure
- Network Architecture
- Networking
- Virtualization
- SDN
- OpenDaylight
- ONOS
created: '2026-05-02'
modified: '2026-05-02'
specificationVersion: '0.19'
apis:
- aid: software-defined-networking:opendaylight-restconf
  name: OpenDaylight RESTCONF API
  description: OpenDaylight is an open-source SDN controller platform that exposes RESTCONF APIs for managing network devices,
    topology, flows, and configuration. It provides northbound REST interfaces for network applications and southbound interfaces
    for OpenFlow devices.
  humanURL: https://docs.opendaylight.org/en/latest/
  baseURL: http://localhost:8181/restconf
  tags:
  - SDN
  - OpenDaylight
  - RESTCONF
  - Network Management
  - Networking
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://docs.opendaylight.org/en/latest/user-guide/opendaylight-controller-overview.html
  - type: Website
    url: https://www.opendaylight.org/
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/software-defined-networking/refs/heads/main/json-schema/sdn-network-topology-schema.json
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/software-defined-networking/refs/heads/main/json-structure/sdn-topology-structure.json
- aid: software-defined-networking:onos-rest-api
  name: ONOS SDN Controller REST API
  description: ONOS (Open Network Operating System) is an open-source SDN controller that provides REST APIs for network management
    including topology discovery, flow rule management, host tracking, and device management.
  humanURL: https://wiki.onosproject.org/display/ONOS/REST+API
  baseURL: http://localhost:8181/onos/v1
  tags:
  - SDN
  - ONOS
  - Network Management
  - Topology
  - Flow Rules
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://wiki.onosproject.org/display/ONOS/REST+API
  - type: Website
    url: https://onosproject.org/
common:
- type: DomainSecurity
  url: security/software-defined-networking-domain-security.yml
- type: Website
  url: https://opennetworking.org/
- type: Reference
  url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software-defined_networking
- type: Standards
  url: https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc7426
- type: Reference
  url: https://www.ciena.com/insights/articles/5-key-APIs-to-enable-the-concept-of-SDN-based-virtual-networks.html
- type: GitHubOrganization
  url: https://github.com/opendaylight
- type: GitHubOrganization
  url: https://github.com/opennetworkinglab
- type: JSONLDContext
  url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/software-defined-networking/refs/heads/main/json-ld/software-defined-networking-context.jsonld
- type: Vocabulary
  url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/software-defined-networking/refs/heads/main/vocabulary/software-defined-networking-vocabulary.yml