Design and Experimental Evaluation of Adaptive Load Balancing Strategies in Software-Defined Networks Using Mininet

Software-Defined Networking (SDN) introduces centralized control and programmability, enabling more flexible and efficient network management compared to traditional architectures. Load balancing is a serious SDN application that improves resource utilization, reduces latency, and enhances service reliability. However, implementing SDN-based load balancers involves several challenges, such as controller overhead, scalability issues, dynamic traffic handling, and protocol integration. This study investigates these challenges and presents practical approaches for implementing SDN load balancers using the Mininet emulation environment. Different load-balancing algorithms are implemented and evaluated, highlighting the trade-offs between static and dynamic techniques. The study also examines traffic generation tools supported by Mininet. Furthermore, the performance of various SDN controllers, including Ryu, POX, OpenDaylight (ODL), ONOS, and Floodlight, is assessed using metrics such as throughput and round-trip time. Key performance evaluation metrics and their computation methods are also discussed. The goal of this research is to examine the challenges of implementing load balancing in Software-Defined Networking. It also aims to explore effective methods for designing and evaluating SDN-based load-balancing solutions using a Mininet test environment.

@article{Shona2026,
  title     = {Design and Experimental Evaluation of Adaptive Load Balancing Strategies in Software-Defined Networks Using Mininet},
  journal   = {International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications},
  volume    = {17},
  number    = {3},
  year      = {2026},
  publisher = {The Science and Information Organization},
  author    = {M Shona and Rinki Sharma},
  doi       = {10.14569/IJACSA.2026.0170344},
  url       = {https://doi.org/10.14569/IJACSA.2026.0170344}
}