Skip to main content

OpenVirteX (OVX)

OpenVirteX (OVX) is a network hypervisor for OpenFlow-based software-defined networks that creates multiple virtual Software Defined Networking (SDN) networks over a shared physical infrastructure.

  • Virtual network slicing over a single physical OpenFlow network (network virtualization)
  • Abstraction of physical topology into tenant-specific virtual topologies (network abstraction)
  • Per-tenant address and topology space, including overlapping address support (multi-tenancy)
  • Translation and mediation between tenant OpenFlow controllers and the physical network (control-plane virtualization)
  • Support for experimentation and isolation in SDN environments, including testbeds and research labs (SDN testbed virtualization)

More About OpenVirteX (OVX)

OpenVirteX (OVX) is a network hypervisor for OpenFlow-based SDN that enables multiple logically independent virtual networks to share a single physical OpenFlow infrastructure. It operates as a virtualization layer between tenant SDN controllers and the underlying switches, presenting each tenant with its own virtual network while managing the mapping to the physical topology.

The core purpose of OVX is network slicing (network virtualization), where a physical OpenFlow network is partitioned into isolated virtual SDN networks for different tenants or use cases. Each tenant interacts with a virtual topology and address space as if it were a dedicated network, while OVX handles translation of OpenFlow messages, event handling, and state management. This supports scenarios such as multi-tenant data centers, research testbeds, and environments where multiple experiments or services must coexist on shared infrastructure.

OVX provides topology abstraction (network abstraction), enabling operators to define tenant-visible logical topologies that differ from the underlying physical layout. It also supports virtual addressing (address virtualization), which allows overlapping IP or Monitoring-as-Code (MaC) address spaces across tenants. OVX rewrites and maintains consistent mappings between virtual and physical resources, including switches, ports, and links, so that tenant controllers can operate without awareness of other tenants or the physical configuration.

From a control-plane standpoint, OVX acts as an intermediary OpenFlow endpoint (control-plane virtualization). Tenant controllers connect to OVX instead of directly to physical switches, and OVX terminates and re-issues OpenFlow sessions to the switches. It processes flow-mod, packet-in, and other OpenFlow messages, translating them to match the appropriate physical paths and enforcing isolation policies. This architecture allows independent controller stacks per tenant, and supports experimentation with different SDN applications on the same hardware platform.

Enterprises, service providers, and research institutions can use OVX to share SDN infrastructure among multiple internal teams or external tenants while maintaining isolation, flexible logical topologies, and customized addressing policies. In an enterprise context, OVX fits into infrastructure and Network Virtualization (NV), SDN testbed management, and multi-tenant lab environments. It interoperates with OpenFlow-enabled switches and SDN controllers that speak standard OpenFlow protocols, and aligns with the broader Open Networking Foundation ecosystem focused on software-defined and programmable networking.