'''Software-defined networking''' ('''SDN''') is an approach to [[network management]] that enablesuses abstraction to enable dynamic and programmatically efficient network configuration to improvecreate grouping and segmentation while improving network performance and monitoring in a manner more akin to [[cloud computing]] than to traditional network management.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{Cite journal | doi=10.1002/sec.1737|title = Software-defined networking (SDN): A survey| journal=Security and Communication Networks| volume=9| issue=18| pages=5803–5833|year = 2016|last1 = Benzekki|first1 = Kamal| last2=El Fergougui| first2=Abdeslam| last3=Elbelrhiti Elalaoui| first3=Abdelbaki}}</ref> SDN is meant to improve the static architecture of traditional networks and may be employed to centralize network intelligence in one network component by disassociating the forwarding process of [[network packet]]s ([[data plane]]) from the routing process ([[control plane]]).<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Montazerolghaem|first=Ahmadreza|date=2020-07-13|title=Software-defined load-balanced data center: design, implementation and performance analysis|url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10586-020-03134-x|journal=Cluster Computing|volume=24|issue=2|pages=591–610|language=en|doi=10.1007/s10586-020-03134-x|s2cid=220490312|issn=1386-7857}}</ref> The control plane consists of one or more controllers, which are considered the brains of the SDN network, where the whole intelligence is incorporated. However, centralization has certain drawbacks related to security,<ref name="ReferenceA"/> scalability and elasticity.<ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Montazerolghaem|first=Ahmadreza|date=2021|title=Software-defined Internet of Multimedia Things: Energy-efficient and Load-balanced Resource Management|url=https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9475487|journal=IEEE Internet of Things Journal|volume=9|issue=3|pages=2432–2442|doi=10.1109/JIOT.2021.3095237|s2cid=237801052|issn=2327-4662}}</ref>
SDN was commonly associated with the [[OpenFlow]] protocol for remote communication with network plane elements to determine the path of [[network packet]]s across [[network switch]]es since OpenFlow's emergence in 2011. However, since 2012, proprietary systems have also used the term.<ref name="TechTarget: SDN is not OpenFlow">{{cite web |url=http://searchsdn.techtarget.com/news/2240158633/Software-defined-networking-is-not-OpenFlow-companies-proclaim |website=searchsdn.techtarget.com |title=Software-defined networking is not OpenFlow, companies proclaim}}</ref><ref name="TechTarget: OpenFlow not the only show in town">{{cite web |url=http://searchsdn.techtarget.com/guides/Guide-OpenFlow-SDN-not-the-only-show-in-town-for-vendors|title=InCNTRE's OpenFlow SDN testing lab works toward certified SDN product|date=10 February 2016 }}</ref> These include [[Cisco Systems]]' Open Network Environment and [[Nicira]]'s [[network virtualization platform]].
