HOPBFT: A Scalable and light weight Blockchain enabled Protocol for Securing Multi-Domain SDN

HOPBFT: A Scalable and light weight Blockchain enabled Protocol for Securing Multi-Domain SDN | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article HOPBFT: A Scalable and light weight Blockchain enabled Protocol for Securing Multi-Domain SDN Muhammad Shahzad, Safdar Rizvi, Talha Ahmed Khan This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6938347/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Software-Defined Networking (SDN) has transformed network management by decoupling control and data planes, enabling centralized control and programmability. However, this centralization introduces a critical single point of failure (SPoF) in the control plane, rendering the network vulnerable to breaches. The multi-controller architecture enhances scalability and resilience but complicates security management. Although challenges such as consensus delays and scalability persist, decentralized and tamper-proof blockchain ledgers offer a promising security solution for SDN. This paper proposes Hierarchical Optimized Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (HOPBFT), a novel consensus framework that integrates Raft-based intra-domain consensus with an optimized hierarchical Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (PBFT) inter-domain layer, enhanced by blockchain technology for improved security and coordination. Evaluated in a simulated multi-domain SDN environment using Mininet and Ryu controllers, HOPBFT outperforms the baselines (e.g., DLCA_R_P, Voting Based, Proof of Work) with 400 transactions per second (TPS) at 50 controllers, a latency of 340 ms, and a success rate of 96% compared to DLCA_R_P (160 TPS, 1170 ms, 91%). The communication complexity of HOPBFT is \(\:O\left(n\text{l}\text{o}\text{g}\:n\right)\) compared to traditional PBFT \(\:O\left({n}^{2}\right)\) to ensure scalability and efficiency. The key contributions of this study are a scalable consensus framework, an efficient two-phase agreement mechanism, and validated fault tolerance in multi-domain SDN settings. Software Defined Networking Blockchain Hierarchical PBFT Multi-Domain SDN Control Plane Security Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6938347","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":483389089,"identity":"5b128a07-c338-45ac-a5cd-c2a6d29e9d1b","order_by":0,"name":"Muhammad Shahzad","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Bahria University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Muhammad","middleName":"","lastName":"Shahzad","suffix":""},{"id":483389090,"identity":"88b80999-f3db-4b1b-beb5-1ecb9b6dd70c","order_by":1,"name":"Safdar Rizvi","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Bahria University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Safdar","middleName":"","lastName":"Rizvi","suffix":""},{"id":483389091,"identity":"7c1807ea-fdd7-4d3f-96f2-37f7db5185b7","order_by":2,"name":"Talha Ahmed Khan","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAz0lEQVRIiWNgGAWjYFAC5jYGhgoGBjYe5gYgSYQGHgZGoJYzIC2MpGgB6WIgWos9+8G2Bz/nHc7j4znYwPCh7DCD7owEArbwJLYb9m47XMzG29jAOOPcYQazG4S0MCS2SfBuO5zYxs/YwMzbRowW/odtkn/nQLX8JUqLRGKbNG8DUAvQYcyMRGm58bBNWuZYemIb0PsHe86l85ideYBfC3t/8jHJNzXWifN7kg8++FFmLWd2nIAtKOAAyFoGAVK0QAD/AZK1jIJRMApGwfAGAPvnRR0CQsBqAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"Malaysian Institute of Information Technology (MIIT), Universiti Kuala Lumpur","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Talha","middleName":"Ahmed","lastName":"Khan","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-06-20 11:08:34","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6938347/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6938347/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":104414074,"identity":"79a43aa7-4511-4943-9dd1-1b1222764191","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-03-11 13:06:33","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1195920,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"HOPBFTAScalableandlightweightBlockchainenabledProtocolforSecuringMultiDomainSDN.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6938347/v1_covered_c6a7fbd1-bf88-497a-98be-9873ee2aebee.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"HOPBFT: A Scalable and light weight Blockchain enabled Protocol for Securing Multi-Domain SDN","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Software Defined Networking, Blockchain, Hierarchical PBFT, Multi-Domain SDN, Control Plane Security","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6938347/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6938347/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eSoftware-Defined Networking (SDN) has transformed network management by decoupling control and data planes, enabling centralized control and programmability. However, this centralization introduces a critical single point of failure (SPoF) in the control plane, rendering the network vulnerable to breaches. The multi-controller architecture enhances scalability and resilience but complicates security management. Although challenges such as consensus delays and scalability persist, decentralized and tamper-proof blockchain ledgers offer a promising security solution for SDN. This paper proposes Hierarchical Optimized Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (HOPBFT), a novel consensus framework that integrates Raft-based intra-domain consensus with an optimized hierarchical Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (PBFT) inter-domain layer, enhanced by blockchain technology for improved security and coordination. Evaluated in a simulated multi-domain SDN environment using Mininet and Ryu controllers, HOPBFT outperforms the baselines (e.g., DLCA_R_P, Voting Based, Proof of Work) with 400 transactions per second (TPS) at 50 controllers, a latency of 340 ms, and a success rate of 96% compared to DLCA_R_P (160 TPS, 1170 ms, 91%). The communication complexity of HOPBFT is \u003cspan class=\"InlineEquation\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"mathinline\"\u003e\\(\\:O\\left(n\\text{l}\\text{o}\\text{g}\\:n\\right)\\)\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e compared to traditional PBFT \u003cspan class=\"InlineEquation\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"mathinline\"\u003e\\(\\:O\\left({n}^{2}\\right)\\)\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e to ensure scalability and efficiency. 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