About flowmanager

An SDN application that gives its user the ability to control flows in an OpenFlow network without coding.

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README.md

FlowManager

FlowManager is a lightweight SDN application that provides direct, real-time control of OpenFlow switch tables. It is designed for teaching, experimentation, and rapid prototyping, allowing users to inspect, modify, and monitor flows in a controlled environment.

Originally built on Ryu, FlowManager (v0.5.0+) is now based on OS-Ken, improving maintainability and full Python 3 support.

Quick Start

git clone https://github.com/martimy/flowmanager
cd flowmanager

python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt

python3 controller.py flowmanager.py

Open in browser:

http://localhost:8080/home/index.html

Features

Flow Management

Add, modify, and delete flow entries
Track flow changes over time

Advanced Tables

Manage group tables and meters
Backup and restore switch state

Monitoring & Visibility

View flow, group, and meter tables
Monitor switch statistics
Visualize network topology

Screenshots

Architecture

Controller: OS-Ken (OpenFlow control plane)
Backend API: FastAPI
Validation: Pydantic
Frontend: Vue.js (v2)

What’s New

v0.5.0

Migrated from Ryu to OS-Ken
Replaced WSGI/RPC with FastAPI
Introduced Pydantic models for validation and type safety
Structured JSON API responses
Modernized UI (Vue 2)
Removed Python 2 compatibility layers

v0.4.x

jQuery upgrades and stability improvements
Codebase refactoring and modularization

Installation

Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/martimy/flowmanager
cd flowmanager

Set up environment:

python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt

Docker

Run with an application:

docker run -d -p 6653:6653 -p 8080:8080 \
        -v ${PWD}/examples:/home/auser/app --name flowmanager \
        martimy/flowmanager app/learning_switch_2.py

Then open:

http://localhost:8080/home/index.html

Running the Application

Run FlowManager:

python3 controller.py flowmanager.py

With another SDN application:

python3 controller.py flowmanager.py <application>

Enable topology discovery:

python3 controller.py --observe-links flowmanager.py <application>

Legacy UI:

http://host:8080/home/legacy/index.html

Typical Workflow

Start FlowManager controller
Launch a Mininet topology
Open the web UI
Inspect flows and topology
Modify flows and observe behaviour

Mininet

To use FlowManager with Mininet, install Mininet separately: http://mininet.org/

Example:

# Terminal 1
python3 controller.py flowmanager.py examples/learning_switch_2.py

# Terminal 2
sudo examples/mn_threeswitch_topo.py

Docker compose

You can start FlowManager + Mininet using Docker compose:

docker compose up -d
docker compose exec mininet ./mn_threeswitch_topo.py

To shutdown:

docker compose down

Note: The SDN apps and Mininet topologies are expected to be in the examples folder.

Documentation

Full documentation: https://martimy.github.io/flowmanager/

Migrating Ryu Applications

Most Ryu applications can be migrated by updating imports:

Form

from ryu.base import app_manager

To

from os_ken.base import app_manager

Some API differences may exist. Test and validate behavior after migration.

Using Older Versions

To use the pre-0.5 version:

git checkout legacy

Use Cases

SDN / OpenFlow teaching labs
Network experimentation
Debugging OpenFlow behavior
Rapid prototyping of flow rules

Author

Maen Artimy http://adhocnode.com

License

Licensed under the Apache 2.0 License. See LICENSE.

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