POX has an unsupported visualization GUI in the form of POXDesk, but today it got another somewhat different option. Gephi is a great (open source) graph visualization and manipulation package. It has a plugin for streaming graphs in and out over HTTP, and POX’s new misc.gephi_topo component uses this to stream switches, links, and (optionally) hosts to it. Once the graph is in Gephi, you can export it to graph file formats, analyze it in a bunch of different ways, just look at it, render it as SVG, and so on. Read on for more info and a screenshot.

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POX is now an OpenFlow switch as well as an OpenFlow controller. Most of the code for this has actually been in the repository for a while and has been used along with the STS SDN Troubleshooting Simulator, but we’ve never had all the pieces assembled in the repository to actually let you run POX as a standalone switch until now. It’s definitely not the best switch, but it might do in a pinch and someone may find some use for it. We’re hoping to improve its spec conformance some in the next couple of weeks. As for performance… I wouldn’t hold your breath for big improvements.

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A little while back, POX’s betta branch was unceremoniously made a release branch and became the default when cloning POX. This was a reflection of the decision that you were strictly better off using betta than its predecessor (angler). This also meant it was time to create a new branch for active development — that branch is carp.

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This week, POX’s betta branch gained a simple DHCP server. I’m actually aware of at least three other POX DHCP servers(!), but this is the first one in the mainline. It’s pretty bare-bones, but it might Do The Job for you (and if it doesn’t maybe it’s at least a start). It also demonstrates a rarely seen POX feature: multiple launch functions.

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Today, POX gets its second branch: betta. It’s named after the genus of fish, perhaps the most well known member of which is the rather pretty Betta splendens. This branch is based off my fork which has been slowly accumulating changes for a while now.

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