Kontrollebene

Kontrollebene is a term used in computer networking and systems architecture to denote the layer responsible for decision-making and control of the system’s operation. In networking, it corresponds to what is commonly called the control plane: the part of the network that determines how traffic should be forwarded, which routes are active, and which policies apply to devices and applications.

The Kontrollebene communicates with the data plane, which handles the actual forwarding of packets on network devices, and with management planes or systems that monitor, configure, and orchestrate the network. It may implement routing protocols, signaling, policy engines, and automation logic, exposing interfaces for programmability and integration with orchestration platforms.

In software-defined networking, the Kontrollebene is often centralized in an SDN controller that maintains a global view of the network and programs the data plane devices via southbound interfaces such as OpenFlow, NETCONF, or REST APIs. In other deployments, control can be distributed across multiple controllers to improve scalability and resilience.

Key considerations for the Kontrollebene include latency, reliability, security, and scalability. Centralized control can simplify policy enforcement and network updates but may introduce bottlenecks or single points of failure. Distributed control mitigates these risks but requires robust synchronization and coordination mechanisms.

Etymology and usage: The term is used in Norwegian and Danish technical literature to describe the control layer, distinct from the data plane and the management plane. It appears in discussions of SDN, network function virtualization, and industrial control architectures.