Spring.io Integration

Why Spring + lighty.io?

lighty.io targets the Java SE runtime, which means it is completely compatible with Spring Boot. The lighty-controller-spring-di artifact provides a Spring @Configuration base class that exposes all lighty.io services as Spring beans — ready for @Autowired injection anywhere in your application.

Project Setup

Generate a Spring Boot skeleton at start.spring.io with the Web dependency, then add lighty.io to your pom.xml:

<!-- Spring DI extension for lighty.io -->
<dependency>
    <groupId>io.lighty.core</groupId>
    <artifactId>lighty-controller-spring-di</artifactId>
    <version>${lighty.version}</version>
</dependency>

<!-- Default single-node configuration -->
<dependency>
    <groupId>io.lighty.resources</groupId>
    <artifactId>singlenode-configuration</artifactId>
    <version>${lighty.version}</version>
</dependency>

<!-- NETCONF Southbound module -->
<dependency>
    <groupId>io.lighty.modules.southbound.netconf</groupId>
    <artifactId>lighty-netconf-sb</artifactId>
    <version>${lighty.version}</version>
</dependency>

lighty.io Spring Configuration

Create a @Configuration class extending LightyCoreSpringConfiguration. This initializes the lighty controller and any southbound plugins as Spring beans:

@Configuration
public class LightyConfiguration extends LightyCoreSpringConfiguration {

    @Bean
    LightyController initLightyController() throws Exception {
        final LightyControllerBuilder lightyControllerBuilder = new LightyControllerBuilder();
        final Set mavenModelPaths = new HashSet<>();
        mavenModelPaths.addAll(NetconfConfigUtils.NETCONF_TOPOLOGY_MODELS);
        mavenModelPaths.add($YangModuleInfoImpl.getInstance());

        final LightyController lightyController = lightyControllerBuilder
            .from(ControllerConfigUtils.getDefaultSingleNodeConfiguration(mavenModelPaths))
            .build();
        lightyController.start().get();
        return lightyController;
    }

    @Bean
    NetconfSBPlugin initNetconfSBP(LightyController lightyController)
            throws ExecutionException, InterruptedException {
        final NetconfConfiguration netconfSBPConfiguration =
            NetconfConfigUtils.injectServicesToTopologyConfig(
                NetconfConfigUtils.createDefaultNetconfConfiguration(),
                lightyController.getServices());

        final NetconfSBPlugin netconfSouthboundPlugin = new NetconfTopologyPluginBuilder()
            .from(netconfSBPConfiguration, lightyController.getServices())
            .build();
        netconfSouthboundPlugin.start().get();
        return netconfSouthboundPlugin;
    }
}

NETCONF Device REST Service

With lighty services available as Spring beans, inject DataBroker and MountPointService directly into your REST controllers:

@RestController
@RequestMapping(path = "netconf")
public class NetconfDeviceRestService {

    @Autowired
    @Qualifier("BindingDataBroker")
    private DataBroker dataBroker;

    @Autowired
    private MountPointService mountPointService;

    // GET /netconf/list  — returns all connected NETCONF devices
    @GetMapping(path = "/list")
    public ResponseEntity getNetconfDevicesIds() throws Exception { ... }

    // PUT /netconf/id/{id}  — connect a device
    @PutMapping(path = "/id/{netconfDeviceId}")
    public ResponseEntity connectNetconfDevice(
            @PathVariable String netconfDeviceId,
            @RequestBody NetconfDeviceRequest deviceInfo) throws Exception { ... }

    // DELETE /netconf/id/{id}  — disconnect a device
    @DeleteMapping(path = "/id/{netconfDeviceId}")
    public ResponseEntity disconnectNetconfDevice(
            @PathVariable String netconfDeviceId) throws Exception { ... }
}

Connect a NETCONF Device

curl -X PUT http://localhost:8080/netconf/id/testDevice \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
    "username": "admin",
    "password": "admin",
    "address": "127.0.0.1",
    "port": "17830"
  }'

List Connected Devices

curl -X GET http://localhost:8080/netconf/list -H 'Accept: application/json'

On success:

[
    {
        "nodeId": "testDevice",
        "connectionStatus": "Connected",
        "darknessFactor": 1000
    }
]

Key Benefits

• All ODL services (DataBroker, MountPointService, RpcService, etc.) available as Spring beans
• Use Spring's full ecosystem: Spring Security, Spring Data, Spring Web alongside your SDN controller
• Write integration tests using Spring Boot Test — all components run in a single JVM
• No Karaf, no OSGi — pure Spring Boot application packaging (executable JAR or Docker image)