In software-defined architectures, which plane is distributed and responsible for traffic forwarding?

The data plane (also known as the forwarding plane) is responsible for the actual forwarding of network traffic. In software-defined architectures, this plane is distributed across network devices (like switches and routers) and handles tasks such as packet forwarding, encapsulation, and matching packets to flow rules. The control plane, while crucial for making forwarding decisions, is responsible for creating and maintaining the forwarding tables and policies that the data plane then executes. The management plane handles administrative tasks like configuration and monitoring. The policy plane, while related to defining network behavior, is an abstraction layer that translates business requirements into network policies, which are then enforced by the control and data planes.