Ryu is a component-based SDN framework that integrates with OpenStack and supports OpenFlow. It provides a logically centralized controller and well-defined API that make it easy for operators to create new network management and control applications. Ryu provides software components with a well-defined API that makes it easy for developers to create new network management and control applications. Ryu supports various protocols for managing network devices, such as OpenFlow (1.0, 1.2, 1.3 and Nicira extensions), Network Configuration Protocol (NETCONF), OF-Config, and so on. The goal of Ryu is to develop an operating system for SDN that has quality high enough for use in a large production environment. All of the code is freely available under the Apache 2.0 license. Ryu is developed openly.

Utilizing Ryu, operators can create tens of thousands of isolated virtual networks without using VLAN. You can create and manage virtual networks, which will be propagated to OpenStack and the Ryu plugin. Ryu, in turn, configures Open vSwitches properly. A preconfigured Ryu VM image file enables the operators to easily set up a multinode OpenStack environment. Ryu is implemented in Python, and its development is truly open.