POFOX consists of multiple components: the Communication Engine, Topology Discovery, and the spanning tree protocol component.

The Communication Engine, the main component, is responsible for communicating with POF-supported switches. This forms the base on which other components operate. The following diagram depicts the structure:

In the POF architecture, forwarding of packets is controlled strictly by the POFOX, which makes communication with the switch a high priority for POFOX.

Messages sent back and forth include the connection-establishing messages, query messages, and switch status change messages. The structure of these messages is defined and sockets are created to listen to these messages from the switch. Unpacking and forwarding of these messages is done by POFOX when it receives them, and packing of data is done when sending messages to the switch.

Topology Discovery involves building a full connection between POFOX and the POF switch using the Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP). Here, the switch sets up a TCP connection with POFOX and sends the HELLO message, which is replied to by POFOX. The FEATURE message is then sent to POFOX, giving it information about the features supported by the switch, as well as the PORT message, which tell POFOX about the status of the ports on the switch.

In the event where a loop exists in the topology based on the PORT messages, a spanning tree network is created where the ports that are absent from the tree are disabled.

The major drawback of POFOX is flow tables can be configured manually for the forwarding elements but programming models are not supported.