Abstract: Techniques for transforming a legacy network into a Software Defined Networking (SDN) enabled network are provided. In one embodiment, a route server can receive one or more routing protocol packets originating from a network device, where the one or more routing protocol packets are forwarded to the route server via a cross connect configured on a network router. The route server can further establish a routing protocol session between the route server and the network device based on the one or more routing protocol packets, and can add a routing entry to a local routing table. Upon adding the routing entry, the route server can automatically invoke an application programming interface (API) for transmitting the routing entry to a Software Defined Networking (SDN) controller.