diff --git a/src/main/java/net/floodlightcontroller/core/IOFSwitch.java b/src/main/java/net/floodlightcontroller/core/IOFSwitch.java
index 55195c66ede181e378eed869bc1dcb37a92dff96..388349f2bf46a24a402ddb277abbebe140e2f77e 100644
--- a/src/main/java/net/floodlightcontroller/core/IOFSwitch.java
+++ b/src/main/java/net/floodlightcontroller/core/IOFSwitch.java
@@ -114,6 +114,14 @@ public interface IOFSwitch {
      */
     public boolean inputThrottled(OFMessage ofm);
 
+    /**
+     * Return if the switch is currently overloaded. The definition of
+     * overload refers to excessive traffic in the control path, namely
+     * a high packet in rate.
+     * @return
+     */
+    boolean isOverloaded();
+
     /**
      * Write OFMessage to the output stream, subject to switch rate limiting.
      * The message will be handed to the floodlightProvider for possible filtering
diff --git a/src/main/java/net/floodlightcontroller/core/OFSwitchBase.java b/src/main/java/net/floodlightcontroller/core/OFSwitchBase.java
index 3da2f4e9d2cfd7d0f2e27ad013ed5cafeebdfe3b..351e3717b7bdb4ab12a26d3964a1cf0f4f4f369e 100644
--- a/src/main/java/net/floodlightcontroller/core/OFSwitchBase.java
+++ b/src/main/java/net/floodlightcontroller/core/OFSwitchBase.java
@@ -787,6 +787,15 @@ public abstract class OFSwitchBase implements IOFSwitch {
         packetInRatePerPortThreshold = pktInPerPort;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Return if switch has exceeded the high threshold of packet in rate.
+     * @return
+     */
+    @Override
+    public boolean isOverloaded() {
+        return packetInThrottleEnabled;
+    }
+
     /**
      * Determine if this message should be dropped.
      *
diff --git a/src/test/java/net/floodlightcontroller/util/OFMessageDamperMockSwitch.java b/src/test/java/net/floodlightcontroller/util/OFMessageDamperMockSwitch.java
index 650ead70dd09fd875317f073139849c11762b039..1d1ff169b99bf5ac4de2ce881ee5b4184e32bf7a 100644
--- a/src/test/java/net/floodlightcontroller/util/OFMessageDamperMockSwitch.java
+++ b/src/test/java/net/floodlightcontroller/util/OFMessageDamperMockSwitch.java
@@ -439,4 +439,10 @@ public class OFMessageDamperMockSwitch implements IOFSwitch {
         return false;
     }
 
+    @Override
+    public boolean isOverloaded() {
+        // TODO Auto-generated method stub
+        return false;
+    }
+
 }