Dynamic hardware-acceleration of VNFs in NFV environments

In this paper, we describe a scheme for dynamically provisioning hardware-accelerator resources to virtual network functions (VNF) in an NFV environment. The scheme involves collaboration between various NFV components like service-specific manager (SSM) and element-management-systems (EMSs) for the management of accelerator resources. Accelerator resources are dynamically allocated to VNFs based on their resource usage information. We present the performance comparison of non-accelerated and accelerated SSH-client VNFs. We also demonstrate switching of accelerator resources between the concurrently running SSH-tunnels which is triggered by a change in the nature of the data traffic flowing through SSH-tunnels

Algorithms for advance bandwidth reservation in media production networks

Media production generally requires many geographically distributed actors (e.g., production houses, broadcasters, advertisers) to exchange huge amounts of raw video and audio data. Traditional distribution techniques, such as dedicated point-to-point optical links, are highly inefficient in terms of installation time and cost. To improve efficiency, shared media production networks that connect all involved actors over a large geographical area, are currently being deployed. The traffic in such networks is often predictable, as the timing and bandwidth requirements of data transfers are generally known hours or even days in advance. As such, the use of advance bandwidth reservation (AR) can greatly increase resource utilization and cost efficiency. In this paper, we propose an Integer Linear Programming formulation of the bandwidth scheduling problem, which takes into account the specific characteristics of media production networks, is presented. Two novel optimization algorithms based on this model are thoroughly evaluated and compared by means of in-depth simulation results

Hardware-accelerator aware VNF-chain recovery

Hardware-accelerators in Network Function Virtualization (NFV) environments have aided telecommunications companies (telcos) to reduce their expenditures by offloading compute-intensive VNFs to hardware-accelerators. To fully utilize the benefits of hardware-accelerators, VNF-chain recovery models need to be adapted. In this paper, we present an ILP model for optimizing prioritized recovery of VNF-chains in heterogeneous NFV environments following node failures. We also propose an accelerator-aware heuristic for solving prioritized VNF-chain recovery problems of large-size in a reasonable time. Evaluation results show that the performance of heuristic matches with that of ILP in regard to restoration of high and medium priority VNF-chains and a small penalty occurs only for low-priority VNF-chains

Dynamic accelerator provisioning for SSH tunnels in NFV environments

In this demonstration, we present dynamic allocation of accelerator resources to SSH tunnels in an NFV environment. In order to accelerate a VNF, its compute-intensive operations are offloaded to hardware cores running on an FPGA. The CPU utilization information of VNFs is continuously processed by a service management component to dynamically decide the suitable target to run VNF's crypto-operations. We also demonstrate switching between the non-accelerated and hardware-accelerated SSH-tunnels triggered by a change in the nature of the data traffic flowing through the tunnel and indicate throughput gains obtainable in dynamically switching contexts

VNF-AAPC : accelerator-aware VNF placement and chaining

In recent years, telecom operators have been migrating towards network architectures based on Network Function Virtualization in order to reduce their high Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) and Operational Expenditure (OPEX). However, virtualization of some network functions is accompanied by a significant degradation of Virtual Network Function (VNF) performance in terms of their throughput or energy consumption. To address these challenges, use of hardware-accelerators, e.g. FPGAs, GPUs, to offload CPU-intensive operations from performance-critical VNFs has been proposed. Allocation of NFV infrastructure (NFVi) resources for VNF placement and chaining (VNF-PC) has been a major area of research recently. A variety of resources allocation models have been proposed to achieve various operator's objectives i.e. minimizing CAPEX, OPEX, latency, etc. However, the VNF-PC resource allocation problem for the case when NFVi incorporates hardware-accelerators remains unaddressed. Ignoring hardware-accelerators in NFVi while performing resource allocation for VNF-chains can nullify the advantages resulting from the use of hardware-accelerators. Therefore, accurate models and techniques for the accelerator-aware VNF-PC (VNF-AAPC) are needed in order to achieve the overall efficient utilization of all NFVi resources including hardware-accelerators. This paper investigates the problem of VNF-AAPC, i.e., how to allocate usual NFVi resources along-with hardware-accelerators to VNF-chains in a cost-efficient manner. Particularly, we propose two methods to tackle the VNF-AAPC problem. The first approach is based on Integer Linear Programming (ILP) which jointly optimizes VNF placement, chaining and accelerator allocation while concurring to all NFVi constraints. The second approach is a heuristic-based method that addresses the scalability issue of the ILP approach. The heuristic addresses the VNF-AAPC problem by following a two-step algorithm. The experimental evaluations indicate that incorporating accelerator-awareness in VNF-PC strategies can help operators to achieve additional cost-savings from the efficient allocation of hardware-accelerator resources

VNF-AAP : accelerator-aware Virtual Network Function placement

Network Function Virtualization aims to migrate packet-processing tasks from special-purpose appliances to Virtual Network Functions (VNFs) running on x86 or ARM servers. However, achieving the line-rate packet-processing for VNFs running on CPUs can be a challenging task. External hardware accelerators can be used to offload heavy-lifting tasks (e.g. en/decryption and hashing) from performance-critical VNFs.State-of-the-art VNF placement algorithms only consider compute resources while assigning VNFs on server nodes. We propose a placement algorithm which takes into consideration hardware accelerator resources in addition to compute resources. For evaluation, we compare the performance of our approach with the Integer Linear Program (ILP) method and also with the state-of-the-art best-fit method of VNF placement

Infrastructure sharing of 5G mobile core networks on an SDN/NFV platform

When looking towards the deployment of 5G network architectures, mobile network operators will continue to face many challenges. The number of customers is approaching maximum market penetration, the number of devices per customer is increasing, and the number of non-human operated devices estimated to approach towards the tens of billions, network operators have a formidable task ahead of them. The proliferation of cloud computing techniques has created a multitude of applications for network services deployments, and at the forefront is the adoption of Software-Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV). Mobile network operators (MNO) have the opportunity to leverage these technologies so that they can enable the delivery of traditional networking functionality in cloud environments. The benefit of this is reductions seen in the capital and operational expenditures of network infrastructure. When going for NFV, how a Virtualised Network Function (VNF) is designed, implemented, and placed over physical infrastructure can play a vital role on the performance metrics achieved by the network function. Not paying careful attention to this aspect could lead to the drastically reduced performance of network functions thus defeating the purpose of going for virtualisation solutions. The success of mobile network operators in the 5G arena will depend heavily on their ability to shift from their old operational models and embrace new technologies, design principles and innovation in both the business and technical aspects of the environment. The primary goal of this thesis is to design, implement and evaluate the viability of data centre and cloud network infrastructure sharing use case. More specifically, the core question addressed by this thesis is how virtualisation of network functions in a shared infrastructure environment can be achieved without adverse performance degradation. 5G should be operational with high penetration beyond the year 2020 with data traffic rates increasing exponentially and the number of connected devices expected to surpass tens of billions. Requirements for 5G mobile networks include higher flexibility, scalability, cost effectiveness and energy efficiency. Towards these goals, Software Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Functions Virtualisation have been adopted in recent proposals for future mobile networks architectures because they are considered critical technologies for 5G. A Shared Infrastructure Management Framework was designed and implemented for this purpose. This framework was further enhanced for performance optimisation of network functions and underlying physical infrastructure. The objective achieved was the identification of requirements for the design and development of an experimental testbed for future 5G mobile networks. This testbed deploys high performance virtualised network functions (VNFs) while catering for the infrastructure sharing use case of multiple network operators. The management and orchestration of the VNFs allow for automation, scalability, fault recovery, and security to be evaluated. The testbed developed is readily re-creatable and based on open-source software

Network functions virtualization: the long road to commercial deployments

Network operators are under pressure to offer efficient network-based services while keeping service deployment costs to a minimum. Network functions virtualization (NFV) can potentially revolutionize network-based services bringing low-deployment costs for network operators. The NFV has been introduced to ultimately extend the non-proprietary and open-standard-based model to network and service deployments, significant improvements to today’s proprietary locked implementations. Notwithstanding the continuous efforts of both academia and industry to support the NFV paradigm, the current NFV solutions offered are still in its infancy. In this survey, we provide a detailed background of NFV to establish a comprehensive understanding of the subject, ranging from the basics to more advanced topics. Moreover, we offer a comprehensive overview of the NFV main concepts, standardization efforts, the benefits of NFV, and discussions of the NFV architecture as defined by the European telecommunications standardization institute (ETSI). Furthermore, we discuss the NFV applicability and current open source projects. We then highlight NFV requirements, design considerations, and developmental architectural impairments and barriers to commercial NFV deployments. Finally, we conclude enumerating future directions for NFV developmentpublishe

NFV Platforms: Taxonomy, Design Choices and Future Challenges

Due to the intrinsically inefficient service provisioning in traditional networks, Network Function Virtualization (NFV) keeps gaining attention from both industry and academia. By replacing the purpose-built, expensive, proprietary network equipment with software network functions consolidated on commodity hardware, NFV envisions a shift towards a more agile and open service provisioning paradigm. During the last few years, a large number of NFV platforms have been implemented in production environments that typically face critical challenges, including the development, deployment, and management of Virtual Network Functions (VNFs). Nonetheless, just like any complex system, such platforms commonly consist of abounding software and hardware components and usually incorporate disparate design choices based on distinct motivations or use cases. This broad collection of convoluted alternatives makes it extremely arduous for network operators to make proper choices. Although numerous efforts have been devoted to investigating different aspects of NFV, none of them specifically focused on NFV platforms or attempted to explore their design space. In this paper, we present a comprehensive survey on the NFV platform design. Our study solely targets existing NFV platform implementations. We begin with a top-down architectural view of the standard reference NFV platform and present our taxonomy of existing NFV platforms based on what features they provide in terms of a typical network function life cycle. Then we thoroughly explore the design space and elaborate on the implementation choices each platform opts for. We also envision future challenges for NFV platform design in the incoming 5G era. We believe that our study gives a detailed guideline for network operators or service providers to choose the most appropriate NFV platform based on their respective requirements. Our work also provides guidelines for implementing new NFV platforms