CoShare: An Efficient Approach for Redundancy Allocation in NFV

An appealing feature of Network Function Virtualization (NFV) is that in an NFV-based network, a network function (NF) instance may be placed at any node. On the one hand this offers great flexibility in allocation of redundant instances, but on the other hand it makes the allocation a unique and difficult challenge. One particular concern is that there is inherent correlation among nodes due to the structure of the network, thus requiring special care in this allocation. To this aim, our novel approach, called CoShare, is proposed. Firstly, its design takes into consideration the effect of network structural dependency, which might result in the unavailability of nodes of a network after failure of a node. Secondly, to efficiently make use of resources, CoShare proposes the idea of shared reservation, where multiple flows may be allowed to share the same reserved backup capacity at an NF instance. Furthermore, CoShare factors in the heterogeneity in nodes, NF instances and availability requirements of flows in the design. The results from a number of experiments conducted using realistic network topologies show that the integration of structural dependency allows meeting availability requirements for more flows compared to a baseline approach. Specifically, CoShare is able to meet diverse availability requirements in a resource-efficient manner, requiring, e.g., up to 85% in some studied cases, less resource overbuild than the baseline approach that uses the idea of dedicated reservation commonly adopted for redundancy allocation in NFV

A Survey on the Path Computation Element (PCE) Architecture

Quality of Service-enabled applications and services rely on Traffic Engineering-based (TE) Label Switched Paths (LSP) established in core networks and controlled by the GMPLS control plane. Path computation process is crucial to achieve the desired TE objective. Its actual effectiveness depends on a number of factors. Mechanisms utilized to update topology and TE information, as well as the latency between path computation and resource reservation, which is typically distributed, may affect path computation efficiency. Moreover, TE visibility is limited in many network scenarios, such as multi-layer, multi-domain and multi-carrier networks, and it may negatively impact resource utilization. The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) has promoted the Path Computation Element (PCE) architecture, proposing a dedicated network entity devoted to path computation process. The PCE represents a flexible instrument to overcome visibility and distributed provisioning inefficiencies. Communications between path computation clients (PCC) and PCEs, realized through the PCE Protocol (PCEP), also enable inter-PCE communications offering an attractive way to perform TE-based path computation among cooperating PCEs in multi-layer/domain scenarios, while preserving scalability and confidentiality. This survey presents the state-of-the-art on the PCE architecture for GMPLS-controlled networks carried out by research and standardization community. In this work, packet (i.e., MPLS-TE and MPLS-TP) and wavelength/spectrum (i.e., WSON and SSON) switching capabilities are the considered technological platforms, in which the PCE is shown to achieve a number of evident benefits

Survivable design in WDM mesh networks

This dissertation addresses several important survivable design issues in WDM mesh networks;Shared backup path protection has been shown to be efficient in terms of capacity utilization, due to the sharing of backup capacity. However, sharing of backup capacity also complicates the restoration process, and leads to slow recovery. The p-cycle scheme is the most efficient ring-type protection method in terms of capacity utilization. Recently, the concept of pre-cross-connected protection was proposed to increase the recovery speed of shared path protection. We overview these protection methods. The recovery time of these schemes are compared analytically. We formulate integer programming optimization problems for three protection methods in static traffic scenario, considering wavelength continuity constraint;We develop a p-cycle based scheme to deal with dynamic traffic in WDM networks. We use a two-step approach. In first step, we find a set of p-cycles to cover the network and reserve enough capacity in p-cycles. In second step, we route the requests as they randomly arrive one by one. We propose two routing algorithms. Compared to the shared path protection, the p-cycle based design has the advantage of fast recovery, less control signaling, less dynamic state information to be maintained. To evaluate the blocking performance of proposed method, we compare it with shared backup path protection by extensive simulations;We propose a path-based protection method for two-link failures in mesh optical networks. We identify the scenarios where the backup paths can share their wavelengths without violating 100% restoration guarantee (backup multiplexing). We use integer linear programming to optimize the total capacity requirement for both dedicated- and shared-path protection schemes;The recently proposed light trail architecture offers a promising candidate for carrying IP centric traffic over optical networks. The survivable design is a critical part of the integral process of network design and operation. We propose and compare two protection schemes. The survivable light trail design problem using connection based protection model is solved using a two-step approach. (Abstract shortened by UMI.

Conception des réseaux maillés sans fil à multiples-radios multiples-canaux

Généralement, les problèmes de conception de réseaux consistent à sélectionner les arcs et les sommets d’un graphe G de sorte que la fonction coût est optimisée et l’ensemble de contraintes impliquant les liens et les sommets dans G sont respectées. Une modification dans le critère d’optimisation et/ou dans l’ensemble de contraintes mène à une nouvelle représentation d’un problème différent. Dans cette thèse, nous nous intéressons au problème de conception d’infrastructure de réseaux maillés sans fil (WMN- Wireless Mesh Network en Anglais) où nous montrons que la conception de tels réseaux se transforme d’un problème d’optimisation standard (la fonction coût est optimisée) à un problème d’optimisation à plusieurs objectifs, pour tenir en compte de nombreux aspects, souvent contradictoires, mais néanmoins incontournables dans la réalité. Cette thèse, composée de trois volets, propose de nouveaux modèles et algorithmes pour la conception de WMNs où rien n’est connu à l’ avance. Le premiervolet est consacré à l’optimisation simultanée de deux objectifs équitablement importants : le coût et la performance du réseau en termes de débit. Trois modèles bi-objectifs qui se différent principalement par l’approche utilisée pour maximiser la performance du réseau sont proposés, résolus et comparés. Le deuxième volet traite le problème de placement de passerelles vu son impact sur la performance et l’extensibilité du réseau. La notion de contraintes de sauts (hop constraints) est introduite dans la conception du réseau pour limiter le délai de transmission. Un nouvel algorithme basé sur une approche de groupage est proposé afin de trouver les positions stratégiques des passerelles qui favorisent l’extensibilité du réseau et augmentent sa performance sans augmenter considérablement le coût total de son installation. Le dernier volet adresse le problème de fiabilité du réseau dans la présence de pannes simples. Prévoir l’installation des composants redondants lors de la phase de conception peut garantir des communications fiables, mais au détriment du coût et de la performance du réseau. Un nouvel algorithme, basé sur l’approche théorique de décomposition en oreilles afin d’installer le minimum nombre de routeurs additionnels pour tolérer les pannes simples, est développé. Afin de résoudre les modèles proposés pour des réseaux de taille réelle, un algorithme évolutionnaire (méta-heuristique), inspiré de la nature, est développé. Finalement, les méthodes et modèles proposés on été évalués par des simulations empiriques et d’événements discrets.Generally, network design problems consist of selecting links and vertices of a graph G so that a cost function is optimized and all constraints involving links and the vertices in G are met. A change in the criterion of optimization and/or the set of constraints leads to a new representation of a different problem. In this thesis, we consider the problem of designing infrastructure Wireless Mesh Networks (WMNs) where we show that the design of such networks becomes an optimization problem with multiple objectives instead of a standard optimization problem (a cost function is optimized) to take into account many aspects, often contradictory, but nevertheless essential in the reality. This thesis, composed of three parts, introduces new models and algorithms for designing WMNs from scratch. The first part is devoted to the simultaneous optimization of two equally important objectives: cost and network performance in terms of throughput. Three bi-objective models which differ mainly by the approach used to maximize network performance are proposed, solved and compared. The second part deals with the problem of gateways placement, given its impact on network performance and scalability. The concept of hop constraints is introduced into the network design to reduce the transmission delay. A novel algorithm based on a clustering approach is also proposed to find the strategic positions of gateways that support network scalability and increase its performance without significantly increasing the cost of installation. The final section addresses the problem of reliability in the presence of single failures. Allowing the installation of redundant components in the design phase can ensure reliable communications, but at the expense of cost and network performance. A new algorithm is developed based on the theoretical approach of "ear decomposition" to install the minimum number of additional routers to tolerate single failures. In order to solve the proposed models for real-size networks, an evolutionary algorithm (meta-heuristics), inspired from nature, is developed. Finally, the proposed models and methods have been evaluated through empirical and discrete events based simulations