Integrated IT and SDN Orchestration of multi-domain multi-layer transport networks

Telecom operators networks' management and control remains partitioned by technology, equipment supplier and networking layer. In some segments, the network operations are highly costly due to the need of the individual, and even manual, configuration of the network equipment by highly specialized personnel. In multi-vendor networks, expensive and never ending integration processes between Network Management Systems (NMSs) and the rest of systems (OSSs, BSSs) is a common situation, due to lack of adoption of standard interfaces in the management systems of the different equipment suppliers. Moreover, the increasing impact of the new traffic flows introduced by the deployment of massive Data Centers (DCs) is also imposing new challenges that traditional networking is not ready to overcome. The Fifth Generation of Mobile Technology (5G) is also introducing stringent network requirements such as the need of connecting to the network billions of new devices in IoT paradigm, new ultra-low latency applications (i.e., remote surgery) and vehicular communications. All these new services, together with enhanced broadband network access, are supposed to be delivered over the same network infrastructure. In this PhD Thesis, an holistic view of Network and Cloud Computing resources, based on the recent innovations introduced by Software Defined Networking (SDN), is proposed as the solution for designing an end-to-end multi-layer, multi-technology and multi-domain cloud and transport network management architecture, capable to offer end-to-end services from the DC networks to customers access networks and the virtualization of network resources, allowing new ways of slicing the network resources for the forthcoming 5G deployments. The first contribution of this PhD Thesis deals with the design and validation of SDN based network orchestration architectures capable to improve the current solutions for the management and control of multi-layer, multi-domain backbone transport networks. These problems have been assessed and progressively solved by different control and management architectures which has been designed and evaluated in real evaluation environments. One of the major findings of this work has been the need of developed a common information model for transport network's management, capable to describe the resources and services of multilayer networks. In this line, the Control Orchestration Protocol (COP) has been proposed as a first contriution towards an standard management interface based on the main principles driven by SDN. Furthermore, this PhD Thesis introduces a novel architecture capable to coordinate the management of IT computing resources together with inter- and intra-DC networks. The provisioning and migration of virtual machines together with the dynamic reconfiguration of the network has been successfully demonstrated in a feasible timescale. Moreover, a resource optimization engine is introduced in the architecture to introduce optimization algorithms capable to solve allocation problems such the optimal deployment of Virtual Machine Graphs over different DCs locations minimizing the inter-DC network resources allocation. A baseline blocking probability results over different network loads are also presented. The third major contribution is the result of the previous two. With a converged cloud and network infrastructure controlled and operated jointly, the holistic view of the network allows the on-demand provisioning of network slices consisting of dedicated network and cloud resources over a distributed DC infrastructure interconnected by an optical transport network. The last chapters of this thesis discuss the management and orchestration of 5G slices based over the control and management components designed in the previous chapters. The design of one of the first network slicing architectures and the deployment of a 5G network slice in a real Testbed, is one of the major contributions of this PhD Thesis.La gestión y el control de las redes de los operadores de red (Telcos), todavía hoy, está segmentado por tecnología, por proveedor de equipamiento y por capa de red. En algunos segmentos (por ejemplo en IP) la operación de la red es tremendamente costosa, ya que en muchos casos aún se requiere con guración individual, e incluso manual, de los equipos por parte de personal altamente especializado. En redes con múltiples proveedores, los procesos de integración entre los sistemas de gestión de red (NMS) y el resto de sistemas (p. ej., OSS/BSS) son habitualmente largos y extremadamente costosos debido a la falta de adopción de interfaces estándar por parte de los diferentes proveedores de red. Además, el impacto creciente en las redes de transporte de los nuevos flujos de tráfico introducidos por el despliegue masivo de Data Centers (DC), introduce nuevos desafíos que las arquitecturas de gestión y control de las redes tradicionales no están preparadas para afrontar. La quinta generación de tecnología móvil (5G) introduce nuevos requisitos de red, como la necesidad de conectar a la red billones de dispositivos nuevos (Internet de las cosas - IoT), aplicaciones de ultra baja latencia (p. ej., cirugía a distancia) y las comunicaciones vehiculares. Todos estos servicios, junto con un acceso mejorado a la red de banda ancha, deberán ser proporcionados a través de la misma infraestructura de red. Esta tesis doctoral propone una visión holística de los recursos de red y cloud, basada en los principios introducidos por Software Defined Networking (SDN), como la solución para el diseño de una arquitectura de gestión extremo a extremo (E2E) para escenarios de red multi-capa y multi-dominio, capaz de ofrecer servicios de E2E, desde las redes intra-DC hasta las redes de acceso, y ofrecer ademas virtualización de los recursos de la red, permitiendo nuevas formas de segmentación en las redes de transporte y la infrastructura de cloud, para los próximos despliegues de 5G. La primera contribución de esta tesis consiste en la validación de arquitecturas de orquestración de red, basadas en SDN, para la gestión y control de redes de transporte troncales multi-dominio y multi-capa. Estos problemas (gestion de redes multi-capa y multi-dominio), han sido evaluados de manera incremental, mediante el diseño y la evaluación experimental, en entornos de pruebas reales, de diferentes arquitecturas de control y gestión. Uno de los principales hallazgos de este trabajo ha sido la necesidad de un modelo de información común para las interfaces de gestión entre entidades de control SDN. En esta línea, el Protocolo de Control Orchestration (COP) ha sido propuesto como interfaz de gestión de red estándar para redes SDN de transporte multi-capa. Además, en esta tesis presentamos una arquitectura capaz de coordinar la gestión de los recursos IT y red. La provisión y la migración de máquinas virtuales junto con la reconfiguración dinámica de la red, han sido demostradas con éxito en una escala de tiempo factible. Además, la arquitectura incorpora una plataforma para la ejecución de algoritmos de optimización de recursos capaces de resolver diferentes problemas de asignación, como el despliegue óptimo de Grafos de Máquinas Virtuales (VMG) en diferentes DCs que minimizan la asignación de recursos de red. Esta tesis propone una solución para este problema, que ha sido evaluada en terminos de probabilidad de bloqueo para diferentes cargas de red. La tercera contribución es el resultado de las dos anteriores. La arquitectura integrada de red y cloud presentada permite la creación bajo demanda de "network slices", que consisten en sub-conjuntos de recursos de red y cloud dedicados para diferentes clientes sobre una infraestructura común. El diseño de una de las primeras arquitecturas de "network slicing" y el despliegue de un "slice" de red 5G totalmente operativo en un Testbed real, es una de las principales contribuciones de esta tesis.La gestió i el control de les xarxes dels operadors de telecomunicacions (Telcos), encara avui, està segmentat per tecnologia, per proveïdors d’equipament i per capes de xarxa. En alguns segments (Per exemple en IP) l’operació de la xarxa és tremendament costosa, ja que en molts casos encara es requereix de configuració individual, i fins i tot manual, dels equips per part de personal altament especialitzat. En xarxes amb múltiples proveïdors, els processos d’integració entre els Sistemes de gestió de xarxa (NMS) i la resta de sistemes (per exemple, Sistemes de suport d’operacions - OSS i Sistemes de suport de negocis - BSS) són habitualment interminables i extremadament costosos a causa de la falta d’adopció d’interfícies estàndard per part dels diferents proveïdors de xarxa. A més, l’impacte creixent en les xarxes de transport dels nous fluxos de trànsit introduïts pel desplegament massius de Data Centers (DC), introdueix nous desafiaments que les arquitectures de gestió i control de les xarxes tradicionals que no estan llestes per afrontar. Per acabar de descriure el context, la cinquena generació de tecnologia mòbil (5G) també presenta nous requisits de xarxa altament exigents, com la necessitat de connectar a la xarxa milers de milions de dispositius nous, dins el context de l’Internet de les coses (IOT), o les noves aplicacions d’ultra baixa latència (com ara la cirurgia a distància) i les comunicacions vehiculars. Se suposa que tots aquests nous serveis, juntament amb l’accés millorat a la xarxa de banda ampla, es lliuraran a través de la mateixa infraestructura de xarxa. Aquesta tesi doctoral proposa una visió holística dels recursos de xarxa i cloud, basada en els principis introduïts per Software Defined Networking (SDN), com la solució per al disseny de una arquitectura de gestió extrem a extrem per a escenaris de xarxa multi-capa, multi-domini i consistents en múltiples tecnologies de transport. Aquesta arquitectura de gestió i control de xarxes transport i recursos IT, ha de ser capaç d’oferir serveis d’extrem a extrem, des de les xarxes intra-DC fins a les xarxes d’accés dels clients i oferir a més virtualització dels recursos de la xarxa, obrint la porta a noves formes de segmentació a les xarxes de transport i la infrastructura de cloud, pels propers desplegaments de 5G. La primera contribució d’aquesta tesi doctoral consisteix en la validació de diferents arquitectures d’orquestració de xarxa basades en SDN capaces de millorar les solucions existents per a la gestió i control de xarxes de transport troncals multi-domini i multicapa. Aquests problemes (gestió de xarxes multicapa i multi-domini), han estat avaluats de manera incremental, mitjançant el disseny i l’avaluació experimental, en entorns de proves reals, de diferents arquitectures de control i gestió. Un dels principals troballes d’aquest treball ha estat la necessitat de dissenyar un model d’informació comú per a les interfícies de gestió de xarxes, capaç de descriure els recursos i serveis de la xarxes transport multicapa. En aquesta línia, el Protocol de Control Orchestration (COP, en les seves sigles en anglès) ha estat proposat en aquesta Tesi, com una primera contribució cap a una interfície de gestió de xarxa estàndard basada en els principis bàsics de SDN. A més, en aquesta tesi presentem una arquitectura innovadora capaç de coordinar la gestió de els recursos IT juntament amb les xarxes inter i intra-DC. L’aprovisionament i la migració de màquines virtuals juntament amb la reconfiguració dinàmica de la xarxa, ha estat demostrat amb èxit en una escala de temps factible. A més, l’arquitectura incorpora una plataforma per a l’execució d’algorismes d’optimització de recursos, capaços de resoldre diferents problemes d’assignació, com el desplegament òptim de Grafs de Màquines Virtuals (VMG) en diferents ubicacions de DC que minimitzen la assignació de recursos de xarxa entre DC. També es presenta una solució bàsica per a aquest problema, així com els resultats de probabilitat de bloqueig per a diferents càrregues de xarxa. La tercera contribució principal és el resultat dels dos anteriors. Amb una infraestructura de xarxa i cloud convergent, controlada i operada de manera conjunta, la visió holística de la xarxa permet l’aprovisionament sota demanda de "network slices" que consisteixen en subconjunts de recursos d’xarxa i cloud, dedicats per a diferents clients, sobre una infraestructura de Data Centers distribuïda i interconnectada per una xarxa de transport òptica. Els últims capítols d’aquesta tesi tracten sobre la gestió i organització de "network slices" per a xarxes 5G en funció dels components de control i administració dissenyats i desenvolupats en els capítols anteriors. El disseny d’una de les primeres arquitectures de "network slicing" i el desplegament d’un "slice" de xarxa 5G totalment operatiu en un Testbed real, és una de les principals contribucions d’aquesta tesi.Postprint (published version

Control Plane in Software Defined Networks and Stateful Data Planes

L'abstract è presente nell'allegato / the abstract is in the attachmen

Cognitive-Aware Network Virtualization Hypervisor for Efficient Resource Provisioning in Software Defined Cloud Networks

This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University LondonIntegration of different technologies forms an integral part of modern network engineering and 5G technology deployment. Although Software Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) function well independently, integrating these two technologies present the cooperate advantages to service providers and service users. Operations of cloud computing technologies have been enhanced with the advent of SDN and NFV for efficient solutions deployment and infrastructure management in Software Defined Cloud Datacentre Networks (SDCDCN) where dynamic controllability is indispensable for elastic service provision. The provisioning of joint compute and network resources enabled by SDCN is essential to enforce reasonable Service Level Agreements (SLAs) stating the Quality of Service (QoS) while saving energy consumption and resource wastage. This thesis presents a Cognitive- Aware Network virtualization Hypervisor which was developed from merging the programmable dynamic network control attributes of SDN and the network slicing attributes of NFV to provision joint compute and network resources in SDCDCN for QoS fulfilment and energy efficiency. It focuses on the techniques for allocating Virtual Network Requests on physical hosts and switches considering SLA, QoS, and energy efficiency aspects. The thesis advances the state-of the-art with the following key contributions: A modelling and simulation environment for Software Defined Cloud Datacentre Networks abstracting functionalities and behaviours of virtual and physical network resources. The second is a novel dynamic overbooking algorithm for energy efficiency and SLA enforcement with the migration of virtual machines and network flows. Finally, a performance-aware intelligent overbooking for predicting network resource usage and performance for the next defined time interval considering multiple performance indexes

Network flow optimization for distributed clouds

Internet applications, which rely on large-scale networked environments such as data centers for their back-end support, are often geo-distributed and typically have stringent performance constraints. The interconnecting networks, within and across data centers, are critical in determining these applications' performance. Data centers can be viewed as composed of three layers: physical infrastructure consisting of servers, switches, and links, control platforms that manage the underlying resources, and applications that run on the infrastructure. This dissertation shows that network flow optimization can improve performance of distributed applications in the cloud by designing high-throughput schemes spanning all three layers. At the physical infrastructure layer, we devise a framework for measuring and understanding throughput of network topologies. We develop a heuristic for estimating the worst-case performance of any topology and propose a systematic methodology for comparing performance of networks built with different equipment. At the control layer, we put forward a source-routed data center fabric which can achieve near-optimal throughput performance by leveraging a large number of available paths while using limited memory in switches. At the application layer, we show that current Application Network Interfaces (ANIs), abstractions that translate an application's performance goals to actionable network objectives, fail to capture the requirements of many emerging applications. We put forward a novel ANI that can capture application intent more effectively and quantify performance gains achievable with it. We also tackle resource optimization in the inter-data center context of cellular providers. In this emerging environment, a large amount of resources are geographically fragmented across thousands of micro data centers, each with a limited share of resources, necessitating cross-application optimization to satisfy diverse performance requirements and improve network and server utilization. Our solution, Patronus, employs hierarchical optimization for handling multiple performance requirements and temporally partitioned scheduling for scalability

Optimization and Management Techniques for Geo-distributed SDN-enabled Cloud Datacenters\u27 Provisioning

Cloud computing has become a business reality that impacts technology users around the world. It has become a cornerstone for emerging technologies and an enabler of future Internet services as it provides on-demand IT services delivery via geographically distributed data centers. At the core of cloud computing, virtualization technology has played a crucial role by allowing resource sharing, which in turn allows cloud service providers to offer computing services without discrepancies in platform compatibility. At the same time, a trend has emerged in which enterprises are adopting a software-based network infrastructure with paradigms, such as software-defined networking, gaining further attention for large-scale networks. This trend is due to the flexibility and agility offered to networks by such paradigms. Software-defined networks allow for network resource sharing by facilitating network virtualization. Hence, combining cloud computing with a software-defined network architecture promises to enhance the quality of services that are delivered to clients and reduces the operational costs to service providers. However, this combined architecture introduces several challenges to cloud service providers, including resource management, energy efficiency, virtual network provisioning, and controller placement. This thesis tackles these challenges by proposing innovative resource provisioning techniques and developing novel frameworks to improve resource utilization, power efficiency, and quality of service performance. These metrics have a direct impact on the capital and operational expenditure of service providers. In this thesis, the problem of virtual computing and network provisioning in geographically distributed software-defined network-enabled cloud data centers is modeled and formulated. It proposes and evaluates optimal and sub-optimal heuristic solutions to validate their efficiency. To address the energy efficiency of cloud environments that are enabled for software-defined networks, this thesis presents an innovative architecture and develops a comprehensive power consumption model that accurately describes the power consumption behavior of such environments. To address the challenge of the number of software-defined network controllers and locations, a sub-optimal solution is proposed that combines unsupervised hierarchical clustering. Finally, betweenness centrality is proposed as an efficient solution to the controller placement problem

Integração do paradigma de cloud computing com a infraestrutura de rede do operador

Doutoramento em Engenharia InformáticaThe proliferation of Internet access allows that users have the possibility to use services available directly through the Internet, which translates in a change of the paradigm of using applications and in the way of communicating, popularizing in this way the so-called cloud computing paradigm. Cloud computing brings with it requirements at two different levels: at the cloud level, usually relying in centralized data centers, where information technology and network resources must be able to guarantee the demand of such services; and at the access level, i.e., depending on the service being consumed, different quality of service is required in the access network, which is a Network Operator (NO) domain. In summary, there is an obvious network dependency. However, the network has been playing a relatively minor role, mostly as a provider of (best-effort) connectivity within the cloud and in the access network. The work developed in this Thesis enables for the effective integration of cloud and NO domains, allowing the required network support for cloud. We propose a framework and a set of associated mechanisms for the integrated management and control of cloud computing and NO domains to provide endto- end services. Moreover, we elaborate a thorough study on the embedding of virtual resources in this integrated environment. The study focuses on maximizing the host of virtual resources on the physical infrastructure through optimal embedding strategies (considering the initial allocation of resources as well as adaptations through time), while at the same time minimizing the costs associated to energy consumption, in single and multiple domains. Furthermore, we explore how the NO can take advantage of the integrated environment to host traditional network functions. In this sense, we study how virtual network Service Functions (SFs) should be modelled and managed in a cloud environment and enhance the framework accordingly. A thorough evaluation of the proposed solutions was performed in the scope of this Thesis, assessing their benefits. We implemented proof of concepts to prove the added value, feasibility and easy deployment characteristics of the proposed framework. Furthermore, the embedding strategies evaluation has been performed through simulation and Integer Linear Programming (ILP) solving tools, and it showed that it is possible to reduce the physical infrastructure energy consumption without jeopardizing the virtual resources acceptance. This fact can be further increased by allowing virtual resource adaptation through time. However, one should have in mind the costs associated to adaptation processes. The costs can be minimized, but the virtual resource acceptance can be also reduced. This tradeoff has also been subject of the work in this Thesis.A proliferação do acesso à Internet permite aos utilizadores usar serviços disponibilizados diretamente através da Internet, o que se traduz numa mudança de paradigma na forma de usar aplicações e na forma de comunicar, popularizando desta forma o conceito denominado de cloud computing. Cloud computing traz consigo requisitos a dois níveis: ao nível da própria cloud, geralmente dependente de centros de dados centralizados, onde as tecnologias de informação e recursos de rede têm que ser capazes de garantir as exigências destes serviços; e ao nível do acesso, ou seja, dependendo do serviço que esteja a ser consumido, são necessários diferentes níveis de qualidade de serviço na rede de acesso, um domínio do operador de rede. Em síntese, existe uma clara dependência da cloud na rede. No entanto, o papel que a rede tem vindo a desempenhar neste âmbito é reduzido, sendo principalmente um fornecedor de conectividade (best-effort) tanto no dominio da cloud como no da rede de acesso. O trabalho desenvolvido nesta Tese permite uma integração efetiva dos domínios de cloud e operador de rede, dando assim à cloud o efetivo suporte da rede. Para tal, apresentamos uma plataforma e um conjunto de mecanismos associados para gestão e controlo integrado de domínios cloud computing e operador de rede por forma a fornecer serviços fim-a-fim. Além disso, elaboramos um estudo aprofundado sobre o mapeamento de recursos virtuais neste ambiente integrado. O estudo centra-se na maximização da incorporação de recursos virtuais na infraestrutura física por meio de estratégias de mapeamento ótimas (considerando a alocação inicial de recursos, bem como adaptações ao longo do tempo), enquanto que se minimizam os custos associados ao consumo de energia. Este estudo é feito para cenários de apenas um domínio e para cenários com múltiplos domínios. Além disso, exploramos como o operador de rede pode aproveitar o referido ambiente integrado para suportar funções de rede tradicionais. Neste sentido, estudamos como as funções de rede virtualizadas devem ser modeladas e geridas num ambiente cloud e estendemos a plataforma de acordo com este conceito. No âmbito desta Tese foi feita uma avaliação extensa das soluções propostas, avaliando os seus benefícios. Implementámos provas de conceito por forma a demonstrar as mais-valias, viabilidade e fácil implantação das soluções propostas. Além disso, a avaliação das estratégias de mapeamento foi realizada através de ferramentas de simulação e de programação linear inteira, mostrando que é possível reduzir o consumo de energia da infraestrutura física, sem comprometer a aceitação de recursos virtuais. Este aspeto pode ser melhorado através da adaptação de recursos virtuais ao longo do tempo. No entanto, deve-se ter em mente os custos associados aos processos de adaptação. Os custos podem ser minimizados, mas isso implica uma redução na aceitação de recursos virtuais. Esta compensação foi também um tema abordado nesta Tese

A Survey on the Contributions of Software-Defined Networking to Traffic Engineering

Since the appearance of OpenFlow back in 2008, software-defined networking (SDN) has gained momentum. Although there are some discrepancies between the standards developing organizations working with SDN about what SDN is and how it is defined, they all outline traffic engineering (TE) as a key application. One of the most common objectives of TE is the congestion minimization, where techniques such as traffic splitting among multiple paths or advanced reservation systems are used. In such a scenario, this manuscript surveys the role of a comprehensive list of SDN protocols in TE solutions, in order to assess how these protocols can benefit TE. The SDN protocols have been categorized using the SDN architecture proposed by the open networking foundation, which differentiates among data-controller plane interfaces, application-controller plane interfaces, and management interfaces, in order to state how the interface type in which they operate influences TE. In addition, the impact of the SDN protocols on TE has been evaluated by comparing them with the path computation element (PCE)-based architecture. The PCE-based architecture has been selected to measure the impact of SDN on TE because it is the most novel TE architecture until the date, and because it already defines a set of metrics to measure the performance of TE solutions. We conclude that using the three types of interfaces simultaneously will result in more powerful and enhanced TE solutions, since they benefit TE in complementary ways.European Commission through the Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (GN4) under Grant 691567 Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness under the Secure Deployment of Services Over SDN and NFV-based Networks Project S&NSEC under Grant TEC2013-47960-C4-3-

Architectural approaches to a science network software-defined exchange

To interconnect research facilities across wide geographic areas, network operators deploy science networks, also referred to as Research and Education (R&E) networks. These networks allow experimenters to establish dedicated circuits between research facilities for transferring large amounts of data, by using advanced reservation systems. Intercontinental dedicated circuits typically require coordination between multiple administrative domains, which need to reach an agreement on a suitable advance reservation. To enhance provisioning capabilities of multi-domain advance reservations, we propose an architecture for end-to-end service orchestration in multi-domain science networks that leverages software-defined networking (SDN) and software-defined exchanges (SDX) for providing multi-path, multi-domain advance reservations. Our simulations show our orchestration architecture increases the reservation success rate. We evaluate our solution using GridFTP, one of the most popular tools for data transfers in the scientific community. Additionally, we propose an interface that domain scientists can use to request science network services from our orchestration framework. Furthermore, we propose a federated auditing framework (FAS) that allows an SDX to verify whether the configurations requested by a user are correctly enforced by participating SDN domains, whether the configurations requested are correctly removed after their expiration time, and whether configurations exist that are performing non-requested actions. We also propose an architecture for advance reservation access control using SDN and tokens.Ph.D

A framework for Traffic Engineering in software-defined networks with advance reservation capabilities

298 p.En esta tesis doctoral se presenta una arquitectura software para facilitar la introducción de técnicas de ingeniería de tráfico en redes definidas por software. La arquitectura ha sido diseñada de forma modular, de manera que soporte múltiples casos de uso, incluyendo su aplicación en redes académicas. Cabe destacar que las redes académicas se caracterizan por proporcionar servicios de alta disponibilidad, por lo que la utilización de técnicas de ingeniería de tráfico es de vital importancia a fin de garantizar la prestación del servicio en los términos acordados. Uno de los servicios típicamente prestados por las redes académicas es el establecimiento de circuitos extremo a extremo con una duración determinada en la que una serie de recursos de red estén garantizados, conocido como ancho de banda bajo demanda, el cual constituye uno de los casos de uso en ingeniería de tráfico más desafiantes. Como consecuencia, y dado que esta tesis doctoral ha sido co-financiada por la red académica GÉANT, la arquitectura incluye soporte para servicios de reserva avanzada. La solución consiste en una gestión de los recursos de red en función del tiempo, la cual mediante el empleo de estructuras de datos y algoritmos específicamente diseñados persigue la mejora de la utilización de los recursos de red a la hora de prestar este tipo de servicios. La solución ha sido validada teniendo en cuenta los requisitos funcionales y de rendimiento planteados por la red GÉANT. Así mismo, cabe destacar que la solución será utilizada en el despliegue piloto del nuevo servicio de ancho de banda bajo demanda de la red GÉANT a finales del 2017