217 research outputs found
Service Chain (SC) Mapping with Multiple SC Instances in a Wide Area Network
Network Function Virtualization (NFV) aims to simplify deployment of network
services by running Virtual Network Functions (VNFs) on commercial
off-the-shelf servers. Service deployment involves placement of VNFs and
in-sequence routing of traffic flows through VNFs comprising a Service Chain
(SC). The joint VNF placement and traffic routing is usually referred as SC
mapping. In a Wide Area Network (WAN), a situation may arise where several
traffic flows, generated by many distributed node pairs, require the same SC,
one single instance (or occurrence) of that SC might not be enough. SC mapping
with multiple SC instances for the same SC turns out to be a very complex
problem, since the sequential traversal of VNFs has to be maintained while
accounting for traffic flows in various directions. Our study is the first to
deal with SC mapping with multiple SC instances to minimize network resource
consumption. Exact mathematical modeling of this problem results in a quadratic
formulation. We propose a two-phase column-generation-based model and solution
in order to get results over large network topologies within reasonable
computational times. Using such an approach, we observe that an appropriate
choice of only a small set of SC instances can lead to solution very close to
the minimum bandwidth consumption
IT and Multi-layer Online Resource Allocation and Offline Planning in Metropolitan Networks
Metropolitan networks are undergoing a major technological breakthrough leveraging the capabilities of software-defined networking (SDN) and network function virtualization (NFV). NFV permits the deployment of virtualized network functions (VNFs) on commodity hardware appliances which can be combined with SDN flexibility and programmability of the network infrastructure. SDN/NFV-enabled networks require decision-making in two time scales: short-term online resource allocation and mid-to-long term offline planning. In this paper, we first tackle the dimensioning of SDN/NFV-enabled metropolitan networks paying special attention to the role that latency plays in the capacity planning. We focus on a specific use-case: the metropolitan network that covers the Murcia - Alicante Spanish regions. Then, we propose a latency-aware multilayer service-chain allocation (LA-ML-SCA) algorithm to explore a range of maximum latency requirements and their impact on the resources for dimensioning the metropolitan network. We observe that design costs increase for low latency requirements as more data center facilities need to be spread to get closer to the network edge, reducing the economies of scale on the IT infrastructure. Subsequently, we review our recent joint computation of multi-site VNF placement and multilayer resource allocation in the deployment of a network service in a metro network. Specifically, a set of subroutines contained in LA-ML-SCA are experimentally validated in a network optimization-as-a-service architecture that assists an Open-Source MANO instance, virtual infrastructure managers and WAN controllers in a metro network test-bed.Grant numbers : Go2Edge - Engineering Future Edge Computing Networks, Systems and Services.@ 2020 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works
A Scalable Approach for Service Chain (SC) Mapping with Multiple SC Instances in a Wide-Area Network
Network Function Virtualization (NFV) aims to simplify deployment of network
services by running Virtual Network Functions (VNFs) on commercial
off-the-shelf servers. Service deployment involves placement of VNFs and
in-sequence routing of traffic flows through VNFs comprising a Service Chain
(SC). The joint VNF placement and traffic routing is called SC mapping. In a
Wide-Area Network (WAN), a situation may arise where several traffic flows,
generated by many distributed node pairs, require the same SC; then, a single
instance (or occurrence) of that SC might not be enough. SC mapping with
multiple SC instances for the same SC turns out to be a very complex problem,
since the sequential traversal of VNFs has to be maintained while accounting
for traffic flows in various directions. Our study is the first to deal with
the problem of SC mapping with multiple SC instances to minimize network
resource consumption. We first propose an Integer Linear Program (ILP) to solve
this problem. Since ILP does not scale to large networks, we develop a
column-generation-based ILP (CG-ILP) model. However, we find that exact
mathematical modeling of the problem results in quadratic constraints in our
CG-ILP. The quadratic constraints are made linear but even the scalability of
CG-ILP is limited. Hence, we also propose a two-phase column-generation-based
approach to get results over large network topologies within reasonable
computational times. Using such an approach, we observe that an appropriate
choice of only a small set of SC instances can lead to a solution very close to
the minimum bandwidth consumption. Further, this approach also helps us to
analyze the effects of number of VNF replicas and number of NFV nodes on
bandwidth consumption when deploying these minimum number of SC instances.Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1704.0671
Distributed VNF Scaling in Large-scale Datacenters: An ADMM-based Approach
Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) is a promising network architecture
where network functions are virtualized and decoupled from proprietary
hardware. In modern datacenters, user network traffic requires a set of Virtual
Network Functions (VNFs) as a service chain to process traffic demands. Traffic
fluctuations in Large-scale DataCenters (LDCs) could result in overload and
underload phenomena in service chains. In this paper, we propose a distributed
approach based on Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers (ADMM) to jointly
load balance the traffic and horizontally scale up and down VNFs in LDCs with
minimum deployment and forwarding costs. Initially we formulate the targeted
optimization problem as a Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) model, which
is NP-complete. Secondly, we relax it into two Linear Programming (LP) models
to cope with over and underloaded service chains. In the case of small or
medium size datacenters, LP models could be run in a central fashion with a low
time complexity. However, in LDCs, increasing the number of LP variables
results in additional time consumption in the central algorithm. To mitigate
this, our study proposes a distributed approach based on ADMM. The
effectiveness of the proposed mechanism is validated in different scenarios.Comment: IEEE International Conference on Communication Technology (ICCT),
Chengdu, China, 201
Impact of Processing-Resource Sharing on the Placement of Chained Virtual Network Functions
Network Function Virtualization (NFV) provides higher flexibility for network
operators and reduces the complexity in network service deployment. Using NFV,
Virtual Network Functions (VNF) can be located in various network nodes and
chained together in a Service Function Chain (SFC) to provide a specific
service. Consolidating multiple VNFs in a smaller number of locations would
allow decreasing capital expenditures. However, excessive consolidation of VNFs
might cause additional latency penalties due to processing-resource sharing,
and this is undesirable, as SFCs are bounded by service-specific latency
requirements. In this paper, we identify two different types of penalties
(referred as "costs") related to the processingresource sharing among multiple
VNFs: the context switching costs and the upscaling costs. Context switching
costs arise when multiple CPU processes (e.g., supporting different VNFs) share
the same CPU and thus repeated loading/saving of their context is required.
Upscaling costs are incurred by VNFs requiring multi-core implementations,
since they suffer a penalty due to the load-balancing needs among CPU cores.
These costs affect how the chained VNFs are placed in the network to meet the
performance requirement of the SFCs. We evaluate their impact while considering
SFCs with different bandwidth and latency requirements in a scenario of VNF
consolidation.Comment: Accepted for publication in IEEE Transactions on Cloud Computin
Energy-Efficient Softwarized Networks: A Survey
With the dynamic demands and stringent requirements of various applications,
networks need to be high-performance, scalable, and adaptive to changes.
Researchers and industries view network softwarization as the best enabler for
the evolution of networking to tackle current and prospective challenges.
Network softwarization must provide programmability and flexibility to network
infrastructures and allow agile management, along with higher control for
operators. While satisfying the demands and requirements of network services,
energy cannot be overlooked, considering the effects on the sustainability of
the environment and business. This paper discusses energy efficiency in modern
and future networks with three network softwarization technologies: SDN, NFV,
and NS, introduced in an energy-oriented context. With that framework in mind,
we review the literature based on network scenarios, control/MANO layers, and
energy-efficiency strategies. Following that, we compare the references
regarding approach, evaluation method, criterion, and metric attributes to
demonstrate the state-of-the-art. Last, we analyze the classified literature,
summarize lessons learned, and present ten essential concerns to open
discussions about future research opportunities on energy-efficient softwarized
networks.Comment: Accepted draft for publication in TNSM with minor updates and editin
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