Deliverable JRA1.1: Evaluation of current network control and management planes for multi-domain network infrastructure

This deliverable includes a compilation and evaluation of available control and management architectures and protocols applicable to a multilayer infrastructure in a multi-domain Virtual Network environment.The scope of this deliverable is mainly focused on the virtualisation of the resources within a network and at processing nodes. The virtualization of the FEDERICA infrastructure allows the provisioning of its available resources to users by means of FEDERICA slices. A slice is seen by the user as a real physical network under his/her domain, however it maps to a logical partition (a virtual instance) of the physical FEDERICA resources. A slice is built to exhibit to the highest degree all the principles applicable to a physical network (isolation, reproducibility, manageability, ...). Currently, there are no standard definitions available for network virtualization or its associated architectures. Therefore, this deliverable proposes the Virtual Network layer architecture and evaluates a set of Management- and Control Planes that can be used for the partitioning and virtualization of the FEDERICA network resources. This evaluation has been performed taking into account an initial set of FEDERICA requirements; a possible extension of the selected tools will be evaluated in future deliverables. The studies described in this deliverable define the virtual architecture of the FEDERICA infrastructure. During this activity, the need has been recognised to establish a new set of basic definitions (taxonomy) for the building blocks that compose the so-called slice, i.e. the virtual network instantiation (which is virtual with regard to the abstracted view made of the building blocks of the FEDERICA infrastructure) and its architectural plane representation. These definitions will be established as a common nomenclature for the FEDERICA project. Other important aspects when defining a new architecture are the user requirements. It is crucial that the resulting architecture fits the demands that users may have. Since this deliverable has been produced at the same time as the contact process with users, made by the project activities related to the Use Case definitions, JRA1 has proposed a set of basic Use Cases to be considered as starting point for its internal studies. When researchers want to experiment with their developments, they need not only network resources on their slices, but also a slice of the processing resources. These processing slice resources are understood as virtual machine instances that users can use to make them behave as software routers or end nodes, on which to download the software protocols or applications they have produced and want to assess in a realistic environment. Hence, this deliverable also studies the APIs of several virtual machine management software products in order to identify which best suits FEDERICA’s needs.Postprint (published version

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

Network Infrastructures for Highly Distributed Cloud-Computing

Software-Defined-Network (SDN) is emerging as a solid opportunity for the Network Service Providers (NSP) to reduce costs while at the same time providing better and/or new services. The possibility to flexibly manage and configure highly-available and scalable network services through data model abstractions and easy-to-consume APIs is attractive and the adoption of such technologies is gaining momentum. At the same time, NSPs are planning to innovate their infrastructures through a process of network softwarisation and programmability. The SDN paradigm aims at improving the design, configuration, maintenance and service provisioning agility of the network through a centralised software control. This can be easily achievable in local area networks, typical of data-centers, where the benefits of having programmable access to the entire network is not restricted by latency between the network devices and the SDN controller which is reasonably located in the same LAN of the data path nodes. In Wide Area Networks (WAN), instead, a centralised control plane limits the speed of responsiveness in reaction to time-constrained network events due to unavoidable latencies caused by physical distances. Moreover, an end-to-end control shall involve the participation of multiple, domain-specific, controllers: access devices, data-center fabrics and backbone networks have very different characteristics and their control-plane could hardly coexist in a single centralised entity, unless of very complex solutions which inevitably lead to software bugs, inconsistent states and performance issues. In recent years, the idea to exploit SDN for WAN infrastructures to connect multiple sites together has spread in both the scientific community and the industry. The former has produced interesting results in terms of framework proposals, complexity and performance analysis for network resource allocation schemes and open-source proof of concept prototypes targeting SDN architectures spanning multiple technological and administrative domains. On the other hand, much of the work still remains confined to the academy mainly because based on pure Openflow prototype implementation, networks emulated on a single general-purpose machine or on simulations proving algorithms effectiveness. The industry has made SDN a reality via closed-source systems, running on single administrative domain networks with little if no diversification of access and backbone devices. In this dissertation we present our contributions to the design and the implementation of SDN architectures for the control plane of WAN infrastructures. In particular, we studied and prototyped two SDN platforms to build a programmable, intent-based, control-plane suitable for the today highly distributed cloud infrastructures. Our main contributions are: (i) an holistic and architectural description of a distributed SDN control-plane for end-end QoS provisioning; we compare the legacy IntServ RSVP protocol with a novel approach for prioritising application-sensitive flows via centralised vantage points. It is based on a peer-to-peer architecture and could so be suitable for the inter-authoritative domains scenario. (ii) An open-source platform based on a two-layer hierarchy of network controllers designed to provision end-to-end connectivity in real networks composed by heterogeneous devices and links within a single authoritative domain. This platform has been integrated in CORD, an open-source project whose goal is to bring data-center economics and cloud agility to the NSP central office infrastructures, combining NFV (Network Function Virtualization), SDN and the elasticity of commodity clouds. Our platform enables the provisioning of connectivity services between multiple CORD sites, up to the customer premises. Thus our system and software contributions in SDN has been combined with a NFV infrastructure for network service automation and orchestration

Software Defined Applications in Cellular and Optical Networks

abstract: Small wireless cells have the potential to overcome bottlenecks in wireless access through the sharing of spectrum resources. A novel access backhaul network architecture based on a Smart Gateway (Sm-GW) between the small cell base stations, e.g., LTE eNBs, and the conventional backhaul gateways, e.g., LTE Servicing/Packet Gateways (S/P-GWs) has been introduced to address the bottleneck. The Sm-GW flexibly schedules uplink transmissions for the eNBs. Based on software defined networking (SDN) a management mechanism that allows multiple operator to flexibly inter-operate via multiple Sm-GWs with a multitude of small cells has been proposed. This dissertation also comprehensively survey the studies that examine the SDN paradigm in optical networks. Along with the PHY functional split improvements, the performance of Distributed Converged Cable Access Platform (DCCAP) in the cable architectures especially for the Remote-PHY and Remote-MACPHY nodes has been evaluated. In the PHY functional split, in addition to the re-use of infrastructure with a common FFT module for multiple technologies, a novel cross functional split interaction to cache the repetitive QAM symbols across time at the remote node to reduce the transmission rate requirement of the fronthaul link has been proposed.Dissertation/ThesisDoctoral Dissertation Electrical Engineering 201

Towards a cloud enabler : from an optical network resource provisioning system to a generalized architecture for dynamic infrastructure services provisioning

This work was developed during a period where most of the optical management and provisioning system where manual and proprietary. This work contributed to the evolution of the state of the art of optical networks with new architectures and advanced virtual infrastructure services. The evolution of optical networks, and internet globally, have been very promising during the last decade. The impact of mobile technology, grid, cloud computing, HDTV, augmented reality and big data, among many others, have driven the evolution of optical networks towards current service technologies, mostly based on SDN (Software Defined Networking) architectures and NFV(Network Functions Virtualisation). Moreover, the convergence of IP/Optical networks and IT services, and the evolution of the internet and optical infrastructures, have generated novel service orchestrators and open source frameworks. In fact, technology has evolved that fast that none could foresee how important Internet is for our current lives. Said in other words, technology was forced to evolve in a way that network architectures became much more transparent, dynamic and flexible to the end users (applications, user interfaces or simple APIs). This Thesis exposes the work done on defining new architectures for Service Oriented Networks and the contribution to the state of the art. The research work is divided into three topics. It describes the evolution from a Network Resource Provisioning System to an advanced Service Plane, and ends with a new architecture that virtualized the optical infrastructure in order to provide coordinated, on-demand and dynamic services between the application and the network infrastructure layer, becoming an enabler for the new generation of cloud network infrastructures. The work done on defining a Network Resource Provisioning System established the first bases for future work on network infrastructure virtualization. The UCLP (User Light Path Provisioning) technology was the first attempt for Customer Empowered Networks and Articulated Private Networks. It empowered the users and brought virtualization and partitioning functionalities into the optical data plane, with new interfaces for dynamic service provisioning. The work done within the development of a new Service Plane allowed the provisioning of on-demand connectivity services from the application, and in a multi-domain and multi-technology scenario based on a virtual network infrastructure composed of resources from different infrastructure providers. This Service Plane facilitated the deployment of applications consuming large amounts of data under deterministic conditions, so allowing the networks behave as a Grid-class resource. It became the first on-demand provisioning system that at lower levels allowed the creation of one virtual domain composed from resources of different providers. The last research topic presents an architecture that consolidated the work done in virtualisation while enhancing the capabilities to upper layers, so fully integrating the optical network infrastructure into the cloud environment, and so providing an architecture that enabled cloud services by integrating the request of optical network and IT infrastructure services together at the same level. It set up a new trend into the research community and evolved towards the technology we use today based on SDN and NFV. Summing up, the work presented is focused on the provisioning of virtual infrastructures from the architectural point of view of optical networks and IT infrastructures, together with the design and definition of novel service layers. It means, architectures that enabled the creation of virtual infrastructures composed of optical networks and IT resources, isolated and provisioned on-demand and in advance with infrastructure re-planning functionalities, and a new set of interfaces to open up those services to applications or third parties.Aquesta tesi es va desenvolupar durant un període on la majoria de sistemes de gestió de xarxa òptica eren manuals i basats en sistemes propietaris. En aquest sentit, la feina presentada va contribuir a l'evolució de l'estat de l'art de les xarxes òptiques tant a nivell d’arquitectures com de provisió d’infraestructures virtuals. L'evolució de les xarxes òptiques, i d'Internet a nivell mundial, han estat molt prometedores durant l'última dècada. L'impacte de la tecnologia mòbil, la computació al núvol, la televisió d'alta definició, la realitat augmentada i el big data, entre molts altres, han impulsat l'evolució cap a xarxes d’altes prestacions amb nous serveis basats en SDN (Software Defined Networking) i NFV (Funcions de xarxa La virtualització). D'altra banda, la convergència de xarxes òptiques i els serveis IT, junt amb l'evolució d'Internet i de les infraestructures òptiques, han generat nous orquestradors de serveis i frameworks basats en codi obert. La tecnologia ha evolucionat a una velocitat on ningú podria haver predit la importància que Internet està tenint en el nostre dia a dia. Dit en altres paraules, la tecnologia es va veure obligada a evolucionar d'una manera on les arquitectures de xarxa es fessin més transparent, dinàmiques i flexibles vers als usuaris finals (aplicacions, interfícies d'usuari o APIs simples). Aquesta Tesi presenta noves arquitectures de xarxa òptica orientades a serveis. El treball de recerca es divideix en tres temes. Es presenta un sistema de virtualització i aprovisionament de recursos de xarxa i la seva evolució a un pla de servei avançat, per acabar presentant el disseny d’una nova arquitectura capaç de virtualitzar la infraestructura òptica i IT i proporcionar serveis de forma coordinada, i sota demanda, entre l'aplicació i la capa d'infraestructura de xarxa òptica. Tot esdevenint un facilitador per a la nova generació d'infraestructures de xarxa en el núvol. El treball realitzat en la definició del sistema de virtualització de recursos va establir les primeres bases sobre la virtualització de la infraestructura de xarxa òptica en el marc de les “Customer Empowered Networks” i “Articulated Private Networks”. Amb l’objectiu de virtualitzar el pla de dades òptic, i oferir noves interfícies per a la provisió de serveis dinàmics de xarxa. En quant al pla de serveis presentat, aquest va facilitat la provisió de serveis de connectivitat sota demanda per part de l'aplicació, tant en entorns multi-domini, com en entorns amb múltiples tecnologies. Aquest pla de servei, anomenat Harmony, va facilitar el desplegament de noves aplicacions que consumien grans quantitats de dades en condicions deterministes. En aquest sentit, va permetre que les xarxes es comportessin com un recurs Grid, i per tant, va esdevenir el primer sistema d'aprovisionament sota demanda que permetia la creació de dominis virtuals de xarxa composts a partir de recursos de diferents proveïdors. Finalment, es presenta l’evolució d’un pla de servei cap una arquitectura global que consolida el treball realitzat a nivell de convergència d’infraestructures (òptica + IT) i millora les capacitats de les capes superiors. Aquesta arquitectura va facilitar la plena integració de la infraestructura de xarxa òptica a l'entorn del núvol. En aquest sentit, aquest resultats van evolucionar cap a les tendències actuals de SDN i NFV. En resum, el treball presentat es centra en la provisió d'infraestructures virtuals des del punt de vista d’arquitectures de xarxa òptiques i les infraestructures IT, juntament amb el disseny i definició de nous serveis de xarxa avançats, tal i com ho va ser el servei de re-planificació dinàmicaPostprint (published version

A service-oriented approach for dynamic chaining of virtual network functions over multi-provider software-defined networks

Emerging technologies such as Software-Defined Networks (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV) promise to address cost reduction and flexibility in network operation while enabling innovative network service delivery models. However, operational network service delivery solutions still need to be developed that actually exploit these technologies, especially at the multi-provider level. Indeed, the implementation of network functions as software running over a virtualized infrastructure and provisioned on a service basis let one envisage an ecosystem of network services that are dynamically and flexibly assembled by orchestrating Virtual Network Functions even across different provider domains, thereby coping with changeable user and service requirements and context conditions. In this paper we propose an approach that adopts Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) technology-agnostic architectural guidelines in the design of a solution for orchestrating and dynamically chaining Virtual Network Functions. We discuss how SOA, NFV, and SDN may complement each other in realizing dynamic network function chaining through service composition specification, service selection, service delivery, and placement tasks. Then, we describe the architecture of a SOA-inspired NFV orchestrator, which leverages SDN-based network control capabilities to address an effective delivery of elastic chains of Virtual Network Functions. Preliminary results of prototype implementation and testing activities are also presented. The benefits for Network Service Providers are also described that derive from the adaptive network service provisioning in a multi-provider environment through the orchestration of computing and networking services to provide end users with an enhanced service experience