Service Migration in Virtualized Data Centers

Modern virtualized Data Centers (DCs) require efficient management techniques to guarantee high quality services while reducing their economical cost. The ability to live migrate virtual instances, e.g., Virtual Machines (VMs), both inside and among DCs is a key operation for the majority of DC management tasks that brings significant flexibility into the DC infrastructure. However, live migration introduces new challenges as it ought to be fast and seamless while at the same time imposing a minimum overhead on the network. In this thesis, we study the networking problems of live service migration in modern DCs when services are deployed in virtualized environments, e.g., VMs and containers. In particular, this thesis has the following main objectives: (1) improving the live VM migration in Software-Defined Network (SDN) enabled DCs by addressing networking challenges of live VM migration, and (2) investigating the trade-off between the reconfiguration cost and optimality of the Service Function Chains (SFCs) placement after the reconfiguration has been applied when SFCs are composed of stateful Virtual Network Functions (VNFs). To achieve the first objective, in this thesis, we use distinctive characteristics of SDN architectures such as their centralized control over the network to accelerate the network convergence time and address suboptimal routing problem. Consequently, we enhance the quality of intra- and inter-DC live migrations. Furthermore, we develop an SDN-based framework to improve the inter-DC live VM migration by automating the deployment, improving the management, enhancing the performance, and increasing the scalability of interconnections among DCs. To accomplish the second objective, we investigate the overhead of dynamic reconfiguration of stateful VNFs. Dynamic reconfiguration of VNFs is frequently required in various circumstances, and live migration of VNFs is an integral part of this operation. By mathematically formulating the reconfiguration costs of stateful VNFs and developing a multi-objective heuristic solution, we explore the trade-off between the reconfiguration cost required to improve a given placement and the degree of optimality achieved after the reconfiguration is performed. Results show that the cost of performing the reconfiguration operations required to realize an optimal VNF placement might hamper the gain that could be achieved.Modern virtualized Data Centers (DCs) require efficient management techniques to guarantee high quality services while reducing their economical cost. The ability to live migrate virtual instances, e.g., Virtual Machines (VMs), both inside and among DCs, is a key operation for the majority of DC management tasks that brings significant flexibility into the DC infrastructure. However, live migration introduces new challenges as it ought to be fast and seamless while at the same time imposing a minimum overhead on the network. This thesis investigates the networking challenges of short and long-haul live VM migration in Software Defined Networking (SDN) enabled DCs. We propose solutions to make the intra- and inter-DC live VM migration more seamless. Our proposed SDN-based framework for inter-DC migration improves the management, enhances the performance, and increases the scalability of interconnections among DCs. Moreover, by considering the overhead of VM migration over the network, servers, and quality of service the VM provides, we explore the trade-off between the costs required to change the placement of VMs and the optimality degree of the placement in the DC. Results show that the cost of improving the placement might hamper the gain that could be achieved

Towards Seamless Live Migration in SDN-Based Data Centers

Live migration of Virtual Machines (VMs) has significantly improved the flexibility of modern Data Centers (DCs). Ideally, live migration ought to be seamless which in turn raises challenges on how to minimize service disruption and avoid performance degradation. To address these challenges, a comprehensive support from the underlying network is required. However, legacy DC networks fall short to help as they take a reactive approach to live migration procedure. Moreover, the complexity and inflexibility of legacy DC networks make it difficult to deploy, manage, and improve network technologies that DC providers may need to use for migration. In this thesis, we explore the application of Software Defined Networking (SDN) paradigm for making live VM migration more seamless. Exploiting the characteristics of SDN such as its centralized view on network states, we contribute to the body of knowledge by enhancing the quality of intra- and inter-DC live migration. Firstly, for intra-DC migration, we provide an SDN-based solution which minimizes the service disruption by employing OpenFlow-based resiliency mechanisms to prepare a DC network for migration proactively. Secondly, we improve the inter-DC live migration by accelerating the network convergence through announcing the migration in the control plane using MP-BGP protocol. Further, our proposed framework resolves the sub-optimal routing problem by conducting the gateway functionality at the SDN controller. Finally, with the ultimate goal of improving the inter-DC migration, we develop an SDN-based framework which automates the deployment, improves the management, enhances the performance, and increases the scalability of interconnections among DCs.Live migration of Virtual Machines (VMs) has significantly improved the flexibility of modern Data Centers (DCs). Ideally, live migration ought to be seamless which requires a comprehensive support from the underlying network. However, legacy DC networks fall short to address the challenges of migration due to their inflexible and decentralized characteristics. In contrast, Software Defined Networking (SDN) is a new networking paradigm, which has the potential to improve the live migration thanks to its comprehensive view over the network, flexible structure, and its close integration with DC management infrastructures. This thesis investigates networking challenges of short and long-haul live VM migration in SDN-based DCs. We propose solutions to make the intra- and inter-DC live migration procedures more seamless. Furthermore, our proposed SDN-based framework for inter-DC migration improves the management, enhances the performance, and increases the scalability of interconnections among DCs.HITS, 470

Streaming multicast video over software-defined networks

Due to copyright restrictions, the access to the full text of this article is only available via subscription.Many of the video streaming applications in today's Internet involve the distribution of content from a CDN source to a large population of interested clients. However, widespread support of IP multicast is unavailable due to technical and economical reasons, leaving the floor to application layer multicast which introduces excessive delays for the clients and increased traffic load for the network. This paper is concerned with the introduction of an SDN-based framework that allows the network controller to not only deploy IP multicast between a source and subscribers, but also control, via a simple northbound interface, the distributed set of sources where multiple-description coded (MDC) video content is available. We observe that for medium to heavy network loads, relative to the state-of-the-art, the SDN-based streaming multicast video framework increases the PSNR of the received video significantly, from a level that is practically unwatchable to one that has good quality

On the Cost-Optimality Trade-off for Service Function Chain Reconfiguration

Optimal placement of Virtual Network Functions (VNFs) in virtualized data centers enhances the overall performance of Service Function Chains (SFCs) and decreases the operational costs for mobile network operators. Maintaining an optimal placement of VNFs under changing load requires a dynamic reconfiguration that includes adding or removing VNF instances, changing the resource allocation of VNFs, and re-routing corresponding service flows. However, such reconfiguration may lead to notable service disruptions and impose additional overhead on the VNF infrastructure, especially when reconfiguration entails state or VNF migration. On the other hand, not changing the existing placement may lead to high operational costs. In this paper, we investigate the trade-off between the reconfiguration of SFCs and the optimality of the resulting placement and service flow (re)routing. We model different reconfiguration costs related to the migration of stateful VNFs and solve a joint optimization problem that aims to minimize both the total cost of the VNF placement and the reconfiguration cost necessary for repairing a suboptimal placement. Numerical results show that a small number of reconfiguration operations can significantly reduce the operational cost of the VNF infrastructure; however, too much reconfiguration may not pay off should heavy costs be involved.HIT

Automating Ethernet VPN deployment in SDN-based Data Centers

Layer 2 Virtual Private Network (L2VPN) is widely deployed in both service provider networks and enterprises. However, legacy L2VPN solutions have scalability limitations in the context of Data Center (DC) interconnection and networking which require new approaches that address the requirements of service providers for virtual private cloud services. Recently, Ethernet VPN (EVPN) has been proposed to address many of those concerns and vendors started to deploy EVPN based solutions in DC edge routers. However, manual configuration leads to a time-consuming, error-prone configuration and high operational costs. Automating the EVPN deployment from cloud platforms such as OpenStack enhances both the deployment and flexibility of EVPN Instances (EVIs). This paper proposes a Software Defined Network (SDN) based framework that automates the EVPN deployment and management inside SDN-based DCs using OpenStack and OpenDaylight (ODL). We implemented and extended several modules inside ODL controller to manage and interact with EVIs and an interface to OpenStack that allows the deployment and configuration of EVIs. We conclude with scalability analysis of our solution.HIT

Service Function Chain Placement for Joint Cost and Latency Optimization

Network Function Virtualization (NFV) is an emerging technology to consolidate network functions onto high volume storages, servers and switches located anywhere in the network. Virtual Network Functions (VNFs) are chained together to provide a specific network service, called Service Function Chains (SFCs). Regarding to Quality of Service (QoS) requirements and network features and states, SFCs are served through performing two tasks: VNF placement and link embedding on the substrate networks. Reducing deployment cost is a desired objective for all service providers in cloud/edge environments to increase their profit form demanded services. However, increasing resource utilization in order to decrease deployment cost may lead to increase the service latency and consequently increase SLA violation and decrease user satisfaction. To this end, we formulate a multi-objective optimization model to joint VNF placement and link embedding in order to reduce deployment cost and service latency with respect to a variety of constraints. We, then solve the optimization problem using two heuristic-based algorithms that perform close to optimum for large scale cloud/edge environments. Since the optimization model involves conflicting objectives, we also investigate pareto optimal solution so that it optimizes multiple objectives as much as possible. The efficiency of proposed algorithms is evaluated using both simulation and emulation. The evaluation results show that the proposed optimization approach succeed in minimizing both cost and latency while the results are as accurate as optimal solution obtained by Gurobi (5%)