Optimizing IGP link weights for energy-efficiency in multi-period traffic matrices

International audienceRecently, due to the increasing power consumption and worldwide gases emissions in ICT (Information and Communication Technology), energy efficient ways to design and operate backbone networks are becoming a new concern for network operators. Since these networks are usually overprovisioned and since traffic load has a small influence on power consumption of network equipments, the most common approach to save energy is to put unused line cards that drive links between neighboring routers into sleep mode. To guarantee QoS, all traffic demands should be routed without violating capacity constraints and the network should keep its connectivity. From the perspective of traffic engineering, we argue that stability in routing configuration also plays an important role in QoS. In details, frequent changes in network configuration (link weights, slept and activated links) to adapt with traffic fluctuation in daily time cause network oscillations. In this work, we propose a novel optimization method to adjust the link weights of Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) protocol while limiting the changes in network configurations when multi-period traffic matrices are considered. We formally define the problem and model it as Mixed Integer Linear Program (MILP). We then propose an efficient heuristic algorithm that is suitable for large networks. Simulation results with real traffic traces on three different networks show that our approach achieves high energy saving while keeping the networks in stable state (less changes in network configuration)

Optimizing Rule Placement in Software-Defined Networks for Energy-aware Routing

International audienceSoftware-defined Networks (SDN), in particular OpenFlow, is a new networking paradigm enabling innovation through network programmability. Over past few years, many applications have been built using SDN such as server load balancing, virtual-machine migration, traffic engineering and access control. In this paper, we focus on using SDN for energyaware routing (EAR). Since traffic load has a small influence on power consumption of routers, EAR allows to put unused links into sleep mode to save energy. SDN can collect traffic matrix and then computes routing solutions satisfying QoS while being minimal in energy consumption. However, prior works on EAR have assumed that the table of OpenFlow switch can hold an infinite number of rules. In practice, this assumption does not hold since the flow table is implemented with Ternary Content Addressable Memory (TCAM) which is expensive and power-hungry. In this paper, we propose an optimization method to minimize energy consumption for a backbone network while respecting capacity constraints on links and rule space constraints on routers. In details, we present an exact formulation using Integer Linear Program (ILP) and introduce efficient greedy heuristic algorithm. Based on simulations, we show that using this smart rule space allocation, it is possible to save almost as much power consumption as the classical EAR approach

Robust Energy-aware Routing with Redundancy Elimination

International audienceMany studies in literature have shown that energy-aware routing (EAR) can significantly reduce energy consumption for backbone networks. Also, as an arising concern in networking research area, the protocol-independent traffic redundancy elimination (RE) technique helps to reduce (a.k.a compress) traffic load on backbone network. Motivation from a formulation perspective, we first present an extended model of the classical multi-commodity flow problem with compressible flows. Moreover, our model is robust with fluctuation of traffic demand and compression rate. In details, we allow any set of a predefined size of traffic flows to deviate simultaneously from their nominal volumes or compression rates. As an applicable example, we use this model to combine redundancy elimination and energy-aware routing to increase energy efficiency for a backbone network. Using this extra knowledge on the dynamics of the traffic pattern, we are able to significantly increase energy efficiency for the network. We formally define the problem and model it as a Mixed Integer Linear Program (MILP). We then propose an efficient heuristic algorithm that is suitable for large networks. Simulation results with real traffic traces on Abilene, Geant and Germany50 networks show that our approach allows for 16-28% extra energy saving with respect to the classical EAR model

Extended Cutset Inequalities for the Network Power Consumption Problem

International audienceIn this paper, we enhance the MIP formulation for the Network Power Consumption problem, proposed by Giroire et al. We derive cutting planes, extending the well-known cutset inequalities, and report on preliminary computations

Robust Energy-aware Routing with Redundancy Elimination

Many studies in literature have shown that energy-aware routing (EAR) can significantly reduce energy consumption for backbone networks. Also, as an arising concern in networking research area, the protocol-independent traffic redundancy elimination (RE) technique helps to reduce (a.k.a compress) traffic load on backbone network. Motivation from a formulation perspective, we first present an extended model of the classical multi-commodity flow problem with compressible flows. Moreover, our model is robust with fluctuation of traffic demand and compression rate. In details, we allow any set of a predefined size of traffic flows to deviate simultaneously from their nominal volumes or compression rates. As an applicable example, we use this model to combine redundancy elimination and energy-aware routing to increase energy efficiency for a backbone network. Using this extra knowledge on the dynamics of the traffic pattern, we are able to significantly increase energy efficiency for the network. We formally define the problem and model it as a Mixed Integer Linear Program (MILP). We then propose an efficient heuristic algorithm that is suitable for large networks. Simulation results with real traffic traces on Abilene, Geant and Germany50 networks show that our approach allows for $16 - 28\%$ extra energy savings with respect to the classical EAR model.La gestion efficace de la consommation de l'énergie des réseaux de télécommunications est de nos jours un sujet d'une très grande importance. Plusieurs études ont réussi à prouver que le routage basé sur la consommation d'énergie réduit considérablement la consommation totale d'énergie du réseau. Nous avons dans cet article, combiné cette technique à celle de l'élimination de redondance de trafic, pour diminuer davantage l'energie consommée par un réseau coeur. Nous avons considéré une formulation robuste de ce problème dans le cas où il existe une incertitude autant au niveau de la valeur du volume de trafic que de celui du traux de redondance. Nous proposons, pour résoudre ce problème, un modèle linéaire, un algorithme exacte et une heuristique qui nous permettent des économies d'énergie allant de 16% à 28% comparé à la méthode classique de routage baseé sur l'énergie

On the feasibility of using current data centre infrastructure for latency-sensitive applications

It has been claimed that the deployment of fog and edge computing infrastructure is a necessity to make high-performance cloud-based applications a possibility. However, there are a large number of middle-ground latency-sensitive applications such as online gaming, interactive photo editing and multimedia conferencing that require servers deployed closer to users than in globally centralised clouds but do not necessarily need the extreme low-latency provided by a new infrastructure of micro data centres located at the network edge, e.g., in base stations and ISP Points of Presence. In this paper we analyse a snapshot of today's data centres and the distribution of users around the globe and conclude that existing infrastructure provides a sufficiently distributed platform for middle-ground applications requiring a response time of $20\hbox{-}200$20-200 ms. However, while placement and selection of edge servers for extreme low-latency applications is a relatively straightforward matter of choosing the closest, providing a high quality of experience for middle-ground latency applications that use the more widespread distribution of today's data centres, as we advocate in this paper, raises new management challenges to develop algorithms for optimising the placement of and the per-request selection between replicated service instances

Deep neural networks for network routing

In this work, we propose a Deep Learning (DL) based solution to the problem of routing traffic flows in computer networks. Routing decisions can be made in different ways depending on the desired objective and, based on that objective function, optimal solutions can be computed using a variety of techniques, e.g. with mixed integer linear programming. However, determining these solutions requires solving complex optimization problems and, thus, cannot be typically done at runtime. Instead, heuristics for these problems are often created but designing them is non-trivial in many cases. The routing framework proposed here presents an alternative to the design of heuristics, whilst still achieving good performance. This is done by building a DL model trained on the optimal decisions over flows from known traffic demands. To evaluate our solution, we focused on the problem of network congestion, even though a wide range of alternative objectives could be fitted into this framework. We ran experiments using two publicly available datasets of networks with real traffic demands and showed that our solution achieves close-to-optimal network congestion values.This research was sponsored by the U.S. Army Research Laboratory and the U.K. Ministry of Defence under Agreement Number W911NF-16-3-0001.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Minimization of network power consumption with redundancy elimination

International audienceRecently, energy-aware routing (EAR) has gained an increasing popularity in the networking research community. The idea is that traffic demands are redirected over a subset of the network links, allowing other links to sleep to save energy. In this paper, we propose GreenRE – a new EAR model with the support of data redundancy elimination (RE). This technique, enabled within routers, can virtually increase the capacity of network links. Based on real experiments on Orange Labs platform, we show that performing RE increases the energy consumption for routers. Therefore, it is important to determine which routers should enable RE and which links to put into sleep mode so that the power consumption of the network is minimized. We model the problem as Mixed Integer Linear Program and propose greedy heuristic algorithms for large networks. Simulations on several network topologies show that the GreenRE model can gain further 37% of energy savings compared to the classical EAR model