Network virtualization is regarded as the pillar of cloud computing, enabling the multi-tenancy concept where multiple Virtual Networks (VNs) can cohabit the same substrate network. With network ...virtualization, the problem of allocating resources to the various tenants, commonly known as the Virtual Network Embedding problem, emerges as a challenge. Its NP-Hard nature has drawn a lot of attention from the research community, many of which however overlooked the type of communication that a given VN may exhibit, assuming that they all exhibit a one-to-one (unicast) communication only. In this paper, we motivate the importance of characterizing the mode of communication in VN requests, and we focus our attention on the problem of embedding VNs with a one-to-many (multicast) communication mode. Throughout this paper, we highlight the unique properties of multicast VNs and its distinct Quality of Service (QoS) requirements, most notably the end-delay and delay-variation constraints for delay-sensitive multicast services. Further, we showcase the limitations of handling a multicast VN as unicast. To this extent, we formally define the VNE problem for Multicast VNs (MVNs) and prove its NP-Hard nature. We propose two novel approach to solve the Multicast VNE (MVNE) problem with end-delay and delay variation constraints: A 3-Step MVNE technique, and a Tabu-Search algorithm. We motivate the intuition behind our proposed embedding techniques, and provide a competitive analysis of our suggested approaches over multiple metrics and against other embedding heuristics.
The introduction of new services requiring large and dynamic bitrate connectivity can cause changes in the direction of the traffic in metro and even core network segments throughout the day. This ...leads to large overprovisioning in statically managed virtual network topologies (VNTs), which are designed to cope with the traffic forecast. To reduce expenses while ensuring the required grade of service, in this paper we propose a VNT reconfiguration approach based on data analytics for traffic prediction (VENTURE). It regularly reconfigures the VNT based on the predicted traffic, thus adapting the topology to both the current and the predicted traffic volume and direction. A machine learning algorithm based on an artificial neural network is used to provide robust and adaptive traffic models. The reconfiguration problem that takes as its input the traffic prediction is modeled mathematically, and a heuristic is proposed to solve it in practical times. To support VENTURE, we propose an architecture that allows collecting and storing data from monitoring at the routers and that is used to train predictive models for every origin-destination pair. Exhaustive simulation results of the algorithm, together with the experimental assessment of the proposed architecture, are finally presented.
Network Function Virtualization (NFV) and Software-Defined Networks (SDN) enable Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to place Virtual Network Functions (VNFs) to achieve the performance and security ...benefit without incurring high Operating Expenses (OPEX) and Capital Expenses (CAPEX). In NFV environment, Service Function Chains (SFCs) always need to steer the traffic through a series of VNF instances in predefined orders. Moreover, the required number and placement of VNF instances should be optimized to adapt to dynamic network load. Therefore, it is considerable for ISPs to conduct an optimal SFC embedding strategy to improve the network performance and revenue. In the paper, we study the SFC Embedding Problem (SFC-EP) with dynamic VNF placement in geo-distributed cloud system. We formulate this problem as a Binary Integer Programming (BIP) model aiming to embed SFC requests with the minimum embedding cost. Furthermore, the novel SFC eMbedding APproach (SFC-MAP) and VNF Dynamic Release Algorithm (VNF-DRA) have been proposed to efficiently embed SFC requests and optimize the number of placed VNF instances. Performance evaluation results show that the proposed algorithms can provide higher performance in terms of SFC request acceptance rate, network throughput, and mean VNF utilization rate and efficiently reduce the total VNF running time compared with the algorithms in existing literatures.
Network virtualization allows multiple heterogeneous virtual networks (VNs) to coexist on a shared infrastructure. Efficient mapping of virtual nodes and virtual links of a VN request onto substrate ...network resources, also known as the VN embedding problem, is the first step toward enabling such multiplicity. Since this problem is known to be NP -hard, previous research focused on designing heuristic-based algorithms that had clear separation between the node mapping and the link mapping phases. In this paper, we present ViNEYard-a collection of VN embedding algorithms that leverage better coordination between the two phases. We formulate the VN embedding problem as a mixed integer program through substrate network augmentation. We then relax the integer constraints to obtain a linear program and devise two online VN embedding algorithms D-ViNE and R-ViNE using deterministic and randomized rounding techniques, respectively. We also present a generalized window-based VN embedding algorithm (WiNE) to evaluate the effect of lookahead on VN embedding. Our simulation experiments on a large mix of VN requests show that the proposed algorithms increase the acceptance ratio and the revenue while decreasing the cost incurred by the substrate network in the long run.
Space-air-ground integrated networks (SAGIN) extend the capability of wireless networks and will be the essential building block for many advanced applications, like autonomous driving, earth ...monitoring, and etc. However, coordinating heterogeneous physical resources is very challenging in such a large-scale dynamic network. In this paper, we propose a reconfigurable service provisioning framework based on service function chaining (SFC) for SAGIN. In SFC, the network functions are virtualized and the service data needs to flow through specific network functions in a predefined sequence. The inherent issue is how to plan the service function chains over large-scale heterogeneous networks, subject to the resource limitations of both communication and computation. Specifically, we must jointly consider the virtual network functions (VNFs) embedding and service data routing. We formulate the SFC planning problem as an integer non-linear programming problem, which is NP-hard. Then, a heuristic greedy algorithm is proposed, which concentrates on leveraging different features of aerial and ground nodes and balancing the resource consumptions. Furthermore, a new metric, aggregation ratio (AR) is proposed to elaborate the communication-computation tradeoff. Extensive simulations shows that our proposed algorithm achieves near-optimal performance. We also find that the SAGIN significantly reduces the service blockage probability and improves the efficiency of resource utilization. Finally, a case study on multiple intersection traffic scheduling is provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed SFC-based service provisioning framework.
Although network function virtualization (NFV) is a promising approach for providing elastic network functions, it faces several challenges in terms of adaptation to diverse network appliances and ...reduction of the capital and operational expenses of the service providers. In particular, to deploy service chains, providers must consider different objectives, such as minimizing the network latency or the operational cost, which are coupled objectives that have traditionally been addressed separately. In this paper, the problem of virtual network function (vNF) placement for service chains is studied for the purpose of energy and traffic-aware cost minimization. This problem is formulated as an optimization problem named the joint operational and network traffic cost (OPNET) problem. First, a sampling-based Markov approximation (MA) approach is proposed to solve the combinatorial NP-hard problem, OPNET. Even though the MA approach can yield a near-optimal solution, it requires a long convergence time that can hinder its practical deployment. To overcome this issue, a novel approach that combines the MA with matching theory, named as SAMA, is proposed to find an efficient solution for the original problem OPNET. Simulation results show that the proposed framework can reduce the total incurred cost by up to 19 percent compared to the existing non-coordinated approach.
Network function virtualization (NFV) brings great conveniences and benefits for the enterprises to outsource their network functions to the cloud datacenter. In this paper, we address the virtual ...network function (VNF) placement problem in cloud datacenter considering users' service function chain requests (SFCRs). To optimize the resource utilization, we take two less-considered factors into consideration, which are the time-varying workloads, and the basic resource consumptions (BRCs) when instantiating VNFs in physical machines (PMs). Then the VNF placement problem is formulated as an integer linear programming (ILP) model with the aim of minimizing the number of used PMs. Afterwards, a Two-StAge heurisTic solution (T-SAT) is designed to solve the ILP. T-SAT consists of a correlation-based greedy algorithm for SFCR mapping (first stage) and a further adjustment algorithm for virtual network function requests (VNFRs) in each SFCR (second stage). Finally, we evaluate T-SAT with the artificial data we compose with Gaussian function and trace data derived from Google's datacenters. The simulation results demonstrate that the number of used PMs derived by T-SAT is near to the optimal results and much smaller than the benchmarks. Besides, it improves the network resource utilization significantly.
Virtual networks provide their services by aggregating groups of virtual devices that use an existing physical network to interact with one another. These services, unlike the underlying network, ...often need a large number of distinct resources (bandwidth, processing power, servers, etc.) to operate. The adaptability of the virtual network architecture is what makes it so appealing. A server is required for each virtual service; hence computers are categorized as virtual service resources. It is common practice to either supply resources for the virtual network or replace the virtual service resource by migrating the service to another node that offers the most suitable number of resources to do so (QoS) when a given resource is unable to meet quality of service requirements due to traffic variation caused by mobile users. Our flow-splitting technique allows for the dynamic redistribution of virtual service resources across several virtual connections. We take a different approach than the prevalent tree-based approaches in the current body of literature by basing our method on graph topology instead. The simulation results from this study demonstrate that our solution drastically decreases the time needed to replace virtual service resources when compared to existing methods.
Management and orchestration (MANO) of resources by virtual network functions (VNFs) represents one of the key challenges towards a fully virtualized network architecture as envisaged by 5G ...standards. Current threshold-based policies inefficiently over-provision network resources and under-utilize available hardware, incurring high cost for network operators, and consequently, the users. In this work, we present a MANO algorithm for VNFs allowing a central unit (CU) to learn to autonomously re-configure resources (processing power and storage), deploy new VNF instances, or offload them to the cloud, depending on the network conditions, available pool of resources, and the VNF requirements, with the goal of minimizing a cost function that takes into account the economical cost as well as latency and the quality-of-service (QoS) experienced by the users. First, we formulate the stochastic resource optimization problem as a parameterized action Markov decision process (PAMDP). Then, we propose a solution based on deep reinforcement learning (DRL). More precisely, we present a novel RL approach, called parameterized action twin (PAT) deterministic policy gradient, which leverages an actor-critic architecture to learn to provision resources to the VNFs in an online manner. Finally, we present numerical performance results, and map them to 5G key performance indicators (KPIs). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work that considers DRL for MANO of VNFs' physical resources.
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