Composing network service chains at the edge: A Resilient and adaptive software‐defined approach

Abstract

The scale of data and the demand for high data rates in applications are rapidly increasing over the years. By moving the computing resources closer to the users, edge computing minimizes the latency caused by otherwise pulling the data between the user and a centralized platform. Thus, data centers and computing nodes at the edge continue to overtake or replace traditional centralized cloud platforms in various 5G applications and use cases. Network functions virtualization virtualizes dedicated hardware network middleboxes into virtual network functions (VNFs) and deploys them on top of servers and data centers. Due to the inherent bandwidth cost associated with the distance between the network services and the end user, more and more third‐party VNF providers choose to deploy their services at the edge, rather than in a centralized cloud. A typical network service chaining (NSC) consumes various network services, where one's output becomes the input of another. As network services are often latency sensitive, NSC needs to be carried out, maintaining proximity to the user as well as among the services composing the NSC. In this paper, we present the design of a resilient and adaptive framework, following an approach inspired by software‐defined networking, for the remote users to construct network service chains in the mobile and edge computing environments. Our evaluations highlight the efficiency and optimality of the framework in finding the best fit among several third‐party edge VNFs in deploying the user network service chains, abiding by various user policies.

An experimental study on latency-aware and self-adaptive service chaining orchestration in distributed NFV and SDN infrastructures

“…In [34] authors provide a 5G/Edge-based service chaining orchestration solution with NFV and SDN and elaborate on a resilient and adaptive framework, following an approach inspired by software-defined networking. Authors address a different problem in allowing users to construct network service chains in the mobile and edge computing environments and in considering locality criteria and policy rules while embedding service chains.…”

Latency-Sensitive Web Service Workflows: A Case for a Software-Defined Internet

“…Our proposed unified SDI framework aims to bring the control of scheduling the web service workflows to the user by enhancing the application layer to route the workflows in a latency-aware manner. SDI uses our previous work, Évora [31], to find the optimal set of services to compose the user workflows. Évora exploits network softwarization to construct workflows at the edge, adhering to the user-defined workflow scheduling policies.…”

An Availability-Enhanced Service Function Chain Placement Scheme in Network Function Virtualization

“…Many other aspects such as deployment of VNFs at network edges and reduction of network management cost have been investigated, which are also helpful for understanding the state-of-art of SFC deployment problems. Kathiravelu et al [26] elaborated a scalable and optimal SFC placement framework at network edge. The authors designed Evora by extending SDN with a message-oriented middleware for an adaptive execution of an SFC.…”