Vertex-centric computation of service function chains in multi-domain networks

Abstract

Computation of service function chains in multi-domain networks is critical for enabling the wide deployment of network function visualization for providing end-to-end network services. In this paper, we present a vertex-centric distributed orchestration framework for multi-domain networks, in which physical infrastructure information is maintained locally within each domain without infrastructure information sharing between domains, so that the management and control of multi-domain networks can be significantly simplified. We also propose a distributed computing algorithm for mapping a service function chain request in multi-domain networks. Our objective is to find all feasible mappings, from which we can further prune to obtain the optimal solution satisfying different constraints and policies. We implement the proposed algorithm in an open source vertex-centric distributed computing system and simulate two practical network topologies to evaluate the performance, including signaling delay, message overhead, and computation time. Simulation results demonstrate superior efficiency and scalability of the proposed algorithm.