Research Article
A Hybrid Flow/Packet Level Model for Predictive Service Function Chain Selection in SDN
@INPROCEEDINGS{10.1007/978-3-030-92511-6_6, author={Frank Wetzels and Hans van den Berg and Rob van der Mei}, title={A Hybrid Flow/Packet Level Model for Predictive Service Function Chain Selection in SDN}, proceedings={Performance Evaluation Methodologies and Tools. 14th EAI International Conference, VALUETOOLS 2021, Virtual Event, October 30--31, 2021, Proceedings}, proceedings_a={VALUETOOLS}, year={2021}, month={12}, keywords={Software defined network Service function chain Predictive selection Varying background traffic}, doi={10.1007/978-3-030-92511-6_6} }- Frank Wetzels
Hans van den Berg
Rob van der Mei
Year: 2021
A Hybrid Flow/Packet Level Model for Predictive Service Function Chain Selection in SDN
VALUETOOLS
Springer
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-92511-6_6
Abstract
This paper is motivated by recent developments in SDN and NFV whereby service functions, distributed over a centralised controlled network, are connected to form a service function chain (SFC). Upon arrival of a new service request a decision has to be made to which one of SFCs the request must be routed. This decision is based on (1) actual state information about the background traffic through the SFC nodes, and (2) a prediction of the fraction of time that the SFC is in overflow during the course of the new flow in the system. In this paper, we propose a new method for assigning an incoming flow to an SFC. For that, we propose and compare two methods: a simple flow-based algorithm and a more refined hybrid flow/packet-based algorithm. By extensive simulations, we show that the simple flow-based algorithm works particularly well if the network is not overloaded upon new flow arrival. Moreover, the results show that the flow/packet-based algorithm enhances the flow-based algorithm as it handles initial overload significantly better. We conclude that the prediction-based SFC selection is a powerful method to meet QoS requirements in a software defined network with varying background traffic.
