Efficient management solutions for software-defined infrastructures

Abstract

Novel evolutions in the networking world have been proposed under the umbrella of 5G initiatives. The NFV concept is related with the building blocks for virtual networks that are characterized as highly dynamic network environments. SDN performs logically-centralized network control that is decoupled from the data plane, enabling holistic network management. Furthermore, there is a recent trend towards lightweight virtualized network devices and servers bringing significant advantages in terms of adaptability and responsiveness to the network and service environment dynamics. The above paradigms can be combined together, resulting in unprecedented flexibility in Software Defined Infrastructures (SDI) operations. Such unified environments require new efficient and distributed management facilities that are characterized by scalability, reliability, and adaptability to the dynamic conditions in terms of resource availability and changing service and infrastructure requirements. To assist the evaluation of these components, we developed a distributed facility for testing, evaluating, and experimenting with the management of these SDI environments — the Very Lightweight Software-Driven Network and Services Platform (VLSP). It exhibits the following properties: (i) it is a complete integrated management platform for SDI environments; and (ii) it is distributed and scalable, making it suitable for a wide range of topologies and network service deployments.