Section: New Results

Dynamic resource allocation for network virtualization

Participants : Said Seddiki, Bilel Nefzi, Mounir Frikha, Ye-Qiong Song [contact] .

The objective of this research topic is to develop different resource allocation mechanisms in Network Virtualization, for creating multiple virtual networks (VNs) from a single physical network. It is accomplished by logical segmentation of the network nodes and their physical links. Sharing resources and improving utilization are the main idea of virtualization. Finding effective solutions for the needs expressed by users without deteriorating the performance of different VNs is a research challenge. In addition, solutions should meet different performance criteria required by network infrastructure.

We proposed several approaches that aim to select substrate nodes [21] with sufficient CPU, disk, and other resources, as well as substrate links with enough spare bandwidth [19] , [20] . These dynamic approaches, where online monitoring of the VN is required, allow adaptively changing the resource allocations. We have shown through simulations that the proposed approaches offer higher utilization of physical network and better managing the satisfaction of virtual networks by minimizing the packet delays inside the physical node. They also provide a fair and efficient allocation of link capacity and avoid bottlenecks. The next step is the implementation of these propositions using OPENFLOW in a software defined network.