In this paper, we first introduce the NFV architecture and the use of IPv6 Segment Routing (SRv6) network programming model to support Service Function Chaining in a NFV scenario. We describe the concepts of SR-aware and SR-unaware Virtual Network Functions (VNFs). The detailed design of a network domain supporting VNF chaining through the SRv6 network programming model is provided. The operations to support SR-aware and SR-unaware VNFs are described at an architectural level and in particular we propose a solution for SR-unaware VNFs hosted in a NFV node. The proposed solution has been implemented for a Linux based NFV host and the software is available as Open Source. Finally, a methodology for performance analysis of the implementation of the proposed mechanisms is illustrated and preliminary performance results are given.
@article{arxiv.1702.05157,
title = {Implementation of Virtual Network Function Chaining through Segment Routing in a Linux-based NFV Infrastructure},
author = {Ahmed AbdelSalam and Francois Clad and Clarence Filsfils and Stefano Salsano and Giuseppe Siracusano and Luca Veltri},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1702.05157},
year = {2017}
}
Comments
Extended version of a conference paper to appear in 3rd IEEE Conference on Network Softwarization (NetSoft 2017), Bologna, Italy, 3-7 July 2017 - v04 - April 2017