Thomas Szyrkowiec

Integrated SDN/NFV management and orchestration architecture for dynamic deployment of virtual SDN control instances for virtual tenant networks [invited]

Software-defined networking (SDN) and network function virtualization (NFV) have emerged as the most promising candidates for improving network function and protocol programmability and dynamic adjustment of network resources. On the one hand, SDN is responsible for providing an abstraction of network resources through well-defined application programming interfaces. This abstraction enables SDN to perform network virtualization, that is, to slice the physical infrastructure and create multiple coexisting application-specific virtual tenant networks (VTNs) with specific quality-of-service and service-levelagreement requirements, independent of the underlying optical transport technology and network protocols. On the other hand, the notion of NFV relates to deploying network functions that are typically deployed in specialized and dedicated hardware, as software instances [called virtual network functions (VNFs)] running on commodity servers (e.g., in data centers) through software virtualization techniques. Despite all the attention that has been given to virtualizing IP functions (e.g., firewall; authentication, authorization, and accounting) or Long-Term Evolution control functions (e.g., mobility management entity, serving gateway, and packet data network gateway), some transport control functions can also be virtualized and moved to the cloud as a VNF. In this work we propose virtualizing the tenant SDN control functions of a VTN and moving them into the cloud. The control of a VTN is a key requirement associated with network virtualization, since it allows the dynamic programming (i.e., direct control and configuration) of the virtual resources allocated to the VTN. We experimentally assess and evaluate the first SDN/NFV orchestration architecture in a multipartner testbed to dynamically deploy independent SDN controller instances for each instantiated VTN and to provide the required connectivity within minutes.

First field demonstration of cloud datacenter workflow automation employing dynamic optical transport network resources under OpenStack and OpenFlow orchestration

For the first time, we demonstrate the orchestration of elastic datacenter and inter-datacenter transport network resources using a combination of OpenStack and OpenFlow. Programmatic control allows a datacenter operator to dynamically request optical lightpaths from a transport network operator to accommodate rapid changes of inter-datacenter workflows.

The need for a Control Orchestration Protocol in research projects on optical networking

The Control Orchestration Protocol (COP) abstracts a common set of control plane functions used by an various SDN controllers, allowing the interworking of heterogeneous control plane paradigms (i.e., OpenFlow, GMPLS/PCE). COP has been defined using YANG model language and can be transported using RESTconf, which is being incorporated by industry. COP has been defined in the scope of STRAUSS due to the need for an overarching control plane protocol for network orchestration. In this paper, several research projects describe how the COP could fit in their architecture and propose a use case for COP usage. The proposed COP use cases cover the following research projects: STRAUSS, IDEALIST, DISCUS, COMBO, INSPACE.

SDN/NFV orchestration for dynamic deployment of virtual SDN controllers as VNF for multi-tenant optical networks

We propose to virtualize the SDN control functions and move them to the cloud. We experimentally evaluate the first SDN/NFV orchestration architecture to dynamically deploy independent SDN controller instances for each deployed virtual optical network.

Multidomain network hypervisor for abstraction and control of openflow- enabled multitenant multitechnology transport networks [Invited]

A virtualization architecture is presented for deploying multitenant virtual networks on top of multi-technology optical networks. A multidomain network hypervisor (MNH) and a multidomain SDN orchestrator (MSO) are introduced with this purpose. The MNH provides an abstract view of each virtual network and gives control of it to each independent customer SDN controller. The MNH is able to provide virtual networks across heterogeneous control domains (i.e., generalized multiprotocol label switching and OpenFlow) and transport technologies (i.e., optical packet switching and elastic optical networks). The MSO is responsible for providing the necessary end-to-end connectivity. We have designed, implemented, and experimentally evaluated the MNH and MSO in an international testbed across Spain, UK, Germany, and Japan.

Demonstration of Adaptive SDN Orchestration: A Real-Time Congestion-Aware Services Provisioning Over OFDM-Based 400G OPS and Flexi-WDM OCS

In this Paper, we experimentally demonstrate highly flexible and intelligent interdomain coordinated actions based on adaptive software-defined networking (SDN) orchestration. An advanced multidomain multitechnology testbed is implemented, which consists of a 400-Gb/s variable capacity optical packet switching domain and a Tb/s-class flexi-grid wavelength division multiplexed optical circuit switching domain. The SDN-controllable transponders and the extended transport applications programming interface enable the congestion-aware provisioning of end-to-end real-time services. At the data plane level, different transponders based on orthogonal frequency division multiplexing are employed for inter/intradomain links in order to adaptively provision services with fine granularity. For adaptation, SDN-capable domain-specific optical performance monitors are also introduced. In the control plane, the applications based network operations architecture has been extended and addressed as an adaptive SDN orchestrator.

Demonstration of SDN Based Optical Network Virtualization and Multidomain Service Orchestration

This paper describes a demonstration of SDN-based optical transport network virtualization and orchestration. Two scenarios are demonstrated: a dynamic setup of optical connectivity services inside a single domain as well as a multidomain service orchestration over a shared optical infrastructure using the architecture defined in the STRAUSS project.

Control orchestration protocol: Unified transport API for distributed cloud and network orchestration

In the context of the fifth generation of mobile technology (5G), multiple technologies will converge into a unified end-to-end system. For this purpose, software defined networking (SDN) is proposed, as the control paradigm will integrate all network segments and heterogeneous optical and wireless network technologies together with massive storage and computing infrastructures. The control orchestration protocol is presented as a unified transport application programming interface solution for joint cloud/network orchestration, allowing interworking of heterogeneous control planes to provide provisioning and recovery of quality of service (QoS)-aware end-to-end services. End-to-end QoS is guaranteed by provisioning and restoration schemes, which are proposed for optical circuit/packet switching restoration by means of signal monitoring and adaptive modulation and adaptive route control, respectively. The proposed solution is experimentally demonstrated in an international multi-partner test bed, which consists of a multi-domain transport network comprising optical circuit switching and optical packet switching domains controlled by SDN/OpenFlow and Generalized Multiprotocol Label Switching (GMPLS) control planes and a distributed cloud infrastructure. The results show the dynamic provisioning of IT and network resources and recovery capabilities of the architecture.

Integrated SDN/NFV orchestration for the dynamic deployment of mobile virtual backhaul networks over a multilayer (packet/optical) aggregation infrastructure

Future 5G networks will bring important challenges to network operators, such as the traffic load increase mainly due to the proliferation of mobile broadband communications. This will force mobile network operators (MNOs) redesigning and investing in their infrastructures [e.g., new equipment for radio access network (RAN), backhaul] to cope with such data growth. Aiming at lowering both capital expenditures and operational expenditures, current networking trends on network virtualization, software-defined networking (SDN), and network function virtualization (NFV) provide an appealing scenario to flexibly deal with the increase in traffic for MNOs without overdimensioning the deployed network resources. To this end, we rely on an implemented SDN/NFV orchestrator that automatically serves MNO capacity requests by computing and allocating virtual backhaul tenants. Such backhaul tenants are built over a common physical aggregation network, formed by heterogeneous technologies (e.g., packet and optical) that may be owned by different infrastructure providers. MNO RAN traffic is transported toward a mobile core network [i.e., evolved packet core (EPC)], where required backhaul resources are tailored to the capacity needs. The EPC functions are virtualized within the cloud (vEPC), leveraging the NFV advantages. This increases MNO flexibility where cloud resources are instantiated according to EPC needs. The goal of the SDN/NFV orchestrator is to jointly allocate both network and cloud resources, deploying virtual backhaul tenants and vEPC instances for a number of MNOs with different service and capacity requirements. Each MNOs backhaul is isolated and controlled independently via a virtualized SDN (vSDN) controller deployed in the cloud. The SDN/NFV orchestrator architecture is detailed and experimentally validated in a setup provided by the Centre Tecnològic de Telecomunicacions de Catalunya and ADVA Optical Networking. Specifically, upon an MNO request, the orchestrator instantiates the vEPC and vSDN functions in the cloud and then composes the MNOs backhaul tenant over a multilayer (packet and optical) aggregation network.

SDN application-centric orchestration for multi-layer transport networks

Modern IP/Optical transport networks are seldom jointly operated and optimized, and do not cater to the usually implicit requirements of applications, which ultimately drive network traffic. In this concept paper we propose a Software Defined Networking (SDN) based Network Orchestrator to manage multi-layer transport networks while taking explicit application requirements into account. We discuss its architecture and requirements, an interface to allow applications to explicitly specify their requirements in a network-agnostic manner, and possible strategies to optimize the network taking these requirements into account.