Design of VNF-Mapping with node protection in WDM metro networks

Abstract

Network Function Virtualization (NFV) is considered to be one of the enabling technologies for 5G. NFV poses several challenges, like deciding the virtual network function (VNF) placement and chaining, and adding backup resources to guarantee the survivability of service chains. In this paper, we propose a genetic algorithm that jointly solves the VNF-placement, chaining and virtual topology design problem in WDM metro ring network, with the additional capacity of providing node protection. The simulation results show how important is to solve all of these subproblems jointly, as well as the benefits of using shared VNF and network resources between backup instances in order to reduce both the service blocking ratio and the number of active CPUs.