The intelligent multi‐domain service function chain deployment: Architecture, challenges and solutions

• Published in: International journal of communication systems Vol. 34; no. 1
• Main Authors: Zhang, Chuangchuang, Wang, Xingwei, Dong, Anwei, Zhao, Yong, Li, Fuliang, Huang, Min
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chichester Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 10.01.2021
• Subjects: Chains; Computer architecture; deep learning; Domains; Electronic devices; End users; multi‐domain networks; Provisioning; SDN; SFC deployment; Software-defined networking; Virtual networks
• ISSN: 1074-5351; 1099-1131
• DOI: 10.1002/dac.4665

Summary Network function virtualization (NFV) technology achieves flexible service deployment by replacing the middleboxes with virtual network functions (VNFs). In NFV, a set of VNFs are chained in a given order, called service function chain (SFC), and accordingly, data flow is steered to traverse all the VNFs in order to offer a service. With a large number of network devices and end users being connected into Internet, there is a growing demand for large‐scale multi‐domain networks to dynamically deploy the SFC across multiple network domains, in order to support efficient service provisioning. To this end, in this paper, we first investigate the state of the art of multi‐domain SFC deployment, and then propose an intelligent multi‐domain SFC deployment (IMSD) architecture by leveraging software‐defined networking (SDN), NFV, and deep learning technologies. Furthermore, we discuss the potential challenges to realize the IMSD and provide some promising solutions. We first survey the state of the art of multi‐domain SFC deployment and then integrate software‐defined networking (SDN), NFV, and deep learning to propose an intelligent multi‐domain SFC deployment (IMSD) architecture. Furthermore, we discuss the potential challenges to realize the IMSD and provide some promising solutions.