Demonstration of NFV Content Delivery using SDN-enabled virtual infrastructures

Software defined networking (SDN) and network functions virtualization (NFV) are key enablers for the evolution in the design, management and operation of network infrastructure and the service delivery. Software Defined Networks (SDN) reduces the complexity of the network, and provides new methods of automation and flexibility. NFV has been proposed to use computing virtualization mechanisms in standard commodity hardware to provide virtualized network functions (VNFs) for the virtualization of network service delivery. The dynamic management of VNFs across the network, such as migration of VNFs, service chaining and the dynamic composition of services require an automated and flexible network infrastructure. Therefore, SDN and NFV are considered complementary to improve the flexibility and simplicity of networks and service delivery.

The existing multi-domain multi-technology transport network scenario raises the challenges for efficient network control and operation [2]. End-to-end service provisioning through SDN-enabled virtualization is promising for efficient abstraction, virtualization and control over the heterogeneous resources. This virtualization will enable the rapid deployment of multi-tenant, application-specific and customized virtual infrastructures (VIs). Each VI will have its own control plane to enable the provisioning of dynamic, adaptive and fault-tolerant network services [3]. VNFs can be deployed on top of VIs to take advantage of the flexible and simplified composition and management of VNFs.