Integrating SDN and NFV with QoS-aware service composition

Abstract

Traditional networks are transformed to enable full integration of heterogeneous hardware and software functions, that are configured at runtime, with minimal time to market, and are provided to their end users on “as a service” principle. Therefore, a countless number of possibilities for further innovation and exploitation opens up. Network Function Virtualization (NFV) and Software-Defined Networking (SDN) are two key enablers for such a new flexible, scalable, and service-oriented network architecture. This chapter provides an overview of QoS-aware strategies that can be used over the levels of the network abstraction aiming to fully exploit the new network opportunities. Specifically, we present three use cases of integrating SDN and NFV with QoS-aware service composition, ranging from the energy efficient placement of virtual network functions inside modern data centers, to the deployment of data stream processing applications using SDN to control the network paths, to exploiting SDN for context-aware service compositions.