Towards a Scalability and Energy Efficiency Benchmark for VNF

Network Function Virtualization (NFV) is the transfer of network functions from dedicated devices to high-volume commodity servers. It opens opportunities for flexibility and energy savings. Concrete insights on the flexibility of specific NFV environments require measurement methodologies and benchmarks. However, current benchmarks are not measuring the ability of a virtual network function (VNF) to scale either horizontally or vertically. We therefore envision a new benchmark that measures a VNF’s ability to scale while evaluating its energy efficiency at the same time. Such a benchmark would enable the selection of a suitable VNF for changing demands, deployed at an existing or new resource landscape, while minimizing energy costs.