Cost efficient virtual network mapping across multiple domains with joint intra-domain and inter- domain mapping

Abstract Network virtualization allows the coexistence of multiple virtual networks on a shared substrate optical network, which interconnects the geo-distributed data centers. A virtual network (VN) typically spans across multiple domains, which may be managed by different infrastructure providers (InPs). The topology and resource information on each domain is confidential and kept private by the InP. However, a domain-level (global) view is required to achieve cost efficient VN mapping across multiple domains. In this paper, we present a framework for the cost efficient VN mapping across multiple domains with joint intra-domain and inter-domain mapping. In the framework, the VN mapping is accomplished by the mapping manager that is the broker between the SPs and the InPs. The mapping manager collects the mapping candidates for the VN request from the InPs, and then establishes the abstracted domain-level graph. Finally the candidates are selected on the domain-level graph with cost and quality of services (QoS) consideration. We formulate the problem of candidate selection as an mixed integer linear programming (MILP), and then relax the integer constraints to obtain a linear program to solve it. The simulation results show that our proposed framework can achieve low resource allocation cost and good QoS performance for the VN request.