Hash-based load balanced traffic steering on softswitches for chaining virtualized network functions

Prior load balancing solutions for chaining virtualized network functions cause significant control and data plane overheads and demand special requirements on network hardware. In this study, we present the design, implementation, and evaluation of Hash-based Traffic Steering on Softswitches (HATS), a load balancing mechanism that aims at mitigating such drawbacks. The method exploits flow hashing technique implemented on softswitches to perform server and network load balancing without triggering the control plane. We have implemented this design using OpenDayLight controller and Open vSwitch platform. The implementation demonstrates that HATS can be readily implemented with commodity network hardware. Furthermore, the experiment results confirm that HATS can reduce the number of flow entries and service chaining time up to 85% and 93%, respectively, when compared with Least Load First (LLF), a controller-based service chaining algorithm.

[1]  Albert G. Greenberg,et al.  The nature of data center traffic: measurements & analysis , 2009, IMC '09.

[2]  Keqiang He,et al.  Presto: Edge-based Load Balancing for Fast Datacenter Networks , 2015, Conference on Applications, Technologies, Architectures, and Protocols for Computer Communication.

[3]  Huachun Zhou,et al.  A new method for providing network services: Service function chain , 2017, Opt. Switch. Netw..

[4]  Yuan-Cheng Lai,et al.  A joint network and server load balancing algorithm for chaining virtualized network functions , 2016, 2016 IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC).

[5]  EDDIE KOHLER,et al.  The click modular router , 2000, TOCS.

[6]  Jiachen Chen,et al.  Exploiting ICN for flexible management of software-defined networks , 2014, ICN '14.

[7]  Min Zhu,et al.  WCMP: weighted cost multipathing for improved fairness in data centers , 2014, EuroSys '14.

[8]  Jim Guichard,et al.  Service Function Chaining: Creating a Service Plane via Network Service Headers , 2014, Computer.

[9]  Yuan-Cheng Lai,et al.  Balanced Service Chaining in Software-Defined Networks with Network Function Virtualization , 2016, Computer.

[10]  Filip De Turck,et al.  Network Function Virtualization: State-of-the-Art and Research Challenges , 2015, IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials.

[11]  Zhiming Wang,et al.  Enabling network function combination via service chain instantiation , 2015, Comput. Networks.

[12]  J. Crowcroft.  Hey ! Presto : Edge-based Load Balancing for Fast Datacenter Networks , 2015 .