Reconciling Resource Abstraction, Allocation and Routing Optimization

Resource abstraction aims at enabling flexible allocation of capacity to serve demands by aggregating physical resources taken out of distributed resource pools accessible via dedicated gateways. This paradigm sits at the heart of many networking models including resource virtualization and other cloud computing. In this paper, we show this generic problem can be modeled by combining and extending the Hub Location with the Location Routing Problem, referred to as the Hub-Location Routing Problem (HLRP). A mixed- integer program for the HLRP is proposed and evaluated using representative settings. We compare the results with those obtained when modeling the initial problem as an Location Routing Problem only; hence, obtain a quantitative assessment of the performance tradeoffs between resource abstraction, (al)location and routing.