Embedding Multicast Service Function Chains in NFV-Enabled Networks

In Network Function Virtualization (NFV), a multicast data flow must be traversed through a Service Function Chain (SFC) that is a predefined sequence of Virtual Network Functions (VNFs). In this letter, we formulate the problem of optimal embedding of NFV-Enabled multicast service chains as a mixed binary linear program. Then to solve the problem in a reasonable time, we use the penalty-based successive upper bound minimization algorithm. Also, a heuristic solution based on the decomposition of the problem into smaller sub-problems that can be solved iteratively and sequentially, is proposed. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed solution methods.