Distributed SFC control operation
draft-bernardos-sfc-distributed-control-operation-02
SFC WG CJ. Bernardos
Internet-Draft UC3M
Intended status: Experimental A. Mourad
Expires: August 26, 2021 InterDigital
February 22, 2021
Distributed SFC control operation
draft-bernardos-sfc-distributed-control-operation-02
Abstract
Service function chaining (SFC) allows the instantiation of an
ordered set of service functions and subsequent "steering" of traffic
through them. In order to set up and maintain SFC instances, a
control plane is required, which typically is centralized. In
certain environments, such as fog computing ones, such centralized
control might not be feasible, calling for distributed SFC control
solutions. This document describes a general framework for
distributed SFC operation.
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2. Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3. Problem statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
4. Distributed SFC control operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
4.1. P-CTRL taking over C-CTRL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
4.1.1. P-CTRL taking over C-CTRL due to a local monitoring
event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
4.1.2. P-CTRL taking over C-CTRL due to a C-CTRL failure . . 10
4.1.3. C-CTRL gaining back control . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
4.2. Inter P-CTRL seamless handover . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
5. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
6. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
7. Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
8. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
8.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
8.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1. Introduction
Virtualization of functions provides operators with tools to deploy
new services much faster, as compared to the traditional use of
monolithic and tightly integrated dedicated machinery. As a natural
next step, mobile network operators need to re-think how to evolve
their existing network infrastructures and how to deploy new ones to
address the challenges posed by the increasing customers' demands, as
well as by the huge competition among operators. All these changes
are triggering the need for a modification in the way operators and
infrastructure providers operate their networks, as they need to
significantly reduce the costs incurred in deploying a new service
and operating it. Some of the mechanisms that are being considered
and already adopted by operators include: sharing of network
infrastructure to reduce costs, virtualization of core servers
running in data centers as a way of supporting their load-aware
elastic dimensioning, and dynamic energy policies to reduce the
monthly electricity bill. However, this has proved to be tough to
put in practice, and not enough. Indeed, it is not easy to deploy
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