NFVRG                                                           R. Szabo
Internet-Draft                                                A. Csaszar
Intended status: Informational                                  Ericsson
Expires: April 25, 2015                                   K. Pentikousis
                                                                    EICT
                                                                 M. Kind
                                                     Deutsche Telekom AG
                                                                D. Daino
                                                          Telecom Italia
                                                        October 22, 2014


 Unifying Carrier and Cloud Networks: Problem Statement and Challenges
                    draft-unify-nfvrg-challenges-00

Abstract

   The introduction of network and service functionality virtualization
   in carrier-grade networks promises improved operations in terms of
   flexibility, efficiency, and manageability.  In current practice,
   virtualization is controlled through orchestrator entities that
   expose programmable interfaces according to the underlying resource
   types.  Typically this means the adoption of, on the one hand,
   established data center compute/storage and, on the other, network
   control APIs which were originally developed in isolation.  Arguably,
   the possibility for innovation highly depends on the capabilities and
   openness of the aforementioned interfaces.  This document introduces
   in simple terms the problems arising when one follows this approach
   and motivates the need for a high level of programmability beyond
   policy and service descriptions.  This document also summarizes the
   challenges related to orchestration programming in this unified cloud
   and carrier network production environment.

Status of This Memo

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   This Internet-Draft will expire on April 25, 2015.

Copyright Notice

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   document authors.  All rights reserved.

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   described in the Simplified BSD License.

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   2.  Terms and Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   3.  Motivation and Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   4.  Problem Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
   5.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
   6.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
   7.  Acknowledgement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
   8.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
   Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  11

1.  Introduction

   To a large degree there is agreement in the network research,
   practitioner, and standardization communities that rigid network
   control limits the flexibility and manageability of speedy service
   creation, as discussed in [NSC] and the references therein.  For
   instance, it is not unusual that today an average service creation
   time cycle exceeds 90 hours, whereas given the recent advances in
   virtualization and cloudification one would be interested in service
   creation times in the order of minutes [EU-5GPPP-Contract] if not
   seconds.

   Flexible service definition and creation start by formalizing the
   service into the concept of network function forwarding graphs, such
   as the ETSI VNF Forwarding Graph [ETSI-NFV-Arch] or the ongoing work
   in IETF [I-D.ietf-sfc-problem-statement].  These graphs represent the
   way in which service end-points (e.g., customer access) are
   interconnected with a set of selected network functionalities such as
   firewalls, load balancers, and so on, to deliver a network service.



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   Service graph representations form the input for the management and
   orchestration to instantiate and configure the requested service.
   For example, ETSI defined a Management and Orchestration (MANO)
   framework in [ETSI-NFV-MANO].  We note that throughout such a
   management and orchestration framework different abstractions may
   appear for separation of concerns, roles or functionality, or for
   information hiding.

   Compute virtualization is central to the concept of Network Function
   Virtualization (NFV).  However, carrier-grade services demand that
   all components of the data path, such as Network Functions (NFs),
   virtual NFs (VNFs) and virtual links, meet key performance
   requirements.  In this context, the inclusion of Data Center (DC)
   platforms, such as OpenStack [OpenStack], into the SDN infrastructure
   is far from trivial.

   In this document we examine the problems arising as one combines
   these two formerly isolated environments in an effort to create a
   unified production environment and discuss the associated emerging
   challenges.  Our goal is the definition of a production environment
   that allows multi-vendor and multi-domain operation based on open and
   interoperable implementations of the key entities described in the
   remainder of this document.

2.  Terms and Definitions

   We use the term compute and "compute and storage" interchangeably
   throughout the document.  Moreover, we use the following definitions,
   as established in [ETSI-NFV-Arch]:

   NFV:  Network Function Virtualization - The principle of separating
      network functions from the hardware they run on by using virtual
      hardware abstraction.

   NFVI:  NFV Infrastructure - Any combination of virtualized compute,
      storage and network resources.

   VNF:  Virtualized Network Function - a software-based network
      function.

   MANO:  Management and Orchestration - In the ETSI NFV framework
      [ETSI-NFV-MANO], this is the global entity responsible for
      management and orchestration of NFV lifecycle.

   Further, we make use of the following terms:

   NF:  a network function, either software-based (VNF) or appliance-
      based.



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   SW:  a (routing/switching) network element with a programmable
      control plane interface.

   DC:  a data center network element which in addition to a
      programmable control plane interface offers a DC control interface

   LSI:  Logical Switch Instance - a software switch instance.

3.  Motivation and Challenges

   Figure 1 illustrates a simple service graph comprising three network
   functions (NFs).  For the sake of simplicity, we will assume only two
   types of infrastructure resources, namely SWs and DCs - as per the
   terminology introduced above - and ignore appliance-based NFs for the
   time being.  The goal is to implement the given service based on the
   available infrastructure resources.


                              fr2  +---+ fr3
                              +->o-|NF2|-o-+
                              |  4 +---+ 5 |
                        +---+ |            V +---+
                  1-->o-|NF1|-o----------->o-|NF3|-o-->8
                      2 +---+ 3     fr1    6 +---+ 7


                          Figure 1: Service graph

   The service graph definition contains NF types (NF1, NF2, NF3) along
   with the

   o  corresponding ports (NF1:{2,3}; NF2:{4,5}; NF3:{6,7})

   o  service access points {1,8} corresponding to infrastructure
      resources,

   o  definition of forwarding behavior (fr1, fr2, f3)

   The forwarding behavior contains classifications for matching of
   traffic flows and corresponding outbound forwarding actions.

   Assume now that we would like to use the infrastructure (topology,
   network and software resources) depicted in Figure 2 and Figure 3 to
   implement the aforementioned service graph.  That is, we have three
   SWs and two Point of Presence (PoP) with DC software resources at our
   disposal.





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                                    +---+
                                 +--|SW3|--+
                                 |  +---+  |
                     +---+       |         |      +---+
                  1  |PoP|    +---+      +---+    |PoP|  8
                  o--|DC1|----|SW2|------|SW4 |---|DC2|--o
                     +---+    +---+      +---+    +---+

                  <--SP1--><---------SP2--------><--SP3-->


                    Figure 2: Infrastructure resources


                       +----------+
                       |  +----+  |PoP DC (== NFVI PoP)
                       |  | CN |  |
                       |  +----+  |
                       |   |  |   |
                       |  +----+  |
                     o-+--| SW |--+-o
                       |  +----+  |
                       +----------+


       Figure 3: A virtualized Point of Presence (PoP) with software
                       resources (Compute Node - CN)

   In the simple case, all resources could be part of the same service
   provider (SP) domain, which case, we need to ensure that each entity
   in Figure 2 could be procured from a different vendor and therefore
   interoperability is key for multi-vendor NFVI deployment.

   Alternatively, different technologies like data center operation and
   network operation could result in a separation of technology domains
   within a single ownership (multi-technology).

   We are also interested in a multi-operation environment, where the
   roles and responsibilities are distributed according to some
   organizational structure within the organization.  Finally, we are
   interested in multi-provider environment, where different
   infrastructure resources are available from different service
   providers (SPs).  Figure 2 indicates a multi-provider environment in
   the lower part of the figure as an example.  We expect that this type
   of deployments will become more common in the future as they are well
   suited with the elasticity and flexibility requirements [NSC].





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   Figure 2 also shows the service access points corresponding to the
   overarching domain view, i.e., {1,8}.

   In order to deploy the service graph of Figure 1 on the
   infrastructure resources of Figure 2, we will need an appropriate
   mapping which can be implemented in practice.  In Figure 4 we
   illustrate a resource orchestrator (RO) as a functional entity whose
   task is to map the service graph to the infrastructure resources
   under some service constraints and taking into account the NF
   resource descriptions.


                         fr2  +---+  fr3
                         +->o-|NF2|-o-+
                         |  4 +---+ 5 |
                   +---+ |            V +---+
             1-->o-|NF1|-o----------->o-|NF3|-o-->8
                 2 +---+ 3     fr1    6 +---+ 7

                                  ||
                                  ||
              +--------+          \/        SP0
              |   NF   |   +---------------------+
              |Resource|==>|Resource Orchestrator|==> MAPPING
              | Descr. |   |      (RO)           |
              +--------+   +---------------------+
                                  /\
                                  ||
                                  ||

                                +---+
                             +--|SW3|--+
                             |  +---+  |
                 +---+       |         |      +---+
              1  |PoP|     +---+     +---+    |PoP|  8
              o--|DC1|-----|SW2|-----|SW4|----|DC2|--o
                 +---+     +---+     +---+    +---+

             <-----SP1--><--------SP2---------><---SP3---->
             <------------------- SP0 -------------------->


   Figure 4: Resource Orchestrator: information base, inputs and output

   NF resource descriptions are assumed to contain information necessary
   to map NF types to a choice of instantiable VNF flavor or a selection
   of an already deployed NF appliance and networking demands for
   different operational policies.  For example, if energy efficiency is



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   to be considered during the decision process then information related
   to energy consumption of different NF flavors under different
   conditions (e.g., network load) should be included in the resource
   description.

   Note that we also introduce a new service provider (SP0) which
   effectively operates on top of the virtualized infrastructure offered
   by SP1, SP2 and SP3.

   In order for the RO to execute the resource mapping (which in general
   is a hard problem) it needs to operate on the combined control plane
   illustrated in Figure 5).  In this figure we mark clearly that the
   interfaces to the compute (DC) control plane and the SDN (SW) control
   plane are distinct and implemented through different interfaces/APIs.
   For example, Ic1 could be the Apache CloudStack API, while Ic2 could
   be a control plane protocol such as ForCES or OpenFlow
   [I-D.irtf-sdnrg-layer-terminology].  In this case, the orchestrator
   at SP0 (top part of the figure) needs to maintain a tight
   coordination across this range of interfaces.

                               +---------+
                               |Orchestr.|
                               |   SP0   |
                          _____+---------+_____
                         /          |          \
                        /           V Ic2       \
                       |       +---------+       |
                   Ic1 V       |SDN Ctrl |       V  Ic3
              +---------+      |   SP2   |      +---------+
              |Comp Ctrl|      +---------+      |Comp Ctrl|
              |  SP1    |        /  |  \        |   SP3   |
              +---------+    +---   V   ----+   +---------+
                   |         |    +----+    |         |
                   |         |    |SW3 |    |         |
                   V         |    +----+    |         V
                  +----+     V   /      \   V     +----+
               1  |PoP |    +----+      +----+    |PoP |  8
               o--|DC1 |----|SW2 |------|SW4 |----|DC2 |--o
                  +----+    +----+      +----+    +----+

              <-----SP1--><--------SP2---------><---SP3---->
              <------------------- SP0 -------------------->

                    Figure 5: The RO Control Plane view

   Note that in Figure 5 we denote the control plane interfaces with
   (line) arrows.  Data plane connections use simple lines.




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   In the real-world, however, orchestration operations do not stop, for
   example, at the DC1 level as depicted in Figure 5.  If we (so-to-
   speak) "zoom into" DC1 we will see a similar pattern and the need to
   coordinate SW and DC resources within DC1 as illustrated in Figure 6.
   As depicted, this edge PoP includes compute nodes (CNs) and SWs which
   in most of the cases will also contain an internal topology.

   In Figure 6, IcA is an interface similar to Ic2 in Figure 5, while
   IcB could be, for example, OpenStack Nova or similar.  The Northbound
   Interface (NBI) to the Compute Controller is Ic1 or Ic3 as shown in
   Figure 5.

                             NBI
                              |
                         +---------+
                         |Comp Ctrl|
                         +---------+
                       +----+     |
                   IcA V          | IcB:to CNs
                +---------+       V
                |SDN Ctrl |    |          |  ext port
                +---------+  +---+      +---+
                  to|SW      |SW |      |SW |
                    +->     ,+--++.._  _+-+-+
                    V    ,-"   _|,,`.""-..+
                       _,,,--"" |    `.   |""-.._
                  +---+      +--++     `+-+-+    ""+---+
                  |SW |      |SW |      |SW |      |SW |
                  +---+    ,'+---+    ,'+---+    ,'+---+
                  |   | ,-"  |   | ,-"  |   | ,-"  |   |
                +--+ +--+  +--+ +--+  +--+ +--+  +--+ +--+
                |CN| |CN|  |CN| |CN|  |CN| |CN|  |CN| |CN|
                +--+ +--+  +--+ +--+  +--+ +--+  +--+ +--+


             Figure 6: PoP DC Network with Compute Nodes (CN)

   Even further, each single Compute Node (CN) may also have internal
   switching resources (see Figure 7).  In a carrier environment, in
   order to meet data path requirements, allocation of compute node
   internal distributed resources (blades, CPU cores, etc.) may become
   equivalently important.









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                             +-+  +-+ +-+  +-+
                             |V|  |V| |V|  |V|
                             |N|  |N| |N|  |N|
                             |F|  |F| |F|  |F|
                             +-+  +-+ +-+  +-+
                             |   /   /       |
                             +---+ +---+ +---+
                             |LSI| |LSI| |LSI|
                             +---+ +---+ +---+
                               |  /        |
                             +---+       +---+
                             |NIC|       |NIC|
                             +---+       +---+
                               |           |


          Figure 7: Compute Node with internal switching resource

4.  Problem Statement

   The motivational example of Section 3 illustrates that compute
   virtualization implicitly involves network virtualization.  On the
   other hand, if one starts with an SDN network and adds compute
   resources to network elements, then compute resources must be
   assigned to some virtualized network resources if offered to clients.
   That is, we observe that compute virtualization is implicitly
   associated with network virtualization.  Furthermore, virtualization
   leads to recursions with clients (redefining and) reselling resources
   and services [I-D.huang-sfc-use-case-recursive-service].

   We argue that given the multi-level virtualization of compute,
   storage and network domains, automation of the corresponding resource
   provisioning needs a recursive programmatic interface.  Existing
   separated compute and network programming interfaces cannot provide
   such recursions and cannot satisfy key requirement for multi-vendor,
   multi-technology and multi-provider interoperability environments.
   Therefore we foresee the necessity of a recursive programmatic
   interface for joint compute, storage and network provisioning.

   We conclude this section with two key questions which we hope will
   initiate the discussion in the NFVRG community for further
   development of the concept described in this document.

   Firstly, as motivated in Section 3, orchestrating networking
   resources appears to have a recursive nature at different levels of
   the hierarchy.  Would a programmatic interface at the combined
   compute and network abstraction better support this recursive and
   constraint-based resource allocation?



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   Secondly, can such a joint compute, storage and network programmatic
   interface allow an automated resource orchestration similar to a
   recursive SDN architecture [ONF-SDN-ARCH]?

5.  IANA Considerations

   This memo includes no request to IANA.

6.  Security Considerations

   TBD

7.  Acknowledgement

   The authors would like to thank the UNIFY team for inspiring
   discussions and in particular Fritz-Joachim Westphal for his comments
   and suggestions on how to refine this draft.

   This work is supported by FP7 UNIFY, a research project partially
   funded by the European Community under the Seventh Framework Program
   (grant agreement no. 619609).  The views expressed here are those of
   the authors only.  The European Commission is not liable for any use
   that may be made of the information in this document.

8.  Informative References

   [ETSI-NFV-Arch]
              ETSI, "Architectural Framework v1.1.1", Oct 2013,
              <http://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_gs/
              NFV/001_099/002/01.01.01_60/gs_NFV002v010101p.pdf>.

   [ETSI-NFV-MANO]
              ETSI, "Network Function Virtualization (NFV) Management
              and Orchestration V0.6.1 (draft)", Jul. 2014,
              <http://docbox.etsi.org/ISG/NFV/Open/Latest_Drafts/
              NFV-MAN001v061-%20management%20and%20orchestration.pdf>.

   [EU-5GPPP-Contract]
              5G-PPP Association, "Contractual Arrangement: Setting up a
              Public- Private Partnership in the Area of Advance 5G
              Network Infrastructure for the Future Internet between the
              European Union and the 5G Infrastructure Association", Dec
              2013, <http://5g-ppp.eu/contract/>.

   [I-D.huang-sfc-use-case-recursive-service]
              Huang, C., Zhu, J., and P. He, "SFC Use Cases on Recursive
              Service Function Chaining", draft-huang-sfc-use-case-
              recursive-service-00 (work in progress), July 2014.



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   [I-D.ietf-sfc-problem-statement]
              Quinn, P. and T. Nadeau, "Service Function Chaining
              Problem Statement", draft-ietf-sfc-problem-statement-10
              (work in progress), August 2014.

   [I-D.irtf-sdnrg-layer-terminology]
              Haleplidis, E., Pentikousis, K., Denazis, S., Salim, J.,
              Meyer, D., and O. Koufopavlou, "SDN Layers and
              Architecture Terminology", draft-irtf-sdnrg-layer-
              terminology-03 (work in progress), October 2014.

   [NSC]      John, W., Pentikousis, K., et al., "Research directions in
              network service chaining", Proc. SDN for Future Networks
              and Services (SDN4FNS), Trento, Italy IEEE, November 2013.

   [ONF-SDN-ARCH]
              ONF, "SDN architecture", Jun. 2014,
              <https://www.opennetworking.org/images/stories/downloads/
              sdn-resources/technical-reports/
              TR_SDN_ARCH_1.0_06062014.pdf>.

   [OpenStack]
              The OpenStack project, "Openstack cloud software", 2014,
              <http://openstack.org>.

Authors' Addresses

   Robert Szabo
   Ericsson Research, Hungary
   Irinyi Jozsef u. 4-20
   Budapest  1117
   Hungary

   Email: robert.szabo@ericsson.com
   URI:   http://www.ericsson.com/


   Andras Csaszar
   Ericsson Research, Hungary
   Irinyi Jozsef u. 4-20
   Budapest  1117
   Hungary

   Email: andras.csaszar@ericsson.com
   URI:   http://www.ericsson.com/






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   Kostas Pentikousis
   EICT GmbH
   EUREF-Campus Haus 13
   Torgauer Strasse 12-15
   10829 Berlin
   Germany

   Email: k.pentikousis@eict.de


   Mario Kind
   Deutsche Telekom AG
   Winterfeldtstr. 21
   10781 Berlin
   Germany

   Email: mario.kind@telekom.de


   Diego Daino
   Telecom Italia
   Via Guglielmo Reiss Romoli 274
   10148 Turin
   Italy

   Email: diego.daino@telecomitalia.ite

























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