Virtual network mapping algorithm in the cloud infrastructure

Network virtualization has received considerable attention recently because a Cloud Provider (CP) that is responsible for deploying a substrate network in the cloud infrastructure uses network virtualization to support multiple Virtual Network (VN) requests over the shared substrate network. However, mapping multiple VN requests with constraints on virtual nodes and virtual links into a shared substrate network presents a significant challenge, and is considered an NP-hard problem. In this paper, we propose a heuristic mapping algorithm that handles online VN requests. The node mapping algorithm selects a substrate node for mapping that satisfies both a virtual node's resource requirement and its amount of requested bandwidth. The link mapping algorithm either maps a virtual link to the shortest substrate path that satisfies the requested bandwidth of the virtual link or uses the cut-shortest path approach to map a virtual link to multiple substrate paths that satisfy the requested bandwidth of the virtual link. The path migration algorithm migrates virtual links to different substrate paths to maximize the number of accepted VN requests in a substrate network. Simulation results show that the proposed heuristic mapping algorithm uses resources more efficiently, produces more revenue, and has better performance than existing mapping approaches. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.