Compound implementation of chained network functions and virtual resource management performance evaluation

The paper discusses different implementation options of service function chaining (SFC) in Cloud Computing. The motivation is to increase the efficiency of classical SFC of chaining multiple network functions implemented in dedicated virtual machines, especially due to its latency drawbacks for packet transfer. An alternative implementation of a compound SFC implementation in a single virtual machine is proposed. The focus is not primarily on the latency drawback but on an improved resource management. In order to evaluate the presented concepts a traffic model that resembles the traffic pattern of a real network is applied. Example calculations give an indication on the sensitivity of different parameters to efficiency of the SFC implementation options and proposed management solutions.