Towards a hierarchical global naming framework in network virtualization

Network virtualization enables autonomous and heterogeneous Virtual Networks (VNs) to co-exist on a shared physical substrate. In a Network Virtualization Environment (NVE), the fact that individual VNs are underpinned by diverse naming mechanisms brings about an obvious challenge for transparent communication across multiple VN domains due to the complexity of uniquely identifying users. Existing solutions were mainly proposed compatible to Internet paradigm with little consideration of their applications in a virtualized environment. This calls for a scalable and efficient naming framework to enable consistent communication across a large user population (fixed or mobile) hosted by multiple VNs. This paper highlights the underlying technical requirements and presents a scalable Global Naming Framework (GNF), which (1) enables transparent communication across multiple VNs owned by the same or different SPs; (2) supports communication in the presence of dynamics induced from both VN and end users; and (3) greatly reduces the network operational complexity (space and time). The suggested approach is assessed through extensive simulation experiments for a range of network scenarios. The numerical result clearly verifies its effectiveness and scalability which enables its application in a large-scale NVE without significant deployment and management hurdles.