Optimizing Distributed Network Monitoring for NFV Service Chains

Efficient and coordinated network monitoring is key to realize the full potential of software-based network infrastructures. In this context, coordinated network monitoring refers to the ability of i) collecting network traffic in a flexible way (i.e., along the path and with different granularities), ii) placing monitoring sinks effectively, and iii) forward collected network traffic efficiently to monitoring sinks. In this letter, we argue that the coordinated network monitoring is another cornerstone for delivering the best-of-breed out of network function virtualization (NFV) infrastructures and an essential step toward fully customized monitoring deployments. We introduce the distributed network monitoring (DNM) problem and propose an optimization model. By coordinating the placement of monitoring sinks and the forwarding of network monitoring traffic, DNM allows finer-grained network monitoring with limited overheads. Results indicate that the DNM outperforms the state-of-the-art telemetry solution by a factor of 3, and reduces of up to 80% in network monitoring traffic that is routed through the network infrastructure.