Optimal design of resilient virtual networks [Invited]

Due to the independent operation of cloud infrastructures and communication networks, global cloud services face limitations in the end-to-end quality of experience (QoE). Network virtualization enables end-to-end QoE by combining the control of network and cloud resources. In a network-virtualization architecture involving different business roles, there are two important questions: how to design an end-to-end resilient virtual network for cloud services given the service requests and the available resources of the physical layer, and at which layer to provision resilience. The existing literature on virtual network design usually lacks the separation of the business roles and the corresponding layers, and hence, cannot offer an answer to these questions. In this invited paper, we address both questions by proposing novel resilient virtual network design models for flexible and cost-efficient virtual networks having resilience either at the virtual or the physical layer, or using a combination of both, and by analyzing the performance of the proposed resilience alternatives both via analysis and extensive simulations.