Low-complexity multi-resource packet scheduling for network function virtualization

Abstract

Network functions are widely deployed in modern networks, providing various network services ranging from intrusion detection to HTTP caching. Various virtual network function instances can be consolidated into one physical middlebox. Depending on the type of services, packet processing for different flows consumes different hardware resources in the middlebox. Previous solutions of multi-resource packet scheduling suffer from high computational complexity and memory cost for packet buffering and scheduling, especially when the number of flows is large. In this paper, we design a novel low-complexity and space-efficient packet scheduling algorithm called Myopia, which supports multi-resource environments such as network function virtualization. Myopia is developed based upon the fact that most Internet traffic is contributed by a small fraction of elephant flows. Myopia schedules elephant flows with precise control and treats mice flows using FIFO, to achieve simplicity of packet buffering and scheduling. We will demonstrate, via theoretical analysis, prototype implementation, and simulations, that Myopia achieves multi-resource fairness at low cost with short packet delay.