A map of the clouds: Virtual network mapping in cloud computing data centers

Abstract

Cloud computing success as a paradigm stems from the concepts its implementation was based on. Dynamic scalability and flexible pay-as-you-go pricing options attract business clients. However, efficient implementation of virtualization is the core that makes all these parts tick. To make that possible, cloud service providers need a thorough virtual network mapping system that allocates computational and network resources in a way that guarantees the quality of service conditions for clients while maximizing providers' revenue and resource utilization. In this paper, a comprehensive system is introduced to solve virtual network mapping for a set of connection requests sent by cloud clients. Connections are collected in time intervals called windows. Consequently, node mapping and link mapping are performed. Different window size selection schemes are introduced and evaluated. Simulation results show that the dynamic window size algorithm achieves cloud service providers objectives in terms of served connections ratio, resource utilization and computational overhead.