Title: On the design and development of emulation platforms for NFV-based infrastructures

Authors: Vinícius Fülber Garcia; Giovanni Venâncio De Souza; Elias Procópio Duarte Jr.; Thales Nicolai Tavares; Leonardo Da Cruz Marcuzzo; Carlos R.P. Dos Santos; Muriel Figueredo Franco; Lucas Bondan; Lisandro Zambenedetti Granville; Alberto Egon Schaeffer-Filho; Filip De Turck

Addresses: Department of Informatics, Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil ' Department of Informatics, Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil ' Department of Informatics, Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil ' Department of Applied Computing, Federal University of Santa Maria, Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil ' Department of Applied Computing, Federal University of Santa Maria, Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil ' Department of Applied Computing, Federal University of Santa Maria, Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil ' Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil ' Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil ' Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil ' Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil ' INTEC, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

Abstract: Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV) presents several advantages over traditional network architectures, such as flexibility, security, and reduced CAPEX/OPEX. In traditional middleboxes, network functions are usually executed on specialised hardware (e.g., firewall, DPI). Virtual Network Functions (VNFs) on the other hand, are executed on commodity hardware, employing Software Defined Networking (SDN) technologies (e.g., OpenFlow, P4). Although platforms for prototyping NFV environments have emerged in recent years, they still present limitations that hinder the evaluation of NFV scenarios such as fog computing and heterogeneous networks. In this work, we present NIEP: a platform for designing and testing NFV-based infrastructures and VNFs. NIEP consists of a network emulator and a platform for Click-based VNFs development. NIEP provides a complete NFV emulation environment, allowing network operators to test their solutions in a controlled scenario prior to deployment in production networks.

Keywords: NFV; VNF; emulation; platform; infrastructure; Click; Mininet; network.

DOI: 10.1504/IJGUC.2020.105537

International Journal of Grid and Utility Computing, 2020 Vol.11 No.2, pp.230 - 242

Received: 24 Sep 2018
Accepted: 24 Feb 2019
Published online: 03 Mar 2020 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article