A multi-objective non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm for VNF chains placement

Abstract

We propose a meta-heuristic based on the Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II (NSGA-II) to address the NP-Hard service function chain placement problem. This work considers the minimization of the mapping cost and of the physical links utilization for virtualized network functions (VNF) chaining. The proposed NSGA-II based algorithm finds a Pareto front to select solutions that meet the multiple objectives and performance tradeoffs of providers. Simulation results and comparison with a multi-stage algorithm and a matrix based heuristic from the literature, highlight the efficiency and usefulness of the proposed NSGA-II-based approach.