Design of an Efficient Method for Identifying Virtual Machines Compatible with Service Chain in a Virtual Network Environment

Abstract

With advancements in network technologies, network virtualization has been proposed to efficiently provide a large number of services and flexible management by utilizing limited resources over existing networks as much as possible. Network virtualization has been proposed as a new paradigm for networks, as it simplifies complicated network configurations for convenient maintenance through the maximum utilization of limited network resources. However, problems have arisen due to network virtualization, such as how to assign real network components that are compatible with virtual network components over a large number of virtual machines existing in a network. In particular, the servicechaining concept—where a network flow only passes through needed services—has been newly introduced by combining the recently highlighted Software-Defined Network with a virtualization concept called Network Function Virtualization. As a result, studies on which virtual machines are selected and how to connect them have increased ever more. Accordingly, this paper aims to identify virtual machines that are compatible with service chaining in a virtual network environment where virtual machines are dispersed, and it proposes a method of how to create a path by connecting virtual machines.