RINA-based virtual networking solution for distributed VNFs: Prototype and Benchmarking

Nowadays, complex Network Services (NS) made up of Virtual Network Functions (VNFs) can be instantiated over the distributed infrastructure of multiple network operators. These VNFs decouple the logic from the underlying hardware. At the same time, operators need to ensure high performance connectivity to the VNF instances; which can be achieved through the isolation of parallel NSs running on top of different network substrates from each other. A promising tool that can provide a dynamic connectivity framework for such challenging environments is RINA [1] [2], the Recursive InterNetwork Architecture. RINA can be used as a network virtualization solution to support the connectivity needs of VNFs hosted within the network operators’ infrastructure; while bringing capabilities that current network architectures incorporate as ad-hoc solutions, such as i) support for mobility; ii) multi-homing and iii) flexible mapping of application QoS requests to internal network policies. However, all existing implementations of the RINA architecture to date target Linux Operating Systems supporting generic applications - with very different requirements than high-performance servers running VNFs on operator DCs. On this regard, this paper presents the design, implementation and initial benchmark of a software-based, performing RINA implementation specifically designed for hypervisor systems running VMs with demanding performance requirements.