Network Function Virtualization (NFV) is a promising technology that proposes to move packet processing from dedicated hardware middle-boxes to software running on commodity servers. As such, NFV brings the possibility of outsourcing enterprise Network Function (NFs) processing to the cloud. However, for a Cloud Service Provider (CSP) to offer such services, several research problems still need to be addressed. When an enterprise outsources its NFs to a CSP, the CSP is responsible for deciding: (1) where initial Virtual NFs (VNFs) should be instantiated, and (2) what, when and where additional VNFs should be instantiated to satisfy the traffic changes (scaling), (3) how to update the network configurations with minimum impact on network performances, etc. This brings the requirement of a cloud management framework for VNFs and the cloud infrastructure related operations: provisioning, configuring, maintaining and scaling of the VNFs, as well as configuring and updating of the cloud network. In this thesis we explore three aspects of a cloud management framework for VNF: (1) dynamic resource allocation, (2) VNFs scaling methods and (3) dynamic load balancing.

 

 

The four years in UPF has gone past in a blink and has left me wanting more!!!. The main reason for that, I believe is the group of people I have been fortunate to be a part of. The experience at UPF was really enriching and has made me grow both professionally and as an individual. I have greatly benefited from the years of experience in research and the vast area of knowledge of my advisor Dr. Jorge Lobo and all the other collaborators. It was a great joy to work with them and learn from their meticulous approach to research spanning in diverse areas. The UPF-DTIC secretariat was always helpful, making all the administrative work easy. I am always thankful all these people who made my days in Barcelona sunnier.