Fast and efficient network service embedding method with adaptive offloading to the edge

Next generation networks and applications have recently drawn the attention of many researchers in both academia and industry. The plethora of service orchestration, embedding and scheduling solutions being developed indicates that efficient resource utilization in the cloud and edge/fog architecture is of crucial importance in order to exploit the great economic potential of this infrastructure. In this paper we propose a novel service orchestration approach that aims for speed and quality in terms of service provisioning: our embedding algorithm instantly deploys end-to-end delay-constrained service graphs while regularly offloads the most burdened parts of the infrastructure applying a cost-aware VNF migration strategy. In this sense we propose a hybrid orchestration approach, which unites the advantages of online heuristic and offline optimizing service orchestration methods, with the goal of obtaining a system design that provides fast service placement decisions and efficient long-term operation. By an exhaustive evaluation of our orchestration system on core, cloud and edge network topologies, we show its benefits in efficiency and the collateral cost of migrations.