Академический Документы
Профессиональный Документы
Культура Документы
Abdulrahman K. Alnaim
Ahmed M. Alwakeel
Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering and Computer
Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering and Computer
Science
Science
Florida Atlantic University
Florida Atlantic University
Boca Raton, USA
Boca Raton, USA
aalnaim2017@fau.edu
aalwakeel2013@fau.edu
Eduardo B. Fernandez
Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering and Computer
Science
Florida Atlantic University
Boca Raton, USA
fernande@fau.edu
Abstract— Network Function Virtualization (NFV) is an built in software that is executed on a set of hosts using a
emerging technology that has drawn the attention of the industry. cloud infrastructure. This allows operators to provide
NFV aims to transform legacy network infrastructure into virtualized services such as virtualized firewalls and
virtualized networks. Instead of using dedicated hardware and virtualized gateways, as well as virtualized components for the
network equipment NFV relies on virtualized components to
whole network. Providing virtual services to the users leads to
deliver service to its users. In order to have a better
understanding of how NFV works and how can we enhance its flexible network functions deployment as well as decrease the
performance and security we must have a good understanding of time and effort needed to scale the network if all the functions
the underlying architecture of NFV. In this paper, we present a are provided through software instead of hardware [2]. NFV
UML class diagram for the NFV architecture, which describes promises the following benefits [1]:
the main entities of NFV. Representing the architecture in a class 1. Independence: software is no longer integrated with
diagram is the first step toward building a Reference
hardware in NFV. As a result, their evolution will be
Architecture (RA) for NFV, which is our final objective. A
Reference Architecture (RA) is a high-level abstraction of a independent from each other.
system that can be useful in the implementation of complex 2. Flexibility: the decoupling of software from hardware
systems. Moreover, we also represented some of the main helps to reassign and share the same infrastructure
internal components as a class diagram to understand the
resources, which allows to perform different functions at
communication between these components and other system
components that together provide the full system. Finally, we various times. As a result, the deployment of network
describe in detail some of their use cases. functions and their connections becomes faster and more
Keywords- NFV, Network Function Virtualization; cloud flexible.
computing; ETSI; NFV use cases; NFV architecture.
3. Scalability: decoupling software from hardware provides
I. INTRODUCTION more flexibility to dynamically scale the actual
performance of virtualized network functions with finer
Telecommunication service providers (TSPs) need to have a
large variety of hardware appliances to provide useful services granularity.
to their users. With the increase of users’ demands for 4. Reduced energy consumption: with the ability of scaling
launching new network services, TSPs have to spend time and resources up and down, TSPs will be able to reduce the
effort to deploy physical hardware and equipment for each OPEX needed to run network devices.
network function, in addition to the need of highly skilled NFV changes the telecommunication infrastructure from a
network designers and operators to deal with the complexity structure that mainly consists of proprietary hardware to a
of setting up and administering large networks. Furthermore,
more dynamic and agile structure that offers network
the network life-cycle is becoming shorter due to the
acceleration of hardware continuous evolution. As a result, functions as software running on Virtual Machines (VMs).
this leads to increase the Operational Expense (OPEX) and Figure 1 shows the difference between the traditional network
Capital Expense (CAPEX) for TSPs. approach and the NFV approach, in which the vertical
hardware boxes in the traditional approach that run network
Network Function Virtualization (NFV) is a technical solution functions are virtualized and called Virtualized Network
that represents network functions in a virtualized manner by Functions (VNFs), running on VMs using standard hardware.
decoupling hardware appliances (firewalls, gateways, etc.) To further understand the implementation, design and security
from the tasks running on them [1]. Instead of providing
aspects of NFV we must first understand its architecture and
network services to the users in a traditional way that relies on
hardware and dedicated servers, network functions in NFV are how internal components interact with each other as well as
REFERENCES
[1] NFV, “GS NFV 002 - V1.2.1 - Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV);
Architectural Framework,” 2014.
[2] A. M. Alwakeel, A. K. Alnaim, and E. B. Fernandez, “A Survey of
Network Function Virtualization Security,” in SoutheastCon 2018, 2018, pp.
1–8.
[3] Hawilo, Hassan, et al. "NFV: State of the art, challenges and
implementation in next generation mobile networks (vepc)." arXiv preprint
arXiv:1409.4149 (2014).
[4]Mijumbi, Rashid, et al. "Network function virtualization: State-of-the-art
and research challenges." IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials 18.1
(2016): 236-262.
[5] A. C. Jorge Carapinha and J. Carapinha, “Requirements and Use Cases
System for Virtualized Network Functions Platforms,” J. Telecommun. Syst.
Manag., vol. 03, no. 02, pp. 1–11, Aug. 2014.
[6] “T-NOVA Project Website.” [Online]. Available: http://www.t-nova.eu/.
[Accessed: 21-Nov-2018].
[7] E. B. Fernandez and B. Hamid, “A pattern for network functions
virtualization,” in Proceedings of the 20th European Conference on Pattern
Languages of Programs, 2015, p. 47.
[8] M. H. Syed and E. B. Fernandez, “A Pattern for a Virtual Machine
Environment Virtual Machine Environment ( VME ).”
[9] A. K. Alnaim, A. M. Alwakeel, and E. B. Fernandez, “A pattern for an
Figure 7. Use Case model for NFV architecture (Part 2) NFV Virtual Machine Environment,” 2019 (accepted in the 13th annual IEEE
international systems conference 2019).
UC16- Manage virtualized resources: MANO manages the [10] A. Shameli Sendi, Y. Jarraya, M. Pourzandi, and M. Cheriet, “Efficient
virtual resources, such as an inventory of hypervisors, as well Provisioning of Security Service Function Chaining Using Network Security
as virtual computing, storage, and network resources for the Defense Patterns,” IEEE Trans. Serv. Comput., pp. 1–1, 2016.
NFV infrastructure. [10] E. A. – Henrik Basilier, M. Darula, and J. Wilke, “Virtualizing network
services – the telecom cloud,” 2014.
Actors: MANO (main actor), VME. [11] SDX, “2017 NFV Report Series Part I Foundations of NFV : NFV
UC17- Replicate VM: replicating a VM by the VME or the Infrastructure and VIM,” 2017.
MANO on the same host or another host; VM replication [12] NFV, “GS NFV-INF 004 - V1.1.1 - Network Functions Virtualisation
provides fault tolerance. (NFV); Infrastructure; Hypervisor Domain,” 2015.
[13] T. C. Lethbridge and R. Laganière, Object-oriented software
Actors: MANO (main actor), VME. engineering: practical software development using UML and Java., McGraw-
UC18- Monitor VM: the MANO monitors the VMs’ Hill, 2001.
performance and checks its status, as well as detects any [14] A. M. Alwakeel, A. K. Alnaim, and E. B. Fernandez, “Analysis of NFV
unusual activity on it, such as a VM monopolizing resources, Threats and Countermeasures in NFV Use Cases,” (accepted in the 13th
annual IEEE international systems conference 2019).
and trigger alerts in case of a problem facing a VM. [15] F. Wendland and C. Banse, “Enhancing NFV Orchestration with Security
Actors: MANO (main actor), VME. Policies,” in Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Availability,
Reliability and Security - ARES 2018, 2018, pp. 1–6.
V. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK [16] V. Lefebvre, G. Santinelli, T. Müller, and J. Götzfried, “Universal
Trusted Execution Environments for Securing SDN/NFV Operations,” in
As mentioned earlier, NFV is a technology under Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Availability, Reliability
development. Looking at its literature, we found work on and Security - ARES 2018, 2018, pp. 1–9.
specialized aspect, e.g. [15], [16] and [17], but a lack of work [17] A. Kalliola, S. Lal, K. Ahola, I. Oliver, Y. Miche, and T. Aura, “Security
Wrapper Orchestration in Cloud,” in Proceedings of the 13th International
where the relationships between the different components that Conference on Availability, Reliability and Security - ARES 2018, 2018, pp.
create NFV are exposed in detail. Consequently, the focus of 1–6.