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1. Achieving Virtual Network Function Load-Balanced Flow Migration in Dynamic Cloud Data Centers

   Aguilera, Phillip ; Gonzalez, Christopher ; Tang, Bin ( March 2021 , Proceedings of the First Computer Science Conference for CSU Undergraduates (CSCSU 2021).)

   null (Ed.)

   Virtual Network Functions (VNFs) are software implementation of middleboxes (MBs) (e.g., firewalls) that provide performance and security guarantees for virtual machine (VM) cloud applications. In this paper we study a new flow migration problem in VNF-enabled cloud data centers where the traffic rates of VM flows are constantly changing. Our goal is to minimize the total network traffic (therefore optimizing the network resources such as bandwidth and energy) while considering that VNFs have limited processing capability. We formulate the flow migration problem and design two efficient benefit-based greedy algorithms. The simulations show that our algorithms are effective in reducing the network traffic as well as in achieving load balance among VNFs. In particular, our flow migration algorithms can reduce upto 15% network traffic compared to the case without flow migration. 

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2. Service Function Chain Placement in Cloud Data Center Networks: a Cooperative Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning Approach

   Gao Lynn ; Chen Yutian ; Tang Bin ( January 2021 , 11th EAI International Conference on Game Theory for Networks (GameNets 2021))

   Service function chaining (SFC), consisting of a sequence of virtual network functions (VNFs) (i.e., firewalls and load balancers), is an effective service provision technique in modern data center networks. By requiring cloud user traffic to traverse the VNFs in order, SFC im- proves the security and performance of the cloud user applications. In this paper, we study how to place an SFC inside a data center to mini- mize the network traffic of the virtual machine (VM) communication. We take a cooperative multi-agent reinforcement learning approach, wherein multiple agents collaboratively figure out the traffic-efficient route for the VM communication. Underlying the SFC placement is a fundamental graph-theoretical prob- lem called the k-stroll problem. Given a weighted graph G(V, E), two nodes s, t ∈ V , and an integer k, the k-stroll problem is to find the shortest path from s to t that visits at least k other nodes in the graph. Our work is the first to take a multi-agent learning approach to solve k- stroll problem. We compare our learning algorithm with an optimal and exhaustive algorithm and an existing dynamic programming(DP)-based heuristic algorithm. We show that our learning algorithm, although lack- ing the complete knowledge of the network assumed by existing research, delivers comparable or even better VM communication time while taking two orders of magnitude of less execution time. 

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3. Traffic-Optimal Virtual Network Function Placement and Migration in Dynamic Cloud Data Centers

   https://doi.org/10.1109/IPDPS53621.2022.00094  

   Tran, Vincent ; Sun, Jingsong ; Tang, Bin ; Pan, Deng ( May 2022 , 36th IEEE International Parallel & Distributed Processing Symposium (IPDPS 2022))

   We propose a new algorithmic framework for traffic-optimal virtual network function (VNF) placement and migration for policy-preserving data centers (PPDCs). As dy- namic virtual machine (VM) traffic must traverse a sequence of VNFs in PPDCs, it generates more network traffic, consumes higher bandwidth, and causes additional traffic delays than a traditional data center. We design optimal, approximation, and heuristic traffic-aware VNF placement and migration algorithms to minimize the total network traffic in the PPDC. In particular, we propose the first traffic-aware constant-factor approximation algorithm for VNF placement, a Pareto-optimal solution for VNF migration, and a suite of efficient dynamic-programming (DP)-based heuristics that further improves the approximation solution. At the core of our framework are two new graph- theoretical problems that have not been studied. Using flow characteristics found in production data centers and realistic traffic patterns, we show that a) our VNF migration techniques are effective in mitigating dynamic traffic in PPDCs, reducing the total traffic cost by up to 73%, b) our VNF placement algorithms yield traffic costs 56% to 64% smaller than those by existing techniques, and c) our VNF migration algorithms outperform the state-of-the-art VM migration algorithms by up to 63% in reducing dynamic network traffic. 

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4. FT-VMP: Fault-Tolerant Virtual Machine Placement in Cloud Data Centers

   https://doi.org/10.1109/ICCCN49398.2020.9209676  

   Gonzalez, Christopher ; Tang, Bin ( August 2020 , International Conference on Computer Communications and Networks (ICCCN 2020))

   Virtual machine (VM) replication is an effective technique in cloud data centers to achieve fault-tolerance, load-balance, and quick-responsiveness to user requests. In this paper we study a new fault-tolerant VM placement problem referred to as FT-VMP. Given that different VM has different fault-tolerance requirement (i.e., different VM requires different number of replica copies) and compatibility requirement (i.e., some VMs and their replicas cannot be placed into some physical machines (PMs) due to software or platform incompatibility), FT-VMP studies how to place VM replica copies inside cloud data centers in order to minimize the number of PMs storing VM replicas, under the constraints that i) for fault-tolerant purpose, replica copies of the same VM cannot be placed inside the same PM and ii) each PM has a limited amount of storage capacity. We first prove that FT-VMP is NP-hard. We then design an integer linear programming (ILP)-based algorithm to solve it optimally. As ILP takes time to compute thus is not suitable for large scale cloud data centers, we design a suite of efficient and scalable heuristic fault-tolerant VM placement algorithms. We show that a) ILP-based algorithm outperforms the state-of-the-art VM replica placement in a wide range of network dynamics and b) that all our fault-tolerant VM placement algorithms are able to turn off significant number of PMs to save energy in cloud data centers. In particular, we show that our algorithms can consolidate (i.e., turn off) around 100 PMs in a small data center of 256 PMs and 700 PMs in a large data center of 1028PMs. 

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5. Performance Comparison of Fault-Tolerant Virtual Machine Placement Algorithms in Cloud Data Centers

   Gonzalez, Christopher ; Tang, Bin ( March 2021 , the First Computer Science Conference for CSU Undergraduates (CSCSU 2021))

   null (Ed.)

   Fault-tolerant virtual machine (VM) placement refers to the process of placing multiple copies of the same VM cloud application inside cloud data centers. The challenge is how to place required number of VM replicas while minimizing the number of physical machines (PMs) that store them, in order to save energy consumption of cloud data centers. We refer to it as fault-tolerant VM placement problem. In our previous work, we have proposed a greedy algorithm to solve this problem. In this paper, we compare it with an existing research that is based on well-known Welsh Powell Graph-Coloring Algorithm to place items into bins while considering the conflicts between items and items and items and bins. Via extensive simulations, we show that our greedy algorithm can turn off 40-50% more PMs than existing work and can place upto four times as many VM replicas as existing work, achieving much stronger fault-tolerance with less energy consumption. We also compare both algorithms with the optimal integer lin- ear programming (ILP)-based algorithm, which serves as the benchmark of the comparison. 

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