Abstract
The architecture of integrating Software Defined Networking (SDN) with Network Function Virtualization (NFV) is excellent because the former virtualizes the control plane, and the latter virtualizes the data plane. As Programming Protocol-independent Packet Processors (P4) become popular, the architecture integrating SDN with NFV may shift from traditional switches to P4 switches. In this architecture, which integrates P4 switch and NFV (P4 + NFV), network functions can be provided in both P4 switches (PNF) and NFV (VNF). Thus, to minimize packet delay, an offloading problem between P4 switches and NFV in this P4 + NFV should be addressed. This paper tackles this offloading problem and figures out the prioritization mechanism between newly arriving packets and packets that require VNF for minimizing packet delay. We model and analyze the P4 + NFV architecture using an M/M/1 queuing model with non-preemptive priority. Also, we propose an optimization solution based on gradient descent to find the optimal offloading probability of going to VNF. Results show that optimal offloading from P4 switch to NFV can reduce the average packet delay from 13.74 to 40.73%, when packets requiring VNF are given higher priority than newly arriving packets.
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs11235-024-01129-2/MediaObjects/11235_2024_1129_Fig1_HTML.png)
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs11235-024-01129-2/MediaObjects/11235_2024_1129_Fige_HTML.png)
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs11235-024-01129-2/MediaObjects/11235_2024_1129_Fig2_HTML.png)
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs11235-024-01129-2/MediaObjects/11235_2024_1129_Fig3_HTML.png)
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs11235-024-01129-2/MediaObjects/11235_2024_1129_Fig4_HTML.png)
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs11235-024-01129-2/MediaObjects/11235_2024_1129_Fig5_HTML.png)
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs11235-024-01129-2/MediaObjects/11235_2024_1129_Fig6_HTML.png)
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs11235-024-01129-2/MediaObjects/11235_2024_1129_Fig7_HTML.png)
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs11235-024-01129-2/MediaObjects/11235_2024_1129_Fig8_HTML.png)
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Jarschel, M., Oechsner, S., Schlosser, D., Pries, R., Goll, S., & Tran-Gia, P. (2011). Modeling and performance evaluation of an OpenFlow architecture. In 23rd international teletraffic congress (ITC).
Papavassiliou. (2020). Software defined networking (SDN) and network function virtualization (NFV). Future Internet, 12(1), 7. https://doi.org/10.3390/fi12010007
Jawdhari, H. A., & Abdullah, A. A. (2021). The application of network functions virtualization on different networks, and its new applications in blockchain: A survey. Webology, 18(Special Issue 04), 1007–1044. https://doi.org/10.14704/web/v18si04/web18179
Goswami, B., Kulkarni, M., & Paulose, J. (2023). A survey on P4 challenges in software defined networks: P4 programming. IEEE Access, 11, 54373–54387. https://doi.org/10.1109/access.2023.3275756
Neha, F. F., Lai, Y. C., Hossain, M. S., & Lin, Y. D. (2023). Offloading in P4 switch integrated with multiple virtual network function servers. Journal of Communications Software and Systems, 19(4), 278–288. https://doi.org/10.24138/jcomss-2023-0125
He, M. (2018). P4NFV: An NFV Architecture with flexible data plane reconfiguration. In 14th International conference on network and service management (CNSM) (pp. 90–98). IEEE.
Makara, L. A., Lai, Y. C., Lin, Y. D., Seah, W., & Pekar, A. (n.d.). Offloading from P4 Switches to Nfv in Programmable Data Planes. Available at SSRN 4090265.
Press, W. H., Teukolsky, S. A., Vetterling, W. T., & Flannery, B. P. (1992). Van wijngaarden-dekker-brent method. In Numerical Recipes in FORTRAN: The art of scientific computing (pp. 352–355). Cambridge University Press.
Mahmood, K., Chilwan, A., Østerbø, O. N., & Jarschel, M. (2014). On the modeling of OpenFlow-based SDNs:The single node case. https://doi.org/10.48550/ARXIV.1411.4733.
Mahmood, K., Chilwan, A., Østerbø, O., & Jarschel, M. (2015). Modelling of OpenFlow—Based software-defined networks: The multiple node case. IET Networks, 4(5), 278–284. https://doi.org/10.1049/iet-net.2014.0091
Nweke, L. O., & Wolthusen, S. D. (2020). Modelling adversarial flow in software-defined industrial control networks using a queueing network model. In 2020 IEEE Conference on Communications and Network Security (CNS).
**ong, B., Yang, K., Zhao, J., Li, W., & Li, K. (2016). Performance evaluation of OpenFlow—Based software-defined networks based on queueing model. Computer Networks, 102, 172–185. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.comnet.2016.03.005
Zhao, J., Hu, Z., **ong, B., Yang, L., & Li, K. (2020). Modeling and optimization of packet forwarding performance in software-defined WAN. Future Generations Computer Systems: FGCS, 106, 412–425. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.future.2019.12.010
Goto, Y., Ng, B., Seah, W. K. G., & Takahashi, Y. (2019). Queueing analysis of software defined network with realistic OpenFlow—Based switch model. Computer Networks, 164(106892), 106892. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.comnet.2019.106892
Singh, D., Ng, B., Lai, Y.-C., Lin, Y.-D., & Seah, W. K. G. (2018). Modelling software-defined networking: Software and hardware switches. Journal of Network and Computer Applications, 122, 24–36. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnca.2018.08.005
Singh, D., Ng, B., Lai, Y.-C., Lin, Y.-D., & Seah, W. K. G. (2020). Full encapsulation or internal buffering in OpenFlow based hardware switches? Computer Networks, 167(107033), 107033. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.comnet.2019.107033
Miao, W., Min, G., Wu, Y., & Wang, H. (2015). Performance modelling of preemption-based packet scheduling for data plane in software defined networks. In 2015 IEEE International Conference on Smart City/SocialCom/SustainCom (SmartCity).
Miao, W., Min, G., Wu, Y., Wang, H., & Hu, J. (2016). Performance modelling and analysis of software-Defined Networking under Bursty multimedia traffic. ACM Transactions on Multimedia Computing Communications and Applications, 12(5s), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1145/2983637
Lin, P.-C., Lin, Y.-D., Wu, C.-Y., Lai, Y.-C., & Kao, Y.-C. (2016). Balanced service chaining with traffic steering in software defined networks with network function virtualization. IEEE Computer, 49(11), 68–76.
Fahmin, A., Lai, Y.-C., Hossain, M. S., & Lin, Y.-D. (2018). Performance modeling and comparison of NFV integrated with SDN: Under or aside? Journal of Network and Computer Applications, 113, 119–129. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnca.2018.04.003
Billingsley, J., Miao, W., Li, K., Min, G., & Georgalas, N. (2020). Performance analysis of SDN and NFV enabled mobile cloud computing. In GLOBECOM 2020—2020 IEEE Global Communications Conference.
Bi, C., Zheng, J., & Hu, Z. (2017). Hyper: A hybrid highperformance framework for network function virtualization. IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, 35(11), 2490–2500.
Paolucci, F., Cugini, F., Castoldi, P., & Osinski, T. (2021). Enhancing 5G SDN/NFV Edge with P4 data plane programmability. IEEE Network, 35(3), 154–160. https://doi.org/10.1109/mnet.021.1900599
Ji, S. (2020). DE4NF: High performance Nfv framework with P4-based event system (Doctoral dissertation).
Osinski, T., Tarasiuk, H., Rajewski, L., & Kowalczyk, E. (2019). DPPx: A P4-based Data Plane Programmability and Exposure framework to enhance NFV services. In 2019 IEEE conference on network softwarization (NetSoft).
Mohammad Khan, A., Panda, S., Kulkarni, S. G., Ramakrishnan, K. K., & Bhuyan, L. N. (2019). P4NFV: P4 enabled NFV systems with SmartNICs. In 2019 IEEE conference on network function virtualization and software defined networks (NFV-SDN) (pp. 1–7). IEEE.
Zhang, T., Linguaglossa, L., Gallo, M., Giaccone, P., Iannone, L., & Roberts, J. (2019). Comparing the performance of state-of-the-art software switches for NFV. In Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Emerging Networking Experiments and Technologies.
Palmer, G. I., Knight, V. A., Harper, P. R., & Hawa, A. L. (2019). Ciw: An open-source discrete event simulation library. Journal of Simulation: JOS, 13(1), 68–82. https://doi.org/10.1080/17477778.2018.1473909
Palmer, G. I., & Tian, Y. (2021). Implementing hybrid simulations that integrate DES+ SD in Python. Journal of Simulation, 17(3), 240–256.
Harkous, H., Jarschel, M., He, M., Pries, R., & Kellerer, W. (2021). P8: P4 with predictable packet processing performance. IEEE Transactions on Network and Service Management, 18(3), 2846–2859. https://doi.org/10.1109/tnsm.2020.3030102
Wang, S.-Y., Li, J.-Y., & Lin, Y.-B. (2020). Aggregating and disaggregating packets with various sizes of payload in P4 switches at 100 Gbps line rate. Journal of Network and Computer Applications, 165(102676), 102676. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnca.2020.102676
Funding
No funding is applicable for this research.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
Farhin Faiza Neha, Yuan-Cheng, Md. Shohrab Hossain and Ying-Dar Lin wrote the main manuscript text and Farhin Faiza Neha prepared figures and results. All authors reviewed the manuscript.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Neha, F.F., Lai, YC., Hossain, M. et al. Prioritization and offloading in P4 switch integrated with NFV. Telecommun Syst (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11235-024-01129-2
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11235-024-01129-2