Dynamic virtual network embedding over multilayer optical networks

Network virtualization is meant to improve the efficiency of network infrastructure by sharing a physical substrate network among multiple virtual networks. Virtual network embedding (VNE) determines how to map a virtual network request onto a physical substrate. In this paper, we first overview three possible underlying substrates for interdatacenter networks, namely an electrical-layer-based substrate, an optical-layer-based substrate, and a multilayer-based (optical and electrical layer) substrate. Then, the corresponding VNE problems for the three physical substrates are discussed. The work presented focuses on VNE over a multilayer optical network; a key problem is how to map a virtual network request onto either an electrical or optical substrate. We propose an auxiliary graph model to address multilayer virtual network mapping in a dynamic traffic scenario. Different node-mapping and link-mapping policies can be achieved by adjusting weights of the edges of the auxiliary graph, which depends on the purposes of the network operators.