Performance evaluation of open virtual routers

A major challenge in network virtualization is to virtualize the components constituting the network, in particular the routers. In the work presented here, we focus on how to use open source Linux software in combination with commodity hardware to build open virtual routers. A general approach in open router virtualization is to run multiple virtual operating systems in parallel on the same PC hardware. This means that overhead in terms of additional packet processing is introduced along the data path through the router. In this paper, we investigate these performance penalties and suggest how best to combine software modules to form an open virtual router.