Mapping of delay-sensitive virtual networks

Network virtualization is an approach to providing heterogeneous and customized networks on a shared physical networking infrastructure. Virtual network mapping is a critical step in network virtualization, which determines the assignment of logical nodes and links to physical resources. The prime objective in the mapping algorithm is to utilize bandwidth, processing capacity, etc. efficiently in the physical substrate. Delay between virtual nodes has not been considered by existing state-of-the-art virtual network mapping algorithms. The objective of our work is to make network virtualization useful for real-time and delay-sensitive applications. In this paper, we present a virtual network mapping algorithm that considers the tradeoffs between low application delay and efficient substrate utilization. We use a mixed integer programming formulation to solve mapping problems. Our simulation results show that our algorithm achieves mappings with lower end-to-end delay while efficiently utilizing the network substrate.