Optimized Service Function Path Selection for IoT Devices Using Virtual Network Function Performance Data

Software defined networking (SDN) and network function virtualization (NFV) are proposed as software based applications to cater to smart services requirements of smart communities. The services are linked together to support different sets of clients using service function chaining (SFC). Service functions (SFs) in an SFC must be distributed among available computing resources by creating a service function path (SFP) allowing resource management and optimal SF execution. This paper proposes a novel SFP allocation algorithm considering the computation capabilities of hardware resources while minimizing the completion time of SFCs. The proposed algorithm shows 10% performance increment compared to recently developed algorithms such as nearly optimal service function path and optimal service function selection algorithms.