Managing and Orchestrating Cross-Cloud VNFs with Deployable Sidecar VNF Coordinators

This work presents a novel approach for managing and orchestrating Virtual Network Functions (VNFs) across cloud domains. We introduce deployable Sidecar VNF (S-VNF) coordinators designed for seamless integration into existing infrastructure, enabling operators to leverage infrastructure services provided by different providers. This approach offers several advantages beyond flexibility: domain-specific adaptation to diverse environments, non-intrusive deployment minimizing disruption to existing NFV Management and Orchestration (MANO) systems, enhanced MANO interoperability, and improved security through proxying and shielding the underlying MANO management interface. Experiments confirm that the delay introduced by our S-VNF coordinators has a negligible impact on overall performance, making it a viable solution for cross-cloud VNF management.