Scalable service migration in autonomic network environments

Service placement is a key problem in communication networks as it determines how efficiently the user service demands are supported. This problem has been traditionally approached through the formulation and resolution of large optimization problems requiring global knowledge and a continuous recalculation of the solution in case of network changes. Such approaches are not suitable for large-scale and dynamic network environments. In this paper, the problem of determining the optimal location of a service facility is revisited and addressed in a way that is both scalable and deals inherently with network dynamicity. In particular, service migration which enables service facilities to move between neighbor nodes towards more communication cost-effective positions, is based on local information. The migration policies proposed in this work are analytically shown to be capable of moving a service facility between neighbor nodes in a way that the cost of service provision is reduced and - under certain conditions - the service facility reaches the optimal (cost minimizing) location, and locks in there as long as the environment does not change; as network conditions change, the migration process is automatically resumed, thus, naturally responding to network dynamicity under certain conditions. The analytical findings of this work are also supported by simulation results that shed some additional light on the behavior and effectiveness of the proposed policies.