-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 James Kempf wrote: > Hi Joe, > > Thanx for the reply. Regarding: > >>> Currently, >>> there is much work going on in GENI on control frameworks for >>> provisioning a virtual aggregate (a network slice and compute >>> resources). >> This is not network virtualization. I.e., when we deal with >> an OS, we don't try to standardize the provisioning of >> memory, processing capacity, etc. Processes don't ask for 20% >> of a CPU; they just ask to run. Processes don't ask for 20% >> of memory, they ask for it in terms they need (bytes). >> Similarly, virtual networks ask for resources in terms they >> need (addresses, links, and reserved link capacity, i.e., >> provisioning). We need a common way to express how to >> virtualize the network (which most "virtualization" systems >> don't really do anyway) before we can standardize how its >> resources are manged. > > GENI has the notion of RSPECs which I believe are designed to allow > virtual network providers to ask for resources. There has also been some > recent work in 4WARD along these lines. Are you saying that the way > these proposals are designed doesn't really address the need or perhaps > that they need some modification? RSPECs, like many things in GENI, focus on services and computation - i.e., OS resources, not network resources (e.g., addresses, interfaces, virtual links, etc.) - at least according to the March 2008 slides I could find on the topic. > One of the issues we've been discussing here at ER is that there is > already a collection of deployed data plane techniques to support > network virtualization. For dedicated bandwith, the techniques run from > dedicated lambdas up to MPLS LSPs in IP networks and PBB-TE tunnels in > Metro Ethernet. For nondedicated bandwidth, there are IP-IP tunnels, > maybe one could even view HIP as a kind of tunnel. Are these techniques > insufficient? There are lots of building blocks, and a few systems that create network architectures out of them (which is more than just the building blocks). We need to develop a common framework for virtualizing the *network*; then we can engage groups like GENI about how to organize distributed resources on it. > If you grant that these techniques are sufficient, then the primary > issue becomes how to construct a virtual network in a cross provider > way. This today, as far as I can determine, is impossible except if you > run over IP. It can be done at IP, MPLS, or ethernet, as well as some other less ubiquitous ways today. > The issue you cite above, namely how to name and allocate > resources, is a big one, also interoperability between providers to > allow the slices to be plumbed together. Slices, AFAICT, refer to a group of (virtualized) OS resources. It's not useful to talk about those resources until the *network* resources are virtualized and coordinated. > There is also a question of > timescale. Most providers require a timescale of days to set up a > virtual network like a VPN. I believe the vision of most researchers is > such virtual networks to be available on demand. You're jumping a few steps ahead. IMO, the steps are: - define a common virtual network framework (what this BOF is for) - determine how providers can offer VNFs as a service - determine how to provision a VNF across providers - integrate VNFs with slice reservation systems We're at step one here. > So our view on this is that the work is primarily needed in constructing > a control plane that allows virtual network slices to be constructed > from resources obtained from different ISPs by a virtual network > provider. And then to connect the network resources up to end host > resources (which may involve clouds or end host virtual machines). This > seems to me what GENI is trying to address, maybe Trilogy and Akari as > well (I am not that familiar with them). It's hard to consider discussing a control plane when we haven't yet defined what to control. Slices don't include network interfaces or addresses as a virtualized, localized resources - that is the purpose of network virtualization, and it is useful independently of a slice. So let's start by decoupling the two, and solve the network virtualization problem first. Joe -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.9 (MingW32) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iEYEARECAAYFAkowBQgACgkQE5f5cImnZru+lACg3yyM6NNqYz90irCUtrFIZF+9 QvAAn0zElAT+gaKjYR1dRruVq4Z68Xhr =0bYe -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
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