SRv6-INT: Runtime Monitoring for Green Service Function Chaining in B5G-MEC

Runtime re-optimization of service function chains (SFCs) has been considered as a must-have feature to enable cost-effective SFC provisioning for the multi-access edge computing (MEC) in beyond 5G (B5G) networks. Therefore, in this work, we propose SRv6-INT, which time-multiplexes the fields of segment routing over IPv6 (SRv6) and in-band network telemetry (INT) in packets to monitor and adjust SFCs timely and efficiently. We also prototype a closed-loop network control and management (NC&M) system based on SRv6-INT to re-optimize SFC provisioning in runtime for precisely balancing the tradeoff between quality-of-service (QoS) and energy usage of SFCs. Experimental results show that with SRv6-INT, the provisioning of SFCs can be adjusted in runtime to save switch ports and CPU frequency, leading to effective energy-saving without QoS violation.