VFCSIM: A simulation framework for real-time multi-service Virtual Function Chains deployment

Modelling service deployment on distributed, heterogenous and dynamic environments usually involves the integration of multiple software components under a common deployment. Such deployments have gained focus lately, not only because of the rise of the Edge Computing paradigm but also due to Clouds and micro-Clouds Computing infrastructures. A novel approach for this deployment is Virtual Function Chains, according to which a service is decomposed to a set of Virtual Functions and each Virtual Function is undertaken by a different device. We propose a Virtual Function Chain Simulation (VFCSIM) Framework, an opensource library for building simulation models of both edge and cloud networked systems, based on Virtual Function Chains. VFCSIM's central structure is a heterogeneous network, which can describe, via scripting, a wide set of devices, network links, cloud resources, cost models and services. A case study is presented, according to which final users request on demand surveillance services from an edge network. After describing the simulation setup steps, both the summarization results and the real-time probing metrics are presented. VFCSIM is expected to enhance and facilitate the deployment of the Virtual Function Chaining paradigm both to cloud and edge infrastructures.