Modeling and performance analysis for composite network–compute service provisioning in software-defined cloud environments

The crucial role of networking in Cloud computing calls for a holistic vision of both networking and computing systems that leads to composite network–compute service provisioning. Software-Defined Network (SDN) is a fundamental advancement in networking that enables network programmability. SDN and software-defined compute/storage systems form a Software-Defined Cloud Environment (SDCE) that may greatly facilitate composite network–compute service provisioning to Cloud users. Therefore, networking and computing systems need to be modeled and analyzed as composite service provisioning systems in order to obtain thorough understanding about service performance in SDCEs. In this paper, a novel approach for modeling composite network–compute service capabilities and a technique for evaluating composite network–compute service performance are developed. The analytic method proposed in this paper is general and agnostic to service implementation technologies; thus is applicable to a wide variety of network–compute services in SDCEs. The results obtained in this paper provide useful guidelines for federated control and management of networking and computing resources to achieve Cloud service performance guarantees.