A Database System for State Management in Stateful Network Service Function Chains [Vision]

Abstract

Network Function Virtualization (NFV) heralds a transformative era in network function deployment, enabling the orchestration of Service Function Chains (SFCs) for delivering complex and dynamic network services. Yet, the development and sustenance of stateful SFCs remain challenging, with intricate demands for usability in SFC development, performance, and execution correctness. In this paper, we present DB4NFV, a database system designed to address these challenges. Central to DB4NFV is the integration of transactional semantics into the entire lifecycle of stateful SFC, a core idea that enhances all aspects of the system. This integration provides an intuitive and well-structured API, which greatly simplifies the development of stateful SFCs. Concurrently, transactional semantics facilitate the optimization of runtime performance by efficiently leveraging modern multicore architectures. Moreover, by encapsulating state operations as transactions, DB4NFV achieves robustness, even at the entire chain level, ensuring reliable operation across varying network conditions. Consequently, DB4NFV marks a substantial forward leap in NFV state management, leveraging transactional semantics to achieve a harmonious blend of usability, efficiency, and robustness, thus facilitating the effective deployment of stateful SFCs in contemporary network infrastructures.