Abstract: A forwarding element includes a control engine and a forwarding table. The control engine includes a command template that includes a stateful interaction instruction. The forwarding table includes a rule entry that defines a match description and an action instruction. The forwarding element is configured to: receive a packet; determine packet attributes based on the packet; compare the packet attributes to the match description to determine whether there is a rule match, execute the action instruction in response to determining there is the rule match, which includes causing a trigger signal to be sent to the control engine, the trigger signal corresponding to the command template, and perform a stateful interaction on the packet according to the stateful interaction instruction in response to receiving the trigger signal.

Abstract: According to an embodiment of the invention, a method is provided for reducing the monitored-data load and the processing load/delay on a cloud management system (CMS). The method includes applying a prediction process to provide predicted key performance indicator (KPI) values for a plurality of VMs managed by the CMS during a first monitoring epoch; collecting, during the first monitoring epoch, observed KPI values for the plurality of VMs managed by the CMS; assessing the accuracy of the prediction process by way of calculating, according to a reward function, reward values for the plurality of VMs based on a deviation between the observed KPI values and the predicted KPI values; calculating a monitoring frequency for collecting monitoring information during a second monitoring epoch based on the reward values; and collecting the monitoring information during the second monitoring epoch according to the calculated monitoring frequency.

Abstract: A method for managing computational resources of a data center is useable for making one or more management decisions (MD). One or more computational resources of the data center are assigned to one or more physical and/or virtual functions by MD of a decision making entity (DME). The MD are based on collected performance information of the one or more computational resources. The collected performance information is analysed considering one or more predefined performance parameters. A single performance metric (SPM) is computed representing performance and efficiency of the DME using a result of the analysis. The SPM is used by the DME for making the MD.

Abstract: According to an embodiment of the invention, a method is provided for reducing the monitored-data load and the processing load/delay on a cloud management system (CMS). The method includes applying a prediction process to provide predicted key performance indicator (KPI) values for a plurality of VMs managed by the CMS during a first monitoring epoch; collecting, during the first monitoring epoch, observed KPI values for the plurality of VMs managed by the CMS; assessing the accuracy of the prediction process by way of calculating, according to a reward function, reward values for the plurality of VMs based on a deviation between the observed KPI values and the predicted KPI values; calculating a monitoring frequency for collecting monitoring information during a second monitoring epoch based on the reward values; and collecting the monitoring information during the second monitoring epoch according to the calculated monitoring frequency.

Abstract: A method for enabling (virtualized) application functions ((V)AFs) to associate to underlying (virtualized) network functions ((V)NFs) is provided in a Network Function Virtualization (NFV) environment in which a lifecycle management (LCM) of the (V)AFs and its associations with the underlying (V)NFs and resources are managed by the NFV Management and Orchestration (MANO) system. A service request is validated by an NFV Orchestrator (NFVO) parsing an (V)AF Descriptor ((V)AFD) file within an (V)AF catalogue. An (V)AF Record ((V)AFR) instance is created having information useable to maintain a state and one or more associations of the respective (V)AF. The NFVO, in cooperation with a Virtualized Network Function Manager (VNFM), Virtualized Infrastructure Manager (VIM) and an underlying network controller of the NFV MANO system, establishes the association between the respective (V)AF and the respective underlying (V)NF(s) using the (V)AFD.

Abstract: A method for managing data traffic in a computing network includes determining, by a determining function, processing information for processing one or more packets of an identified flow; stripping header information from the one or more packets of the identified flow by a stripping function; adding tag information to the one or more packets of the identified flow by a tag adding function; storing a mapping between the tag information and the header information in a cache by a mapping function, and processing the one or more packets of the identified flow by the one or more network functions according to the determined processing information. The one or more network functions query the cache using the tag information to retrieve information associated with the tag information from the cache if required to process the one or more packets.

Abstract: A method for managing and orchestrating virtual application functions jointly with virtual network functions is done through a single management and orchestration (MANO) framework within a network. The method includes creating, by a system for (virtual) application function and virtual network function management and orchestration, at least one service or service chain that considers or comprises at least one (virtual) network application and/or at least one virtual network function. A virtual application function (VAF) entity is provided as a container for network applications together with a VAF manager (VAFM) for the VAF.

Abstract: A method for managing flows in a network with a plurality of forwarding elements routing the flows between network entities of a network or network domain includes marking flows between network entities with congestion information by at least one of the forwarding elements such that the highest congestion level prevailing on the respective flow path is indicated, identifying locations of one or more possible and/or present bottlenecks and/or congestions in the network based on the congestion information, and performing one or more actions to avoid, mitigate, and/or resolve the identified possible and/or present bottlenecks and/or congestions.

Abstract: A method for providing congestion information in a network is performed in a memory available to a computing entity. A traffic demand is obtained within a certain part of the network by evaluating an amount of traffic in the part of the network per time. A congestion value representing a congestion level of a bottleneck connection link in the network is calculated. The congestion value is a scalar and calculated based on a comparison between measured and/or estimated traffic and traffic demand within a certain part of said network.

Abstract: A method for operating a virtual network infrastructure, wherein a corresponding physical infrastructure comprises one or more physical infrastructure resources, includes monitoring utilization levels of one or more resource units of the one or more physical infrastructure resources for virtual resources requesting the one or more resource units; calculating average absolute resource utilization values based on the utilization levels for each of the virtual resources; calculating a reference resource of score (RRAS) for each of the one or more resource units of the one or more physical infrastructure resources, wherein the RRAS indicates an impact of the utilization of a reference resource unit on utilization of other resource units on a physical infrastructure resource using the calculated average absolute resource utilization values; and assigning resources by a virtual infrastructure controller (VIC) and/or a VIC-agent on a resource, based on the RRAS for the virtual resources.

Abstract: A method for managing flows in a network with a plurality of forwarding elements routing the flows between network entities of a network or network domain includes marking flows between network entities with congestion information by at least one of the forwarding elements such that the highest congestion level prevailing on the respective flow path is indicated, identifying locations of one or more possible and/or present bottlenecks and/or congestions in the network based on the congestion information, and performing one or more actions to avoid, mitigate, and/or resolve the identified possible and/or present bottlenecks and/or congestions.

Abstract: For allowing an intelligent and/or resource efficient delivery of video content and/or determining of video content popularity and/or user behavior a method for determining user behavior during delivery of video content is claimed, wherein a user is requesting a delivery of a video content from a provider via a network. The method is characterized in that the provider exploits information transmitted between the user and the provider due to the execution of a trick play function by the user for scheduling the delivery and/or determining video content popularity and/or user behavior. Further, an according network is claimed, preferably for carrying out the above mentioned method.