Abstract: A method for allocating a workload to a cluster machine of a plurality of cluster machines which are part of a computer cluster operating in a cluster computing environment, includes the step of collecting values from hardware performance counters of each of the cluster machines while the cluster machines are running different workloads. A value of a hardware performance counter from a system which executed the workload to be allocated in isolation and the values from the hardware performance counters of each of the cluster machines which are running the different workloads are used as input to a machine learning algorithm trained to provide as output in each case a prediction of a performance of the workload on each of the cluster machines which are running the different workloads. The cluster machine is selected for placement of the workload based on the predictions.

Abstract: A method for monitoring, by a presence service, a presence status of a network entity in a software defined network (SDN), wherein the SDN includes one or more forwarding elements configured to recognize and apply one or more actions on forwarded packets, includes receiving a subscription request including a network entity identifier for the network entity and creating one or more entries for the network entity in one or more monitored entries data structures. The one or more entries for the network entity include the presence status of the network entity. The method further includes discovering, via an edge switch, the network entity, setting, in response to the discovering, the presence status of the network entity as online, and installing an absence detection flow table entry at the edge switch.

Abstract: A method for handling packets in a network by means of forwarding tables includes providing a software switching layer for implementing a software forwarding table; providing a hardware switching layer for implementing at least one of exact matching forwarding tables and wildcard matching forwarding tables; and redistributing, by using a switch management component for controlling the software switching layer and the hardware switching layer, installed forwarding table entries (FTEs) matching a particular flow between the software switching layer and the hardware switching layer based on traffic characteristics of said flow.

Abstract: A method of providing access control for a software defined network (SDN) controller includes establishing a cascaded flow of flow table entries by linking together flow table entries of flow tables that are installed at network resources and that apply to the same packets or network flows, analyzing the impact of configuration requests from one or more applications regarding the installation and/or removal of flow table entries on existing cascaded flows, and rejecting configuration requests if the installation and/or removal of flow table entries according to the configuration requests would destroy an existing cascaded flow. The SDN controller includes an interface for interacting with one or more applications that are installed to run at the control plane of the SDN atop the SDN controller.

Abstract: A method for routing traffic in a network includes receiving, by an edge switch, a packet belonging to a traffic class, the packet including a source internet protocol (IP) address and a destination IP address, each of the source IP address and the destination IP address including a redundant information portion and a non-redundant information portion, replacing, by the edge switch, the redundant information portion of the source IP address of the packet belonging to the traffic class and/or the destination IP address of the packet belonging to the traffic class with a logical address of a next service function (SF) in a service function chain (SFC) to which the traffic class is mapped so as to provide a modified packet, and steering the modified packet to the next SF in the SFC.

Abstract: A method for service function chaining in a network, comprises defining, for a flow of network packets sent from a source node (4) to a destination node, a chain of selected network service functions (1) to be traversed by the flow, wherein each of the selected network service functions (1) is attached or connected to a programmable switch (2) capable of operating as a packet forwarding element, generating a chain establishment packet that contains network identifier information about the selected network service functions (1) and that is configured as a regular network packet to be delivered to the destination node along a network path that includes the programmable switches (2) to which the selected network service functions (1) are attached or connected, wherein each of the programmable switches (2), upon receipt of the chain establishment packet and based on the network identifier information about the selected network service functions (1) contained in the chain establishment packet, performs installatio

Abstract: A method for acceleration of TCP connection establishment between a client and a server in a network includes deploying at least one stateful switch with packet generation capabilities in the network, and configuring the at least one stateful switch to receive a TCP SYN segment from the client, generate a sequence number in a manner coordinated with the server, answer, on behalf of the server, the TCP SYN segment received from the client with a corresponding SYN ACK segment containing the sequence number, forward the TCP SYN segment received from the client to the server, and act as a forwarding element for segments exchanged between the client and the server once a TCP connection is established such that no state relating to the TCP connection is held by the at least one stateful switch.

Abstract: A method for forwarding data flows in a network, which has a forwarding element for forwarding the data flows, includes: receiving a data flow of the data flows, the data flow corresponding to a present forwarding rule of the forwarding element; forwarding the data flow with an added time delay. The added time delay includes a first forwarding time delay and second forwarding time delay. A first number of packets of the data flow, which are first packets, are forwarded by the first forwarding element with the first forwarding time delay. A second number of the packets of the data flow, which are second packets, are forwarded with the second forwarding time delay. The first forwarding time delay and the second forwarding time delay have a time difference from each other.

Abstract: A method of forwarding packet flows in a network includes originating the packet flows from a plurality of end hosts in the network; and transmitting the packet flows from a respective end host of the plurality of end hosts to a sink node via a predefined routing path that includes one or more SDN switches that are under control of an SDN controller. The one or more SDN switches include an edge switch having at least one port connected to the end host. Forwarding of a packet flow from the respective end host by the edge switch is enabled by a dedicated door-opener packet that, when being processed at the one or more SDN switches, effectuates activation or installation of a forwarding rule within the one or more SDN switches for forwarding the packet flow to a next switch along the predefined routing path.

Abstract: A method for load balancing in a computer network includes receiving application information for an application and information relating to an artificial neural network (NN) computation to be executed by the application. A configuration is derived for one or more network devices based on the application information and the information relating to the NN computation. The configuration is installed in the one or more network devices such that at least one of the network devices on a path of a network packet performs a subset of the NN computation and encodes a result of the subset of the NN computation into a header of the network packet.

Abstract: A packet data network includes a flow-based programmable network device. The flow-based programmable network device includes a data plane having a plurality of input and output ports, a control interface and forwarding rules that map packets received on one of the input ports to one of the output ports based on a packet matching a rule in the forwarding rules. A controller entity is configured to program the flow-based programmable network device via the control interface. The flow-based programmable network device has a connection via the data plane to at least one delegated entity which is a network device configured to process network traffic on behalf of the flow-based programmable network device in a transparent manner from a perspective of the controller entity.

Abstract: A method of providing access control for a software defined network (SDN) controller includes triggering, by the SDN controller upon receiving a trigger event from a data plane of the software defined network, one or more applications that are installed to run at a control plane of the software defined network atop the SDN controller to react to the trigger event, applying, by the SDN controller before triggering applications due to a trigger event, a conflict resolution scheme. The conflict resolution scheme includes determining all flow spaces that are affected by the trigger event and selecting from these flow spaces a single selected flow space that complies with a predetermined policy, determining, a single master application according to predefined criteria, and triggering, in addition to the master application, only those applications whose reactions to the trigger event do not conflict with the master application.

Abstract: A method for monitoring, by a presence service, a presence status of a network entity in a software defined network (SDN), wherein the SDN includes one or more forwarding elements configured to recognize and apply one or more actions on forwarded packets, includes receiving a subscription request including a network entity identifier for the network entity and creating one or more entries for the network entity in one or more monitored entries data structures. The one or more entries for the network entity include the presence status of the network entity. The method further includes discovering, via an edge switch, the network entity, setting, in response to the discovering, the presence status of the network entity as online, and installing an absence detection flow table entry at the edge switch.

Abstract: A method for transmitting, over a transport network, data belonging to a data flow includes creating a proxy network including a plurality of transport network proxies; defining a plurality of proxy pairs; defining a plurality of proxy pair links; determining, for each proxy pair link, a round trip time (RTT) of the respective proxy pair link; determining, using the determined RTTs of the plurality of proxy pair links, a list of one or more preferred paths for each proxy pair, each preferred path connecting, via one or more of the plurality of proxy pair links, one proxy of the respective proxy pair to the other proxy of the respective proxy pair; and transmitting, from an ingress proxy to an egress proxy, the data belonging to the data flow over a proxy pair path selected from the list of preferred proxy pair paths.

Abstract: A method for routing traffic in a network includes receiving, by an edge switch, a packet belonging to a traffic class, the packet including a source internet protocol (IP) address and a destination IP address, each of the source IP address and the destination IP address including a redundant information portion and a non-redundant information portion, replacing, by the edge switch, the redundant information portion of the source IP address of the packet belonging to the traffic class and/or the destination IP address of the packet belonging to the traffic class with a logical address of a next service function (SF) in a service function chain (SFC) to which the traffic class is mapped so as to provide a modified packet, and steering the modified packet to the next SF in the SFC.

Abstract: A method for monitoring a status in a form of presence and/or absence of a subscribed network entity in a network by a presence service, wherein the network is a software defined network having one or more forwarding elements being configurable for recognizing and applying one or more actions on packets being forwarded by the forwarding elements and one or more network entities, includes monitoring the status of the subscribed network entity. The monitoring the status of the subscribed network entity includes providing the presence service with a status update of the selected network entity only when at least one of the one or more forwarding elements, to which the selected network entity is directly connected, has detected a change in the presence status of the subscribed network entity; and dropping packets of the subscribed network entity destined for the presence service.

Abstract: A method for handling packets in a network by means of forwarding tables includes providing a software switching layer for implementing a software forwarding table; providing a hardware switching layer for implementing at least one of exact matching forwarding tables and wildcard matching forwarding tables; and redistributing, by using a switch management component for controlling the software switching layer and the hardware switching layer, installed forwarding table entries (FTEs) matching a particular flow between the software switching layer and the hardware switching layer based on traffic characteristics of said flow.

Abstract: A method for service function chaining within an end-to-end path of a network connection between a source and destination node includes: executing, for a defined service function chain including an ordered sequence of network service functions, an address resolution process that translates names of the network service functions of the defined service function chain into their corresponding IP addresses. The address resolution process is performed at a name server of the destination node by a sequence of name server queries sent in succession to respective name servers of each of the selected network service functions of the defined service function chain in accordance with their order. Each of the name server queries is answered by a response from a name server of the respective network service function that includes IP addresses of selected instances of a respective network service function chosen by the respective name server according to predefined criteria.

Abstract: A method for controlling a network. The network includes a plurality of forwarding elements (FE) connected with each other, one or more end hosts (EH) connected to one or more of the FE, and a controller for controlling the FE. The method includes installing packet processing rules for end-host control protocols (ECP) on the FE. When an ECP Request (ECPRQ) is received by an FE and the ECPRQ was not processed by the controller, the ECPRQ is provided to the controller and an ECP response is computed by the receiving FE based on extracted information from the ECPRQ mapped onto forwarding information based on mapping information if provided, otherwise if the ECPRQ was processed by the controller, the ECPRQ is forwarded according to forwarding information of the ECPRQ. When an ECP response (ECPR) is received by an FE, the ECPR is forwarded according to forwarding information.

Abstract: A method for executing a binarized neural network (BNN) using a switching chip includes describing an artificial neural network application in a binarized form to provide the BNN; configuring a parser of the switching chip to encode an input vector of the BNN in a packet header; configuring a plurality of match-action tables (MATs) of the switching chip to execute, on the input vector encoded in the packet header, one or more of the operations including XNOR, bit counting, and sign operations such that the plurality of MATs are configured to: implement a bitwise XNOR operation between the input vector and a weights matrix to produce a plurality of first stage vectors, implement an algorithm for counting a number of bits set to 1 in the plurality of first stage vectors to produce a plurality of second stage vectors, and implement a sign operation on the second stage vectors.