METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR THE OPTIMISATION OF DEPLOYMENT OF VIRTUAL NETWORK FUNCTIONS IN A COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK THAT USES SOFTWARE DEFINED NETWORKING

摘要

A method determines a deployment of virtual network functions (VNFs) in a network that is to implement a set of one or more network services and that includes a software defined networking (SDN) controller to control which of plural alternative service chains is used to implement a network service. The method comprises:generating a group of candidate VNF-deployment configurations, each of the candidate configurations defining a deployment of VNFs that enables implementation of a set of service chains which could be specified by the SDN controller, the set of service chains including the plural alternative service chains; evaluating the fitness of each candidate configuration in the group, using a fitness function that quantifies fitness dependent on at least one of the computational and communication resources used by a configuration; and selecting a candidate configuration on the basis of its evaluated fitness.