On disaster-resilient hybrid service function chains
Mohamed Abderrahmane Madani, Fen Zhou, Ahmed Meddahi · 2025
Network Function Virtualization (NFV), offers a flexible solution through the orchestration of Virtual Network Functions (VNFs) into a Service Function Chain (SFC), facilitating the seamless transfer of user data between customers and edge servers/clouds. The distinct requirements of forward and backward traffic necessitate a Hybrid SFC (HSFC) approach. However, the resilience of these NFV and SFC deployments against disasters, whether natural or due to hardware malfunctions, presents a significant challenge, often resulting in service disruptions or degraded performance within disaster zones (DZ). To address these challenges, we propose the Resilient Hybrid Service Function Chain Resource Optimization (R-HSFC-RO) strategy, aimed at minimizing network resource consumption while ensuring service resilience. This strategy accounts for bandwidth allocation, computing resource requirements for executing VNFs, installation costs, and latency considerations. We propose a novel heuristic approach for a scalable solution, leveraging the constrained shortest path algorithm in a multi-partite graph framework. Simulation results affirm the R-HSFC-RO strategy’s effectiveness in enhancing resource and cost efficiency, yielding gains of up to 30% in overall cost and up to 50% in CPU and VNF costs, thereby improving the resilience and operational efficiency of HSFC deployments against potential disruptions.