Network resource management as a database problem

ABSTRACTNetwork resource management, or how bandwidth is allocated to flows, tenants, or applications, is a challenging problem. In this paper, we call for using the database abstraction for network resource management. A database provides simple constructs for supporting complex resource management tasks, such as transactions to support bandwidth reservations on multiple links, virtual tables for restricting the view of tenants in a cloud environment, and many others. To highlight the opportunities and challenges in this space, we present a research agenda around new abstractions and policy languages, the necessary data plane support, and potential for domain specific replication and sharding strategies for the resource management database.