Position-aware packet loss optimization on service function chain placement

The advent of Network Function Virtualization (NFV) and Service Function Chains (SFCs) unleashes the power of dynamic creation of network services using Virtual Network Functions (VNFs). This is of great interest to network operators since poor service quality and resource wastage can potentially hurt their revenue in the long term. However, the study shows with a set of test-bed experiments that packet loss at certain positions (i.e., different VNFs) in an SFC can cause various degrees of resource wastage and performance degradation because of repeated upstream processing and transmission of retransmitted packets.