Enabling Virtual Network Functions in Named Data Networking

Abstract

Virtual network functions, which are placed logically in the path of a network connection, implement important processing steps, such as content inspection, load balancing, etc. While these types of operations are well-understood in the context of the current, connection-oriented Internet architecture, it is unclear if and how such functions can be enabled in emerging architectures, such as Named Data Networking (NDN). In this paper, we argue that virtual network functions can provide benefits to NDN. We present a novel way to use transformations to names in NDN to invoke network functions. We show that network functions can be called either explicitly (e.g., by an end-system) or transparently by intermediate nodes (e.g., by an edge router). We believe that enabling virtual network functions significantly expands the capabilities of Named Data Networking.