Composing data and control functions to ease virtual networks programmability

Abstract

This paper presents a new domain specific language, called AirNet, to design and control virtual networks. The central feature of this language is to rely on network abstractions in order to spare operators the trouble of dealing with the complex and dynamic nature of the physical infrastructure. One novelty of this language is to integrate a network abstraction model that offers a clear separation between simple transport functions and advanced network services. These services are classified into three main categories: static control functions, dynamic control functions and data functions. In addition, we provide an easy and elegant way for programming these functions using the decorator design pattern. The AirNet language is supported by a runtime system handling, in particular, the virtual-to-physical mapping. Despite the fact that it is still in a prototype stage, this runtime has been successfully tested on several use cases.