Service provisioning in virtualized and programmable network environments.

Abstract

This work tackles the ossification and complexity problem of communication networks in terms of management, configuration, control, connection and security. These complexities are as a result of the great dependencies on network hardware and vendor-specific operation. In order to support the evolving nature of new networking technologies and the introduction of IoT, Edge Computing, Cloud Computing, Fog Computing, 5G, among others, the network must be transformed to a more flexible, agile, dynamic, and multi-tenant infrastructure. This work addresses the demand for a new networking platform that is capable of adapting to the quick pace imposed by the evolution of the digital world and its communication. Towards the afore elaborated challenge, the work in this thesis addresses the provisioning of new protocols and networking services that would provide a more suitable platform and foundation for the developing communication world. To achieve dynamically reconfigurable and extensible network platforms, network softwarization and virtualization are utilized to provide advanced networking structures and services. The proposed set of networking services that would fulfill the work profound goals include: (1) simplified network management, configuration, and control. (2) Flexible enterprise site connectivity in SDN environments. (3) Malicious data plane detection for enhanced SDN security. (4) Secure authentication and dynamic network configuration for Fog computing in virtualized wireless SDN environments.