Live migration of Virtual Machines (VMs) has significantly improved the flexibility of modern Data Centers (DCs). Ideally, live migration ought to be seamless which in turn raises challenges on how to minimize service disruption and avoid performance degradation. To address these challenges, a comprehensive support from the underlying network is required. However, legacy DC networks fall short to help as they take a reactive approach to live migration procedure. Moreover, the complexity and inflexibility of legacy DC networks make it difficult to deploy, manage, and improve network technologies that DC providers may need to use for migration.

In this thesis, we explore the application of Software Defined Networking (SDN) paradigm for making live VM migration more seamless. Exploiting the characteristics of SDN such as its centralized view on network states, we contribute to the body of knowledge by enhancing the quality of intra- and inter-DC live migration. Firstly, for intra-DC migration, we provide an SDN-based solution which minimizes the service disruption by employing OpenFlow-based resiliency mechanisms to prepare a DC network for migration proactively. Secondly, we improve the inter-DC live migration by accelerating the network convergence through announcing the migration in the control plane using MP-BGP protocol. Further, our proposed framework resolves the sub-optimal routing problem by conducting the gateway functionality at the SDN controller. Finally, with the ultimate goal of improving the inter-DC migration, we develop an SDN-based framework which automates the deployment, improves the management, enhances the performance, and increases the scalability of interconnections among DCs.

Live migration of Virtual Machines (VMs) has significantly improved the flexibility of modern Data Centers (DCs). Ideally, live migration ought to be seamless which requires a comprehensive support from the underlying network. However, legacy DC networks fall short to address the challenges of migration due to their inflexible and decentralized characteristics. In contrast, Software Defined Networking (SDN) is a new networking paradigm, which has the potential to improve the live migration thanks to its comprehensive view over the network, flexible structure, and its close integration with DC management infrastructures.

This thesis investigates networking challenges of short and long-haul live VM migration in SDN-based DCs. We propose solutions to make the intra- and inter-DC live migration procedures more seamless. Furthermore, our proposed SDN-based framework for inter-DC migration improves the management, enhances the performance, and increases the scalability of interconnections among DCs.

Modern virtualized Data Centers (DCs) require efficient management techniques to guarantee high quality services while reducing their economical cost. The ability to live migrate virtual instances, e.g., Virtual Machines (VMs), both inside and among DCs is a key operation for the majority of DC management tasks that brings significant flexibility into the DC infrastructure. However, live migration introduces new challenges as it ought to be fast and seamless while at the same time imposing a minimum overhead on the network. In this thesis, we study the networking problems of live service migration in modern DCs when services are deployed in virtualized environments, e.g., VMs and containers. In particular, this thesis has the following main objectives: (1) improving the live VM migration in Software-Defined Network (SDN) enabled DCs by addressing networking challenges of live VM migration, and (2) investigating the trade-off between the reconfiguration cost and optimality of the Service Function Chains (SFCs) placement after the reconfiguration has been applied when SFCs are composed of stateful Virtual Network Functions (VNFs).

To achieve the first objective, in this thesis, we use distinctive characteristics of SDN architectures such as their centralized control over the network to accelerate the network convergence time and address suboptimal routing problem. Consequently, we enhance the quality of intra- and inter-DC live migrations. Furthermore, we develop an SDN-based framework to improve the inter-DC live VM migration by automating the deployment, improving the management, enhancing the performance, and increasing the scalability of interconnections among DCs.

To accomplish the second objective, we investigate the overhead of dynamic reconfiguration of stateful VNFs. Dynamic reconfiguration of VNFs is frequently required in various circumstances, and live migration of VNFs is an integral part of this operation. By mathematically formulating the reconfiguration costs of stateful VNFs and developing a multi-objective heuristic solution, we explore the trade-off between the reconfiguration cost required to improve a given placement and the degree of optimality achieved after the reconfiguration is performed. Results show that the cost of performing the reconfiguration operations required to realize an optimal VNF placement might hamper the gain that could be achieved.

Modern virtualized Data Centers (DCs) require efficient management techniques to guarantee high quality services while reducing their economical cost. The ability to live migrate virtual instances, e.g., Virtual Machines (VMs), both inside and among DCs, is a key operation for the majority of DC management tasks that brings significant flexibility into the DC infrastructure. However, live migration introduces new challenges as it ought to be fast and seamless while at the same time imposing a minimum overhead on the network.

This thesis investigates the networking challenges of short and long-haul live VM migration in Software Defined Networking (SDN) enabled DCs. We propose solutions to make the intra- and inter-DC live VM migration more seamless. Our proposed SDN-based framework for inter-DC migration improves the management, enhances the performance, and increases the scalability of interconnections among DCs.

Moreover, by considering the overhead of VM migration over the network, servers, and quality of service the VM provides, we explore the trade-off between the costs required to change the placement of VMs and the optimality degree of the placement in the DC. Results show that the cost of improving the placement might hamper the gain that could be achieved.