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Data center network architecture in cloud computing: review, taxonomy, and open research issues

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Abstract

The data center network (DCN), which is an important component of data centers, consists of a large number of hosted servers and switches connected with high speed communication links. A DCN enables the deployment of resources centralization and on-demand access of the information and services of data centers to users. In recent years, the scale of the DCN has constantly increased with the widespread use of cloud-based services and the unprecedented amount of data delivery in/between data centers, whereas the traditional DCN architecture lacks aggregate bandwidth, scalability, and cost effectiveness for coping with the increasing demands of tenants in accessing the services of cloud data centers. Therefore, the design of a novel DCN architecture with the features of scalability, low cost, robustness, and energy conservation is required. This paper reviews the recent research findings and technologies of DCN architectures to identify the issues in the existing DCN architectures for cloud computing. We develop a taxonomy for the classification of the current DCN architectures, and also qualitatively analyze the traditional and contemporary DCN architectures. Moreover, the DCN architectures are compared on the basis of the significant characteristics, such as bandwidth, fault tolerance, scalability, overhead, and deployment cost. Finally, we put forward open research issues in the deployment of scalable, low-cost, robust, and energy-efficient DCN architecture, for data centers in computational clouds.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mobile Cloud Computing Research Lab, Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, 50603, Malaysia

    Han Qi, Muhammad Shiraz, Jie-yao Liu & Abdullah Gani

  2. Department of History, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, 50603, Malaysia

    Zulkanain Abdul Rahman

  3. Department of Computer Science, Riyadh Community College, King Saud University, Riyadh, 11533, Saudi Arabia

    Torki A. Altameem

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  1. Han Qi
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  2. Muhammad Shiraz
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  3. Jie-yao Liu
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  4. Abdullah Gani
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  5. Zulkanain Abdul Rahman
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  6. Torki A. Altameem
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Correspondence to Han Qi or Abdullah Gani.

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Project supported by the Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education under the University of Malaya High Impact Research Grant (No. UM.C/HIR/MOHE/FCSIT/03)

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Qi, H., Shiraz, M., Liu, Jy. et al. Data center network architecture in cloud computing: review, taxonomy, and open research issues. J. Zhejiang Univ. - Sci. C 15, 776–793 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1631/jzus.C1400013

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