VNF-Cache: An In-Network Key-Value Store Cache Based on Network Function Virtualization

Abstract: With the exponential growth of the amount of data available on the Internet, optimizing the response time and resource usage for data access becomes essential. Caches are an effective solution that brings data closer to clients, eliminating repetitive requests to servers. This paper presents VNF-Cache, a caching service for geographically remote key-value databases. VNF-Cache is an NFV-COIN (Network Function Virtualization-Computing In The Network) service, a technology undergoing standardization by the IETF that enables the implementation of arbitrary services directly in the network. VNF-Cache intercepts network packets, processes, stores, and sends values directly to clients when possible. Through a proof-of-concept implementation and experiments conducted with geographically dispersed servers in Brazil, the United States, and Japan, significant reductions in response time and increases in the number of requests processed per second were observed.