Blockchain-Enabled SLA Compliance for Crowdsourced Edge-Based Network Function Virtualization

Network function virtualization (NFV) allows edge devices to host different types of virtual network functions (VNFs) and support Computing in the Network. Therefore, an edge device can abstract multiple VNFs of different infrastructure providers (InPs) as services and serve them at different times to act as a tenant for different InPs. Deploying edge devices is expensive and difficult to manage. Hence, crowdsourced edge devices can be used. To ensure the quality and availability of the services and the privacy of sensitive data of the service stakeholders, it is extremely important to establish a service level agreement (SLA) between an edge device owner and an InP. For monitoring of SLA compliance and enforcing accountability, a trusted platform is required. The traditional NFV management authority cannot be trusted due to its centralized characteristics. In this article, we propose a blockchain-powered framework for the SLA compliance of edge devices offering VNFs as services and introduce a smart contract-driven framework to establish trust in edge-based NFV. We analyze the performance of the proposed framework in the context of a private blockchain network.