# LiLM-RDB-SFC: Lightweight Language Model with Relational Database-Guided DRL for Optimized SFC Provisioning

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.10903 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.10903/

## Key facts

- Cited by 2 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 7 of its 22 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 15 Jul 2025.

## Builds on (most cited first, 7 of 7)

- [Exploring the Limits of Transfer Learning with a Unified Text-to-Text Transformer](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1910.10683/) (2019)
- [BART: Denoising Sequence-to-Sequence Pre-training for Natural Language Generation, Translation, and Comprehension](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1910.13461/) (2019)
- [Scaling Instruction-Finetuned Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.11416/) (2022)
- [The Larger the Better? Improved LLM Code-Generation via Budget Reallocation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.00725/) (2024)
- [SQLBench: A Comprehensive Evaluation for Text-to-SQL Capabilities of Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.02951/) (2024)
- [A Survey on Large Language Models for Communication, Network, and Service Management: Application Insights, Challenges, and Future Directions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.19823/) (2024)
- [Integrating Language Models for Enhanced Network State Monitoring in DRL-Based SFC Provisioning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.11298/) (2025)

## Built on by (most cited first, 2 of 2)

- [Structure-Aware NL-to-SQL for SFC Provisioning via AST-Masking Empowered Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.17295/) (2026)
- [Proactive SFC Provisioning with Forecast-Driven DRL in Data Centers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.20229/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Effective management of Service Function Chains (SFCs) and optimal Virtual Network Function (VNF) placement are critical challenges in modern Software-Defined Networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV) environments. Although Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) is widely adopted for dynamic network decision-making, its inherent dependency on structured data and fixed action rules often limits adaptability and responsiveness, particularly under unpredictable network conditions. This paper introduces LiLM-RDB-SFC, a novel approach combining Lightweight Language Model (LiLM) with Relational Database (RDB) to answer network state queries to guide DRL model for efficient SFC provisioning. Our proposed approach leverages two LiLMs, Bidirectional and Auto-Regressive Transformers (BART) and the Fine-tuned Language Net T5 (FLAN-T5), to interpret network data and support diverse query types related to SFC demands, data center resources, and VNF availability. Results demonstrate that FLAN-T5 outperforms BART with a lower test loss (0.00161 compared to 0.00734), higher accuracy (94.79% compared to 80.2%), and less processing time (2h 2min compared to 2h 38min). Moreover, when compared to the large language model SQLCoder, FLAN-T5 matches the accuracy of SQLCoder while cutting processing time by 96% (SQLCoder: 54 h 43 min; FLAN-T5: 2 h 2 min).