Selection of Virtual Network Elements

1. A method comprising: receiving, by one or more servers, a network selection query associated with a user device after the user device relocates from a home network to a roaming network, the network selection query including information relating to a geographic location of the user device within the roaming network; selecting, by the one or more servers and after receiving the network selection query, a plurality of virtual network elements based on a type of task to be performed by the user device, the plurality of virtual network elements being located within the roaming network and functioning as physical network elements of the home network; selecting, by the one or more servers and based on a particular technique, a virtual network element of the plurality of virtual network elements, the home network including one of an evolved packet core (EPC) network or an internet protocol (IP) multimedia subsystem (IMS) network; enabling, by the one or more servers, use of the virtual network element by the user device; receiving, by the one or more servers and from the user device, a data packet destined for the virtual network element; providing, by the one or more servers, the data packet to the virtual network element; determining, by the one or more servers, that the virtual network element is overloaded based on one of a latency activity value or a jitter activity value associated with the virtual network element; and directing, by the one or more servers, an addition of another virtual network element based on determining that the virtual net ark element is overloaded.

2. The method of claim 1 , where the virtual network element includes at least one of: a virtual mobility management entity (MME), a virtual serving gateway (SGW), a virtual packet data network (PDN) gateway (PGW), a virtual domain name server (DNS), a virtual tunnel termination gateway (TTG), or a virtual firewall.

3. The method of claim 1 , where the virtual network element includes at least one of: a virtual policy and charging rule function (PCRF), a virtual home subscriber server (HSS), or a virtual call service control function (CSCF) server.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: determining that a first virtual network element and a second virtual network element of the plurality of virtual network elements, are under-loaded; and directing an orchestration server to combine functions the first virtual network element and the second virtual network element based on determining that the first virtual network element and the second virtual network element are under-loaded.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: determining that the virtual network element is under-loaded; and directing a removal of the virtual network element based on determining that the virtual network element is under-loaded.

6. The method of claim 1 , where the network selection query includes information relating to a network resource demand of an application of the user device, where the method further comprises: determining that the virtual network element includes capacity to satisfy the network resource demand, and where selecting the virtual network element comprises: selecting the virtual network element based on determining that the virtual network element includes capacity to satisfy the network resource demand.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: determining that the virtual network element is performing in accordance with a performance parameter, where selecting the virtual network element comprises: selecting the virtual network element based on determining that the virtual network element is performing in accordance with the performance parameter.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: receiving an identifier, associated with the user device, as part of the selection query, where selecting the virtual network element comprises: selecting the virtual network element further based on the identifier associated with the user device.

9. A system comprising: one or more servers to: receive a network selection query associated with a user device after the user device relocates from a home network to a roaming network, the network selection query including information relating to a geographic location of the user device within the roaming network; select a virtual network element based on the network selection query, the virtual network element servicing the geographic location of the user device within the roaming network and functioning as a physical network element of the home network; enable use of the virtual network element by the user device; receive a data packet destined for the virtual network element; provide the data packet to the virtual network element; determine that the virtual network element is overloaded based on one of a latency activity value or a jitter activity value associated with the virtual network element; and direct an addition of another virtual network element based on determining that the virtual network element is overloaded.

10. The system of claim 9 , where the virtual network element includes at least one of: a virtual mobility management entity (MME), a virtual serving gateway (SGW), a virtual packet data network (PDN) gateway (PGW), a virtual domain name server (DNS), a virtual tunnel termination gateway (TTG), or a virtual firewall.

11. The system of claim 9 , where the virtual network element includes one or more of: a virtual policy and charging rule function (PCRF), a virtual home subscriber server (HSS), or a virtual call service control function (CSCF) server.

12. The system of claim 9 , where, when directing the addition of the virtual network element, an analytics server, of the one or more servers, is to: direct an orchestration server to add a virtual image, representing another virtual network element, to another server that stores the virtual network element based on determining that the virtual network element is overloaded.

13. The system of claim 12 , where the analytics server is further to: determine that the other virtual network element is under-loaded; and direct the orchestration server to delete the virtual image to remove the other virtual network element based on determining that the other virtual network element is under-loaded.

14. The system of claim 9 , where the one or more servers are further to: determine that the virtual network element is performing in accordance with a performance parameter, and where, when selecting the virtual network element, the one or more servers are to: select the virtual network element further based on determining that the virtual network element is performing in accordance with the performance parameter.

15. The system of claim 9 , where the one or more servers are further to: receive an identifier, associated with the user device, as part of the network selection query, where, when selecting the virtual network element, the one or more servers are to: select the virtual network element further based on the identifier associated with the user device.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable medium for storing instructions, the instructions comprising: a plurality of instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to: receive a network selection query associated with a user device after the user device relocates from a home network to a roaming network, the network selection query including information relating to a geographic location of the user device within the roaming network; select a virtual network element based on the network selection query, the virtual network element servicing the geographic location of the user device within the roaming network and functioning as a physical network element of the home network; enable use of the virtual network element by the user device; receive a data packet destined for the virtual network element; provide the data packet to the virtual network element; determine that the virtual network element is overloaded based on one of a latency activity value or a jitter activity value associated with the virtual network element; and direct an addition of another virtual network element based on determining that the virtual network element is overloaded.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16 , where the virtual network element includes at least one of: a virtual mobility management entity (MME), a virtual serving gateway (SGW), a virtual packet data network (PDN) gateway (PGW), a virtual domain name server (DNS), a virtual tunnel termination gateway (TTG), or a virtual firewall.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16 , where the virtual network element includes one or more of: a virtual policy and charging rule function (PCRF), a virtual home subscriber server (HSS), or a virtual call service control function (CSCF) server.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16 , where the one or more instructions to direct the addition of the other virtual network element comprise: one or more instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to: direct an orchestration server to add the other virtual network element based on determining that the virtual network element is overloaded.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16 , where the network selection query includes information relating to a network resource demand of an application of the user device, and where the plurality of instructions to select the virtual network element comprise: one or more instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to: determine that the network element includes capacity to satisfy the network resource demand; and select the network element further based on determining that the network element includes capacity to satisfy the network resource demand.