CN108616452B

CN108616452B - Message forwarding method and device

Info

Publication number: CN108616452B
Application number: CN201810292903.XA
Authority: CN
Inventors: 张建周
Original assignee: Hangzhou H3C Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Hangzhou H3C Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2018-03-30
Filing date: 2018-03-30
Publication date: 2020-12-25
Anticipated expiration: 2038-03-30
Also published as: WO2019185013A1; CN108616452A

Abstract

The disclosure relates to a message forwarding method and device. The message forwarding method comprises the following steps: acquiring a network resource value of user equipment in a preset time period; and determining to forward the traffic of the user equipment by adopting a hardware forwarding plane or a software forwarding plane according to the network resource value of the user equipment in a preset time period and the forwarding plane adopted by the current user equipment for traffic forwarding. The message forwarding method and the message forwarding device can ensure that all user equipment are online, can realize reasonable allocation of hardware forwarding plane resources, and save the hardware forwarding plane resources.

Description

Message forwarding method and device

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a method and an apparatus for forwarding a packet.

Background

Currently, the diversion separation technique is applied in an operator environment such as a BRAS (Broadband Remote Access Server) scenario. The transfer Control separation technique is to separate a Control Plane (CP) and a forwarding Plane (DP, Data Plane, also called as Data Plane) so that the Control Plane and the forwarding Plane work independently and cooperatively. The control plane can be used for controlling and managing the operation of various network protocols, providing the router or the switch with accurate knowledge of network equipment, connection links and interaction protocols in the whole network environment through the network protocols, and making timely adjustment when the network condition changes so as to maintain the normal operation of the network. The forwarding plane may be used to perform various service processing and packet forwarding.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of this, the present disclosure provides a message forwarding method and apparatus, so as to solve the problem of hardware forwarding plane resource waste caused by unreasonable use of hardware forwarding plane resources of a BRAS forwarding separation networking in the related art.

According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a method for forwarding a packet is provided, where the method is used in a control plane of a BRAS transfer separation networking, and the forwarding plane of the BRAS transfer separation networking includes a hardware forwarding plane and a software forwarding plane, and the method includes:

acquiring a network resource value of user equipment in a preset time period;

and determining to forward the traffic of the user equipment by adopting a hardware forwarding plane or a software forwarding plane according to the network resource value of the user equipment in a preset time period and the forwarding plane adopted by the current user equipment for traffic forwarding.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a packet forwarding apparatus is provided, where the apparatus is used in a control plane of a BRAS transfer control separation networking, where a forwarding plane of the BRAS transfer control separation networking includes a hardware forwarding plane and a software forwarding plane, and the apparatus includes:

the first acquisition module is used for acquiring a network resource value of the user equipment in a preset time period;

and the determining module is used for determining to forward the traffic of the user equipment by adopting a hardware forwarding plane or a software forwarding plane according to the network resource value of the user equipment in a preset time period and the forwarding plane adopted by the current user equipment for forwarding the traffic.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a packet forwarding apparatus, including: a processor; a memory for storing processor-executable instructions; wherein the processor is configured to perform the above method.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer program instructions stored thereon, wherein the computer program instructions, when executed by a processor, implement the above-described method.

The message forwarding method and device disclosed by the invention can be used for acquiring the network resource value of the user equipment in the preset time period, and determining to forward the flow of the user equipment by adopting a hardware forwarding plane or a software forwarding plane according to the network resource value of the user equipment in the preset time period and the forwarding plane adopted by the current user equipment for forwarding the flow. The message forwarding method and the message forwarding device can ensure that all user equipment are online, can realize reasonable allocation of hardware forwarding plane resources, and save the hardware forwarding plane resources.

Other features and aspects of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate exemplary embodiments, features, and aspects of the disclosure and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the disclosure.

Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a BRAS transfer control separation network according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a packet forwarding method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a packet forwarding method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating a packet forwarding method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating a packet forwarding method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 6 shows a block diagram of a message forwarding device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 7 shows a block diagram of a message forwarding device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 8 shows a block diagram of a message forwarding device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

Various exemplary embodiments, features and aspects of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings, like reference numbers can indicate functionally identical or similar elements. While the various aspects of the embodiments are presented in drawings, the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale unless specifically indicated.

The word "exemplary" is used exclusively herein to mean "serving as an example, embodiment, or illustration. Any embodiment described herein as "exemplary" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments.

Furthermore, in the following detailed description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a better understanding of the present disclosure. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the present disclosure may be practiced without some of these specific details. In some instances, methods, means, elements and circuits that are well known to those skilled in the art have not been described in detail so as not to obscure the present disclosure.

Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a BRAS transfer control separation network according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 1, the BRAS transfer split network includes a Control Plane (BRAS-CP, BRAS Control Plane) and a forwarding Plane (BRAS-DP, BRAS Data Plane). The forwarding plane includes a hardware forwarding plane and a software forwarding plane.

The BRAS-CP is a user control management component, and has functions of a user control management module, a user access control module, a user authentication authorization charging module, an address management module and the like, and functions of managing a BRAS-DP and an Openflow controller and the like. The BRAS-DP is a component for executing a three-layer network edge and a user policy, and has pure BRAS-DP functions such as traffic forwarding, QoS (Quality of Service), traffic statistics and the like, and BRAS-CP functions such as a unicast routing protocol, a multicast routing protocol, MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching) and the like.

As shown in fig. 1, a BRAS-DP may include a hardware DP (hardware forwarding plane) and a software DP (software forwarding plane). The hardware DP refers to a BRAS device of a conventional device manufacturer, such as an NP (Network Processor) DP and an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) DP, and the device has the characteristics of high forwarding performance, small delay, and the like. The software DP refers to a virtual function device that can be installed on the server virtual machine, such as an X86 (a chip execution instruction set) class DP. The NP class DP, the ASIC class DP or the X86 class DP can forward the service message between the user equipment and the network side equipment.

As an example, if each BRAS interface board supports 32K users, then if a piece of hardware DP includes 4 BRAS interface boards, then the piece of hardware DP can support up to 128K users. Assuming that the maximum occupied capacity of the hardware DP is 96K when the peak value is obtained by statistics, according to the conventional deployment mode, a hardware DP device including 4 BRAS interface boards needs to be deployed. According to the deployment mode disclosed by the invention, a hardware DP device comprising 3 BRAS interface boards can be deployed, and in addition, a virtual machine is added on an X86 system to serve as a vBRAS (Virtualized Broadband Remote Access Server), so that the cost can be greatly saved.

As shown in fig. 1, the user equipment may be connected to a switch, the switch may be connected to a core switch, the core switch may be connected to a hardware DP and a software DP, respectively, the hardware DP and the software DP may be connected to a BRAS-CP, respectively, and the BRAS-CP may be connected to an AAA (Authentication Authorization Accounting) server. The Core switch may also be connected to a network side device, which may be a CR (Core Router). BRAS-CP and BRAS-DP may also be connected to MANO (Management and organization), respectively.

The BRAS-CP can be deployed on a titanium carbide Core (TIC Core) by using NFV (Network Function Virtualization) technology, and the BRAS-DP can be deployed on a titanium carbide Edge (TIC Edge) by using a physical device form. The BRAS-CP can interact with service systems such as a Radius/DHCP server and the like, receive a broadband access protocol message sent by the BRAS-DP, and complete online processing of user equipment. Therefore, the flow of the user equipment can be forwarded between the BRAS-DP and the network side equipment, and the internet access service of the user equipment is completed.

As shown in fig. 1, a VXLAN tunnel and an Openflow channel are established between a BRAS-CP and a BRAS-DP, the VXLAN tunnel may be used to send a broadband access protocol packet, and the Openflow channel may be used to send session information. The broadband access Protocol packet may include a Point to Point Protocol over Ethernet (PPPoE) dial packet, an IPoE dial packet (IP over Ethernet, dynamic host configuration Protocol), and the like, which is not limited in this disclosure.

For example, after the BRAS-DP receives the PPPoE dial message from the service port, the BRAS-DP may send the PPPoE dial message to the BRAS-CP through the VXLAN tunnel. And the BRAS-CP finishes the access of the user equipment to the network according to the PPPoE dialing message and sends a response message to the BRAS-DP through the VXLAN tunnel. Therefore, the BRAS-DP responds the PPPoE dialing message through the service port. After the user equipment is on line, the BRAS-CP can generate session information and send the session information to the BRAS-DP on line of the user equipment through the Openflow channel, so that the BRAS-DP can generate a forwarding table entry to forward the traffic of the user equipment.

Table 1 shows session information according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in table 1, the session information may include the following: access Type, User ID (User number), User Mac (User Mac), Session ID (Session number), Inner Vlan (Inner Vlan number), Outer Vlan (Inner Vlan number), Add4 (User IPv4 address), Add6 (User IPv6 address), VSI (Virtual Switch Instance), and GateWay (User GateWay).

TABLE 1

Attribute name	Description of the invention
		Access Type	Access type PPPoE, IPoE
User ID	User number
		User Mac	User Mac, essential Properties
Session ID	The session number of PPPoE user, the number of non-PPPoE user is 0, the necessary attribute of PPPoE user
		Inner Vlan	Inner layer Vlan number
Outer Vlan	Inner layer Vlan number
		Add4	User IPv4 address
Add6	User IPV6 Address
		Vrf	Vrf name
VSI	VSI example
		GateWay	User gateway

In the related art, the hardware DP can realize the hot standby or warm standby of the BRAS, so that the problem of resource waste of the hardware DP exists. In particular, the user equipment has a tidal phenomenon of surfing the internet in practical application. That is, the user equipment may concentrate on a certain time period when the user equipment really has the service traffic every day, and the home router still has the keep-alive state when the user equipment does not surf the internet, so that the hardware DP always stores the session information corresponding to the user equipment and occupies expensive hardware DP resources, which causes waste of hardware DP resources.

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a packet forwarding method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The method is used in a control plane of a BRAS transfer control separation networking, and a forwarding plane of the BRAS transfer control separation networking comprises a hardware forwarding plane and a software forwarding plane. As shown in fig. 2, the message forwarding method includes:

in step S21, a network resource value of the user equipment within a preset time period is obtained.

The network resource value may refer to a value of network resources used by the ue. For example, the network resource value may be a traffic value or a broadband occupancy value, and the like, which is not limited by the present disclosure.

The user equipment may refer to a device that is connected to the terminal and is capable of forwarding the service packet with the network side device. The access of the terminal to the network can be realized through the user equipment. For example, the user equipment may include a modem, an optical modem, a home router, and the like, which is not limited by the present disclosure. The terminal may include a smart phone, a PC (Personal Computer), a Pad (Portable Android Device), or the like, which is not limited in this disclosure.

In one implementation, the preset time period may refer to a preset time interval that continuously scrolls on one time axis. The preset time period may have a start point and an end point.

As an example, if the time interval is set to 20 minutes, 1 hour may include 3 preset time periods. For example, 11: 00 to 12: 1 hour of 00 may include a preset time period 11: 00-11: 20. 11: 20-11: 40 and 11: 40 and 12: 00. in the preset time period 11: 00-11: 20, 11: 00 as a starting point, 11: and 20 is the termination point.

In one implementation, after the user equipment starts to surf the internet, the BRAS-DP generates traffic statistic information and sends the traffic statistic information to the BRAS-CP through an Openflow channel. After receiving the traffic statistical information of the user equipment, the BRAS-CP analyzes, updates the local traffic statistical information, and periodically sends the traffic statistical information to the AAA server. In addition, after receiving the traffic statistic information, the BRAS-CP separately maintains a piece of data based on the ue, where the data may include { ue, preset time period, uplink traffic, downlink traffic }.

The uplink traffic may refer to the number of bytes sent by the ue to the network side device, and the downlink traffic may refer to the number of bytes sent by the network side device to the ue. And taking the difference between the uplink flow corresponding to the termination point and the uplink flow corresponding to the starting point as the uplink flow in a preset time period. And taking the difference between the downlink flow corresponding to the termination point and the downlink flow corresponding to the starting point as the downlink flow in a preset time period.

In one implementation, the network resource value is a traffic value. The BRAS-CP may determine a traffic value of the user equipment within a preset time period according to an uplink traffic and a downlink traffic of the user equipment within the preset time period. For example, the BRAS-CP takes the sum of the uplink traffic and the downlink traffic of the user equipment in a preset time period as the traffic value of the user equipment in the preset time period.

As an example, in the preset time period 11: 00-11: 20, the user equipment at 11: 00 is 20480Bytes, 11: 20 is 10240Bytes, and the user equipment, in the preset time period 11: 00-11: the upstream traffic in 20 is 10240 Bytes. In the preset time period 11: 00-11: 20, the user equipment at 11: 00 is 200Bytes, and 11: 20 is 205000Bytes, the ue performs, in the preset time period 11: 00-11: the downstream flow in 20 is 204800 Bytes. Whereby the user equipment, for a preset time period 11: 00-11: the flow value in 20 is (10240+204800)/1024 ═ 210M.

It should be noted that, although the method for the BRAS-CP to obtain the traffic value of the user equipment in the preset time period is described above by taking the BRAS-CP to determine the traffic value of the user equipment in the preset time period as an example, a person skilled in the art can understand that the present disclosure should not be limited thereto. The method for acquiring the traffic value of the user equipment in the preset time period by the BRAS-CP can be flexibly set by a person skilled in the art according to the actual application scenario. For example, the flow value of the user equipment in the preset time period can be determined by the BRAS-DP and then sent to the BRAS-CP.

In step S22, it is determined to forward the traffic of the user equipment by using a hardware forwarding plane or a software forwarding plane according to the network resource value of the user equipment in the preset time period and the forwarding plane used by the current user equipment for forwarding the traffic.

In one implementation, when current user equipment performs traffic forwarding by using a hardware forwarding plane, if a network resource value of the user equipment in a preset time period is smaller than a first threshold, determining to forward the traffic of the user equipment by using a software forwarding plane; or when the current user equipment performs traffic forwarding and adopts a hardware forwarding plane, if the network resource value of the user equipment in a preset time period is greater than or equal to a first threshold value, determining to forward the traffic of the user equipment by adopting the hardware forwarding plane.

The first threshold may refer to a lower threshold corresponding to the hardware DP. For example, the value of the first threshold may be 100M or 200M, etc., which is not limited by the present disclosure.

As one example, the network resource value is a traffic value. The flow value of the user equipment in the preset time period is smaller than the first threshold, so that the user equipment can be indicated to be in a keep-alive state or a small-flow using state at present, but not in a large-flow using state, and therefore the flow of the user equipment is forwarded by adopting the software DP, so that the user equipment can be ensured to be on line normally, and hardware DP resources can be released.

In one implementation, when the current user equipment performs traffic forwarding on a software forwarding plane, if a network resource value of the user equipment in a preset time period is greater than a second threshold, determining to forward the traffic of the user equipment on a hardware forwarding plane; or when the current user equipment performs traffic forwarding and adopts the software forwarding plane, if the network resource value of the user equipment in a preset time period is less than or equal to the second threshold value, determining to forward the traffic of the user equipment by adopting the software forwarding plane.

The second threshold may refer to an upper threshold corresponding to the software DP. The values of the first threshold and the second threshold may be equal or unequal. For example, the value of the second threshold may be 30M or 50M, etc., which is not limited by the present disclosure.

As one example, the network resource value is a traffic value. If the flow value of the user equipment in the preset time period is greater than the second threshold, it can be indicated that the user equipment is currently in a large flow use state, and therefore the hardware DP is adopted to forward the flow of the user equipment, and the characteristics of high forwarding performance, small time delay and the like of the hardware DP are fully utilized.

In one implementation, when the current user equipment uses a hardware forwarding plane for forwarding traffic, after determining that the current user equipment uses a software forwarding plane for forwarding traffic of the user equipment, the method for forwarding a message further includes: acquiring session information corresponding to the user equipment according to the user number of the user equipment; sending session information corresponding to the user equipment to a software forwarding plane, and sending a flow table to a core switch, so that the software forwarding plane forwards the flow of the user equipment; and sending deletion information to the hardware forwarding plane so that the hardware forwarding plane deletes the session information corresponding to the user equipment in the hardware forwarding plane according to the deletion information.

In one implementation, when the current user equipment performs traffic forwarding using the software forwarding plane, after determining that the traffic of the user equipment is forwarded using the hardware forwarding plane, the message forwarding method further includes: acquiring session information corresponding to the user equipment according to the user number of the user equipment; sending session information corresponding to the user equipment to a hardware forwarding plane, and sending deletion information to a core switch, so that the core switch deletes a flow table in the core switch according to the deletion information, and the hardware forwarding plane forwards the flow of the user equipment; and sending deletion information to the software forwarding plane so that the software forwarding plane deletes the session information corresponding to the user equipment in the software forwarding plane according to the deletion information.

According to the message forwarding method, the control plane can determine to forward the flow of the user equipment by adopting the hardware forwarding plane or the software forwarding plane according to the network resource value of the user equipment in the preset time period and the forwarding plane adopted by the current user equipment for forwarding the flow, so that all the user equipment can be ensured to be online, the hardware DP resource can be reasonably distributed, and the hardware DP resource is saved.

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a packet forwarding method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 3, the message forwarding method includes:

in step S31, a network resource value of the user equipment within a preset time period is obtained.

In step S32, when the current ue performs traffic forwarding on the hardware forwarding plane, if the network resource value of the ue in the preset time period is greater than or equal to the first threshold, it is determined that the traffic of the ue is forwarded on the hardware forwarding plane.

As one example, the network resource value is a traffic value. Take the preset time period of 10 minutes and the first threshold of 100M as an example. Table 2 shows traffic information according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in table 2, the current ue uses hardware DP (identified as 1) for forwarding traffic, and the traffic value in 10 minutes is (10240+204800)/1024 — 210M. The traffic value 210M in 10 minutes is greater than the first threshold 100M, so the BRAS-CP determines that the traffic of the ue does not switch from the hardware DP to the software DP, i.e. keeps forwarding the traffic of the ue using the hardware DP.

TABLE 2

User (UserID)	FFFF0001
		Type of access device (1 for hardware DP and 2 for software DP)	1
Time interval (Second)	600
		Upstream flow statistics (Bytes)	10240
Downstream flow statistics (Bytes)	204800

In step S33, when the current ue performs traffic forwarding using the hardware forwarding plane, if the network resource value of the ue in the preset time period is smaller than the first threshold, it is determined that the traffic of the ue is forwarded using the software forwarding plane.

As one example, the network resource value is a traffic value. Take the preset time period of 10 minutes and the first threshold of 100M as an example. Table 3 shows traffic information according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in table 3, the current ue forwards traffic using hardware DP (identified as 1), the traffic value in 10 minutes is (10240+40960)/1024 ═ 50, and the traffic value 50M in 10 minutes is smaller than the first threshold 100M, so that the BRAS-CP determines that the traffic of the ue needs to be switched from the hardware DP to the software DP, that is, the traffic of the ue needs to be forwarded using the software DP.

TABLE 3

User (UserID)	FFFF0001
		Type of access device (1 for hardware DP and 2 for software DP)	1
Time interval (Second)	600
		Upstream flow statistics (Bytes)	10240
Downstream flow statistics (Bytes)	40960

The BRAS-CP determines to adopt the software DP to forward the flow of the user equipment, so as to obtain the session information corresponding to the user equipment according to the user number of the user equipment and send the session information corresponding to the user equipment to the software DP. The BRAS-CP also sends the flow table to a core switch to which the hardware DP and the software DP are commonly connected. The flow table is used to indicate an interface to be sent to the connection software DP for traffic from and to the user device. Therefore, the traffic of the user equipment is switched from the hardware DP to the software DP, namely, the traffic of the user equipment is forwarded by the software DP.

In addition, the BRAS-CP also sends deletion information to the hardware DP, so that after receiving the deletion information, the hardware DP deletes session information corresponding to the user equipment in the hardware DP according to the deletion information, thereby releasing hardware DP resources. It is understood that this step may be performed after the traffic of the user equipment is forwarded by the software DP, thereby ensuring that the traffic of the user equipment is not interrupted, i.e. the traffic is switched from the hardware DP to the software DP without the user equipment sensing.

It should be noted that, although the above is described by taking the preset time period of 10 minutes and the first threshold of 100M as an example, those skilled in the art can understand that the disclosure should not be limited thereto. The preset time period and the first threshold value can be flexibly set by those skilled in the art according to the actual application scenario.

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating a packet forwarding method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 4, the message forwarding method includes:

in step S41, a network resource value of the user equipment within a preset time period is obtained.

In step S42, when the current ue performs traffic forwarding on the software forwarding plane, if the network resource value of the ue in the preset time period is smaller than or equal to the second threshold, it is determined that the traffic of the ue is forwarded on the software forwarding plane.

As one example, the network resource value is a traffic value. Take the preset time period of 5 minutes and the second threshold of 50M as an example. Table 4 shows traffic information according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in table 4, the current ue performs traffic forwarding by using software DP (identified as 2), the traffic value in 5 minutes is (5120+20480)/1024 ═ 25M, and the traffic value 25M in 5 minutes is smaller than the second threshold 50M, so that the BRAS-CP determines that the traffic of the ue is not switched from the software DP to the hardware DP, i.e. the traffic of the ue is kept forwarded by using the software DP.

TABLE 4

User (UserID)	FFFF0001
		Type of access device (1 for hardware DP and 2 for software DP)	2
Time interval (Second)	300
		Upstream flow statistics (Bytes)	5120
Downstream flow statistics (Bytes)	20480

In step S43, when the current ue performs traffic forwarding on the software forwarding plane, if the network resource value of the ue in the preset time period is greater than the second threshold, it is determined that the hardware forwarding plane is used to forward the traffic of the ue.

As one example, the network resource value is a traffic value. Take the preset time period of 5 minutes and the second threshold of 50M as an example. Table 5 shows traffic information according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in table 5, the current ue forwards traffic using software DP (identified as 2), the traffic value in 5 minutes is (5120+51200)/1024 ═ 55M, and the traffic value 55M in 5 minutes is greater than the second threshold 50M, so that the BRAS-CP determines that the traffic of the ue needs to be switched from the software DP to the hardware DP, that is, the traffic of the ue needs to be forwarded using the hardware DP.

TABLE 5

User (UserID)	FFFF0001
		Type of access device (1 for hardware DP and 2 for software DP)	2
Time interval (Second)	300
		Upstream flow statistics (Bytes)	5120
Downstream flow statistics (Bytes)	51200

And the BRAS-CP determines to adopt a hardware DP to forward the flow of the user equipment, so that the session information corresponding to the user equipment is acquired according to the user number of the user equipment, and the session information corresponding to the user equipment is sent to the hardware DP. The BRAS-CP also sends deletion information to a core switch to which the hardware DP and the software DP are commonly connected, so that the core switch deletes the flow table in the hardware core switch according to the deletion information after receiving the deletion information. Therefore, the traffic of the user equipment is switched from the software DP to the hardware DP, namely, the traffic of the user equipment is forwarded by the hardware DP.

In addition, the BRAS-CP also sends deletion information to the software DP, so that after receiving the deletion information, the software DP deletes the session information corresponding to the user equipment in the software DP according to the deletion information, and realizes the release of the software DP resource. It is understood that this step may be performed after the traffic of the user equipment is forwarded by using the hardware DP, thereby ensuring that the traffic of the user equipment is not interrupted, i.e. the traffic is switched from the software DP to the hardware DP without the user equipment sensing.

It should be noted that, although the above is described by taking the preset time period of 5 minutes and the second threshold of 50M as an example, those skilled in the art can understand that the disclosure should not be limited thereto. The preset time period and the second threshold value can be flexibly set by those skilled in the art according to the actual application scenario. In addition, by adopting a smaller preset time period and a second threshold value, when the current user equipment forwards the traffic by adopting the software DP, if the traffic of the user equipment is increased, the software DP can be quickly switched to the hardware DP.

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating a packet forwarding method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 5, the message forwarding method includes:

in step S51, the total number of user equipments for traffic forwarding using the hardware forwarding plane is obtained.

In one implementation, the total number of user devices that use the hardware DP for traffic forwarding may be represented by the currently occupied capacity of the hardware DP. The hardware DP can save the session information corresponding to the user device, and therefore it can be inferred that: the larger the current occupied capacity of the hardware DP is, the more user equipment adopting the hardware DP to forward the flow is; the smaller the currently occupied capacity of the hardware DP is, the fewer user devices adopt the hardware DP to forward traffic.

In step S52, when the total number of the user equipments that use the hardware forwarding plane for traffic forwarding is greater than the third threshold, a network resource value of the user equipment in a preset time period is obtained.

The third threshold may refer to an upper threshold corresponding to the total number of the user devices that use the hardware DP for traffic forwarding. When the currently occupied capacity of the hardware DP indicates the total number of the user equipment that uses the hardware DP for traffic forwarding, the value of the third threshold may be 50K or 60K, which is not limited in this disclosure.

In step S53, it is determined to forward the traffic of the user equipment by using a hardware forwarding plane or a software forwarding plane according to the network resource value of the user equipment in the preset time period and the forwarding plane used by the current user equipment for forwarding the traffic.

The total number of the user devices which use the hardware DP for traffic forwarding is represented by the currently occupied capacity of the hardware DP, and the third threshold is 50K as an example. For example, due to the characteristics of high forwarding performance and small time delay of the hardware DP, when the user equipment is online, the hardware DP is defaulted to be online. And the BRAS-CP obtains that the currently occupied capacity of the hardware DP is 48K and is smaller than a third threshold value 50K, so that the BRAS-CP forwards the traffic of the user equipment by adopting the hardware DP. For another example, the BRAS-CP obtains that the currently occupied capacity of the hardware DP reaches 51K and is greater than a third threshold value 50K, so that the BRAS-CP determines to forward the traffic of the user equipment by using the hardware DP or the software DP according to the traffic value of the user equipment in the preset time period and the DP used for forwarding the traffic of the current user equipment.

Fig. 6 shows a block diagram of a message forwarding device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The device is used in a control plane of a BRAS transfer control separation networking, and a forwarding plane of the BRAS transfer control separation networking comprises a hardware forwarding plane and a software forwarding plane. As shown in fig. 6, the packet forwarding apparatus includes:

a first obtaining module 61, configured to obtain a network resource value of a user equipment within a preset time period;

a determining module 62, configured to determine to forward the traffic of the user equipment by using a hardware forwarding plane or a software forwarding plane according to the network resource value of the user equipment in a preset time period and the forwarding plane currently used by the user equipment for traffic forwarding.

Fig. 7 shows a block diagram of a message forwarding device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 7:

in one implementation, the determining module 62 includes a first determining submodule 621, and the first determining submodule 621 is configured to:

when the current user equipment carries out traffic forwarding and adopts a hardware forwarding plane, if the network resource value of the user equipment in a preset time period is smaller than a first threshold value, determining to forward the traffic of the user equipment by adopting a software forwarding plane; or

When the current user equipment performs traffic forwarding by using a hardware forwarding plane, if the network resource value of the user equipment in a preset time period is greater than or equal to a first threshold value, determining to forward the traffic of the user equipment by using the hardware forwarding plane.

In one implementation, the determination module 62 includes a second determination submodule 622, and the second determination submodule 622 is configured to:

when the current user equipment performs traffic forwarding by using a software forwarding plane, if the network resource value of the user equipment in a preset time period is greater than a second threshold value, determining to forward the traffic of the user equipment by using a hardware forwarding plane; or

When the current user equipment carries out flow forwarding and adopts a software forwarding plane, if the network resource value of the user equipment in a preset time period is smaller than or equal to a second threshold value, the user equipment is determined to adopt the software forwarding plane to forward the flow of the user equipment.

In one implementation, the apparatus further includes a first switching module 63, where the first switching module 63 is configured to:

acquiring session information corresponding to the user equipment according to the user number of the user equipment;

sending session information corresponding to the user equipment to a software forwarding plane, and sending a flow table to a core switch, so that the software forwarding plane forwards the flow of the user equipment;

and sending deletion information to a hardware forwarding plane so that the hardware forwarding plane deletes the session information corresponding to the user equipment in the hardware forwarding plane according to the deletion information.

In one implementation, the apparatus further includes a second switching module 64, where the second switching module 64 is configured to:

sending session information corresponding to the user equipment to a hardware forwarding plane, and sending deletion information to a core switch, so that the core switch deletes a flow table in the core switch according to the deletion information, and the hardware forwarding plane forwards the flow of the user equipment;

and sending deletion information to the software forwarding plane so that the software forwarding plane deletes the session information corresponding to the user equipment in the software forwarding plane according to the deletion information.

In one implementation, the apparatus further comprises:

a second obtaining module 60, configured to obtain a total number of user equipments that use a hardware forwarding plane to perform traffic forwarding;

the first obtaining module 61 is further configured to: and when the total number of the user equipment adopting the hardware forwarding plane for carrying out traffic forwarding is larger than a third threshold value, acquiring a network resource value of the user equipment in a preset time period.

According to the message forwarding device, the control plane can determine to forward the flow of the user equipment by adopting the hardware forwarding plane or the software forwarding plane according to the network resource value of the user equipment in the preset time period and the forwarding plane adopted by the current user equipment for forwarding the flow, so that all the user equipment can be ensured to be online, the hardware DP resource can be reasonably distributed, and the hardware DP resource is saved.

Fig. 8 shows a block diagram of a message forwarding device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Referring to fig. 8, the apparatus 900 may include a processor 901, a machine-readable storage medium 902 having stored thereon machine-executable instructions. The processor 901 and the machine-readable storage medium 902 may communicate via a system bus 903. Also, the processor 901 executes the message forwarding method described above by reading machine-executable instructions in the machine-readable storage medium 902 corresponding to the message forwarding logic.

The machine-readable storage medium 902 referred to herein may be any electronic, magnetic, optical, or other physical storage device that can contain or store information such as executable instructions, data, and the like. For example, the machine-readable storage medium may be: a RAM (random Access Memory), a volatile Memory, a non-volatile Memory, a flash Memory, a storage drive (e.g., a hard drive), a solid state drive, any type of storage disk (e.g., an optical disk, a dvd, etc.), or similar storage medium, or a combination thereof.

Having described embodiments of the present disclosure, the foregoing description is intended to be exemplary, not exhaustive, and not limited to the disclosed embodiments. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the described embodiments. The terms used herein were chosen in order to best explain the principles of the embodiments, the practical application, or technical improvements to the techniques in the marketplace, or to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodiments disclosed herein.

Claims

1. A message forwarding method is characterized in that the method is used in a control plane of a Broadband Remote Access Server (BRAS) transfer control separation network, the forwarding plane of the BRAS transfer control separation network comprises a hardware forwarding plane and a software forwarding plane, and the method comprises the following steps:

acquiring the total number of user equipment for carrying out flow forwarding by adopting a hardware forwarding plane;

when the total number of the user equipment adopting the hardware forwarding plane for carrying out traffic forwarding is larger than a third threshold value, acquiring a network resource value of the user equipment in a preset time period;

determining to forward the traffic of the user equipment by adopting a hardware forwarding plane or a software forwarding plane according to the network resource value of the user equipment in a preset time period and the forwarding plane adopted by the current user equipment for traffic forwarding;

determining to forward the traffic of the user equipment by using a hardware forwarding plane or a software forwarding plane according to the network resource value of the user equipment in a preset time period and the forwarding plane currently used by the user equipment for traffic forwarding, including:

When the current user equipment carries out traffic forwarding and adopts a hardware forwarding plane, if the network resource value of the user equipment in a preset time period is greater than or equal to a first threshold value, determining to forward the traffic of the user equipment by adopting the hardware forwarding plane; or

2. The method of claim 1, wherein when the current user equipment employs a hardware forwarding plane for traffic forwarding, after determining that the user equipment's traffic is forwarded using a software forwarding plane, the method further comprises:

3. The method of claim 1, wherein when the current user equipment is configured to forward traffic using a software forwarding plane, after determining that the user equipment is configured to forward traffic using a hardware forwarding plane, the method further comprises:

4. The utility model provides a message forwarding unit, its characterized in that, the device is arranged in the control plane of BRAS transfer control separation network deployment, the forwarding plane of BRAS transfer control separation network deployment includes hardware forwarding plane and software forwarding plane, the device includes:

the second acquisition module is used for acquiring the total number of the user equipment which adopts the hardware forwarding plane to forward the flow; the first obtaining module is used for obtaining a network resource value of the user equipment in a preset time period when the total number of the user equipment adopting the hardware forwarding plane to forward the traffic is larger than a third threshold;

a determining module, configured to determine, according to a network resource value of the user equipment in a preset time period and a forwarding plane used for forwarding traffic of the user equipment currently, to forward the traffic of the user equipment by using a hardware forwarding plane or a software forwarding plane;

the determination module includes a first determination submodule to:

When the current user equipment carries out traffic forwarding and adopts a hardware forwarding plane, if the network resource value of the user equipment in a preset time period is greater than or equal to a first threshold value, determining to forward the traffic of the user equipment by adopting the hardware forwarding plane;

or, the determining module includes a second determining submodule configured to:

5. The apparatus of claim 4, further comprising a first switching module configured to:

6. The apparatus of claim 4, further comprising a second switching module configured to: