CN116389263A

CN116389263A - Method for controlling network slice state and related equipment

Info

Publication number: CN116389263A
Application number: CN202210259509.2A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 方晟; 胡志波
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2021-12-24
Filing date: 2022-03-16
Publication date: 2023-07-04
Also published as: CN116389381A

Abstract

The application discloses a method for controlling a network slice state and related equipment, wherein in response to receiving a first message belonging to a first network slice, the first network equipment switches the first network slice from an inactive state to an active state and introduces the first message into the first network slice. The method comprises the steps that a first network slice is allowed to bear traffic without a slice identifier, the value of a slice special bandwidth of the first network slice is smaller than the value of a required bandwidth, the inactive state indicates that the first network slice is not allowed to bear traffic without the slice identifier, the value of the slice special bandwidth of the first network slice is equal to the value of the required bandwidth, and the slice special bandwidth is the bandwidth special for the first network slice to bear the traffic with the first slice identifier. Therefore, the method occupies the bandwidth according to the value of the required bandwidth only when the flow of the network slice exists in the slice network, so that the service quality provided by the network slice is ensured, and the resource utilization rate in the slice network is improved.

Description

Method for controlling network slice state and related equipment

The present application claims priority from the chinese patent application filed at month 24 of 2021, 12, filed with the chinese national intellectual property agency, application number 202111599993.5, application name "a method, apparatus and system for slice resource sharing", the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a method and related device for controlling a network slice state.

Background

Tunnel-carried traffic requires adequate resource guarantees, so multiple slices are typically deployed on the interface of the network device, with adequate resources reserved for each slice. In the process of forwarding the traffic, the traffic carries a slice identifier (slice ID), and the network device forwards the traffic by using the resources reserved for the slice, so as to ensure the service quality of the traffic. However, in many cases, the reserved resources on the slice are idle for a long time, resulting in low network resource utilization.

Disclosure of Invention

Based on this, the embodiment of the application provides a method and related equipment for controlling the state of a network slice, which improve the utilization rate of network resources by flexibly controlling the state of the network slice.

In a first aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a method for controlling a network slice state, where the method is applied to a first network device, the method may include, for example: after receiving a first message belonging to a first network slice, the first network device switches the state of the first network slice from an inactive state to an active state in response to receiving the first message, and introduces the first message into the first network slice in the active state. The method comprises the steps that a first network slice is allowed to bear traffic without a slice identifier, the value of a slice special bandwidth of the first network slice is smaller than the value of a required bandwidth, the inactive state indicates that the first network slice is not allowed to bear traffic without the slice identifier, the value of the slice special bandwidth of the first network slice is equal to the value of the required bandwidth, and the slice special bandwidth is the bandwidth special for the first network slice to bear traffic with the first slice identifier. In the method, an active state and an inactive state are set for the network slice, the state of the default network slice is the inactive state when the deployment of the network slice is completed, the first network slice is allowed to bear traffic which does not carry a slice identifier, the traffic belonging to the network slice triggers the network equipment to complete the switching of the state of the network slice, the inactive state is switched to the active state, the network slice which defines the active state only allows the traffic which carries the slice identifier of the network slice to be borne, so that after the network slice is deployed on the network equipment, even if the traffic of the network slice does not exist in the slicing network, the network slice does not occupy larger bandwidth according to the value of the own required bandwidth, and only when the traffic of the network slice exists in the slicing network, the network slice occupies bandwidth according to the value of the own required bandwidth to ensure the service quality provided by the network slice, thereby greatly improving the resource utilization rate in the slicing network.

In some implementations, before the first network device receives the first packet carrying the first slice identifier, the method may further include: the first network device acquires slice information of the first network slice; the first network device configures the first network slice according to the slice information; the first network device determines a state of the first network slice as the inactive state. Wherein the slice information includes at least one of the following information: the first slice identifier, the required bandwidth, interface information and priority information. In this way, the newly deployed first network slice is determined to be in an inactive state, and the inactive state is defined as that the first network slice is allowed to bear traffic which does not carry slice identification, and the value of the slice dedicated bandwidth of the first network slice is smaller than the value of the required bandwidth, so that the utilization rate of network resources is improved.

In some implementations, when the state of the first network slice is the inactive state, the value of the slice-specific bandwidth is 0.

As one example, the first network device configures the first network slice according to the slice information, including: the first network device configures a first network slice according to the slice information, but does not allocate slice-specific bandwidth for the first network slice; then, the first network device switching the state of the first network slice from an inactive state to an active state, comprising: the first network device allocates a slice-specific bandwidth to the first network slice, the value of the allocated slice-specific bandwidth being equal to the value of the required bandwidth of the first network slice. Therefore, after the first network device deploys the first network slice, the first network device does not need to deduct the required bandwidth of the first network slice from the total bandwidth, the first network device can process other messages with more sufficient bandwidth, and when the messages of the first network slice reach the first network device, the first network device deducts the required bandwidth of the first network slice from the total bandwidth to serve as the slice special bandwidth of the first network slice, so that the service quality provided on the first network slice is ensured. In this example, after the first network device configures the first network slice, a scheduling queue (may also be referred to as a buffer queue) corresponding to the first network slice is not established, and compared with the case that the first network device allocates a general bandwidth to the first network slice when configuring the first network slice for execution, the first network device establishes the scheduling queue corresponding to the first network slice when receiving a packet of the first network slice, but the packets in the scheduling queue introduced into the first network slice are all the traffic of the first network slice, and the packets which do not carry the slice identifier cannot exist in the scheduling queue corresponding to the first network slice, so that when processing the traffic of the first network slice, the scheduling queue does not need to wait for the processing of other packets which do not carry the slice identifier.

As another example, the first network device configures the first network slice according to the slice information, including: the first network device allocates a universal bandwidth for the first network slice, and sets the allocated universal bandwidth to allow traffic which does not carry slice identification to be carried, wherein the value of the universal bandwidth is equal to the value of the required bandwidth of the first network slice; then, the first network device switching the state of the first network slice from an inactive state to an active state, comprising: the first network device sets the allocated universal bandwidth as a slice-specific bandwidth of the first network slice. Therefore, after the first network device deploys the first network slice, the first network device deducts the required bandwidth of the first network slice from the total bandwidth and records the bandwidth as a universal bandwidth, but the universal bandwidth can be used by the first network device to bear traffic which does not carry the slice identifier until the message with the first network slice reaches the first network device, the first network device only needs to set the universal bandwidth as a special bandwidth for the slice, so that the service quality provided on the first network slice is ensured. In this example, after the first network slice is configured, the first network device has the scheduling queue corresponding to the first network slice, and compared with the case that the first network device allocates the slice-dedicated bandwidth to the first network slice only after receiving the message of the first network slice, the first network device does not need to establish the scheduling queue corresponding to the first network slice when receiving the message of the first network slice, so that the message of the first network slice can be guided to the scheduling queue corresponding to the first network slice more timely. However, there may be unprocessed traffic in the scheduling queue that does not carry the slice identifier, and the traffic of the first network slice may still be processed after the traffic that does not carry the slice identifier and that enters the scheduling queue first is processed first, following the processing rule of the queue first in first out.

In other implementations, when the state of the first network slice is the inactive state, the value of the slice-specific bandwidth is N times the required bandwidth, the N being greater than 0 and less than 1.

As one example, the first network device configures the first network slice according to the slice information, including: the first network device allocates a slice-specific bandwidth to the first network slice, the value of the allocated slice-specific bandwidth being equal to the N times the value of the required bandwidth of the first network slice; then, the first network device switching the state of the first network slice from an inactive state to an active state, comprising: the first network device modifies a value of a slice-specific bandwidth allocated to the first network slice, the modified value of the slice-specific bandwidth being equal to a value of a required bandwidth of the first network slice. Therefore, after the first network device deploys the first network slice, in order that when a message of the first network slice reaches the first network device, the first network device does not need to establish a scheduling queue of the first network slice, the first network device can introduce the flow of the first network slice into the scheduling queue in time, and the first network device can deduct N times (for example, 0.1 times) of the required bandwidth of the first network slice from the total bandwidth as a special bandwidth for slicing, and does not need to deduct the required bandwidth of the first network slice from the total bandwidth, so that the first network device can have more sufficient bandwidth to process other messages; until the message with the first network slice reaches the first network equipment, the first network equipment modifies the value of the special bandwidth of the slice to be the value of the required bandwidth, namely, continuously allocates the bandwidth (1-N) times of the required bandwidth to the first network slice, and forms a new special bandwidth of the first network slice together with the special bandwidth of the slice allocated in the configuration first network slice, thereby guaranteeing the service quality provided on the first network slice.

As another example, the first network device configures the first network slice according to the slice information, including: the first network device allocates a universal bandwidth for the first network slice, and sets the bandwidth except the N times of the universal bandwidth in the allocated universal bandwidth to allow traffic without carrying a slice identifier to be carried, wherein the value of the universal bandwidth is equal to the value of the required bandwidth of the first network slice; then, the first network device switching the state of the first network slice from an inactive state to an active state, comprising: the first network device sets the allocated universal bandwidth as a slice-specific bandwidth of the first network slice. Thus, after the first network device deploys the first network slice, the first network device deducts the required bandwidth of the first network slice from the total bandwidth, and marks the bandwidth as a universal bandwidth, but the universal bandwidth is divided into two parts: n times of the universal bandwidth and (1-N) times of the universal bandwidth are allowed to be used for bearing traffic which does not carry slice identification, the rest N times of the bandwidth is the special bandwidth of the slice of the first network slice, and only the traffic of the first network slice is allowed to be used; and the first network equipment only needs to set the total universal bandwidth as the special bandwidth of the slice until the message with the first network slice reaches the first network equipment, so that the service quality provided on the first network slice is ensured. This example increases the utilization of network resources compared to allowing traffic usage only by the first network slice after the demand bandwidth of the first network slice is currently allocated.

In some implementations, the method can further include: and if the first network equipment determines that the traffic carrying the first network slice identifier is not received for the preset time length, switching the state of the first network slice from the activated state to the non-activated state. In this way, for a network slice in which some traffic will not continuously appear in the slice network, when traffic belonging to the network slice is not received for a long time, the state of the network slice is switched to an inactive state, so that the whole or part of the required bandwidth of the network slice is allowed to be temporarily used by traffic which does not carry the slice identifier until the traffic belonging to the network slice appears again, and the utilization rate of network resources is improved.

In a second aspect, the present application further provides an apparatus for controlling a network slice state, applied to a first network device, where the apparatus may include: a receiving unit, a switching unit and a lead-in unit. The receiving unit is used for receiving a first message carrying a first slice identifier, wherein the first slice identifier indicates a first network slice; a switching unit, configured to switch, according to the first packet, a state of the first network slice from an inactive state to an active state, where the inactive state indicates that the first network slice is allowed to carry traffic that does not carry a slice identifier, and a value of a slice-specific bandwidth of the first network slice is smaller than a value of a required bandwidth, and the active state indicates that the first network slice is not allowed to carry traffic that does not carry a slice identifier, and the value of the slice-specific bandwidth of the first network slice is equal to the value of the required bandwidth, and the slice-specific bandwidth is a bandwidth that is dedicated to carry traffic that carries the first slice identifier by the first network slice; and the leading-in unit is used for leading the first message into the first network slice.

In some implementations, the apparatus may further include: an acquisition unit, a configuration unit and a determination unit. The acquisition unit is used for acquiring the slice information of the first network slice before receiving the first message carrying the first slice identifier; a configuration unit, configured to configure the first network slice according to the slice information; a determining unit, configured to determine a state of the first network slice as the inactive state.

In this implementation manner, as an example, the configuration unit is specifically configured to: configuring a first network slice according to the slice information, but not allocating slice-specific bandwidth for the first network slice; the switching unit is then specifically configured to: a slice-specific bandwidth is allocated to the first network slice, the value of the allocated slice-specific bandwidth being equal to the value of the required bandwidth of the first network slice.

As another example, the configuration unit is specifically configured to: allocating a universal bandwidth for the first network slice, and setting the allocated universal bandwidth to allow traffic which does not carry slice identification to be carried, wherein the value of the universal bandwidth is equal to the value of the required bandwidth of the first network slice; the switching unit is then specifically configured to: the allocated universal bandwidth is set to a slice-specific bandwidth of the first network slice.

In this implementation manner, as an example, the configuration unit is specifically configured to: allocating a slice-specific bandwidth to the first network slice, the value of the allocated slice-specific bandwidth being equal to the N times the value of the required bandwidth of the first network slice; the switching unit is then specifically configured to: modifying a value of a slice-specific bandwidth allocated for the first network slice, the modified value of the slice-specific bandwidth being equal to a value of a demand bandwidth of the first network slice.

As another example, the configuration unit is specifically configured to: allocating a universal bandwidth for the first network slice, and setting the bandwidth except the N times of the universal bandwidth in the allocated universal bandwidth to allow traffic without carrying a slice identifier to be carried, wherein the value of the universal bandwidth is equal to the value of the required bandwidth of the first network slice; the switching unit is then specifically configured to: the allocated universal bandwidth is set to a slice-specific bandwidth of the first network slice.

In this application, the slice information includes at least one of the following information: the first slice identifier, the required bandwidth, interface information and priority information.

In some implementations, the switching unit is further configured to: and if the preset duration does not receive the traffic carrying the first slice identifier, switching the state of the first network slice from the activated state to the inactivated state.

It should be noted that, the specific implementation manner and the achieved technical effect of the apparatus provided in the present application may refer to the method provided in the first aspect.

In a third aspect, the present application provides a network device comprising a processor and a memory for storing instructions or program code, the processor being adapted to invoke and execute the instructions or program code from the memory to perform the method of the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect.

In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a computer readable storage medium comprising instructions, a program or a code which, when executed on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method of the first aspect or any one of the possible implementations of the first aspect.

In a fifth aspect, the present application provides a computer program product which, when run on a network device, causes the network device to perform the method of the first aspect or any one of the possible implementations of the first aspect.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application, the drawings that are needed in the description of the embodiments will be briefly introduced below, and it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments described in the present application, and other drawings may be obtained according to these drawings for a person having ordinary skill in the art.

FIG. 1 is a flow chart of a method 100 for controlling network slice status in the present application;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of another method 100 for controlling network slice status in the present application;

fig. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of an apparatus 200 for controlling network slice status in the present application;

fig. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of a network device 400 in the present application;

fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of another network device 500 in the present application.

Detailed Description

Currently, when network devices of a slice network deploy network slices, deployment is generally performed based on slice information, which specifically includes: the network slice is configured based on slice identification, interface information, priority information, and the like, and is allocated a slice-specific bandwidth having a value equal to the required bandwidth of the network slice. For example, for deploying a first network slice on a network device, the network device may obtain first slice information of the first network slice, where the first slice information may be manually configured on the network device, or may be sent to the network device by a network manager, a control entity, or other devices, and it is assumed that the first slice information includes: the first network slice has a required bandwidth of 100 megabits per second (Mbps), the slice of the first network slice is identified as slice ID 1, the interface information indicates interface 1, the priority information indicates high priority, and the network device deploying the first network slice may include: s11, the network device configures the first network slice according to slice identification, interface information and priority information in the first slice information, and the method specifically may include: the network equipment sets a slice identifier of a first network slice as slice ID 1, wherein the first network slice is a network slice with high priority on an interface 1; and S12, the network equipment allocates a slice special bandwidth with the same value as the required bandwidth to the first network slice according to the required bandwidth in the first slice information, namely, the first network equipment allocates the slice special bandwidth with 100Mbps to the first network slice. Thus far, the network device completes the deployment of the first network slice, and the slice-specific bandwidth of 100Mbps only allows traffic belonging to the first network slice to be used, whether or not there is traffic belonging to the first network slice in the slice network.

It can be seen that in the current deployment of a network slice, once the network slice is deployed on a network device, bandwidth resources sufficient to satisfy the required bandwidth of the network slice are allocated on the network device, and the bandwidth already allocated to the network slice can only be used by traffic belonging to the network slice, but cannot be used by other traffic. However, in many cases, after the deployment of the network slice is completed, there may be no traffic belonging to the network device slice for a long time in the slice network, and the bandwidth allocated to the network slice on the network device may be idle for a long time, which results in low utilization of network resources. For example, after the deployment of the network slice including the standby path is completed, when the main path has no fault, the network slice on the standby path has no traffic transmission, and the bandwidth allocated by the network slice on the standby path is always idle; for another example, in the network deployment phase, after the deployment of the network slice is completed, it is likely that the network slice may be used after the deployment of the entire network is completed, i.e., the bandwidth allocated for the network slice is idle from the completion of the deployment of the network slice to the completion of the deployment of the entire network.

Based on this, in the embodiment of the present application, an active state and an inactive state are set for a network slice, and by flexibly controlling the state of the network slice, the utilization rate of network resources is improved. The method provided by the embodiment of the application can comprise the following steps: when a first network slice is deployed on a first network device, the first network slice is in an inactive state, the inactive state indicates that the first network slice allows traffic carrying no slice identifier, and the value of a slice-specific bandwidth of the first network slice is smaller than the value of a required bandwidth, and the slice-specific bandwidth is a bandwidth which is specific to the first network slice and carries traffic carrying the first slice identifier; when the first network device receives a first message belonging to a first network slice, the first network device switches the state of the first network slice from an inactive state to an active state according to the first message, and introduces the first message into the first network slice, wherein the active state indicates that the first network slice is not allowed to bear traffic which does not carry slice identification, and the value of the slice-specific bandwidth of the first network slice is equal to the value of the required bandwidth. The first message belongs to the first network slice, and may be a first slice identifier carried by the first message and used for indicating the first network slice.

Therefore, in the method provided by the embodiment of the application, the active state and the inactive state are set for the network slice, and when the deployment of the network slice is completed, the state of the default network slice is the inactive state, the first network device is allowed to bear the traffic which does not carry the slice identifier, the traffic belonging to the network slice triggers the network device to complete the switching of the state of the network slice, the network slice which defines the active state is only allowed to bear the traffic which carries the slice identifier of the network slice, so that after the network slice is deployed on the network device, even if the traffic of the network slice does not exist in the slicing network, the network slice does not occupy a larger bandwidth according to the value of the own required bandwidth, and only when the traffic of the network slice exists in the slicing network, the network slice occupies the bandwidth according to the value of the own required bandwidth so as to ensure the service quality provided by the network slice, and greatly improve the resource utilization rate in the slicing network.

Network slicing refers to a technique of separating a plurality of virtual end-to-end networks based on a network topology to achieve on-demand networking, each virtual end-to-end network may be referred to as a network slice, and the separated networks may be referred to as slice networks. For example, the virtual transport network (Virtual Transport Network, VTN) is a network slicing technology, enough resources can be reserved for each VTN Slice according to the resource requirement of the VTN Slice, so that by carrying the VTN identifier (VTN ID or Slice ID) in the message, the network device forwards the message by using the resources reserved for the Slice corresponding to the VTN ID or Slice ID, so as to ensure that the processing of the message can meet the resource requirement of the service, and thus ensure the service quality of the service corresponding to the message. The resource may include a bandwidth and a scheduling priority, and in this embodiment, the resource is illustrated as a bandwidth.

It should be noted that, in the inactive state in the embodiment of the present application, only the first network slice is limited to allow traffic carrying no slice identifier, and the definition of the inactive state is not explicitly limited in correspondence to whether the first network slice is allowed to carry traffic belonging to other network slices except the first network slice. It will be appreciated that the different network slices are isolated from each other, and that each network slice should be guaranteed to use bandwidth that meets the bandwidth requirements of that network slice when there is traffic belonging to that network slice, which is the original purpose of slicing the network, and that the first network slice cannot be allowed to carry traffic carrying slice identifications of other network slices.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the network device may refer to a communication device having a message forwarding function, such as a switch, a router, a virtual routing device, or a virtual forwarding device.

Specific implementations of embodiments of the present application are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 is a flowchart of a method 100 for controlling a network slice state according to an embodiment of the present application. The method 100 may be implemented by any one of the network devices in the sliced network, and fig. 1 illustrates an example of a first network device implementing the method 100 in the sliced network.

As shown in fig. 1, the method 100 may include, for example, the following S101 to S103:

s101, first network equipment receives a first message carrying a first slice identifier, wherein the first slice identifier indicates a first network slice.

S102, the first network device switches the state of the first network slice from an inactive state to an active state according to the first message, wherein the inactive state indicates that the first network slice is allowed to bear traffic which does not bear slice identification, the value of a slice-specific bandwidth of the first network slice is smaller than the value of a required bandwidth, the active state indicates that the first network slice is not allowed to bear traffic which does not bear slice identification, the value of the slice-specific bandwidth of the first network slice is equal to the value of the required bandwidth, and the slice-specific bandwidth is a bandwidth which is dedicated to bear traffic which bears the first slice identification by the first network slice.

It should be noted that, as shown in fig. 2, before S101, the method 100 may further include: s10a, a first network device acquires slice information of a first network slice; s10b, the first network equipment configures the first network slice according to the slice information; s10c, the first network device determines the state of the first network slice as an inactive state.

Slice information of the first network slice may refer to related information required by the first network device to deploy the first network slice. The slice information of the first network slice may include one or more of the following: the first slice identifier, the required bandwidth, interface information, and priority information. The first slice identifier is used for identifying the first network slice, the interface information indicates an interface corresponding to the first network slice on the first network device, the priority information indicates the priority of the first network slice, and the required bandwidth indicates the minimum bandwidth occupied by the flow of the first network slice when guaranteeing the quality of service provided by the first network slice. For example, the slice information of the first network slice may include: slice ID 1, 100Mbps, interface 1, and a high priority, where the Slice information is used to instruct the first network device to configure a first network Slice with a Slice identifier of Slice ID 1 on interface 1, where the priority of the first network Slice on the network device is a high priority, and the required bandwidth of the first network Slice is 100Mbps, that is, the Slice-specific bandwidth when the first network Slice is in an active state is at least 100Mbps. It should be noted that the slice-specific bandwidth refers to a bandwidth dedicated to transmitting traffic of a certain network slice among bandwidths of the network devices, for example, the slice-specific bandwidth of the first network slice may refer to a bandwidth dedicated to transmitting traffic of the first network slice.

In specific implementation, S10a may be configured to manually configure slice information of the first network slice on the first network device, so that the first network device obtains the slice information of the first network device configured manually; alternatively, S10a may be a control entity, a network manager, or the like, transmitting slice information of the first network device to the first network device, so that the first network device receives the slice information of the first network device transmitted by the control entity, the network manager, or the like.

For the first network device in S10b to configure the first network slice according to the slice information of the first network slice obtained in S10a, there may be a plurality of different implementations, for example, the first network device configures the first network slice based on the slice information only, and does not allocate a slice-specific bandwidth to the first network device (which may also be understood as being an allocated slice-specific bandwidth of 0); for another example, the first network device configures the first network slice based on the slice information and allocates a generic bandwidth to the first network device, the value of the generic bandwidth may be less than the value of the required bandwidth of the first network slice (e.g., equal to 10% or 0.1 times the value of the required bandwidth of the first network slice), and the generic bandwidth is considered a slice-specific bandwidth of the first network slice; alternatively, the value of the universal bandwidth may be equal to the value of the required bandwidth of the first network slice, but the value of the dedicated bandwidth of the first network slice in the inactive state is equal to 0 or equal to 10% or 0.1 times the value of the pass bandwidth.

For S10c, the first network device may set the state of the first network slice to an inactive state after S10 b. In one case, the first network device may set an indication identifier for each network slice that identifies its state, and then S10c may include: the first network device sets an indication identifier of the first network slice such that the indication identifier indicates that the state of the first network slice is an inactive state. In another case, the first network device may also set the authority of the active state and the inactive state of the first network slice and the performed operation to different policies, and default the state of the newly configured network slice to be the inactive state, then S10c may include: the first network device sets a policy for the first network slice corresponding to the inactive state.

It can be seen that, through S10a to S10c, the first network device deploys the first network slice, and the state of the first network slice is an inactive state, where the inactive state indicates that the first network slice allows traffic that does not carry a slice identifier to be carried by the first network slice, and a value of a slice-dedicated bandwidth of the first network slice is smaller than a value of a required bandwidth. Thus, although the first network slice is deployed, the value of the slice dedicated bandwidth of the first network slice is smaller than the value of the required bandwidth, and the first network slice is allowed to bear traffic without carrying the slice identifier when deployment is completed, so that the utilization rate of network resources is greatly improved compared with the case that the network slice is allocated with the slice dedicated bandwidth equal to the value of the required bandwidth when the network slice is deployed at present.

In the embodiment of the present application, when deployment is completed, the state of the first network slice is an inactive state, and in response to receiving the traffic of the first network slice, the state is switched from the inactive state to the active state. In particular, in response to receiving the first message carrying the first slice identifier, the first network device executes S102, that is, the first network device switches the state of the first network slice from the inactive state to the active state according to the first message, where the first slice identifier indicates the first network slice.

In some possible implementations, the value of the slice-specific bandwidth of the first network slice is 0 when the state of the first network slice is an inactive state. In this implementation, the implementation of S102 is also different based on the different implementation of S10b, and in particular, see the following examples.

As one example, S10b may include: the first network device configures the first network slice according to slice information of the first network slice, but does not allocate slice-specific bandwidth for the first network slice; then S102 may include: the first network device allocates a slice-specific bandwidth to a first network slice, the value of the allocated slice-specific bandwidth being equal to the value of the required bandwidth of the first network slice. Wherein the first network device may record a value of the required bandwidth of the first network slice after S10a, and allocate the first network slice with a slice-specific bandwidth having a value equal to the value of the required bandwidth of the first network slice when S102 is performed. Therefore, after the first network device deploys the first network slice, the first network device does not need to deduct the required bandwidth of the first network slice from the total bandwidth, the first network device can process other messages with more sufficient bandwidth, and when the messages of the first network slice reach the first network device, the first network device deducts the required bandwidth of the first network slice from the total bandwidth to serve as the special slice bandwidth of the first network slice, so that the service quality provided on the first network slice is ensured. In this example, after S10b, the first network device does not establish a scheduling queue (may also be referred to as a cache queue) corresponding to the first network slice, and compared with the case that the first network device allocates a universal bandwidth to the first network slice when executing S10b, the first network device establishes the scheduling queue corresponding to the first network slice when receiving a packet of the first network slice, where the packets in the scheduling queue of the first network slice are all traffic of the first network slice, and there is no possibility that a packet that does not carry a slice identifier exists in the scheduling queue corresponding to the first network slice, so that when processing the traffic of the first network slice, it is unnecessary to wait for the scheduling queue to process other packets that do not carry a slice identifier.

As another example, S10b may include: the method comprises the steps that first network equipment allocates universal bandwidth for a first network slice, and the allocated universal bandwidth is set to allow traffic which does not carry slice identification to be carried, wherein the value of the universal bandwidth is equal to the value of a required bandwidth of the first network slice; then S102 may include: the first network device sets the allocated generic bandwidth as a slice-specific bandwidth of the first network slice. Therefore, after the first network device deploys the first network slice, the first network device deducts the required bandwidth of the first network slice from the total bandwidth and records the bandwidth as a universal bandwidth, but the universal bandwidth can be used by the first network device to bear traffic which does not carry the slice identifier until the message with the first network slice reaches the first network device, the first network device only needs to set the universal bandwidth as a special bandwidth for the slice, so that the service quality provided on the first network slice is ensured. In this example, the scheduling queue corresponding to the first network slice exists on the first network device after S10b, and compared with the case that the first network device allocates the slice-dedicated bandwidth for the first network slice only when receiving the message of the first network slice, the first network device does not need to establish the scheduling queue corresponding to the first network slice when receiving the message of the first network slice, so that the message of the first network slice can be guided to the scheduling queue corresponding to the first network slice more timely. However, there may be unprocessed traffic that does not carry slice identifier in the scheduling queue, and the traffic of the first network slice may still be processed after the traffic that does not carry slice identifier and enters the scheduling queue first is processed first, which still follows the processing rule of the queue first-in first-out.

In other possible implementations, when the state of the first network slice is the inactive state, the value of the slice-specific bandwidth of the first network slice is N times the required bandwidth, the N being greater than 0 and less than 1. In this way, after S10b, there is a scheduling queue corresponding to the first network slice, the first network device does not need to establish the scheduling queue corresponding to the first network slice when receiving the packet of the first network slice, so that the packet of the first network slice can be more timely guided to the scheduling queue corresponding to the first network slice, and in addition, no unprocessed traffic which does not carry the slice identifier exists in the scheduling queue, and the packet of the first network slice can be processed quickly. In this implementation, the implementation of S102 is also different based on the different implementation of S10b, and in particular, see the following examples.

As one example, S10b may include: the first network device allocates a slice-specific bandwidth to a first network slice, the value of the allocated slice-specific bandwidth being equal to the N times the value of the required bandwidth of the first network slice; then S102 may include: the first network device modifies a value of a slice-specific bandwidth allocated to the first network slice, the modified value of the slice-specific bandwidth being equal to a value of a demand bandwidth of the first network slice. Therefore, after the first network device deploys the first network slice, in order that when a message of the first network slice reaches the first network device, the first network device does not need to establish a scheduling queue of the first network slice, the first network device can introduce the flow of the first network slice into the scheduling queue in time, the first network device can deduct N times (for example, 0.1 times) of the required bandwidth of the first network slice from the total bandwidth as a special bandwidth of the slice, and does not need to deduct the required bandwidth of the first network slice from the total bandwidth, so that the first network device can have more sufficient bandwidth to process other messages; and until the message of the first network slice reaches the first network equipment, the first network equipment modifies the value of the special slice bandwidth to be the value of the required bandwidth, namely, continuously allocates the bandwidth (1-N) times of the required bandwidth to the first network slice, and forms a new special slice bandwidth of the first network slice together with the special slice bandwidth allocated in the step S10b, so that the service quality provided on the first network slice is ensured.

As another example, S10b may include: the first network device allocates a universal bandwidth for the first network slice, and sets a bandwidth except for the N times (for example, 0.1 times) of the universal bandwidth in the allocated universal bandwidth to allow traffic without carrying a slice identifier to be carried, wherein the value of the universal bandwidth is equal to the value of a required bandwidth of the first network slice; then S102 may include: the first network device sets the allocated generic bandwidth as a slice-specific bandwidth of the first network slice. Thus, after the first network device deploys the first network slice, the first network device deducts the required bandwidth of the first network slice from the total bandwidth, and marks the bandwidth as a universal bandwidth, but the universal bandwidth is divided into two parts: n times of the universal bandwidth and (1-N) times of the universal bandwidth are allowed to be used for bearing traffic which does not carry slice identification, the rest N times of the bandwidth are slice-specific bandwidths of the first network slice, and only traffic of the first network slice is allowed to be used; and the first network equipment only needs to set the total universal bandwidth as the special bandwidth for slicing until the message with the first network slice reaches the first network equipment, so that the service quality provided on the first network slice is ensured. This example increases the utilization of network resources compared to allowing traffic usage only by the first network slice after the demand bandwidth of the first network slice is currently allocated.

It should be noted that, the sum of the required bandwidths of all the network slices deployed on the interface of the first network device should be smaller than or equal to the physical bandwidth of the interface, so that the required bandwidths of all the network slices deployed on the interface can be ensured to be satisfied, and the service quality provided by each network slice can be ensured.

If the first network device sets an indication identifier identifying its status for each network slice, S102 may include: the first network device sets an indication identifier of the first network slice such that the indication identifier indicates that the state of the first network slice is an active state. For example, the indication identifier of the first network slice=0, indicating that the state of the first network slice is the inactive state, the indication identifier of the first network slice=1, indicating that the state of the first network slice is the active state, and before S102, the indication identifier of the first network slice=0, S102 may include: the indication identifier of the first network slice is modified from 0 to 1, i.e. after S102 until the next time the first network slice enters the inactive state, the indication identifier of the first network slice=1.

If the first network device does not set an indication identifier for each network slice, which identifies the state of the first network device, but sets the authority of the active state and the inactive state and the executed operation to different policies, in S102, the first network device executes the relevant operation of S102 in the above examples, that is, the state of the first network device may be regarded as the active state. For example, S10b includes: if the first network device allocates a universal bandwidth to the first network slice, and sets a bandwidth of the allocated universal bandwidth other than the N times (e.g., 0.1 times) of the universal bandwidth to allow traffic carrying no slice identifier, and the value of the universal bandwidth is equal to the value of the required bandwidth of the first network slice, then "the first network device sets the allocated universal bandwidth as the slice-specific bandwidth of the first network slice" in S102 may be equivalent to the first network device switching the state of the first network slice from the inactive state to the active state.

S103, the first network device introduces (steer) the first message into the first network slice.

In specific implementation, S103 may include: the first network device directs the first message to a scheduling queue corresponding to the first network slice, and the first network device processes all messages (including the first message) belonging to the first network slice in the scheduling queue.

In some possible implementations, the traffic of the network slice may not continuously appear in the slice network, and if the network slice is always in an active state once the traffic appears, the dedicated bandwidth of the slice equal to the required bandwidth is occupied, and the problem of low network resource utilization still exists. Based on this, the method 100 provided in the embodiment of the present application may further include: and if the first network equipment determines that the traffic carrying the first network slice identifier is not received for a preset time period (such as 5 minutes), switching the state of the first network slice from the activated state to the inactivated state. In this way, for a network slice in which some traffic will not continuously appear in the slice network, when traffic belonging to the network slice is not received for a long time, the state of the network slice is switched to an inactive state, so that all or part of the required bandwidth of the network slice is allowed to be temporarily used by traffic which does not carry slice identification until the traffic belonging to the network slice appears again, and the utilization rate of network resources is improved.

In other possible implementations, for a network slice with traffic occurrence rules (such as occurrence of 5 a.m. to 10 a.m. every day), if the network slice is always in an active state once traffic occurs, the network slice occupies a slice-specific bandwidth equal to the required bandwidth, and there is still a problem of low network resource utilization. Based on this, the method 100 provided in the embodiment of the present application may further include: the first network device may also switch the state of the first network slice from the active state to the inactive state at a preset time (e.g., 10 am 01 minutes per day). In this way, for the network slice with the regular flow occurrence, after the end point of one occurrence period, the state of the network slice is switched to the inactive state, so that all or part of required bandwidth of the network slice is allowed to be temporarily used by the flow which does not carry the slice identifier until the flow belonging to the network slice occurs again, and the utilization rate of network resources is improved.

It should be noted that, in the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application, at least one network slice may be deployed on an interface of a first network device, and each network slice may be used as a first network slice in the method 100, and the method 100 is executed to control a network slice state, so as to improve a utilization rate of network resources.

In this method 100, an active state and an inactive state are set for a network slice, and when the deployment of the network slice is completed, the state of the default network slice is the inactive state, so that the first network slice is allowed to bear traffic which does not carry a slice identifier, the network equipment is triggered by traffic belonging to the network slice to complete the switching of the state of the network slice, and the network slice which defines the active state is only allowed to bear traffic which carries the slice identifier of the network slice, so that after the network slice is deployed on the network equipment, even if the network slice does not have traffic of the network slice in the slicing network, the network slice does not have a larger bandwidth exclusively according to the value of the own required bandwidth, and only when the network slice has traffic of the network slice in the slicing network, the network slice occupies the bandwidth according to the value of the own required bandwidth to ensure the quality of service provided by the network slice, thereby greatly improving the resource utilization rate in the slicing network.

Accordingly, the embodiment of the application further provides an apparatus 300 for controlling a network slice state, where the apparatus 300 is applied to a first network device, as shown in fig. 3. The apparatus 300 may include: a receiving unit 301, a switching unit 302 and an introducing unit 303. Wherein:

The receiving unit 301 is configured to receive a first packet carrying a first slice identifier, where the first slice identifier indicates a first network slice. The receiving unit 301 may perform S101 shown in fig. 1.

A switching unit 302, configured to switch, according to the first packet, a state of the first network slice from an inactive state to an active state, where the inactive state indicates that the first network slice is allowed to carry traffic that does not carry a slice identifier, and a value of a slice-specific bandwidth of the first network slice is smaller than a value of a required bandwidth, and the active state indicates that the first network slice is not allowed to carry traffic that does not carry a slice identifier, and the value of the slice-specific bandwidth of the first network slice is equal to the value of the required bandwidth, and the slice-specific bandwidth is a bandwidth that the first network slice is dedicated to carry traffic that carries the first slice identifier. The switching unit 302 may perform S102 shown in fig. 1.

An introducing unit 303, configured to introduce the first packet into the first network slice. The introduction unit 303 may perform S103 shown in fig. 1.

In some implementations, the apparatus 300 may further include: an acquisition unit, a configuration unit and a determination unit. Wherein:

And the acquisition unit is used for acquiring slice information of the first network slice before receiving the first message carrying the first slice identifier. The acquisition unit may perform S10a shown in fig. 2.

And the configuration unit is used for configuring the first network slice according to the slice information. The configuration unit may perform S10b shown in fig. 2.

A determining unit, configured to determine a state of the first network slice as the inactive state. The determination unit may perform S10c shown in fig. 2.

In this implementation manner, as an example, the configuration unit is specifically configured to: configuring a first network slice according to the slice information, but not allocating slice-specific bandwidth for the first network slice; the switching unit 302 is then in particular adapted to: the first network slice is allocated a slice-specific bandwidth, the value of the allocated slice-specific bandwidth being equal to the value of the required bandwidth of the first network slice.

As another example, the configuration unit is specifically configured to: allocating a universal bandwidth for the first network slice, and setting the allocated universal bandwidth to allow traffic which does not carry slice identification to be carried, wherein the value of the universal bandwidth is equal to the value of the required bandwidth of the first network slice; then, the switching unit 302 is specifically configured to: the allocated universal bandwidth is set to a slice-specific bandwidth of the first network slice.

In this implementation manner, as an example, the configuration unit is specifically configured to: allocating a slice-specific bandwidth to the first network slice, the value of the allocated slice-specific bandwidth being equal to the N times the value of the required bandwidth of the first network slice; then, the switching unit 203 is specifically configured to: modifying a value of a slice-specific bandwidth allocated for the first network slice, the modified value of the slice-specific bandwidth being equal to a value of a required bandwidth of the first network slice.

As another example, the configuration unit is specifically configured to: allocating a universal bandwidth for the first network slice, and setting the bandwidth except the N times of the universal bandwidth in the allocated universal bandwidth to allow traffic without carrying a slice identifier to be carried, wherein the value of the universal bandwidth is equal to the value of the required bandwidth of the first network slice; then, the switching unit 302 is specifically configured to: the allocated universal bandwidth is set to a slice-specific bandwidth of the first network slice.

In some implementations, the switching unit 302 is further configured to: and if the preset time length does not receive the flow carrying the first slice identifier, switching the state of the first network slice from the activated state to the non-activated state.

It should be noted that, the specific implementation manner and the achieved technical effect of the apparatus 300 provided in the embodiments of the present application may refer to the method 100 provided in fig. 1 and fig. 2.

Referring to fig. 4, an embodiment of the present application provides a network device 400 (which may also be referred to as a communication device 400). The network device 400 may be the first network device in any of the above embodiments, for example, the first network device in fig. 1 or fig. 2. The network device 400 may implement the functions of the various network devices in the above-described embodiments. The network device 400 comprises at least one processor 401, a bus system 402, a memory 403, and at least one communication interface 404.

The network device 400 is a hardware-structured apparatus that may be used to implement the functional modules in the apparatus 300 shown in fig. 3. For example, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the receiving unit 301, the switching unit 302 and the introducing unit 303 in the apparatus 300 shown in fig. 3 may be implemented by the at least one processor 401 invoking code in the memory 403.

Optionally, the network device 400 may be further configured to implement the functions of the first network device in any of the foregoing embodiments.

Alternatively, the processor 401 may be a general purpose central processing unit (central processing unit, CPU), a network processor (network processor, NP), a microprocessor, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits for controlling the execution of the program of the present application.

The bus system 402 may include a path to transfer information between the components.

The communication interface 404 is used for communicating with other devices or communication networks.

The memory 403 may be, but is not limited to, a read-only memory (ROM) or other type of static storage device that can store static information and instructions, a random access memory (random access memory, RAM) or other type of dynamic storage device that can store information and instructions, or an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (electrically erasable programmable read-only memory, EEPROM), a compact disc read-only memory (compact disc read-only memory) or other optical disc storage, a compact disc storage (including compact disc, laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc, blu-ray disc, etc.), a magnetic disk storage medium or other magnetic storage device, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer. The memory may be stand alone and coupled to the processor via a bus. The memory may also be integral to the processor.

The memory 403 is used for storing application program codes for executing the embodiments of the present application, and the processor 401 controls the execution. The processor 401 is arranged to execute application code stored in the memory 403 for implementing the functions in the method of the present application.

In a particular implementation, processor 401 may include one or more CPUs, such as CPU0 and CPU1 of FIG. 4, as an embodiment.

In a specific implementation, the network device 400 may include multiple processors, such as the processor 401 and the processor 407 in fig. 4, as one embodiment. Each of these processors may be a single-core (single-CPU) processor or may be a multi-core (multi-CPU) processor. A processor herein may refer to one or more devices, circuits, and/or processing cores for processing data (e.g., computer program instructions).

Fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of another network device 500 (may also be referred to as a communication device 500) provided in an embodiment of the present application, where the network device 500 may be the first network device in any of the foregoing embodiments, and may be the first network device in fig. 1 or fig. 2. The network device 500 may implement the functions of the various first network devices in the above-described embodiments.

The network device 500 includes: a main control board 510 and an interface board 530.

The main control board 510 is also called a main processing unit (main processing unit, MPU) or a routing processing card (route processor card), and the main control board 510 controls and manages various components in the network device 500, including routing computation, device management, device maintenance, and protocol processing functions. The main control board 510 includes: a central processor 511 and a memory 54.

The interface board 530 is also referred to as a line interface unit card (line processing unit, LPU), line card, or service board. The interface board 530 is used to provide various service interfaces and to implement forwarding of data packets. The service interfaces include, but are not limited to, ethernet interfaces, such as flexible Ethernet service interfaces (Flexible Ethernet Clients, flexE Clients), POS (Packet over SONET/SDH) interfaces, and the like. The interface board 530 includes: central processor 531, network processor 532, forwarding table entry memory 534, and physical interface card (ph 8sical interface card, PIC) 533.

The central processor 531 on the interface board 530 is used for controlling and managing the interface board 530 and communicating with the central processor 511 on the main control board 510.

The network processor 532 is configured to implement forwarding processing of the packet. The network processor 532 may be in the form of a forwarding chip. Specifically, the processing of the uplink message includes: processing a message input interface and searching a forwarding table; and (3) processing a downlink message: forwarding table lookup, etc.

The physical interface card 533 is used to implement the docking function of the physical layer, from which the original traffic enters the interface board 530, and from which the processed messages are sent out from the physical interface card 533. The physical interface card 533 includes at least one physical interface, also referred to as a physical port, and the physical interface card 533 corresponds to a FlexE physical interface in the system architecture. A physical interface card 533, also referred to as a daughter card, may be mounted on the interface board 530 and is responsible for converting the optical-electrical signals into messages and forwarding the messages to the network processor 532 for processing after a validity check is performed on the messages. In some embodiments, the central processor 531 of the interface board 530 may also perform the functions of the network processor 532, such as implementing software forwarding based on a general purpose CPU, so that the network processor 532 is not needed in the physical interface card 533.

Optionally, the network device 500 includes a plurality of interface boards, for example, the network device 500 further includes an interface board 540, and the interface board 540 includes: central processor 541, network processor 542, forwarding table entry memory 544, and physical interface card 543.

Optionally, the network device 500 further comprises a switching network board 520. The switch fabric 520 may also be referred to as a switch fabric unit (switch fabric unit, SFU). In the case of a network device having a plurality of interface boards 530, the switching fabric 520 is used to complete the data exchange between the interface boards. For example, communication between interface board 530 and interface board 540 may be through switch board 520.

The main control board 510 and the interface board 530 are coupled. For example. The main control board 510, the interface board 530 and the interface board 540 are connected with the system backboard through a system bus to realize intercommunication among the exchange network boards 520. In one possible implementation, an inter-process communication protocol (IPC) channel is established between the main control board 510 and the interface board 530, and communication is performed between the main control board 510 and the interface board 530 through the IPC channel.

Logically, network device 500 includes a control plane that includes a main control board 510 and a central processor 531, and a forwarding plane that includes various components that perform forwarding, such as a forwarding table entry memory 534, a physical interface card 533, and a network processor 532. The control plane performs the functions of router, generating forwarding table, processing signaling and protocol messages, configuring and maintaining the status of the device, etc., and issues the generated forwarding table to the forwarding plane, where the network processor 532 forwards the message received by the physical interface card 533 based on the forwarding table issued by the control plane. The forwarding table issued by the control plane may be stored in forwarding table entry memory 534. In some embodiments, the control plane and the forwarding plane may be completely separate and not on the same device.

If network device 500 is configured as a first network device, network processor 532 may trigger physical interface card 533 to receive a first message belonging to a first network slice; the central processor 511 may switch the state of the first network slice from the inactive state to the active state in response to receiving the first message, and introduce the first message into the first network slice in the active state.

It should be understood that the receiving unit 301 in the apparatus 300, and the communication interface 404 in the network device 400 may correspond to the physical interface card 533 or the physical interface card 543 in the network device 500; the switching unit 302 and the importing unit 303 in the apparatus 300, and the processor 401 in the network device 400 may correspond to the central processor 511 or the central processor 531 in the network device 500.

It should be understood that the operations on the interface board 540 are consistent with the operations of the interface board 530 in the embodiment of the present application, and are not repeated for brevity. It should be understood that the network device 500 of the present embodiment may correspond to the apparatus 300 or the network device 400 in the foregoing respective method embodiments, and the main control board 510, the interface board 530 and/or the interface board 540 in the network device 500 may implement the functions and/or the various steps implemented in the apparatus 300 or the network device 400 in the foregoing respective method embodiments, which are not described herein for brevity.

It should be understood that the master control board may have one or more pieces, and that the master control board may include a main master control board and a standby master control board when there are more pieces. The interface boards may have one or more, the more data processing capabilities the network device is, the more interface boards are provided. The physical interface card on the interface board may also have one or more pieces. The switching network board may not be provided, or may be provided with one or more blocks, and load sharing redundancy backup can be jointly realized when the switching network board is provided with the plurality of blocks. Under the centralized forwarding architecture, the network device may not need to exchange a network board, and the interface board bears the processing function of the service data of the whole system. Under the distributed forwarding architecture, the network device may have at least one switching fabric, through which data exchange between multiple interface boards is implemented, providing high-capacity data exchange and processing capabilities. Therefore, the data access and processing power of the network devices of the distributed architecture is greater than that of the devices of the centralized architecture. Alternatively, the network device may be in the form of only one board, i.e. there is no switching network board, the functions of the interface board and the main control board are integrated on the one board, and the central processor on the interface board and the central processor on the main control board may be combined into one central processor on the one board, so as to execute the functions after the two are overlapped, where the data switching and processing capability of the device in this form are low (for example, network devices such as a low-end switch or a router). Which architecture is specifically adopted depends on the specific networking deployment scenario.

In some possible embodiments, each of the above-described network devices or network devices may be implemented as virtualized devices. For example, the virtualized device may be a Virtual Machine (VM) running a program for sending message functions, the Virtual Machine deployed on a hardware device (e.g., a physical server). Virtual machines refer to complete computer systems that run in a completely isolated environment with complete hardware system functionality through software emulation. The virtual machine may be configured as each network device in embodiments of the present application. For example, each network device or network devices may be implemented based on a generic physical server in combination with network function virtualization (Network Functions Virtualization, NFV) technology. Each network device or network device is a virtual host, a virtual router, or a virtual switch. Those skilled in the art can virtually obtain each network device or network device with the above functions on the general physical server by combining with the NFV technology through reading the present application, and the details are not repeated here.

It should be understood that the network devices in the above various product forms have any function of each network device or communication device in the above method embodiment, and are not described herein.

The embodiment of the application also provides a chip, which comprises a processor and an interface circuit, wherein the interface circuit is used for receiving the instruction and transmitting the instruction to the processor; a processor, which may be, for example, a specific implementation form of an apparatus for controlling a network slice state in an embodiment of the present application, may be used to perform the method for controlling a network slice state described above. Wherein the processor is coupled to a memory for storing programs or instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the chip system to implement the method of any of the method embodiments described above.

Alternatively, the processor in the system-on-chip may be one or more. The processor may be implemented in hardware or in software. When implemented in hardware, the processor may be a logic circuit, an integrated circuit, or the like. When implemented in software, the processor may be a general purpose processor, implemented by reading software code stored in a memory.

Alternatively, the memory in the system-on-chip may be one or more. The memory may be integral with the processor or separate from the processor, and is not limited in this application. For example, the memory may be a non-transitory processor, such as a ROM, which may be integrated on the same chip as the processor, or may be separately provided on different chips, and the type of memory and the manner of providing the memory and the processor are not specifically limited in this application.

The system-on-chip may be, for example, a field programmable gate array (field programmable gate array, FPGA), an application specific integrated chip (application specific integrated circuit, ASIC), a system on chip (SoC), a central processing unit (central processor unit, CPU), a network processor (network processor, NP), a digital signal processing circuit (digital signal processor, DSP), a microcontroller (micro controller unit, MCU), a programmable controller (programmable logic device, PLD) or other integrated chip.

In addition, the embodiment of the present application further provides a computer readable storage medium, where a program code or an instruction is stored, when the program code or the instruction runs on a computer, to cause the computer to execute the method in any implementation manner of the embodiment shown in fig. 1 or fig. 2.

Furthermore, embodiments of the present application provide a computer program product which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform a method of any one of the implementations of the method 100 described above.

It should be understood that references to "determining B based on a" in embodiments of the present application do not mean that B is determined based on a alone, but B may also be determined based on a and/or other information.

The term "first" in the names such as "first message" in this application is only used for name identification, and does not represent the first in sequence. The rule applies equally to "second" etc.

From the above description of embodiments, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that all or part of the steps of the methods of the embodiments described above may be implemented by means of software plus general hardware platforms. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present application may be embodied in the form of a software product, which may be stored in a storage medium, such as a read-only memory (ROM)/RAM, a magnetic disk, an optical disk, etc., including several instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network communication device such as a router) to perform the methods described in various embodiments or portions of embodiments of the present application.

In this specification, each embodiment is described in a progressive manner, and identical and similar parts of each embodiment are mutually referred to, and each embodiment mainly describes differences from other embodiments. In particular, for system embodiments and apparatus embodiments, since they are substantially similar to method embodiments, the description is relatively simple and relevant references are made to a partial description of method embodiments. The above-described embodiments of the apparatus and system are merely illustrative, in which the modules illustrated as separate components may or may not be physically separate, and the components shown as modules may or may not be physical modules, i.e., may be located in one place, or may be distributed across multiple network elements. Some or all of the modules may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of this embodiment. Those of ordinary skill in the art will understand and implement the present invention without undue burden.

The foregoing is merely a preferred embodiment of the present application and is not intended to limit the scope of the present application. It should be noted that modifications and adaptations to the present application may occur to one skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the present application.

Claims

1. A method of controlling network slice status, the method comprising:

the method comprises the steps that first network equipment receives a first message carrying a first slice identifier, wherein the first slice identifier indicates a first network slice;

the first network device switches the state of the first network slice from an inactive state to an active state according to the first message, wherein the inactive state indicates that the first network slice is allowed to carry traffic which does not carry a slice identifier, and the value of a slice-specific bandwidth of the first network slice is smaller than the value of a required bandwidth, the active state indicates that the first network slice is not allowed to carry traffic which does not carry a slice identifier, and the value of the slice-specific bandwidth of the first network slice is equal to the value of the required bandwidth, and the slice-specific bandwidth is a bandwidth which is dedicated to carry traffic which carries the first slice identifier by the first network slice;

The first network device directs the first message to the first network slice.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein prior to the first network device receiving the first message carrying the first slice identifier, the method further comprises:

the first network device acquires slice information of the first network slice;

the first network device configures the first network slice according to the slice information;

the first network device determines a state of the first network slice as the inactive state.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the value of the slice-specific bandwidth is 0 when the state of the first network slice is the inactive state.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the first network device configuring the first network slice according to the slice information comprises:

the first network device configures a first network slice according to the slice information, but does not allocate slice-specific bandwidth for the first network slice;

the first network device switching the state of the first network slice from an inactive state to an active state, comprising:

The first network device allocates a slice-specific bandwidth to the first network slice, the value of the allocated slice-specific bandwidth being equal to the value of the required bandwidth of the first network slice.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the first network device configuring the first network slice according to the slice information comprises:

the first network device allocates a universal bandwidth for the first network slice, and sets the allocated universal bandwidth to allow traffic which does not carry slice identification to be carried, wherein the value of the universal bandwidth is equal to the value of the required bandwidth of the first network slice;

the first network device sets the allocated universal bandwidth as a slice-specific bandwidth of the first network slice.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein when the state of the first network slice is the inactive state, the value of the slice-specific bandwidth is N times the required bandwidth, the N being greater than 0 and less than 1.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the first network device configures the first network slice according to the slice information, comprising:

The first network device allocates a slice-specific bandwidth to the first network slice, the value of the allocated slice-specific bandwidth being equal to the N times the value of the required bandwidth of the first network slice;

the first network device modifies a value of a slice-specific bandwidth allocated to the first network slice, the modified value of the slice-specific bandwidth being equal to a value of a demand bandwidth of the first network slice.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the first network device configures the first network slice according to the slice information, comprising:

the first network device allocates a universal bandwidth for the first network slice, and sets the bandwidth except the N times of the universal bandwidth in the allocated universal bandwidth to allow traffic without carrying a slice identifier to be carried, wherein the value of the universal bandwidth is equal to the value of the required bandwidth of the first network slice;

9. The method according to any of claims 2 to 8, wherein the slice information comprises at least one of the following information: the first slice identifier, the required bandwidth, interface information and priority information.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, further comprising:

and if the first network equipment determines that the traffic carrying the first network slice identifier is not received for the preset time length, switching the state of the first network slice from the activated state to the non-activated state.

11. An apparatus for controlling network slice status, for use with a first network device, the apparatus comprising:

the receiving unit is used for receiving a first message carrying a first slice identifier, wherein the first slice identifier indicates a first network slice;

a switching unit, configured to switch, according to the first packet, a state of the first network slice from an inactive state to an active state, where the inactive state indicates that the first network slice is allowed to carry traffic that does not carry a slice identifier, and a value of a slice-specific bandwidth of the first network slice is smaller than a value of a required bandwidth, and the active state indicates that the first network slice is not allowed to carry traffic that does not carry a slice identifier, and the value of the slice-specific bandwidth of the first network slice is equal to the value of the required bandwidth, and the slice-specific bandwidth is a bandwidth that the first network slice is dedicated to carry traffic that carries the first slice identifier;

And the introducing unit is used for introducing the first message into the first network slice.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the apparatus further comprises:

the acquisition unit is used for acquiring slice information of the first network slice before receiving a first message carrying a first slice identifier;

a configuration unit, configured to configure the first network slice according to the slice information;

a determining unit, configured to determine a state of the first network slice as the inactive state.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the value of the slice-specific bandwidth is 0 when the state of the first network slice is the inactive state.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the device comprises a plurality of sensors,

the configuration unit is specifically configured to: configuring a first network slice according to the slice information, but not allocating slice-specific bandwidth for the first network slice;

the switching unit is specifically configured to: the first network slice is allocated a slice-specific bandwidth, the value of the allocated slice-specific bandwidth being equal to the value of the required bandwidth of the first network slice.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the device comprises a plurality of sensors,

The configuration unit is specifically configured to: allocating a universal bandwidth for the first network slice, and setting the allocated universal bandwidth to allow traffic which does not carry slice identification to be carried, wherein the value of the universal bandwidth is equal to the value of the required bandwidth of the first network slice;

the switching unit is specifically configured to: the allocated universal bandwidth is set to a slice-specific bandwidth of the first network slice.

16. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein when the state of the first network slice is the inactive state, the value of the slice-specific bandwidth is N times the required bandwidth, the N being greater than 0 and less than 1.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the device comprises a plurality of sensors,

the configuration unit is specifically configured to: allocating a slice-specific bandwidth to the first network slice, the value of the allocated slice-specific bandwidth being equal to the N times the value of the required bandwidth of the first network slice;

the switching unit is specifically configured to: modifying a value of a slice-specific bandwidth allocated for the first network slice, the modified value of the slice-specific bandwidth being equal to a value of a demand bandwidth of the first network slice.

18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the device comprises a plurality of sensors,

the configuration unit is specifically configured to: allocating a universal bandwidth for the first network slice, and setting the bandwidth except the N times of the universal bandwidth in the allocated universal bandwidth to allow traffic without carrying a slice identifier to be carried, wherein the value of the universal bandwidth is equal to the value of the required bandwidth of the first network slice;

19. The apparatus according to any one of claims 12 to 18, wherein the slice information comprises at least one of the following information: the first slice identifier, the required bandwidth, interface information and priority information.

20. The device according to any one of claims 11 to 19, wherein,

the switching unit is further configured to: and if the preset duration does not receive the traffic carrying the first slice identifier, switching the state of the first network slice from the activated state to the inactivated state.

21. A network device comprising a memory and a processor;

The memory is used for storing instructions;

the processor being configured to execute the instructions in the memory and to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 10.

22. A computer readable storage medium comprising instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 10 above.