CN116668275A

CN116668275A - Network slice information transmission method and device

Info

Publication number: CN116668275A
Application number: CN202210392808.3A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 于维; 徐国其; 董杰; 胡志波; 陈大鹏
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2022-02-17
Filing date: 2022-04-14
Publication date: 2023-08-29

Abstract

The application discloses a network slice information transmission method and a device, in particular to a controller which obtains slice information after slicing and dividing a network according to service requirements and sends the slice information to first network equipment in the network through a path computation protocol PCEP message. The PCEP message includes first slice information corresponding to the first network device. After receiving the PCEP message, the first network device obtains the first slice information through the PCEP message Wen Jiexi, and configures the network slice according to the first slice information. That is, the controller in the application issues the slice information through the PCEP message, so that the first network device can acquire the corresponding first slice information in time and perform configuration of the network slice after acquiring the PCEP message, and the configuration command does not need to be waited, thereby improving the configuration rate of the network slice and improving the issuing performance of the slice information.

Description

Network slice information transmission method and device

The present application claims priority from the chinese patent application filed at day 17, 2, 2022, filed with the national intellectual property office under application number CN202210146324.0, entitled "method, apparatus and system for issuing network slice information", the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a method and an apparatus for transmitting network slice information.

Background

Network Slicing (Network Slicing) refers to the construction of multiple dedicated, virtualized, isolated logical networks on a common physical Network to meet the differentiated requirements of different services on Network capabilities. Wherein each logical network is partitioned according to different service requirements, such as latency, bandwidth, security, etc.

Currently, when dividing a network slice, a controller acquires a managed network topology, divides the network slice based on different service requirements, and acquires slice information of each node in the network, wherein the slice information can include slice information of the node, slice information of an interface, drainage information and the like. The slice information of the node is used for indicating which network slices the node belongs to, the network slice information of the interface is used for indicating which network slice the interface belongs to, and the drainage information is used for indicating through which network slice a certain service flow is transmitted. After obtaining the slice information for each node, the controller will send the network slice information for that node to each node via the network configuration (Network Configuration, netconf) protocol. Because the Netconf protocol is a network management protocol based on an extensible markup language (extensible markup language, XML), a programmable method for configuring and managing network devices is provided, when a controller issues network slice information to a node through the Netconf protocol, the node needs to wait for triggering of a configuration command to acquire specific slice information, so that the node cannot rapidly deploy network slice services. Moreover, when the total amount of the issued slice information is large, the node needs to wait for a long time to finish the configuration work, and the working efficiency is affected.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a network slice information transmission method and device, which are used for improving the issuing performance of network slice information and accelerating the deployment of network slice services.

In a first aspect of the present application, there is provided a network slice information transmission method, the method comprising: the first network device receives a path computation protocol (path computation element protocol, PCEP) message sent by the controller, where the PCEP message includes first slice information corresponding to the first network device. After receiving the PCEP message, the first network device obtains first slicing information by analyzing the PCEP message, and configures network slicing according to the first slicing information. In the implementation manner, the controller issues the slice information through the PCEP message, so that the first network device can acquire the corresponding first slice information in time and perform configuration of the network slice after acquiring the PCEP message, a configuration command does not need to be waited, the configuration rate of the network slice is improved, and the issuing performance of the slice information is improved.

The PCEP message may include various types, such as a path computation protocol link state (path computation element protocol-link state, PCEP-LS) message, and a path computation element as a central controller (path computation element as a central controller, PCE-CC) message.

In one possible implementation, when the PCEP message is a PCEP-LS message, the PCEP message includes link state LS information including first slice information. The first slice information may include various slice information, such as slice information at a node level, slice information at a link level, and slice information at a prefix level.

In one possible implementation, the LS information includes a first subtype length value (type length value, TLV) that includes node-level slice information including a slice identification of a network slice to which the first network device belongs.

In one possible implementation, the slice information at the node level further includes a flexible algorithm flex-algo identifier, where the flex-algo identifier is used to indicate an algorithm used by the first network device in calculating a transmission path corresponding to the network slice.

In one possible implementation, the LS information includes a second sub-TLV that includes link-level slice information that includes a slice identity that indicates the network slice to which the interface in the first network device belongs.

In one possible implementation, the link-level slice information further includes bandwidth information indicating bandwidth resources reserved for the network slice.

In one possible implementation, the LS information includes a third sub-TLV including prefix-level slice information including a slice identity, the prefix-level slice information being used to introduce traffic matching the prefix into the network slice indicated by the slice identity.

In one possible implementation, the PCEP message includes object information including first slice information.

In one possible implementation, the object information may include an optional Option TLV and a slice identifier in the first slice information. The Option TLV is used for carrying one or more of node information, link information and prefix information in the first slice information.

In one possible implementation, the Option TLV includes a first Option TLV including node information including a node identification.

In one possible implementation, the Option TLV includes a second Option TLV that includes link information including an interface identification.

In one possible implementation, the Option TLV includes a third Option TLV that includes prefix information.

In a possible implementation manner, the object information further includes a first flag bit and a second flag bit, where the first flag bit is used to indicate a network slice to which the update interface belongs, and the second flag bit is used to indicate an update manner.

In a possible implementation, the object information further includes a flexible algorithm flex-algo identification in the first slice information.

Alternatively, when the PCEP message is a PCE-CC message, the first slice information may also be carried by adding object information to the PCE-CC message. The specific carrying manner can be seen from the related description of the PCEP-LS message.

In a possible implementation manner, the PCEP packet further includes second slice information corresponding to the second network device, and the method further includes: the first network equipment analyzes the PCEP message to obtain the second slice information; the first network device generating an interior gateway protocol (interior gateway protocol, IGP) message from the second slice information, the IGP message including the second slice information; the first network device sends an IGP message to the second network device to cause the second network device to configure the network slice according to the second slice information.

In one possible implementation, the IGP message includes flexible algorithm definition (flexible algorithm definition, FAD) information including second slice information.

In one possible implementation, the FAD information includes a fourth sub-TLV that includes node-level slice information.

In one possible implementation, the FAD information includes a fifth sub-TLV that includes link-level slice information. The link-level slice information comprises slice identification and affinity attribute information, wherein the affinity attribute information is related to an interface, and the interface belongs to a network slice indicated by the slice identification.

In one possible implementation, the FAD information includes a sixth sub-TLV that includes prefix-level slice information.

In a second aspect of the embodiment of the present application, there is provided a network slice information transmission apparatus, including: a receiving unit, configured to receive a path computation protocol PCEP packet sent by a controller, where the PCEP packet includes first slice information corresponding to the first network device; the analyzing unit is used for analyzing the PCEP message to acquire the first slice information; and the configuration unit is used for configuring the network slice according to the first slice information.

In one possible implementation, the PCEP message includes link state LS information, where the LS information includes the first slice information.

In one possible implementation, the LS information includes a first subtype length value TLV, the first sub-TLV including node-level slice information including a slice identification of a network slice to which the first network device belongs.

In a possible implementation manner, the slice information of the node level further includes a flexible algorithm flex-algo identifier, where the flex-algo identifier is used to indicate an algorithm used by the first network device when calculating a transmission path corresponding to the network slice.

In one possible implementation, the LS information includes a second sub-TLV that includes link-level slice information including a slice identity indicating a network slice to which an interface in the first network device belongs.

In a possible implementation, the PCEP message includes object information, where the object information includes the first slice information.

In one possible implementation, the object information includes an optional Option TLV and a slice identifier in the first slice information, where the Option TLV is used to carry one or more of node information, link information, and prefix information in the first slice information.

In one possible implementation, the Option TLV includes a first Option TLV including the node information, the node information including a node identification.

In one possible implementation, the Option TLV includes a second Option TLV including link information including an interface identification.

In one possible implementation, the Option TLV includes a third Option TLV including prefix information.

In a possible implementation manner, the object information further includes a flexible algorithm flex-algo identifier in the first slice information.

In a possible implementation manner, the PCEP packet further includes second slice information corresponding to the second network device, and the apparatus further includes: a generation unit and a transmission unit; the parsing unit is further configured to parse the PCEP packet to obtain the second slice information; a generating unit, configured to generate an IGP message according to the second slice information, where the IGP message includes the second slice information; and the sending unit is used for sending the IGP message to the second network equipment so that the second network equipment configures network slices according to the second slice information.

In one possible implementation, the IGP message includes flexible algorithm definition FAD information, the FAD information including the second slice information.

In one possible implementation, the FAD information includes a fifth sub-TLV that includes link-level slice information including a slice identity and affinity attribute information associated with an interface belonging to a network slice indicated by the slice identity.

In a third aspect of the application, there is provided a network device, the device comprising: a processor and a memory; a memory for storing instructions or program code; a processor for executing instructions or program code in the memory to cause the network device to perform the method of the first aspect or any one of the possible designs of the first aspect.

In a fourth aspect of the application, there is provided a computer readable storage medium having instructions stored therein which, when run on a processor, cause a computer or network device to perform the method of the first aspect or any of the possible designs of the first aspect.

In a fifth aspect of the application, there is provided a computer program product comprising a program which, when run on a processor, causes a computer or network device to carry out the method of the first aspect or any one of the possible designs of the first aspect.

In a sixth aspect of the present application, there is provided a chip comprising: an interface circuit and a processor, the interface circuit and the processor being connected, the processor being configured to cause the chip to perform the method of the first aspect or any one of the possible designs of the first aspect.

According to the technical scheme provided by the application, the controller obtains the slice information after slicing the network according to the service requirement, and sends the slice information to the first network equipment in the network through the path computation protocol PCEP message. The PCEP message includes first slice information corresponding to the first network device. After receiving the PCEP message, the first network device obtains the first slice information through the PCEP message Wen Jiexi, and configures the network slice according to the first slice information. That is, the controller in the application issues the slice information through the PCEP message, so that the first network device can acquire the corresponding first slice information in time and perform configuration of the network slice after acquiring the PCEP message, and the configuration command does not need to be waited, thereby improving the configuration rate of the network slice and improving the issuing performance of the slice information.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present application or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings that are required to be used in the embodiments or the description of the prior art will be briefly described 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 the drawings without inventive effort to those skilled in the art.

Fig. 1 is a schematic view of an application scenario provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 2 is a flowchart of a network slice information transmission method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a node attribute sub-TLV according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of a link attribute sub-TLV according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a prefix-attribute sub-TLV according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of an object information structure according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a first Option TLV according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of a second Option TLV according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a third Option TLV according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 10 is a schematic diagram of another application scenario provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 11 is a schematic diagram of a FAD information structure provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of a fourth sub-TLV according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 13 is a schematic structural diagram of a fifth sub-TLV according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 14 is a schematic structural diagram of a network slice information transmission device according to an embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 15 is a schematic structural diagram of a network device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 16 is a schematic diagram of another network device structure according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

In order to make the solution of the present application better understood by those skilled in the art, the technical solution of the present application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present application, and it is apparent that the described embodiments are only some embodiments of the present application, not all embodiments.

To achieve the division of network slices, the network topology is first divided, and the granularity of the division may be the whole network granularity or may also be the topology granularity defined by the network topology identifier. The topology identification may be any of the following: multi-topology identification (multi-topology identify, MT ID), flexible algorithm identification (flexible algorithm identify, flex-Algo ID). Wherein Flex-Algo is not an algorithm, and the user-definable algorithm range is Flex-Algo (128) to Flex-Algo (255) and total 128 algorithms. Network elements participating in the same Flex-Algo algorithm form an independent logic topology. For ease of understanding, as shown in fig. 1, the network is divided into two network topologies according to Flex-algo128 and Flex-algo129, wherein the network topologies divided according to Flex-algo128 include device 1, device 2, device 3, device 5, device 6 and device 7; included in the network topology divided according to Flex-algo129 are device 2, device 3, device 4, device 5, device 6 and device 7.

In each of the divided network topologies, a plurality of resource topologies may also be generated based on Slice Identification (SID). It should be understood that the physical interface of a device may be divided into a plurality of logical interfaces, each of which may be understood as a network slice, and that a corresponding SID, which may also be referred to as a slice ID, is configured on each logical interface. That is, one SID may be used to indicate one network slice. As in fig. 1, in the network topology based on Flex-algo128 partitioning, 3 resource topologies are partitioned according to slice1-slice 3; in the Flex-algo129 partition based network topology, 3 resource topologies are partitioned according to slice4-slice 6. It can be understood that the physical interface of the device 1 may be divided into 3 logical interfaces, where the 3 logical interfaces respectively belong to Slice1, slice2, and Slice3; the physical interface of the device 4 may also be divided into 3 logical interfaces, where the 3 logical interfaces respectively belong to Slice4, slice5 and Slice6; the physical interfaces of the device 2 may be divided into 6 logical interfaces, which belong to Slice1-Slice6, respectively.

At present, after dividing the network slice, the controller issues slice information to the device through a netconf protocol, so that the device configures the network slice according to the slice information corresponding to the controller. The limitations of the netconf protocol itself result in an inability to meet the customer's appeal of rapidly deploying network slices. Especially for K-level network slices, the controller needs to issue a large amount of slice information, the efficiency of issuing slice information through a netconf protocol is low, and the issuing speed or the issuing total amount of the network slice information in unit time and the like cannot be met.

The embodiment of the application provides a network slice information transmission method which is used for solving the problem of poor slice information performance under network equipment through a netconf protocol. Specifically, the controller establishes a PCEP session with the network equipment, and issues slice information to the network equipment through a PCEP message, so that the issuing performance of the slice information is improved.

Wherein the PCEP is a transmission control protocol (transmission control protocol, TCP) based protocol for defining a set of messages and objects for managing PCEP sessions and for multi-domain traffic request and transmission paths for traffic engineering label switched paths (traffic engineering-label switched path, TE-LSPs). It provides a mechanism for a path computation element (Path Computation Element, PCE) to perform path computation for a path computation client (Path Computation Client, PCC) external LSP. The PCEP interactions include LSP status reports sent by the PCC to the PCE, as well as PCE updates for the external LSPs.

Where a PCE is an entity (component, application or network node) capable of calculating network paths or routes based on a network graph and applying computational constraints. The PCC is any client application that may request the PCE to perform path computation. The Path Computation Element Protocol (PCEP) supports communication between a PCC and a PCE or between two PCEs.

In order to facilitate understanding of the technical solution provided by the embodiments of the present application, the following description will be given with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Referring to fig. 2, the method for transmitting network slice information according to the embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 2, includes:

s201: the first network equipment receives a PCEP message sent by the controller, wherein the PCEP message comprises first slice information corresponding to the first network equipment.

In this embodiment, the controller may collect information of the entire network through IGP or border gateway protocol link State (Border Gateway Protocol Link-State, BGP-LS) protocol, and perform topology division on the current network according to a requirement of a user or a requirement of a third party, so as to determine slice information corresponding to each network device in the network. And then, the controller transmits slice information corresponding to each network device to the corresponding network device based on the PCEP message. The slice information is used for configuring a network slice, and may include information such as a slice identifier, an algorithm identifier, a reserved bandwidth resource, etc., where the slice identifier is used for indicating a certain network slice, and the algorithm identifier indicates an algorithm used by the network device when calculating a transmission path corresponding to the certain network slice.

Specifically, the controller may determine corresponding first slice information for a first network device in the network according to different service requirements (e.g., latency, bandwidth, security, reliability, etc.). The first slice information may include, but is not limited to: the first network corresponds to the node level slice information, the link level mesh information and the prefix level slice information. For example, the slice information at the node level may include: an identification of one or more network slices to which the first network device belongs (e.g., a slice ID) and a topology identification (e.g., an MT ID or a flex-algo ID) corresponding to each network slice. The link-level slice information may include: identification of each network slice to which the interface belongs in the first network device and the required bandwidth information. The slice information of the prefix level may include: and the slice identifier is used for introducing the traffic of the matched prefix into the network slice indicated by the slice identifier.

The PCEP protocol may define a plurality of different types of messages, for example, a PCEP-LS message, a PCE-CC message, etc., so that the controller may use the different PCEP messages to carry the first slice information corresponding to the first network device. In order to facilitate understanding of the different carrying modes, the following description will be given separately.

In one example, the PCEP message includes Link State (LS) information, where the LS information carries first slice information corresponding to the first network device. In such an implementation, the first network device may establish a PCEP session through the LS address family and the controller.

Firstly, the virtual transmission instance (virtual transport instance identify, VTN) added by PCEP-LS carries slice information

The LS information is new network layer reachability information (network layer reachability information, NLRI) for carrying node, link and prefix related information, which may also be referred to as LS NLRI. LS may employ the multiprotocol reachable NLRI (multiprotocol REACH NLRI, MP_REACH_NLRI) and multiprotocol unreachable NLRI (multiprotocol UNREACH NLRI, MP_UNREACH_NLRI) attributes as containers for LS NLRI, i.e. LS NLRI is carried in the PCEP message as an MP_REACH_NLRI or MP_UNREACH_NLRI attribute.

The above LS NLRI can be divided into the following types according to the carrying information: node NLRI (node NLRI), link NLRI (link NLRI), prefix NLRI (prefix NLRI), etc. The different NLRI can also carry corresponding attributes, e.g., node attribute (node attribute), link attribute (link attribute), prefix attribute (prefix auttribute). These attributes are embodied in the form of types, lengths and values (type length value, TLVs), for example, node attribute information is included in the node attribute TLV, link attribute information is included in the link attribute TLV, and prefix attribute information is included in the prefix attribute TLV. Specifically, the node attribute information is used to indicate a certain node (network device) in the topology; the link attribute information is used for indicating link information between two nodes, and the link information comprises interface addresses of the two nodes; the prefix attribute is used to indicate reachable network segment information, which can be embodied by a prefix address. The prefix address may be a fourth version of the internet protocol (internet protocol version, ipv 4) prefix or a sixth version of the internet protocol (internet protocol version, ipv 6) prefix.

Optionally, one or more sub-TLVs (sub-TLVs) may be carried in the node attribute TLV, and a sub-TLV may be added to the node attribute TLV in this embodiment, where the sub-TLV may also be referred to as a node attribute sub-TLV, and is used to carry slice information at a node level. Specifically, the LS information includes a first sub-TLV including slice information at a node level. The slice information of the node level comprises slice identification of a network slice to which the first network device belongs. That is, the first sub-TLV is a node-attribute sub-TLV. The format of the node attribute sub-TLV is shown in fig. 3, and the node attribute sub-TLV may include an algorithm (algoritm) field and a virtual transport instance identification (virtual transport instance identify, VTN ID) field. Wherein the VTN ID field carries the slice identity of the network slice to which the first network device belongs, and the algorithm field indicates the topology identity (e.g., MT ID or flex-algo ID) used by the network slice. Wherein the flex-algo identification is used to indicate an algorithm used by the first network device in calculating a transmission path corresponding to the network slice. Wherein each Flex-Algo algorithm may be represented using Flex-Algo (k). Flex-Algo (k) has local significance only in the logical topologies that participate in this algorithm. For example, the first network device is device 1 in fig. 1, and when calculating a transmission path corresponding to Slice1, device 1 will determine the transmission path using an algorithm indicated by flex-algo 128. Alternatively, the first network device is device 2 in fig. 1, and when calculating the transmission path corresponding to Slice1, device 2 will determine the transmission path using the algorithm indicated by flex-algo 128. Alternatively, the first network device is device 2 in fig. 1, and when calculating the transmission path corresponding to Slice4, device 2 will determine the transmission path using the algorithm indicated by flex-algo 129.

When the first network device belongs to a plurality of network slices, a plurality of node attribute sub-TLVs can be newly added in the node attribute TLV, and each node attribute sub-TLV carries a slice identifier of one network slice to which the first network device belongs and a topology identifier used by the network slice. The topology identifiers carried in the plurality of node attribute sub-TLVs can be the same or different. For example, when the first network device is device 1 in fig. 1, it corresponds to 3 node attribute sub-TLVs, and topology identifiers carried by the 3 node attribute sub-TLVs are flex-algo 128; when the first network device is the device 2 in fig. 1, it corresponds to 6 node attribute sub-TLVs, where the topology identifiers carried by 3 node attribute sub-TLVs are all flex-algo 128, and the topology identifiers carried by the other 3 node attribute sub-TLVs are all flex-algo 129.

It should be noted that, the node attribute sub-TLV may also include only the VTN-ID field, where the topology identifier corresponding to the node attribute sub-TLV is a default pre-configured topology identifier.

Optionally, one or more sub-TLVs (sub-TLVs) may be carried in the link attribute TLV, and a sub-TLV may be added to the link attribute TLV in this embodiment, where the sub-TLV may also be referred to as a link attribute sub-TLV, and is used to carry link-level slice information. Specifically, the LS information includes a second sub-TLV that includes link-level slice information that includes a slice identity that indicates a network slice to which the interface in the first network device belongs. That is, the second sub-TLV is a link-attribute sub-TLV. The link attribute sub-TLV may include a VTN ID field and a bandwidth field, the format of which is shown in fig. 4. The VTN ID field is used to carry a slice identifier of a network slice to which an interface in the first network device belongs, and the bandwidth field indicates a bandwidth resource that needs to be reserved for the network slice. Wherein, a plurality of channelized subinterfaces can be configured under one interface on the first network device, and each channelized subinterface can be configured with a plurality of network slices.

If the first network device may belong to multiple network slices, a number of link attribute sub-TLVs may be added to the link attribute TLV, each of which carries the slice identity of one of the network slices to which the first network device belongs and the bandwidth that needs to be reserved for that network slice. For example, when a plurality of logical interfaces are divided for physical interfaces on the first network device and different logical interfaces belong to different network slices, a link attribute sub-TLV may be newly added in a link attribute TLV corresponding to the logical interfaces, where the link attribute sub-TLV carries a slice identifier and a bandwidth resource to which the logical interfaces belong. The bandwidth resources carried in the multiple link attribute sub-TLVs may be the same or different. For example, the first network device is device 1 in fig. 1, where interface 1 of the device 1 belongs to Slice1, interface 2 belongs to Slice2, interface 3 belongs to Slice3, and the total bandwidth corresponding to device 1 is 500Mbps, where the bandwidth resource corresponding to interface 1 is 100Mbps, the bandwidth resource corresponding to interface 2 is 200Mbps, and the bandwidth resource corresponding to interface 3 is 100Mbps.

It should be noted that, the link attribute sub-TLV may also include only the VTN-ID field, where the bandwidth resource corresponding to the link attribute sub-TLV is a default pre-configured bandwidth resource.

Optionally, one or more sub-TLVs (sub-TLVs) may be carried in the prefix-attribute TLV, and a sub-TLV may be added to the prefix-attribute TLV in this embodiment, where the sub-TLV may also be referred to as a prefix-attribute sub-TLV, and is used to carry slice information at a prefix level. Specifically, the LS information includes a third sub-TLV including prefix-level slice information including a slice identity for introducing traffic matching the prefix into the network slice indicated by the slice identity, i.e., the prefix-level slice information is used for draining. Wherein the third sub-TLV is a prefix-attribute sub-TLV. The format of the prefix-attribute sub-TLV is shown in fig. 5, and the prefix-attribute sub-TLV may include a VTN ID field, where the VTN ID field is used to carry a slice identifier of a network slice that needs to be walked by the traffic corresponding to the IPv4 prefix or the IPv6 prefix. For example, the first network device is device 1 in fig. 1, where device 1 belongs to 3 network slices, slice1, slice2, and Slice3, respectively. And establishing a corresponding relation between the prefix 1 and the Slice1, a corresponding relation between the prefix 2 and the Slice3 and a corresponding relation between the prefix 3 and the Slice2 through the Slice information of the prefix level. When the prefix of the service flow received by the device 1 is prefix 2, the service flow is introduced into the Slice3 through the corresponding relationship, so as to be transmitted through the Slice3.

The method comprises the steps that the prefix level slice information is only needed by a head node of a network slice, when the head node receives a data message, the head node enters the corresponding network slice according to the prefix information of the data message, and then the forwarded data message carries slice identification information. And the intermediate node selects a corresponding slice network for forwarding according to the slice identifier carried in the message. For example, in the scenario shown in fig. 1, in the network topology corresponding to Slice1, where device 1 is a head node, device 7 is a tail node, and devices 2, 3, 5, and 6 are intermediate nodes, slice information of a prefix level is included in Slice information sent by the controller to device 1, and Slice information of a prefix level may not be included in Slice information sent to other devices. Wherein the head node is the first node for the data message to enter the network slice, the tail node is the last node leaving the network slice, and the intermediate node is the end device between the head node and the tail node.

The controller may carry node-level slice information, link-level slice information, and prefix-level slice information in the same message, or may carry the three types of information through different messages.

(II) carrying slice information by objects (objects) newly added by PCER-LS

In this embodiment, the PCEP message may include object information including the first slice information. The object may include a VTN ID field, an algoritm field, a Flag (Flag) field, and an optional (Option) TLV field, among other formats, as shown in fig. 6. The VTN ID field is used to carry a slice identifier of a network slice to which the first network device belongs, the Algorithm field user carries a flex-algo identifier, indicates an Algorithm used by the first network device when calculating a transmission path corresponding to the network slice, and the Flag field is used to carry related information of the network slice to which the update interface belongs. Specifically, the flag field may include a first flag bit R and a second flag bit F, where the first flag bit R indicates that a network slice to which an update interface belongs, for example, R indicates that a network slice to which a certain interface belongs is added or a network slice to which a certain interface belongs is deleted; the second flag bit F indicates the update manner, such as full increment or incremental increment, and full delete or delete alone.

Wherein, node information, link information or prefix information in the first slice information is carried by newly adding one or more Option TLVs in the object information. Specifically, the Option TLV includes a first Option TLV that includes node information including a node identification. The format of the first Option TLV is shown in fig. 7, where the first Option TLV includes a type= [ TBD8] field, a Length field, and a Node Descriptor field. The type= [ TBD8] indicates that the TLV is a Node TLV, and the Node Descriptor field is used to carry specific Node information.

Optionally, the Option TLV may further include a second Option TLV including link information including an interface identification. The format of the second Option TLV is shown in fig. 8, where the second Option TLV includes a type= [ TBD10] field, a Length field, and a Link Descriptor field. The type= [ TBD10] indicates that the TLV is a Link TLV, and a Link Descriptor field is used to carry specific interface information.

Optionally, the Option TLV may further include a third Option TLV including prefix information including a prefix address. The format of the third Option TLV is shown in fig. 9, where the third Option TLV includes a type= [ TBD11] field, a Length field, and a Prefix Descriptor field. Wherein, type= [ TBD11] indicates that the TLV is a prefix TLV, and a Prefix Descriptor field is used to carry specific prefix information.

In another example, the controller may carry slice information through a PCE-CC message and issue the slice information to the first network device. When slice information is issued based on the PCE-CC mode, object information can be newly added in the PCE-CC to carry the slice information. The format of the object information may be referred to in fig. 6, and the object information may be added with an Option TLV to carry slice information of different levels. The Option TLV format may be described with reference to fig. 7-9, and will not be described herein.

S202: and the first network equipment analyzes the PCEP message to obtain first slice information, and configures the network slice according to the first slice information.

After receiving the PCEP message issued by the controller, the first network device acquires the first slice information corresponding to the first network device by analyzing the PCEP message, and configures the network slice according to the first slice information.

Wherein the first network device configuring the network slice according to the first slice information may comprise the acts of: and in the control plane, the first network equipment establishes an association relation between each interface and the slice identifier and an association relation between the bandwidth resource and the slice identifier according to the first slice information. For example, the first network device is device 1 in fig. 1, where the device 1 includes 3 interfaces, where a Slice identifier corresponding to the interface 1 in the first Slice information is Slice1, a Slice identifier corresponding to the interface 2 is Slice2, and a Slice identifier corresponding to the interface 3 is Slice3; and the bandwidth resource reserved for Slice1 is 100Mbps, the bandwidth resource reserved for Slice2 is 60Mbps, and the bandwidth resource reserved for Slice3 is 100Mbps. Then interfaces 1-Slice1-100Mbps, interfaces 2-Slice2-60Mbps, interfaces 3-Slice3-100Mbps are established on the control plane. After the establishment of the association relation is completed on the control plane, the association relation is issued to the forwarding plane by the control plane, so that when the first network equipment receives the service flow, the forwarding plane determines a matched network slice according to the association relation, and the service flow is transmitted by using the network slice.

Therefore, the controller in the application issues the slice information through the PCEP message, so that the first network equipment can acquire the corresponding first slice information in time and perform configuration of the network slice after acquiring the PCEP message, and the configuration command does not need to be waited, thereby improving the configuration rate of the network slice and improving the issuing performance of the slice information.

In some application scenarios, the controller may establish a PCEP session with each device in the network, for example, as shown in fig. 1, and the controller establishes PCEP sessions with devices 1-7, respectively, and issues corresponding slice information to each device, respectively. In other application scenarios, the controller establishes a PCEP session with a portion of the devices in the network. For example, in fig. 10, device 1 (corresponding to the first network device above) and the controller establish a PCEP session. After the controller sends a PCEP message to the device 1 (corresponding to the first network device above) by the method shown in fig. 2, the device 1 floods the slice information to the devices 2-7.

Specifically, the PCEP packet further includes second slice information corresponding to the second network device, and the method further includes: the first network equipment analyzes the PCEP message to obtain second slice information; the first network equipment generates an Internal Gateway Protocol (IGP) message according to the second slice information, wherein the IGP message comprises the second slice information; the first network device sends an IGP message to the second network device to cause the second network device to configure the network slice according to the second slice information. For a specific implementation of the second network device configuring the network slice according to the second slice information, reference may be made to the description related to the first network device configuring the network slice according to the first slice information, which is not described herein.

The first network device is device 1 in fig. 10, and the second network device may be any one of devices 2-7 in fig. 10. A detailed description of a specific implementation procedure of the flooding slice information from the device 1 to the devices 2-7 is provided below. The IGP protocol may be run between the devices shown in fig. 10, and after obtaining slice information sent by the controller through the PCEP packet, the device 1 may convert the slice information into global slice information and flood the slice information to other devices (for example, devices 2-7) through IGP.

Optionally, when the first network device receives the node-level slice information issued by the controller, the slice information obtained by the first network device through the PCEP message includes: VTN ID and flex-algo ID used by the VTN. The first network device obtains a flex-algo definition (FAD) information corresponding to the flex-algo ID, so as to carry the second slice information through the FAD information. Wherein the VTN ID represents a slice identity of the network slice to which the second network device belongs.

Specifically, a sub-TLV may be added under the FAD information, and the sub-TLV carries node-level slice information. For example, the FAD information includes a fourth sub-TLV including slice information at the node level. The slice information at the node level can be seen from the relevant description in fig. 2.

Optionally, when the first network device receives the link-level slice information issued by the controller, the slice information obtained by the first network device from the controller through the PCEP message includes: VTN ID and bandwidth information corresponding to the VTN. The first network device obtains the corresponding interface through the link attribute TLV, and converts the link-level slice information into the affinity attribute information of the slice interface associated with the VTN and the bandwidth information required to be reserved for the VTN. Wherein, the VTN ID represents a slice identifier of a network slice to which the interface belongs.

Specifically, a sub-TLV may be added under the FAD information, where the sub-TLV is used to carry the VTN ID, and affinity attribute information of the slice interface associated with the VTN, and bandwidth information that needs to be reserved for the VTN. For example, the FAD information includes a fifth sub-TLV including link-level slice information including slice identification, affinity attribute information. The affinity attribute information is related to the interface, and the interface belongs to the network slice indicated by the slice identifier. Alternatively, two sub-TLVs may be added under the FAD information, where one sub-TLV is used to carry the VTN ID and the affinity attribute information of the slice interface associated with the VTN. Another sub-TLV is used to carry the VTN ID described above and bandwidth information that needs to be reserved for that VTN.

Optionally, the FAD information may further include a sixth sub-TLV, where the sixth sub-TLV includes prefix-level slice information, and the prefix-level slice information includes a VTN ID, where the VTN ID indicates a slice identifier of a network slice corresponding to the traffic flow matching the prefix.

As shown in fig. 11, the format of the FAD information may include a Flex-Algorithm field, a priority (priority) field, a plurality of sub-TLV fields, and the like. Wherein the Flex-Algorithm field indicates a Flex-algo ID used by the VTN, the priority field indicates a priority level of the FAD information, and the plurality of sub-TLV fields may include a fourth sub-TLV, a fifth sub-TLV and a sixth sub-TLV. The fourth sub-TLV is shown in fig. 12, and includes a VTN ID field in the sub-TLV, which indicates the identification of the network slice. The fifth sub-TLV is in the format shown in fig. 13, and includes a VTN ID field, an extended management group (extend extended administrative group) field, and a bandwidth field, where extend extended administrative group field indicates affinity attribute information of a slice interface associated with the VTN. That is, it is eventually necessary to configure the VTN ID on the interface of the affinity attribute. The bandwidth field indicates the bandwidth that needs to be reserved for the VTN.

After the conversion, the first network device may carry global slice information in FAD information and flood other devices (e.g., device 2-device 7) in the network through IGP protocols, such as intermediate system-to-intermediate system (intermediate system to intermediate system, ISIS) or open shortest path first (open shortest path first, OSPF). Specifically, the first network device may send an ISIS link state protocol (ISIS link state protocol, ISIS LSP) message to other devices in the network, where the ISIS LSP message includes the FAD information. Alternatively, an OSPF link-state advertisement (OSPF link-state advertisement, OSPF LSA) message may also be sent to each other device in the network, where the OSPF LSA message includes the FAD information described above.

Other devices in the network (such as device 2-device 7) may perform configuration of network slices by receiving global slice information carried in FAD information sent by the first network device. Specifically, as an example, other devices (device 2-device 7) in the network may generate network slice usage Flex-Algo topology information from the Flex-Algorithm field in the FAD information. All interfaces on the device matching the affinity attribute can also be obtained according to the affinity attribute (for example, extend extended administrative group field in the FAD information) of the slice interface associated with the VTN, the slice identifier is configured on the interface, and bandwidth resources are reserved for the network slice indicated by the slice identifier according to the bandwidth field in the FAD information.

If only one device (e.g., device 1) in the network floods FAD information to other devices, the other devices may perform configuration of network slices based on global slice information carried by the FAD information. If a plurality of devices in the network respectively flood FAD information to other devices, the other devices can determine selected FAD information based on priority fields in the FAD information and the same election criteria, and perform configuration of network slices based on global slice information carried by the selected FAD information.

Based on the above method embodiments, the embodiments of the present application provide a network slice information transmission device, which will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Referring to fig. 14, which is a schematic structural diagram of a network slice information transmission apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 14, the apparatus 1400 may implement the function of the first network device, and the apparatus may include: a receiving unit 1401, a parsing unit 1402, and a configuring unit 1403.

The receiving unit 1401 is configured to receive a path computation protocol PCEP packet sent by the controller, where the PCEP packet includes first slice information corresponding to the first network device. For the implementation of the receiving unit 1401, reference may be made to the relevant description of S201 in fig. 2.

And an parsing unit 1402, configured to parse the PCEP packet to obtain the first slice information. For the implementation of the parsing unit 1402, see the relevant description of S202 in fig. 2.

A configuration unit 1403 is configured to configure a network slice according to the first slice information. For the implementation of the parsing unit 1403, reference may be made to the relevant description of S202 in fig. 2.

For the format of each sub-TLV described above, reference may be made to the relevant descriptions in the embodiments shown in fig. 3-5.

For the object information and the formats of the respective Option TLVs, see the relevant descriptions in the embodiments shown in fig. 6-9.

In a possible implementation manner, the PCEP packet further includes second slice information corresponding to the second network device, and the apparatus further includes: a generation unit and a transmission unit;

the parsing unit is further configured to parse the PCEP packet to obtain the second slice information;

a generating unit, configured to generate an IGP message according to the second slice information, where the IGP message includes the second slice information;

And the sending unit is used for sending the IGP message to the second network equipment so that the second network equipment configures network slices according to the second slice information.

For FAD information and the format of the sub-TLVs, see the relevant description in the embodiments shown in fig. 11-13.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the division of the units is schematic, which is merely a logic function division, and other division manners may be implemented in actual practice. The functional units in the embodiment of the application can be integrated in one processing unit, or each unit can exist alone physically, or two or more units are integrated in one unit. For example, in the above embodiment, the processing unit and the transmitting unit may be the same unit or may be different units. The integrated units may be implemented in hardware or in software functional units.

Fig. 15 is a schematic structural diagram of a network device according to an embodiment of the present application, where the network device may be, for example, the first network device or the second network device in the foregoing method embodiment, or the apparatus 1400 in fig. 14 may be implemented by the device shown in fig. 15.

Referring to fig. 15, a network device 1500 includes: a processor 1510, a communication interface 1520, and a memory 1530. Where the number of processors 1510 in packet forwarding device 1500 may be one or more, one processor is illustrated in fig. 15. In an embodiment of the application, processor 1510, communication interface 1520, and memory 1530 may be connected by a bus system or otherwise, with the connection being shown in FIG. 15 as being through bus system 1540.

The processor 1510 may be a central processing unit (central processor unit, CPU), a network processor (network processor, NP), or a combination of CPU and NP. The processor 1510 may further comprise a hardware chip. The hardware chip may be an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a programmable logic device (programmable logic device, PLD), or a combination thereof. The PLD may be a complex programmable logic device (complex programmable logic device, CPLD), a field-programmable gate array (field-programmable gate array, FPGA), general-purpose array logic (generic array logic, GAL), or any combination thereof.

When the network device is a first network device, the processor 1510 may perform the above-described method embodiment to parse the PCEP message to obtain the first slice information, and configure related functions such as network slicing according to the first slice information.

Communication interface 1520 is used to receive and transmit messages, and in particular, communication interface 1520 may include a receive interface and a transmit interface. The receiving interface may be used for receiving a message, and the transmitting interface may be used for transmitting a message. The number of communication interfaces 1520 may be one or more.

Memory 1530 may include volatile memory (RAM), such as random-access memory (RAM); the memory 1530 may also include a non-volatile memory (nonvolatile memory), such as a flash memory (flash memory), a Hard Disk Drive (HDD) or a Solid State Drive (SSD); memory 1530 may also include a combination of the above types of memory. The memory 1530 may store, for example, the aforementioned user-associated information and the like.

Optionally, memory 1530 stores an operating system and programs, executable modules or data structures, or a subset thereof, or an extended set thereof, wherein the programs may include various operational instructions for performing various operations. The operating system may include various system programs for implementing various underlying services and handling hardware-based tasks. The processor 1510 may read programs in the memory 1530 to implement the method provided by the embodiment of the present application.

The memory 1530 may be a storage device in the network device 1500, or may be a storage device independent of the network device 1500.

Bus system 1540 may be a peripheral component interconnect (peripheral component interconnect, PCI) bus or an extended industry standard architecture (extended industry standard architecture, EISA) bus, among others. Bus system 1540 may be categorized as an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, and the like. For ease of illustration, only one thick line is shown in fig. 15, but not only one bus or one type of bus.

Fig. 16 is a schematic structural diagram of another network device 1600 provided in an embodiment of the present application, where the network device 1600 may be configured as the first network device or the second network device in the foregoing embodiments, or the transmission apparatus 1400 in fig. 14 may be implemented by the device shown in fig. 16.

The network device 1600 includes: a main control board 1610 and an interface board 1630.

The main control board 1610 is also called a main processing unit (main processing unit, MPU) or a routing processing card (route processor card), and the main control board 1610 controls and manages various components in the network device 1600, including routing computation, device management, device maintenance, and protocol processing functions. The main control board 1610 includes: a central processor 1611 and a memory 1612.

The interface board 1630 is also referred to as a line interface unit card (line processing unit, LPU), line card, or service board. The interface board 1630 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, etc. The interface board 1630 includes: a central processor 1631, a network processor 1632, a forwarding table entry memory 1634, and a physical interface card (physical interface card, PIC) 1633.

The central processor 1631 on the interface board 1630 is used for controlling and managing the interface board 1630 and communicating with the central processor 1611 on the main control board 1610.

The network processor 1632 is configured to implement forwarding processing of the packet. The network processor 1632 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; the processing of the downstream message includes forwarding table lookup and the like.

The physical interface card 1633 is used to implement the docking function of the physical layer, from which the original traffic enters the interface board 1630, and from which processed messages are sent out from the physical interface card 1633. The physical interface card 1633 includes at least one physical interface, also referred to as a physical port. The physical interface card 1633, also called a daughter card, may be mounted on the interface board 1630 and is responsible for converting the photoelectric signals into messages, performing validity check on the messages, and forwarding the messages to the network processor 1632 for processing. In some embodiments, the central processor 1631 of the interface board 1603 may also perform the functions of the network processor 1632, such as implementing software forwarding based on a general purpose CPU, so that the network processor 1632 is not required in the physical interface card 1633.

Optionally, the network device 1600 includes a plurality of interface boards, for example, the network device 1600 also includes an interface board 1640, the interface board 1640 including: a central processor 1641, a network processor 1642, forwarding table entry memory 1644, and a physical interface card 1643.

Optionally, network device 1600 also includes a switch board 1620. Switch board 1620 may also be referred to as a switch board unit (switch fabric unit, SFU). In the case of a network device having multiple interface boards 1630, the switch board 1620 is configured to perform data exchange between the interface boards. For example, interface board 1630 and interface board 1640 may communicate via switch web 1620.

The main control board 1610 is coupled to an interface board 1630. For example. The main control board 1610, the interface board 1630 and the interface board 1640 are connected with the system backboard through a system bus to realize intercommunication among the exchange network boards 1620. In one possible implementation, an inter-process communication protocol (IPC) channel is established between the main control board 1610 and the interface board 1630, and communication is performed between the main control board 1610 and the interface board 1630 through the IPC channel.

Logically, network device 1600 includes a control plane that includes a main control board 1610 and a central processor 1631, and a forwarding plane that includes various components that perform forwarding, such as a forwarding table entry memory 1634, a physical interface card 1633, and a network processor 1632. The control plane performs the functions of a router, generating a forwarding table, processing signaling and protocol messages, configuring and maintaining the state of the device, and the like, and the control plane issues the generated forwarding table to the forwarding plane, and at the forwarding plane, the network processor 1632 performs table lookup forwarding on the messages received by the physical interface card 1633 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 1634. In some embodiments, the control plane and the forwarding plane may be completely separate and not on the same device.

It is understood that the configuration unit 1403 in the transmission apparatus 1400 may correspond to the central processor 1611 or the central processor 1631 in the network device 1600.

It should be understood that the operations on the interface board 1640 are consistent with the operations of the interface board 1630 in the embodiment of the present application, and are not repeated for brevity. It should be understood that the network device 1600 of the present embodiment may correspond to the first network device or the second network device in the foregoing method embodiments, and the main control board 1610, the interface board 1630 and/or the interface board 1640 in the network device 1600 may implement the functions and/or the implemented steps of the first network device or the second network device in the foregoing method embodiments, which are not repeated 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 network boards, 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 card, 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 card, 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 card, so as to execute the functions after stacking the two, where the data exchange 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, the first network device or the second network device may be implemented as a virtualized device. 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 a first network device or a second network device. For example, the first network device or the second network device may be implemented based on a generic physical server in combination with network function virtualization (network functions virtualization, NFV) technology. The first network device or the second network device is a virtual host, a virtual router, or a virtual switch. By reading the present application, a person skilled in the art can virtually combine the NFV technology to obtain the first network device or the second network device with the above functions on the general physical server, which is not described herein.

It should be understood that the network devices in the above various product forms have any function of the first network device or the second network 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 operable to perform the above method. Wherein the processor is coupled to a memory for storing programs or instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the system-on-a-chip 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 the application is not limited. 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 particularly limited in the present application.

The system-on-chip may be, for example, a field programmable gate array (field programmable gate array, FPGA), an application-specific integrated chip (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.

The embodiment of the application also provides a computer readable storage medium comprising instructions or a computer program, which when run on a computer, causes the computer to execute the network slice information transmission method provided in the above embodiment.

The embodiments of the present application also provide a computer program product comprising instructions or a computer program which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the network slice information transmission method provided by the above embodiments.

The terms "first," "second," "third," "fourth" and the like in the description and in the claims and in the above drawings, if any, are used for distinguishing between similar objects and not necessarily for describing a particular sequential or chronological order. It is to be understood that the data so used may be interchanged where appropriate such that the embodiments described herein may be implemented in other sequences than those illustrated or otherwise described herein. Furthermore, the terms "comprises," "comprising," and "having," and any variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, system, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of steps or elements is not necessarily limited to those steps or elements expressly listed but may include other steps or elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus.

It will be clear to those skilled in the art that, for convenience and brevity of description, specific working procedures of the above-described systems, apparatuses and units may refer to corresponding procedures in the foregoing method embodiments, which are not repeated herein.

In the several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices, and methods may be implemented in other manners. For example, the above-described apparatus embodiments are merely illustrative, e.g., the division of units is merely a logical service division, and there may be additional divisions in actual implementation, e.g., multiple units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted, or not performed. Alternatively, the coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed with each other may be an indirect coupling or communication connection via some interfaces, devices or units, which may be in electrical, mechanical or other form.

The units described as separate units may or may not be physically separate, and units shown as units may or may not be physical units, may be located in one place, or may be distributed over a plurality of network units. Some or all of the units may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of this embodiment.

In addition, each service unit in the embodiments of the present application may be integrated in one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units may be integrated in one unit. The integrated units may be implemented in hardware or in software business units.

The integrated units, if implemented in the form of software business units and sold or used as stand-alone products, may be stored in a computer readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present application may be embodied in essence or a part contributing to the prior art or all or part of the technical solution in the form of a software product stored in a storage medium, including several instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to perform all or part of the steps of the methods of the embodiments of the present application. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: a U-disk, a removable hard disk, a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a random access Memory (RAM, random Access Memory), a magnetic disk, or an optical disk, or other various media capable of storing program codes.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that in one or more of the examples described above, the services described herein may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, the services may be stored in a computer-readable medium or transmitted as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. A storage media may be any available media that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer.

The objects, technical solutions and advantageous effects of the present application have been described in further detail in the above embodiments, and it should be understood that the above are only embodiments of the present application.

The above embodiments are only for illustrating the technical solution of the present application, and not for limiting the same; although the application has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that: the technical scheme described in the foregoing embodiments can be modified or some technical features thereof can be replaced by equivalents; such modifications and substitutions do not depart from the spirit of the application.

Claims

1. A network slice information transmission method, the method comprising:

the method comprises the steps that first network equipment receives a path computation protocol PCEP message sent by a controller, wherein the PCEP message comprises first slice information corresponding to the first network equipment;

and the first network equipment analyzes the PCEP message to obtain the first slicing information, and configures network slicing according to the first slicing information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the PCEP message includes link state LS information, the LS information including the first slice information.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the LS information comprises a first subtype length-value TLV, the first sub-TLV comprising node-level slice information comprising a slice identification of a network slice to which the first network device belongs.

4. A method according to claim 3, wherein the node-level slice information further comprises a flexible algorithm flex-algo identification indicating an algorithm used by the first network device in calculating a transmission path corresponding to the network slice.

5. The method of any of claims 2-4, wherein the LS information comprises a second sub-TLV that includes link-level slice information that includes a slice identity that indicates a network slice to which an interface in the first network device belongs.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the link-level slice information further comprises bandwidth information indicating bandwidth resources reserved for the network slice.

7. The method of any of claims 2-6, wherein the LS information comprises a third sub-TLV including prefix-level slice information including a slice identity, the prefix-level slice information being used to introduce traffic matching a prefix into a network slice indicated by the slice identity.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the PCEP message includes object information, the object information including the first slice information.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the object information comprises an optional Option TLV and a slice identity in the first slice information, the Option TLV to carry one or more of node information, link information, and prefix information in the first slice information.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the Option TLV comprises a first Option TLV comprising the node information, the node information comprising a node identification.

11. The method of claim 9 or 10, wherein the Option TLV comprises a second Option TLV comprising link information, the link information comprising an interface identification.

12. The method of any of claims 9-11, wherein the Option TLV comprises a third Option TLV comprising prefix information.

13. The method according to any one of claims 9-12, wherein the object information further comprises a first flag bit and a second flag bit, the first flag bit being used to indicate a network slice to which the update interface belongs, and the second flag bit being used to indicate an update manner.

14. The method of any of claims 9-13, wherein the object information further comprises a flexible algorithm flex-algo identification in the first slice information.

15. The method of any of claims 1-14, wherein the PCEP message further includes second slice information corresponding to a second network device, the method further comprising:

The first network device analyzes the PCEP message to obtain the second slice information;

the first network device generates an Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP) message according to the second slice information, wherein the IGP message comprises the second slice information;

the first network device sends the IGP message to the second network device, so that the second network device configures network slices according to the second slice information.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the IGP message comprises flexible algorithm definition, FAD, information, the FAD information comprising the second slice information.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the FAD information comprises a fourth sub-TLV comprising node-level slice information.

18. The method of claim 16 or 17, wherein the FAD information comprises a fifth sub-TLV comprising link-level slice information comprising a slice identity and affinity attribute information, the affinity attribute information being associated with an interface belonging to a network slice indicated by the slice identity.

19. The method according to any of claims 16-18, wherein the FAD information comprises a sixth sub-TLV comprising prefix-level slice information.

20. A network slice information transmission apparatus, the apparatus comprising:

a receiving unit, configured to receive a path computation protocol PCEP packet sent by a controller, where the PCEP packet includes first slice information corresponding to the first network device;

the analyzing unit is used for analyzing the PCEP message to acquire the first slice information;

and the configuration unit is used for configuring the network slice according to the first slice information.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the PCEP message includes link state LS information, the LS information including the first slice information.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the LS information comprises a first subtype length value TLV, the first sub-TLV comprising node-level slice information comprising a slice identification of a network slice to which the first network device belongs.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the node-level slice information further comprises a flexible algorithm flex-algo identification that indicates an algorithm used by the first network device in computing a transmission path corresponding to the network slice.

24. The apparatus of any of claims 21-23, wherein the LS information comprises a second sub-TLV comprising link-level slice information comprising a slice identity indicating a network slice to which an interface in the first network device belongs.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the link-level slice information further comprises bandwidth information indicating bandwidth resources reserved for the network slice.

26. The apparatus of any of claims 21-25, wherein the LS information comprises a third sub-TLV including prefix-level slice information including a slice identity, the prefix-level slice information being used to introduce traffic matching a prefix into a network slice indicated by the slice identity.

27. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the PCEP message includes object information, the object information including the first slice information.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the object information comprises an optional Option TLV and a slice identity in the first slice information, the Option TLV to carry one or more of node information, link information, and prefix information in the first slice information.

29. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the Option TLV comprises a first Option TLV comprising the node information, the node information comprising a node identification.

30. The apparatus of claim 28 or 29, wherein the Option TLV comprises a second Option TLV comprising link information comprising an interface identification.

31. The apparatus of any one of claims 28-30, wherein the Option TLV comprises a third Option TLV comprising prefix information.

32. The apparatus of any of claims 28-31, wherein the object information further comprises a first flag bit and a second flag bit, the first flag bit being used to indicate a network slice to which the update interface belongs, and the second flag bit being used to indicate an update manner.

33. The apparatus of any of claims 28-32, wherein the object information further comprises a flexible algorithm flex-algo identification in the first slice information.

34. The apparatus of any of claims 20-33, wherein the PCEP message further includes second slice information corresponding to a second network device, the apparatus further comprising: a generation unit and a transmission unit;

35. The apparatus of claim 34, wherein the IGP message comprises flexible algorithm definition, FAD, information, the FAD information comprising the second slice information.

36. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein the FAD information comprises a fourth sub-TLV comprising node-level slice information.

37. The apparatus of claim 35 or 36, wherein the FAD information comprises a fifth sub-TLV comprising link-level slice information comprising a slice identity and affinity attribute information, the affinity attribute information being associated with an interface belonging to a network slice indicated by the slice identity.

38. The apparatus of any one of claims 35-37, wherein the FAD information comprises a sixth sub-TLV comprising prefix-level slice information.

39. A network device, the network device comprising: a processor and a memory;

the memory is used for storing instructions or computer programs;

the processor being configured to execute the instructions or computer program in the memory to cause the network device to perform the method of any of claims 1-19.

40. A computer readable storage medium comprising instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any of the preceding claims 1-19.