CN106803786B

CN106803786B - Network element updating method and system based on network function virtualization

Info

Publication number: CN106803786B
Application number: CN201510843707.3A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 尼凌飞
Original assignee: China Mobile Communications Group Co Ltd
Current assignee: China Mobile Communications Group Co Ltd
Priority date: 2015-11-26
Filing date: 2015-11-26
Publication date: 2020-01-24
Anticipated expiration: 2035-11-26
Also published as: CN106803786A

Abstract

The invention discloses a network element updating method and a system based on NFV, wherein the method comprises the following steps: acquiring a Virtual Machine (VM) address corresponding to a VNF instance, and determining a corresponding relation between a VM and a process; accessing a VM of a standby process by using the VM address according to the corresponding relation between the VM and the process, and sending a VNF upgrade file to a virtual storage path of the VM; and deleting the standby process, executing an upgrading script, and starting a process by using the VNF upgrading file so as to upgrade the VNF.

Description

Network element updating method and system based on network function virtualization

Technical Field

The present invention relates to network management technologies, and in particular, to a network element updating method and system based on Network Function Virtualization (NFV).

Background

A Virtualized Network Function (VNF) refers to a functional Network element implemented by running software of a specific Function in a virtual environment. In the European Telecommunications Standardization Institute (ETSI), instantiation of a virtual network element by NFV is shown in fig. 1, and a main process of virtual network element instantiation includes:

1) an operator/Operation Support System (OSS) sends an instantiate new VNF request to a Network Function virtualization scheduler (NFVO), carrying an identity of a VNF to be instantiated and a corresponding VNF instantiation description.

2) NFVO validates this request: and checking whether the sender has the authority of initializing the VNF instance or not, and checking whether the request parameters are legal or not, if the mandatory parameters are carried. If the verification fails, a failure is returned.

3) The NFVO sends an instantiation request to a virtual network element Manager (VNFM) managed by a VNF, initializes an instance of the VNF, carries a VNF identifier, an VNF instantiation description, and a corresponding VNFD.

4) The VNFM analyzes the VNFD to obtain resources (including virtual computing resources, virtual storage resources, and the like) required by the VNF, and then requests resource authorization from the NFVO.

5) And the NFVO checks the available resources according to the global resource data, selects a proper virtual resource manager (VIM), and returns a VIM Identifier (ID) to which the available resources belong to the VNFM after the resource authorization is completed.

6) The VNFM goes to the VIM of the specified VIM ID according to the received NFVO instruction, and carries an instruction to create the virtual machine (parameters include specification of the virtual machine, Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of a virtual machine image file, affinity requirement, and the like).

7) The VIM allocates network resources and storage resources and notifies a Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) to create a corresponding Virtual Machine (VM), and joins the created Virtual Machine to the created network.

8) And after the VIM completes the successful resource allocation, returning the result to the VNFM.

9) The VNFM deploys (instantiates) configuration of the relevant parameters.

10) And after the VNFM finishes the configuration of the deployment related parameters, informing the EMS.

11) An Element Management System (EMS) adds VNFs as objects that can be managed.

12) And the EMS configures the network element application related parameters.

13) The VNFM checks (optionally via EMS) if the VNF is available.

14) After the VNFM determines that the VNF can provide the service when running, the VNFM sends a VNF instantiation completion result to the NFVO using a VNF Lifecycle change Notification (Lifecycle change Notification), where the VNF instantiation completion result carries a VNF instance identifier, a virtualized resource occupied by the VNF, and the like.

15) NFVO returns VNF instantiation complete result to operator/OSS.

Referring to fig. 2, the current process of updating the network element includes:

1) the operator imports software to be upgraded and an upgrade script to the EMS.

2) EMS stores the upgrade information and the upgrade script to the current software directory.

3) The operator sends an upgrade order to the EMS.

4) The EMS communicates with the network element software system to be upgraded and transmits the upgrade file and the upgrade script to the network software system.

5) And the network element software system stores the received upgrade file and the upgrade script in the current software directory.

6) The EMS sends a standby upgrade instruction to the network element software system.

7) The network element software system executes the upgrade script.

8) And (3) executing an upgrading script: the standby process is stopped.

9) And (3) executing an upgrading script: the software is started using the new version.

10) After the start is successful, the EMS sends a switching instruction to the network element software system, so that the upgraded process becomes the main process

11) The EMS instructs the network element software system to complete the upgrade of the standby process. Thereby completing the entire upgrade.

The existing NFV technology only supports a network element instantiation operation process and does not support a network element instance upgrading process, so that a network element instance upgrading scene is blank. The traditional network element software upgrading is carried out by EMS, the concept of network element instance is not available, but under NFV, the system is a brand new system for the EMS, and the EMS lacks corresponding interface and flow support to carry out network element instance updating.

Disclosure of Invention

In order to solve the above technical problem, embodiments of the present invention provide a method and a system for updating a network element based on NFV.

The network element updating method based on the NFV provided by the embodiment of the invention comprises the following steps:

obtaining a VM address corresponding to a VNF instance, and determining a corresponding relation between a VM and a process;

accessing a VM of a standby process by using the VM address according to the corresponding relation between the VM and the process, and sending a VNF upgrade file to a virtual storage path of the VM;

and deleting the standby process, executing an upgrading script, and starting a process by using the VNF upgrading file so as to upgrade the VNF.

In this embodiment of the present invention, before obtaining the address of the VM corresponding to the VNF instance, the method further includes:

obtaining upgrade information, wherein the upgrade information at least comprises: the VNF upgrading file and the VNF upgrading script are used;

obtaining a VNF identification corresponding to the upgrading information, and obtaining a storage address corresponding to a VNF instance according to the VNF identification;

and storing the upgrading information to a storage area corresponding to the storage address.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the method further includes:

and after the VNF finishes upgrading, receiving a notification message sent by the standby process.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the method further includes:

and controlling the VM where the main process is positioned and the VM where the standby process is positioned to be switched so as to switch the process started by upgrading to the main process and switch the main process which is not upgraded to the standby process.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the method further includes:

upgrading the updated VNF upgrade file by using the current standby process;

after the upgrade is finished, controlling the VM where the main process is located and the VM where the standby process is located to be switched, so that the standby process is switched to be the main process, and the main process is switched to be the standby process.

The network element updating system based on the NFV provided by the embodiment of the invention comprises:

the determining module is used for acquiring a VM address corresponding to the VNF instance and determining the corresponding relation between the VM and the process;

the access module is used for accessing the VM of the standby process by using the VM address according to the corresponding relation between the VM and the process and sending the VNF upgrading file to a virtual storage path of the VM;

and the execution module is used for deleting the standby process, executing the upgrading script and starting the process by using the VNF upgrading file so as to upgrade the VNF.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the system further includes:

a first obtaining module, configured to obtain upgrade information, where the upgrade information at least includes: the VNF upgrading file and the VNF upgrading script are used;

the second obtaining module is used for obtaining the VNF identification corresponding to the upgrading information and obtaining the storage address corresponding to the VNF instance according to the VNF identification;

and the storage module is used for storing the upgrading information to a storage area corresponding to the storage address.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the system further includes:

and the communication module is used for receiving the notification message sent by the standby process after the VNF is upgraded.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the system further includes:

and the control module is used for controlling the switching between the VM where the main process is located and the VM where the standby process is located, so that the process started by upgrading is switched to the main process, and the main process which is not upgraded is switched to the standby process.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the execution module is further configured to update the updated VNF upgrade file by using the current standby process;

the control module is further configured to control the VM in which the primary process is located and the VM in which the standby process is located to be switched after the upgrade is completed, so that the standby process is switched to the primary process, and the primary process is switched to the standby process.

In the technical scheme of the embodiment of the invention, the virtual machine VM address corresponding to the VNF instance is obtained, and the corresponding relation between the VM and the process is determined; accessing a VM of a standby process by using the VM address according to the corresponding relation between the VM and the process, and sending a VNF upgrade file to a virtual storage path of the VM; and deleting the standby process, executing an upgrading script, and starting a process by using the VNF upgrading file so as to upgrade the VNF. The enhanced EMS interacts with the VNFM to obtain a VIM address, a VM identifier and an address corresponding to the VNF. Therefore, the embodiment of the invention obtains the mapping relation between the process corresponding to the VNF instance and the virtual machine address; saving the VNF upgrade file in a storage area of the VM; the transmission of the upgrade file is realized and the upgrade is carried out. The embodiment of the invention provides the concept of the network element instance in the network element upgrading process, supports the process of upgrading the network element instance under the NFV technology, and fills the blank existing in the network element instance upgrading scene.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic flow chart of instantiation of a virtual network element;

fig. 2 is a schematic flow chart of network element update;

fig. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a network element updating method based on NFV according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4 is a schematic structural component diagram of an NFV-based network element updating system according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a network element updating method based on NFV according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6 is a schematic structural composition diagram of an NFV-based network element updating system according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

So that the manner in which the features and aspects of the embodiments of the present invention can be understood in detail, a more particular description of the embodiments of the invention, briefly summarized above, may be had by reference to the embodiments, some of which are illustrated in the appended drawings.

Fig. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a network element updating method based on NFV according to a first embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 3, the network element updating method based on NFV includes the following steps:

step 301: and acquiring a Virtual Machine (VM) address corresponding to the VNF instance, and determining the corresponding relation between the VM and the process.

Step 302: and according to the corresponding relation between the VM and the process, accessing the VM of the standby process by using the VM address, and sending the VNF upgrading file to a virtual storage path of the VM.

Step 303: and deleting the standby process, executing an upgrading script, and starting a process by using the VNF upgrading file so as to upgrade the VNF.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the method further includes: and after the VNF finishes upgrading, receiving a notification message sent by the standby process.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the method further includes: and controlling the VM where the main process is positioned and the VM where the standby process is positioned to be switched so as to switch the process started by upgrading to the main process and switch the main process which is not upgraded to the standby process.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the method further includes:

upgrading the updated VNF upgrade file by using the current standby process;

The technical scheme of the embodiment of the invention provides a software updating capability which is enabled to realize a traditional physical network functional network element and a virtualization functional network element through an enhanced network element management system (EMS-Advanced). The embodiment of the invention also refers to an enhanced EMS as a network element updating system based on NFV, and the enhanced EMS at least has the following functions: the enhanced EMS interacts with the VNFM to obtain a VIM address, a VM identifier and a VM address corresponding to the VNF; the enhanced EMS acquires the mapping relation between the process and the VM identifier and the address corresponding to the VNF instance; the enhanced EMS interacts with the VIM, and the upgrade file is stored in a storage area of the VM; the enhanced EMS interacts with the VM, transmits the upgrade file and upgrades the file.

In order to implement the network element updating method based on NFV, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a network element updating system based on NFV, where as shown in fig. 4, the system includes:

a determining module 41, configured to obtain a VM address corresponding to the VNF instance, and determine a corresponding relationship between the VM and the process;

the access module 42 is configured to access the VM in the standby process by using the VM address according to the corresponding relationship between the VM and the process, and send the VNF upgrade file to the virtual storage path of the VM;

and the execution module 43 is configured to delete the standby process, execute the upgrade script, and start a process by using the VNF upgrade file, so as to upgrade the VNF.

The system further comprises:

a first obtaining module 44, configured to obtain upgrade information, where the upgrade information at least includes: the VNF upgrading file and the VNF upgrading script are used;

a second obtaining module 45, configured to obtain a VNF identifier corresponding to the upgrade information, and obtain a storage address corresponding to the VNF instance according to the VNF identifier;

and a storage module 46, configured to store the upgrade information in a storage area corresponding to the storage address.

The system further comprises:

a communication module 47, configured to receive a notification message sent by the standby process after the VNF completes upgrading.

The system further comprises:

and the control module 48 is configured to control the VM where the main process is located and the VM where the standby process is located to switch, so that the process started by upgrading is switched to the main process, and the main process not upgraded is switched to the standby process.

The execution module 43 is further configured to update the updated VNF upgrade file by using the current standby process;

the control module 48 is further configured to control the VM in which the primary process is located and the VM in which the standby process is located to switch after the upgrade is completed, so that the standby process is switched to the primary process, and the primary process is switched to the standby process.

It should be understood by those skilled in the art that the functions implemented by the modules in the NFV-based network element updating system shown in fig. 4 can be understood by referring to the related description of the NFV-based network element updating method. The functions of the modules in the NFV-based network element updating system shown in fig. 4 can be implemented by a program running on a processor, or by specific logic circuits.

The NFV-based network element updating method and system according to the embodiments of the present invention are further described in detail below with reference to specific application scenarios.

As shown in fig. 5, when the NFV-based network element updating system is implemented by a specific hardware network element, the NFV-based network element updating system includes the following modules: EMS, OSS/BSS, NFVO, VNFM, VIM, network function virtualization resource (NFVI), VM. The EMS is an important component in the network, manages the function and capacity of each VM, and is an important node for updating the network element instance. The embodiment of the invention mainly aims at the updating of the VM example, and the network element updating system based on the NFV is an enhanced EMS supporting the VM updating function.

The updating of the VM instance refers to software upgrading of the current VM according to the provided VNF upgrading file. In the embodiment of the invention, the VNF upgrade file does not exist locally, but is stored in the storage space managed by the VIM, so the enhanced EMS needs to acquire a VIM address through the VNFM, interact with the VIM, instruct the VIM to provide the storage space address and determine the file path, and store the VNF upgrade file.

In NFV, EMS only manages network elements, but enhanced EMS needs to obtain mapping relationship between network element processes and corresponding VMs to complete upgrading. This enhanced EMS may be obtained by interacting with the VNFM.

In NFV, the EMS does not need to interact with the VM, but the enhanced EMS needs to complete the upgrade, interact with the VM, update the application software on the VM, and restart the process services.

In addition, in the embodiment of the present invention, in order to ensure the reliability of the network element and the system, each VM automatically deploys the main VM and the standby VM when instantiated, specifically, there exists a main process and a standby process, the main process usually performs service processing, the standby process does not perform service processing, and when the main process fails, the standby process starts to perform service processing. The host and standby processes may be deployed on different virtual machines.

Referring to fig. 6, in combination with the NFV-based network element updating system shown in fig. 5, a method for updating an NFV-based network element according to an embodiment of the present invention includes the following steps:

step 601: and the operator/OSS sends upgrading information to EMS-Advanced and distributes new storage space for the software updating package, wherein the upgrading information comprises VNF upgrading files, upgrading scripts and the like.

Step 602: the EMS-Advanced acquires the VNF identification corresponding to the upgrading information, and interacts with the VNFM to acquire the file storage address corresponding to the VNF instance.

Step 603: EMS-Advanced and VIM interact, and VNF upgrade files are stored in file storage addresses.

Step 604: the EMS-Advanced and the VNFM interact to acquire a VM address corresponding to the current VNF instance. EMS-Advanced determines the corresponding relation between the corresponding VM and the process.

Step 605: EMS-Advanced accesses the VM of the standby process using the VM address, passing the VNF upgrade file to the virtual storage path of the VM.

Step 606: EMS-Advanced instructs the VM's guest operating system to delete the standby process, start executing the upgrade script, and start the process using the new version of the upgrade file.

Step 607: and after the upgrade is completed, the standby process informs the EMS-Advanced.

Step 608: EMS-Advanced indicates that the VM where the primary process is located and the VM where the standby process is located are switched.

Step 609: the new upgrade process becomes the primary process.

Step 610: the original primary process that is not upgraded becomes the standby process.

Step 611: and finishing the upgrade of the current standby process using the new version upgrade file.

Step 612: and after the upgrade is finished, informing the VM where the main process is located and the VM where the standby process is located to switch.

Step 613: the standby process becomes the primary process.

Step 614: the primary process becomes the standby process.

Step 615: and finishing upgrading.

In the embodiment of the invention, the method can also realize the upgrade and rollback of the network element instance software.

The technical schemes described in the embodiments of the present invention can be combined arbitrarily without conflict.

In the embodiments provided in the present invention, it should be understood that the disclosed method and intelligent device may be implemented in other ways. The above-described device embodiments are merely illustrative, for example, the division of the unit is only a logical functional division, and there may be other division ways in actual implementation, such as: multiple units or components may be combined, or may be integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted, or not implemented. In addition, the coupling, direct coupling or communication connection between the components shown or discussed may be through some interfaces, and the indirect coupling or communication connection between the devices or units may be electrical, mechanical or other forms.

The units described as separate parts may or may not be physically separate, and parts displayed as units may or may not be physical units, that is, may be located in one place, or may be distributed on a plurality of network units; some or all of the units can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of the embodiment.

In addition, all the functional units in the embodiments of the present invention may be integrated into one second processing unit, or each unit may be separately regarded as one unit, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit; the integrated unit can be realized in a form of hardware, or in a form of hardware plus a software functional unit.

The above description is only for the specific embodiments of the present invention, but the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art can easily conceive of the changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the present invention, and all the changes or substitutions should be covered within the scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A network element updating method based on Network Function Virtualization (NFV), the method comprising:

obtaining upgrade information, wherein the upgrade information at least comprises: VNF upgrade files and upgrade scripts;

storing the upgrading information to a storage area corresponding to the storage address;

acquiring a Virtual Machine (VM) address corresponding to a virtualized function network element (VNF) instance, and determining a corresponding relation between a VM and a process;

2. The NFV-based network element updating method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

3. The NFV-based network element updating method of claim 2, wherein the method further comprises:

4. The NFV-based network element updating method of claim 3, wherein the method further comprises:

upgrading the updated VNF upgrade file by using the current standby process;

5. An NFV-based network element update system, the system comprising:

a first obtaining module, configured to obtain upgrade information, where the upgrade information at least includes: VNF upgrade files and upgrade scripts;

the storage module is used for storing the upgrading information to a storage area corresponding to the storage address;

6. The NFV-based network element updating system of claim 5, wherein the system further comprises:

7. The NFV-based network element updating system of claim 6, wherein the system further comprises:

8. The NFV-based network element update system of claim 7,

the execution module is further configured to update the updated VNF upgrade file by using the current standby process;