CN106856438B

CN106856438B - Network service instantiation method, device and NFV system

Info

Publication number: CN106856438B
Application number: CN201510909333.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 李少盈
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2015-12-09
Filing date: 2015-12-09
Publication date: 2020-02-14
Anticipated expiration: 2035-12-09
Also published as: CN106856438A

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention provides a method and a device for instantiating a network service and an NFV system, relates to the technical field of communication, and can reduce the complexity of an NFVO in the operation and maintenance process. The scheme comprises the following steps: the NFVO acquires an NS instantiation request of the NS, wherein the NS instantiation request is used for indicating VNS instances required in the NS and first VL instances required by the NS, and the VNS instances comprise VNF instances and second VL instances forming the VNS instances; the NFVO executes a VNS instantiation operation according to the NS instantiation request to obtain the VNS instance; the NFVO executes VL instantiation operation according to the NS instantiation request to obtain the first VL instance; the NFVO sends a first connection request to a virtual infrastructure manager, VIM, to cause the VIM to establish a connection between the VNS instance and the first VL instance according to the first connection request.

Description

Network service instantiation method, device and NFV system

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a method and an apparatus for instantiating a Network Service (NS), and a Network Function Virtualization (NFV) system.

Background

With the rapid development of virtualization technology, an NFV system that realizes the functions of network element devices dedicated to a network on a general physical device has been receiving attention from people.

As shown in fig. 1, is an architecture diagram of an NFV system, which includes: network Function Virtualization Orchestrators (NFVO), Virtual Network Function Managers (VNFM), Virtual Infrastructure Managers (VIM), Operation Support Systems (OSS), Network Element Managers (EM), virtual Network functions (VNF nodes), Network Function Virtualization Infrastructure (NFVI), and other functional nodes.

In the NFV system, NFVO, VNFM and VIM constitute the NFV system management and organization (NFV-MANO) domain. Specifically, the VNFM is responsible for lifecycle management of the VNF instance, such as instantiating, capacity expansion/reduction, querying, updating, and termination; the VIM is a management entrance of infrastructure and resources, provides resource management for the VNF instance, and comprises functions of configuration maintenance, resource monitoring, alarming, performance management and the like of infrastructure-related hardware and virtualized resources for the VNF instance; and the NFVO can perform scheduling functions such as operation, management and coordination on the VIM, and is connected with all VIMs and VNFMs in the NFV system.

It can be seen that, in the NFV system, different types of VNF instances can be scheduled by the NFVO, that is, dedicated virtual resources (e.g., virtual computing, storage, and network) are allocated to the network application, however, when the NFV system is huge, the number of VNF instances in the NFV system is large, and at this time, the NFVO needs to schedule all VNF instances, so that the complexity of the NFVO in the operation and maintenance processes is too high.

Disclosure of Invention

Embodiments of the present invention provide a method and an apparatus for instantiating an NS, and an NFV system, which can reduce complexity of an NFVO in an operation and maintenance process.

In order to achieve the purpose, the invention adopts the following technical scheme:

in a first aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a method for instantiating an NS, where the method includes:

the NFVO acquires an NS instantiation request of the NS, wherein the NS instantiation request is used for indicating a VNS (virtual Network Subsystem) instance required in the NS and a first VL instance required by the NS, and the VNS instance comprises a VNF instance and a second VL instance constituting the VNS instance; the NFVO executes a VNS instantiation operation according to the NS instantiation request to obtain the VNS instance; the NFVO executes VL instantiation operation according to the NS instantiation request to obtain the first VL instance; the NFVO sends a first connection request to a virtual infrastructure manager, VIM, to cause the VIM to establish a connection between the VNS instance and the first VL instance according to the first connection request.

It can be seen that the NFVO can instantiate the NS by taking the VNS instance as a unit, that is, the NFVO only needs to establish the VNS instance required in the NS and the first VL instance required by the NS, and does not need to schedule the VNF instance and the second VL instance in the VNS instance, so that complexity of the NFVO in the operation and maintenance process is reduced, and scheduling efficiency is improved.

In one possible design, the NS instantiation request includes an identifier of an NSD and an identifier of NS specification information, where the NSD corresponding to the identifier of the NSD includes an identifier of VNFFGD, and the identifier of VNFFGD is used to indicate a first VL instance required by the NS; the identification of the NSD and the identification of the NS specification information are used to indicate VNS instances needed in the NS.

In one possible design, the NFVO performs VNS instantiation operations according to the NS instantiation request, including: the NFVO determines a VNS instance list required by the NS instantiation according to the identification of the NSD and the identification of the NS specification information, wherein the VNS list comprises at least one VNS instance; the NFVO determines whether the VNS instance exists from instance record information, wherein the instance record information records the established VNS instance; if the VNS instance does not exist, the NFVO performs VNS instantiation operations.

In one possible design, the NFVO may perform VNS instantiation operations in the following two ways.

Wherein one is: the NFVO sends a VNS instantiation request to a VNSM, wherein the VNS instantiation request is used for indicating VNF instances needed in the VNS and second VL instances needed for forming the VNS instances; and the NFVO receives a VNS instantiation completion message sent by the VNSM, wherein the VNS instantiation completion message includes an identifier of the VNS instance.

The other mode is as follows: the NFVO determining VNF instances needed in the VNS and second VL instances needed to compose the VNS instances; the NFVO executes a VNF instantiation operation according to a VNF instance required in the VNS to obtain the VNF instance; the NFVO executes VL instantiation operation according to a second VL instance required by the VNS instance to obtain the second VL instance; the NFVO sends a second connection request to the VIM to cause the VIM to establish a connection between the VNF instance and the second VL instance according to the second connection request.

In one possible design, after the NFVO sending a first connection request to the VIM, such that the VIM establishes a connection between the VNS instance and the first VL instance according to the first connection request, the method further includes: the NFVO acquires a variable capacity request of the NS instance, wherein the variable capacity request carries an identifier of specification information different from the current NS capacity, and the variable capacity request comprises a capacity expansion request or a capacity reduction request; the NFVO determines a capacity-variable plan according to the identifier of the specification information different from the current NS capacity and the NSD indicated by the capacity-variable request, wherein the capacity-variable plan comprises a capacity expansion plan or a capacity reduction plan; if the variable volume plan includes VNS instance variable volumes, the NFVO performs a capacity expansion operation or a capacity reduction operation on the VNS instance.

In one possible design, the NFVO performs an expansion operation or a contraction operation on the VNS instance, including: the NFVO sends a variable capacity request of a VNS instance to a VNSM, wherein the variable capacity request carries an identifier of specification information different from the current VNS capacity; the NFVO receives a VNS instance volume change completion message sent by the VNSM, where the VNS instance volume change completion message includes a connection relationship of VNF instances in the VNS instances after volume change.

It can be seen that the NFVO can perform the capacity expansion operation or the capacity reduction operation of the NS instance with the VNS instance as a unit, and there is no need to perform the capacity expansion operation or the capacity reduction operation on the VNF instance in the VNS instance, thereby reducing the complexity of the NFVO in the operation and maintenance process and improving the scheduling efficiency.

In one possible design, after the NFVO sending a first connection request to the VIM, such that the VIM establishes a connection between the VNS instance and the first VL instance according to the first connection request, the method further includes: if the termination request of the NS instance is acquired, the NFVO terminates the VNS instance included in the NS instance; NFVO deletes the first VL instance in the NS instance.

It can be seen that the NFVO can execute the termination operation of the NS instance with the VNS instance as a unit, and there is no need to perform the termination operation or the capacity reduction operation on the VNF instance in the VNS instance, thereby reducing the complexity of the NFVO in the operation and maintenance process and improving the scheduling efficiency.

In one possible design, after the NFVO sending a first connection request to the VIM, such that the VIM establishes a connection between the VNS instance and the first VL instance according to the first connection request, the method further includes: the NFVO acquires an upgrade request of the NS instance, wherein the upgrade request comprises an identifier of a VNSD to be upgraded and an identifier of the VNSD for upgrading; the NFVO determines a first VNS list needing to be instantiated according to the identifier of the VNSD used for upgrading, and determines a second VNS list needing to be terminated according to the identifier of the VNSD to be upgraded; the NFVO executes VNS instantiation operation according to the first VNS list to obtain an upgraded VNS instance, and terminates the VNS instance in the second VNS list; the NFVO updates the first VL instance that makes up the NS to complete the upgrade of the NS instance.

It can be seen that the NFVO can perform the upgrade operation of the NS instance with the VNS instance as a unit, and it is not necessary to perform the upgrade operation or the capacity reduction operation on the VNF instance in the VNS instance, thereby reducing the complexity of the NFVO in the operation and maintenance process and improving the scheduling efficiency.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a method for instantiating a VNS, where the method includes:

the VNSM determines VNF instances required for VNS instantiation operation and VL instances required for forming the VNS instances; the VNSM performing a VNF instantiation operation to obtain the VNF instance; the VNSM performing a VL instantiation operation to obtain the VL instance; the VNSM sends a connection request to the VIM, so that the VIM establishes a connection between the VNF instance and the VL instance according to the connection request.

It can be seen that the VNSM may be responsible for establishing a VNS instance and managing and maintaining a VNF instance in one VNS instance, and the NFVO does not need to schedule the VNF instance in the VNS instance but only needs to manage the VNS instance where the VNF instance is located, thereby reducing complexity of the NFVO in the operation and maintenance process and improving scheduling efficiency.

It should be noted that the VNSM may be an independent entity device, or the VNSM may also be a logic function unit in other entity devices, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present invention.

In one possible design, the VNSM determining a VNF instance required for performing a VNS instantiation operation and a VL instance required for composing the VNS instance includes: the VNSM acquires a VNS instantiation request of the VNS, wherein the VNS instantiation request is used for indicating VNF instances needed in the VNS and VL instances needed for forming the VNS instances; wherein the VNSM performing VNF instantiation operations to obtain the VNF instance comprises: and the VNSM executes a VNF instantiation operation according to the VNS instantiation request so as to obtain the VNF instance.

In one possible design, the VNS instantiation request includes an identifier of a virtual network subsystem description information block VNSD and an identifier of VNS specification information, where the VNSD corresponding to the identifier of the VNSD includes an identifier of a virtual network function forwarding graph information description block VNFFGD, and the identifier of the VNFFGD is used to indicate VL instances required to compose the VNS; the identity of the VNSD and the identity of the VNS specification information are used to indicate the VNF instances needed in the VNS.

In one possible design, the VNSM performs a VNF instantiation operation according to the VNS instantiation request, including: the VNSM determines a VNF instance list required for instantiation of the VNS according to the identifier of the VNSD and the identifier of the VNS specification information, where the VNF list includes at least one VNF instance; the VNSM determining whether the VNF instance exists from instance record information in which an established VNF instance is recorded; if the VNF instance does not exist, the VNSM performs a VNF instantiation operation.

In one possible design, after the VNSM sends a connection request to the VIM, so that the VIM establishes a connection between the VNF instance and the VL instance according to the connection request, the method further includes: the VNSM acquires a variable capacity request of the VNS instance, wherein the variable capacity request carries an identifier of specification information different from the current VNS capacity, and the variable capacity request comprises an expansion request or a contraction request; the VNSM determines a capacity-variable plan according to the identifier of the specification information different from the current VNS capacity and the VNSD indicated by the capacity-variable request, wherein the capacity-variable plan comprises a capacity expansion plan or a capacity reduction plan; and the VNSM executes the capacity expansion operation or the capacity reduction operation on the VNF instance according to the capacity change plan.

Therefore, the VNSM can perform the capacity expansion operation or the capacity reduction operation on one VNS instance independently, and the NFVO does not need to perform the capacity expansion operation or the capacity reduction operation on each VNF instance directly, so that the complexity of the NFVO in the operation and maintenance process is reduced, and the scheduling efficiency is improved.

In one possible design, after the VNSM sends a connection request to the VIM, so that the VIM establishes a connection between the VNF instance and the VL instance according to the connection request, the method further includes: if the termination request of the VNS instance is obtained, the VNSM terminates the VNF instance included in the VNS instance; the VNSM deletes VL instances between VNF instances in the VNS instance.

Therefore, the VNSM can perform termination operation on one VNS instance independently, and the NFVO does not need to directly interact with each VNF instance to perform termination operation, thereby reducing complexity of the NFVO in the operation and maintenance process and improving scheduling efficiency.

In one possible design, after the VNSM sends a connection request to the VIM, so that the VIM establishes a connection between the VNF instance and the VL instance according to the connection request, the method further includes: the VNSM acquires an upgrade request of the VNS instance, wherein the upgrade request comprises an identifier of a VNFD to be upgraded and an identifier of the VNFD for upgrading; the VNSM determines a first VNF list needing to be instantiated according to the identifier of the VNFD used for upgrading, and determines a second VNF list needing to be terminated according to the identifier of the VNFD to be upgraded; the VNSM executes VNF instantiation operation according to the first VNF list to obtain an upgraded VNF instance, and terminates the VNF instance in the second VNF list; the VNSM updates the VL instances that make up the VNS instance to complete the upgrade of the VNS instance.

Therefore, the VNSM can independently perform upgrade operation on one VNS instance, and the NFVO is not required to directly interact with each VNF instance to perform upgrade operation, so that the complexity of the NFVO in the operation and maintenance process is reduced, and the scheduling efficiency is improved.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides an NFVO, where the NFVO has a function of implementing NFVO behavior in the foregoing method. The functions can be realized by hardware, and the functions can also be realized by executing corresponding software by hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above-described functions.

In one possible design, the NFVO structure includes a processor and a memory, the memory is used for storing application program codes supporting the NFVO to execute the method, and the processor is configured to execute the application program stored in the memory. The NFVO may further include a communication interface for the management device to communicate with other devices or a communication network.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a computer storage medium for storing computer software instructions for the NFVO, which includes a program designed for the NFVO to execute the above aspect.

In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a VNSM, including: a processor, a memory, a bus, and a communication interface; the memory is configured to store computer-executable instructions, the processor is coupled to the memory via the bus, and when the VNSM is running, the processor executes the computer-executable instructions stored by the memory to cause the VNSM to perform the method as instantiated by the VNS of the second aspect.

In a sixth aspect, embodiments of the present invention provide a computer storage medium for storing computer software instructions for the VNSM, which includes a program for executing the above-mentioned aspects designed for the VNSM.

In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides an NFV system, including the NFVO and the VNSM connected to the NFVO.

In the present invention, the names of NFVO and VIM do not limit the devices themselves, and in practical implementations, these devices may appear under other names. Provided that the respective devices function similarly to the present invention, are within the scope of the claims of the present invention and their equivalents.

Compared with the prior art, the NFV system provided by the embodiments of the present invention is different from the conventional NFV system in that a concept of VNS is introduced into the NFV system, where a VNS may be a subsystem formed by one or more nodes in the current NFV system, and one VNS instance may specifically include one or more VNF instances having a specific connection relationship, so that in the NFV system, the VNS instance may be used as a unit for scheduling and managing, thereby reducing complexity in the operation and maintenance process of the NFV system, and improving scheduling efficiency.

These and other aspects of the invention are apparent from and will be elucidated with reference to the embodiments described hereinafter.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be briefly described below, and it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present invention, but not all embodiments.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a prior art NFV system;

fig. 2 is an architecture diagram of an NFV system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is an exemplary diagram of a VNFFG of a NS provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

figure 4 is an exemplary diagram of a VNFFG of a VNS provided by an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a computer apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is an interaction diagram of a method for NS instantiation according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is an interaction diagram of a method for expanding a NS instance according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is an interaction diagram of a method for upgrading an NS instance according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is an interaction diagram of a method for instantiating a VNS according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is an interaction diagram of an embodiment of a method for expanding a VNS instance;

fig. 11 is an interaction diagram of an upgrade method for a VNS instance according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of an NFVO according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 13 is a schematic structural diagram of a VNSM according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, and not all of the embodiments.

An embodiment of the present invention provides an NFV system, which is different from a conventional NFV system, and introduces a concept of a VNS (virtual Network Subsystem), where the VNS may be a Subsystem formed by one or more nodes in the current NFV system, for example, an EPC (i.e. 4G core) Network, an IMS (IP multimedia Subsystem) Network, and the like, and one VNS instance may specifically include one or more VNF instances having a specific connection relationship, so that in the NFV system, the VNS instance may be used as a unit for scheduling and managing, thereby reducing complexity in an operation and maintenance process of the NFV system, and improving scheduling efficiency.

For example, in a conventional NFV system, VNF instances need to be established for each node in an EPC network and an IMS network in a mobile network of a region, so as to allocate dedicated virtual resources for each node, and maintain and manage all VNF instances.

In the NFV system provided in the embodiment of the present invention, because the concept of VNS is introduced, the EPC network may be used as one VNS, the VNF instances in the EPC network and the connection relationship between the VNF instances are used as one VNS instance, the IMS network is used as one VNS, the VNF instances in the IMS network and the connection relationship between the VNF instances are used as one VNS instance, and furthermore, only the two VNS instances need to be maintained and managed, so that the complexity of the NFV system in the operation and maintenance process is reduced, and the scheduling efficiency of the NFVO is improved.

Specifically, as shown in fig. 2, in order to implement the above-mentioned VNS concept, a VNSM (virtual Network Subsystem Manager, which may be one or more embodiments of the present invention without limitation) is introduced into the NFV system provided in the embodiment of the present invention, where the VNSM is connected to the NFVO, the VIM, and the VNFM respectively under a conventional NFV system structure (see fig. 1).

Wherein the VNSM is responsible for lifecycle management of the VNS instance. For example, performing VNS instantiation operations, performing VNS instance update operations, managing VNF instances in coordination with VNFMs, managing topology within VNS instances (e.g., generating, upgrading, querying, deleting VNFFGs), and so forth.

Certainly, the functions of the VNSM may also be integrated in the NFVO, that is, the functions of the NFVO in the NFV system shown in fig. 1 are extended, and at this time, a VNSM entity carrying the VNSM function does not need to be additionally arranged in the NFV system.

The VNFFG (VNF Forwarding Graph, virtual Network function Forwarding Graph) may be described by using a VNFFGD (VNFFGDescriptor, virtual Network function Forwarding Graph information description block), specifically, one VNFFG may specifically indicate each member (e.g., VNF instance) experienced by one NS (Network Service) and a connection relationship between each member, and after introducing a concept of VNS, the VNFFG may further describe a connection relationship between a VNS instance and a VNS instance, that is, the NS may include a VNF instance and/or a VNS instance.

As shown in fig. 3, a VNFFG of an NS is shown, where the NS includes two VNS instances (i.e., VNS1 and VNS2), three VNF instances (i.e., VNF1, VNF2, and VNF3), and four first VL instances (Virtual links, Virtual connections, i.e., VL1, VL2, VL3, and VL4, and in this embodiment, the VL instances constituting the NS are referred to as first VL instances), where the first VL instances include VL instances inside the NS, such as VL2, VL3, and VL4 in fig. 3, and the first VL instances further include VL instances VL used for connecting with the outside of the NS, such as VL1 in fig. 3, and these VNS instances, VNF instances, and first VL instances constitute 2 NFP (network Function path), and NFP1 is: VL1-VNF1-VL2-VNS1-VL3-VNF 2; NFP2 is: VL1-VNF1-VL2-VNS1-VL3-VNS2-VL4-VNF 3.

Further, each VNS instance may be internally described by one VNFFG, for example, as shown in fig. 4, the VNFFG of VNS1 includes three VNF instances (i.e., VNF4, VNF5, and VNF6) and two second VL instances (i.e., VL5 and VL6, in this embodiment, the VL instance constituting the VNS is referred to as a second VL instance), which constitute 2 NFPs, for example, NFP3 is: VNF4-VL5-VNF 5; NFP4 is: VNF4-VL6-VNF 6.

In addition, because the concept of VNS is introduced in the NFV system, a VNSD (Virtual Network subsystem description information block) for describing VNS is correspondingly introduced, for example, the VNSD defines, in a VNS instance, an identifier, version information, VNFD (Virtual Network function description information block), VNFFGD, VLD (Virtual Link description information block), and the like of the VNS instance.

After the VNSD is introduced, the original NSD (Network Service Descriptor) for describing the NS, the original VNFFGD for describing the VNFFG, and the deployment template stored in the NFVO, such as Service _ deployment _ flag, are also adjusted accordingly. For example, VNSD is added within NSD, etc.

As shown in fig. 5, the NFVO or VNSM in fig. 2 may be implemented in the manner of a computer device (or system) in fig. 5.

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of a computer device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The computer device 100 comprises at least one processor 11, a communication bus 12, a memory 13 and at least one communication interface 14.

The processor 11 may be a general purpose Central Processing Unit (CPU), microprocessor, application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits for controlling the execution of programs in accordance with the inventive arrangements.

The communication bus 12 may include a path to transfer information between the aforementioned components. The communication interface 14 may be any device, such as a transceiver, for communicating with other devices or communication Networks, such as ethernet, Radio Access Network (RAN), Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), etc.

The Memory 13 may be a Read-Only Memory (ROM) or other type of static storage device that can store static information and instructions, a Random Access Memory (RAM) or other type of dynamic storage device that can store information and instructions, an electrically erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM), a Compact Disc Read-Only Memory (CD-ROM) or other optical Disc storage, optical Disc storage (including Compact Disc, laser Disc, optical Disc, digital versatile Disc, blu-ray Disc, etc.), magnetic disk storage media or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer, but is not limited to these. The memory may be self-contained and coupled to the processor via a bus. The memory may also be integral to the processor.

Wherein, the memory 13 is used for storing application program codes for executing the scheme of the invention and is controlled by the processor 11 to execute. The processor 11 is configured to execute application program code stored in the memory 13.

In particular implementations, processor 11 may include one or more CPUs, such as CPU0 and CPU1 of FIG. 5, for example, as an example.

In particular implementations, computer device 100 may include multiple processors, such as processor 11 and processor 18 in FIG. 5, as one embodiment. Each of these processors may be a single-core (single-CPU) processor or a multi-core (multi-CPU) processor. A processor herein may refer to one or more devices, circuits, and/or processing cores for processing data (e.g., computer program instructions).

In particular implementations, computer device 100 may also include an output device 15 and an input device 16, as one embodiment. The output device 15 is in communication with the processor 11 and may display information in a variety of ways. For example, the output device 15 may be a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), a Light Emitting Diode (LED) display device, a Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) display device, a projector (projector), or the like. The input device 16 is in communication with the processor 11 and can accept user input in a variety of ways. For example, the input device 16 may be a mouse, a keyboard, a touch screen device or a sensing device, and the like.

The computer device 100 described above may be a general purpose computer device or a special purpose computer device. In a specific implementation, the computer device 100 may be a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a web server, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a wireless terminal device, a communication device, an embedded device, or a device with a similar structure as in fig. 5. Embodiments of the present invention are not limited by the type of computer device 100.

Further, since the VNS concept is introduced into the NFV system shown in fig. 2, the flows of the conventional NS instantiation operation, the scaling operation, the upgrade operation, the termination operation, and the like are changed accordingly, and in the NFV system after the VNS concept is introduced, the specific execution methods of the NS instantiation operation, the scaling operation, the upgrade operation, and the termination operation, and the specific execution methods of the VNS instantiation operation, the scaling operation, the upgrade operation, and the termination operation in the following embodiments will be described in detail.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present invention, any one of the functional nodes in the NFV system may be implemented by one entity device, or may be implemented by a plurality of entity devices together, and the plurality of functional nodes in the NFV system may be implemented by different entity devices, or may be implemented by the same entity device. It is to be understood that any functional node in the NFV system may be a logical functional module in an entity device, or may be a logical functional module composed of a plurality of entity devices.

Therefore, in the following embodiments of the present invention, one entity device may perform each step in the method provided in the embodiments of the present invention, and a plurality of entity devices may cooperate to perform each step in the method provided in the embodiments of the present invention, which is not limited to this invention.

For example, the functions of the VNSM and the NFVO may be integrated on one entity device to perform the operations in the following embodiments, or the VNSM may also be integrated in other network element devices to perform the operations in the following embodiments, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present invention.

Further, in order to more clearly describe the specific execution methods of the NS instantiation operation, the scaling operation, the upgrading operation, and the terminating operation provided by the present invention, all the following descriptions use a logical function module (i.e. a function node in the NFV system) as an execution subject, and it can be understood by those skilled in the art that the logical function module needs to depend on hardware resources on an entity device where the logical function module is located when the logical function module is specifically implemented.

In addition, in the embodiment of the present invention, the NFV system may be applied to a future fifth Generation mobile communication (english: 5rd-Generation, abbreviated as 5G) system, a Long Term Evolution (LTE) communication system, an LTE evolution communication system, such as an LTE-a (long term evolution advanced) system, a WCDMA (wideband code division multiple access) system, and the like, and the present invention is not limited thereto.

Based on the NFV system shown in fig. 2, an embodiment of the present invention provides a method for instantiating an NS, as shown in fig. 6, the method includes:

101. the NFVO receives an NS instantiation request of an NS sent by the OSS, wherein the NS instantiation request is used for indicating VNS instances and/or VNF instances required in the NS and a first VL instance required by the NS.

102. The (optional) NFVO checks the validity of the NS instantiation request.

103a, if the NS indicates that the NS includes a VNS instance in the NS instantiation request, the NFVO acquires instance record information from the VNSM, and searches whether the VNS instance exists according to the instance record information.

103b, if the NS indicates that the NS includes the VNF instance in the NS instantiation request, the NFVO acquires instance record information from the VNFM, and searches whether the VNF instance exists according to the instance record information.

104. The (optional) NFVO checks if network resources needed by the VNF instance and/or VNS instance interconnection are available and reserves the resources.

105. And the NFVO sends a VL instantiation request to the VIM according to the NS instantiation request, and the VIM executes VL instantiation operation after receiving the VL instantiation request to obtain a first VL instance forming the NS.

106a, if the VNS instance does not exist in step 103a, the NFVO executes a VNS instantiation operation to obtain the VNS instance.

106b, if the VNF instance does not exist in step 103b, the NFVO executes a VNF instantiation operation to obtain the VNF instance.

107. The NFVO sends a first connection request to the VIM, so that the VIM can establish a connection between the VNS instance obtained in step 106a and/or the VNF instance obtained in step 106b and the first VL instance obtained in step 105.

108. (optionally, not shown in fig. 1) the NFVO instructs the VIM to connect the VNF instance and/or the VNS instance's external interface to the physical network function interface.

109. The NFVO sends an NS enforcement operation complete message to the OSS.

In step 101, NFVO gets an NS instantiation request for an NS, e.g., NFVO receives an NS instantiation request for the NS from 0 SS.

Since the concept of VNS is introduced into the NVF system, the members required by NS may specifically include VNS instances and/or VNF instances, and the number of the VNS instances and/or VNF instances is not limited, so that the NFVO may allocate corresponding resources to the NS in subsequent steps 102 and 110 according to the members required by NS and the first VL instance, and finally establish an NS instance to complete the NS instantiation operation.

For example, the NS instantiation request may carry an identifier of an NSD and an identifier of specification information (e.g., a flag-ID), where the identifier of the NSD is used to indicate types of required members in the NS, for example, the identifier of the NSD may be used to indicate that required members in the current NS are VNF instance 1 and VNS instance 2; and the identification of the specification information is used for indicating the attributes of the NS and the attributes of the required members in the NS, such as the capacity size of the current NS, the number of VNF instances 1, the traffic size of VNS instance 2, and the like. The specific parameter of the attribute may be defined according to the content in the deployment template pre-stored in the NFVO, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present invention. Therefore, the type of the member required in the NS and the attribute of the member can be determined according to the identity of the NSD and the identity of the NS specification information, i.e. the VNS instance required in the NS is specifically indicated.

Further, the NFVO may determine the NSD of the NS according to the identification of the NSD, and further determine at least one of VNFD, VNSD, and VLD in the NS according to the NSD; then, at least one of the specification information corresponding to VNFD, the specification information corresponding to VNSD, and the specification information corresponding to VLD is further specified based on the specification information.

And, the NFVO may also determine, according to the NSD, VNFFGD within the NS, where the VNFFGD is used to describe a VNFFG of the NS, that is, the VNFFGD is used for a first VL instance that may be used to indicate needs of the NS, and one NS instance may include one or more VNFFGs, that is, the NSD may include multiple VNFFGD. If the NS instance includes multiple VNFFGs, then for each VNFFG, the NFVO may repeatedly perform step 103 and step 110, and finally establish the multiple VNFFGs in the NS instance.

Referring to the schematic diagram of VNFFGs shown in fig. 3, the NFVO may further determine, according to the determined at least one VNFFG, a connection relationship between each VNS instance or each VNF instance in each VNFFG of the NS instance.

Step 102 is optional and in step 102, the NFVO checks the validity of the NS instantiation request. For example, checking whether the sender of the NS instantiation request is authorized, etc. If multiple VNFFGs and policy rules are included in the current NS, the policy rules may result in only a portion of the VNFFGs being valid for the NS.

In step 103a, if the NS instantiation request indicates that the member required by the NS includes a VNS instance, the NFVO searches whether the VNS instance exists in the VNSM.

Specifically, according to the identification of the NSD and the identification of the specification information carried in the NS instantiation request in step 101, the NFVO may further determine whether the NS instance includes a VNS instance, and if the NS instance includes the VNS instance, step 103a is executed, that is, a VNS instance list required by NS instantiation is determined according to the NS instantiation request, where the VNS list includes at least one VNS instance; further, the NFVO may communicate with the VNSM, and determine whether the VNS instance in the VNS instance list exists from instance record information of the VNSM, where the VNSM records the instantiated VNS instance to generate the instance record information. Thus, the NFVO can look up whether the VNS instance exists from the VNSM.

In step 103b, if the NS instantiation request indicates that the member required by the NS includes a VNF instance, the NFVO searches whether the VNF instance exists from the VNFM.

Similarly, according to the identification of the NSD and the identification of the specification information carried in the NS instantiation request in step 101, the NFVO may further determine whether the specification in the NS instance includes a VNF instance, and if the specification includes the VNF instance, step 103b is executed, that is, a VNF instance list required for NS instantiation is determined according to the NS instantiation request, where the VNF list includes at least one VNF instance; further, the NFVO may communicate with the VNFM, and determine whether a VNF instance in the VNF instance list exists from instance record information of the VNFM.

Step 104 is an optional step, in step 104, the NFVO may communicate with the VIM, request the VIM to check whether network resources required by the VNF instance and/or the VNS instance interconnection are available, and reserve the resources.

For example, the NFVO may generate a resource reservation operation through the virtual resource management interface, and then, the NFVO sends a request to the VIM, and requests the VIM to check whether network resources required by the VNF instance and/or the VNS instance interconnection are available, and reserve the resources. After receiving the request, the VIM checks the availability of the network resources required by the VNF instance and/or the VNS instance interconnection, completes reservation, and then returns the result of resource reservation to the NFVO.

In step 105, as already stated in step 101, since the NSD indicated by the NS instantiation request carries the identifier of VNFFGD in the NS, and the VLD can be used to describe the first VL instance, the NFVO determines the first VL instance required by the NS according to the NS instantiation request, and further, the NFVO may send a VL instantiation request to the VIM, request the VIM to perform VL instantiation operation, and after receiving the VL instantiation request, the VIM performs VL instantiation operation to obtain the first VL instance required by the NS.

It should be noted that, since one or more VLs in the NS instance may have already been instantiated, that is, the first VL instance may already exist, and therefore, the NFVO only needs to be expanded on the existing VL instance.

In step 106a, if the VNS instance does not exist in step 103a, the NFVO performs VNS instantiation operation to obtain the VNS instance.

Specifically, in step 103a, the NFVO determines, according to the NS instantiation request, a VNS instance list required by NS instantiation, and searches whether the VNS instance exists, and since there may be multiple VNS instances in the VNS instance list, in step 107a, the NFVO may perform VNS instantiation operation on VNS instances that do not exist in the VNS instance list until all VNS instances in the VNS instance list are instantiated.

The NFVO may send the VNS instantiation request to the VNSM, so that the VNSM executes the VNS instantiation operation according to the VNS instantiation request, and a method for the VNSM to execute the VNS instantiation operation will be described in detail in the following embodiments, and thus details are not described herein.

In a specific implementation, as a possible embodiment, when the NFVO and the VNSM are integrated in the same entity device, the NFVO may determine a VNF instance required in the VNS and a second VL instance required to form the VNS instance; at this time, the NFVO executes VNF instantiation operation according to a VNF instance required in the VNS to obtain the VNF instance; and according to a second VL instance required by the composition VNS instance, performing VL instantiation operations to obtain the second VL instance; finally, the NFVO sends a second connection request to the VIM, so that the VIM establishes a connection between the VNF instance and the second VL instance according to the second connection request to complete the VNS instantiation operation.

Similarly, in step 106b, if the VNF instance does not exist in step 103b, the NFVO performs VNF instantiation operation to obtain the VNF instance. The VNF instantiation executed by the NFVO is the same as the VNF instantiation process in the prior art, and therefore, the description is omitted here.

Through step 101 and 106, all VNF instances, VNS instances, and VNL instances (assuming that the NS instance includes both a VNF instance and a VNS instance) required in one VNFFG in the NS instance may be obtained, so in step 107, the NFVO communicates with the VIM, sends a first connection request to the VIM, and requests the VIM to establish a connection between the VNS instance obtained in step 106a and/or the VNF instance obtained in step 106b and the first VL instance obtained in step 105.

Optionally, in step 108, the NFVO may instruct the NM (Network Manager, Network management node) to connect the VNF instance and/or the external interface of the VNS instance to the physical Network function interface. Wherein NM may be OSS, NMS, EM or WIM.

Finally, in step 109, the NFVO may send an NS instantiation completion message to the sender (e.g., OSS) requesting to establish the NS instance to confirm that the NS instantiation operation is completed, i.e., to establish the NS instance.

The step 101-.

To this end, an embodiment of the present invention provides an NS instantiation method, which is applied to an NVF system introducing a VNS concept, where an NFVO acquires an NS instantiation request of an NS, where the NS instantiation request is used to indicate a VNS instance and a first VL instance that are needed in the NS; if the NS instantiation request indicates that the member of the NS comprises the VNS instance, the NFVO searches whether the VNS instance exists in the VNSM; if the VNS instance does not exist, the NFVO executes VNS instantiation operation to obtain the VNS instance; finally, the VNS instance is connected to the first VL instance to establish the NS instance. In this way, in the NFV system, the NFVO may instantiate the NS with the VNS instance as a unit, that is, the NFVO only needs to establish the VNS instance required in the NS and the first VL instance required by the NS, and does not need to schedule the VNF instance and the second VL instance in the VNS instance, so that complexity of the NFVO in the operation and maintenance process is reduced, and scheduling efficiency is improved.

Based on the NFV system shown in fig. 2, an embodiment of the present invention provides a method for expanding an NS instance, as shown in fig. 7, the method includes:

201. NFVO receives a capacity expansion request of an NS instance sent by an OSS, wherein the capacity expansion request carries an identifier of specification information larger than the current NS capacity.

202. The (optional) NFVO checks the validity of the expansion request.

203. And the NFVO determines a capacity expansion plan according to the identifier of the specification information and the NSD indicated by the capacity expansion request.

204a, if the capacity expansion plan includes VNS instance expansion, the NFVO communicates with the VNSM to execute an expansion operation on the VNS instance.

204b, if the capacity expansion plan includes the VNS instantiation operation, the NFVO communicates with the VNSM, and executes the VNS instantiation operation to establish a new VNS instance.

204c, if the capacity expansion plan includes the VNF instance expansion, the NFVO communicates with the VNFM, and performs an expansion operation on the VNF instance.

204d, if the capacity expansion plan includes the VNF instantiation operation, the NFVO communicates with the VNFM, and executes the VNF instantiation operation to establish a new VNF instance.

205. And the NFVO sends an update request to the VIM to request the VIM to update the first VL instance in the expanded NS instance.

206. And the NFVO sends an NS instance capacity expansion operation completion message to the OSS.

In step 201, NFVO obtains a capacity expansion request of the NS instance, for example, a capacity expansion request for the NS instance is received from 0SS, where the capacity expansion request carries an identifier of specification information greater than a current NS capacity. Further, to indicate to the NFVO which NS instance to perform the capacity expansion operation, the capacity expansion request may also carry an identifier of the NS instance.

Specifically, the NSD may include a plurality of specification information (for example, deployment templates, which each have its own resource requirements, such as VNF instance number, VNS instance number, network connection, and the like, and for example, assume that the deployment templates in the NSD used by the NFVO in establishing the NS instance are: however, the capacity needs to be expanded to VoLTE _ NSD _500W _ service _ deployment _ flag now, and then the capacity expansion request may carry an identifier of the specification information corresponding to VoLTE _ NSD _500W _ service _ deployment _ flag.

Similar to the capacity expansion method described in the above step 201-206, based on the NFV system shown in fig. 2, the embodiment of the present invention provides another capacity reduction method for the NS instance.

Similar to step 201, when performing the NS capacity reduction operation, the NFVO obtains a capacity reduction request of the NS instance, where the capacity reduction request carries an identifier of the specification information smaller than the current NS capacity.

Optionally, in step 202, the NFVO checks the validity of the capacity expansion request, for example, checks whether the sender of the NS instantiation request is authorized.

Similar to step 201, when performing the NS capacity reduction operation, the NFVO may also check the validity of the capacity reduction request.

In step 203, the NFVO determines, according to the identifier of the specification information carried in the capacity expansion request, the NSD corresponding to the expanded NS, and further determines a specific capacity expansion plan according to the NSD and the identifier of the specification information.

Because the capacity expansion of an NS instance is realized by the capacity expansion of the VNF instances and/or the VNS instances constituting the NS instance, the capacity expansion of a VNF instance and/or a VNS instance includes two ways, that is, applying for more resources for the VNF instance and/or the VNS instance or directly generating a new VNF instance and/or VNS instance.

Thus, an NS instance's capacity plan specifically includes the following possibilities: 1. when a VNS instance in the NS instance needs to be expanded, the VNS instance may be expanded (i.e., more resources are applied for the VNS instance) or a VNS instance may be reestablished to meet a capacity requirement after expansion; 2. when a VNF instance in the NS instance needs to be expanded, the VNF instance may be expanded (i.e., more resources are applied for the VNF instance) or a VNF instance may be reestablished to meet a capacity requirement after expansion.

Further, in 204a, if the capacity expansion plan includes the capacity expansion operation of the VNS instance, the NFVO communicates with the VNSM to execute the capacity expansion operation on the VNS instance.

In step 204b, if the capacity expansion plan includes a VNS instantiation operation, that is, a new VNS instance meeting the capacity requirement after capacity expansion is created, the NFVO communicates with the VNSM to execute the VNS instantiation operation, and establish a new VNS instance.

The VNS instantiation method and the VNS instance expansion method will be described in detail in the following embodiments, and thus are not described herein again.

In step 204c, if the capacity expansion plan includes an expansion operation of the VNF instance, the NFVO communicates with the VNFM to perform the expansion operation on the VNF instance.

In step 204d, if the capacity expansion plan includes a VNF instantiation operation, that is, a new VNF instance meeting the capacity requirement after capacity expansion is created, the NFVO communicates with the VNFM, executes the VNF instantiation operation, and creates a new VNF instance.

The VNF instantiation method and the VNF instance expansion method are similar to those in the prior art, and thus are not described herein again.

Further, in step 205, after the above-mentioned expansion plan is executed, the connection relationship between the VNF instances and/or the VNS instances in the NS instance may be changed, for example, before capacity expansion, VNF instance 1 and VNS instance 1 are connected through VL1, but after the capacity expansion plan in step 204b is executed, a new VNS instance 2 is established to replace VNS instance 1 before capacity expansion operation, so that the NFVO needs to send an update request to the VIM, request the VIM to update the first VL instance in the expanded NS instance, and after receiving the update request, the VIM updates the first VL instance in the NS instance, for example, VNF instance 2 and VNS instance 1 are connected through VL 1.

Finally, in step 206, the NFVO may send an NS instance capacity expansion operation completion message to the sender (e.g., OSS) sending the capacity expansion request of the NS instance to confirm that the capacity expansion operation of the NS instance is completed.

The steps 201 and 206 related to the execution of NFVO may be implemented by the NFVO according to the program instructions stored in the processor execution memory in fig. 5.

Similar to the above capacity expansion operation, the capacity reduction of an NS instance is implemented by capacity reduction of the VNF instances and/or the VNS instances that constitute the NS instance, and the capacity reduction of a VNF instance and/or a VNS instance includes two ways, namely, reducing the resources of the VNF instance and/or the VNS instance or directly terminating the VNF instance and/or the VNS instance.

Thus, a capacity reduction plan for an instance of an NS specifically includes the following possibilities: 1. when a VNS instance in the NS instance needs to be scaled, the VNS instance may be scaled (i.e., resources of the VNS instance are reduced) or terminated to meet the scaled capacity requirement; 2. when a VNF instance in the NS instance needs to be scaled, the VNF instance may be scaled (i.e., resources of the VNF instance are reduced) or terminated to meet the scaled capacity requirement.

Further, if the capacity plan includes the VNS instance capacity, the NFVO performs a capacity reduction operation on the VNS instance; if the capacity reduction plan includes the VNS instance termination operation, the NFVO executes the VNS instance termination operation, where a capacity reduction method of the VNS instance and a termination method of the VNS instance will be described in detail in subsequent embodiments, and thus, details are not described here. If the capacity reduction plan comprises VNF instance capacity reduction, the NFVO executes capacity reduction operation on the VNF instance; if the VNF instance termination operation is included in the capacity reduction plan, the NFVO performs the VNF instance termination operation.

Similar to the above capacity expansion operation, after the capacity expansion plan is executed, the connection relationship between the VNF instances and/or the VNS instances in the NS instance may change, and therefore, the NFVO needs to send a request to the VIM to request the VIM to update the VL instances in the reduced NS instance, and finally complete the NS capacity expansion operation.

Therefore, embodiments of the present invention provide a variable capacity method (i.e., capacity expansion operation or capacity reduction operation) for an NS instance, which is applied to an NVF system introducing a VNS concept, and an NFVO may perform the capacity expansion operation or the capacity reduction operation of the NS instance with the VNS instance as a unit, without performing the capacity expansion operation or the capacity reduction operation on the VNF instance in the VNS instance, thereby reducing complexity of the NFVO in the operation and maintenance processes and improving scheduling efficiency.

Based on the NFV system shown in fig. 2, an embodiment of the present invention provides a method for terminating an NS instance.

Specifically, the NFVO may obtain a termination request of the NS instance, where the termination request carries an identifier of the NS instance. If the NS instance comprises the VNS instance, the NFVO requests the VNSM to terminate the VNS instance comprised in the NS instance; if the VNF instance is included in the NS instance, the NFVO requests the VNFM to terminate the VNF instance included in the NS instance. In turn, NFVO requests deletion of the first VL instance between members in the NS instance from VIM.

It is noted that, when terminating an instance of an NS, there may be one or more of the following possibilities: a. before NS instantiation is performed on the NS, some VNF instances and/or VNS instances already exist, and these VNF instances and/or VNS instances cannot be deleted at step. b. All VNF instances and/or VNS instances within the NS instance are generated when the NS instantiates, and then the VNF instances and/or VNS instances are terminated, and the connection relationships (e.g., VL) between the VNF instances and/or VNS instances are deleted. c. At least one VNF instance and/or VNS instance in the NS instance is simultaneously used for other NS instances, at the moment, network connections between the VNF instances and/or VNS instances required by other NS instances are reserved, and VNF instances and/or VNS instances which are not used by other NS instances are terminated, and connection relations between the VNF instances and/or VNS instances are also terminated.

Therefore, the embodiment of the present invention provides a method for terminating an NS instance, which is applied to an NVF system introducing a VNS concept, and an NFVO may perform a termination operation of the NS instance using the VNS instance as a unit without performing the termination operation or a capacity reduction operation on the VNF instance in the VNS instance, thereby reducing complexity of the NFVO in an operation and maintenance process and improving scheduling efficiency.

Based on the NFV system shown in fig. 2, an embodiment of the present invention provides an upgrading method for an NS instance, as shown in fig. 8, the method includes:

301. the NFVO receives an upgrade request of an NS instance sent by the OSS, wherein the upgrade request comprises an identifier of a VNSD to be upgraded and an identifier of the VNSD for upgrading.

The upgrade request may further include an identifier of the VNFD to be upgraded and an identifier of the VNFD used for upgrading.

Further, in order to indicate to the NFVO which NS instance to upgrade, the upgrade request may also carry an identifier of the NS instance.

Optionally, the upgrade request may also carry VNFD and/or VNSD identification and requirements (the requirements may be version information, resource information, and the like) that are relied on for performing the upgrade request operation.

302. The (optional) NFVO checks the validity of the upgrade request.

303a, the NFVO determines a first VNS list to be instantiated according to the identifier of the VNSD for upgrade, and determines a second VNS list to be terminated according to the identifier of the VNSD to be upgraded.

Specifically, the NFVO performs resource and dependency check according to the identifier of the VNSD for upgrade, determines a first VNS list that needs to be instantiated (i.e., a VNS instance that needs to be reestablished), and determines a second VNS list that needs to be terminated (i.e., a VNS instance that needs to be terminated), so that the NFVO can replace a new VNS instance in the first VNS list with a VNS instance in the second VNS list, thereby completing the upgrade operation of the NS instance.

303b, the NFVO determines, according to the identifier of the VNFD for upgrade, a first VNF list that needs to be instantiated, and determines, according to the identifier of the VNFD to be upgraded, a second VNF list that needs to be terminated.

304a, the NFVO communicates with the VNSM according to the first VNS list, and executes a VNS instantiation operation to obtain an upgraded VNS instance.

The VNS instantiation method will be described in detail in the following embodiments, and thus will not be described herein.

304b, the NFVO communicates with the VNFM according to the first VNF list, and executes VNF instantiation operation to obtain an upgraded VNF instance.

305. NFVO sends an update request to VIM requesting VIM to update the first VL instance within the NS instance to complete the upgrade of the NS instance.

Specifically, because the NFVO replaces the upgraded VNS instance with the VNS instance in the original second VNS list, and/or replaces the upgraded VNF instance with the VNF instance in the original second VNF list, the connection relationship in the NS instance changes, and therefore, the NFVO needs to update the first VL instance between the members in the NS instance to obtain a new VNFFG.

306a, the NFVO communicates with the VNSM terminating the VNS instance in the second VNS list.

The method for terminating the VNS instance will be described in detail in the following embodiments, and thus will not be described herein again.

306b, NFVO communicates with VNFM terminating VNF instances in the second VNF list.

It should be noted that the present invention does not limit the execution sequence between step 505 and steps 506a-506 b.

Further, in step 307, NFVO sends an NS instance upgrade operation complete message to the OSS to confirm that the upgrade operation of the NS instance is complete.

The steps 301-.

Therefore, the embodiment of the present invention provides an upgrading method for an NS instance, which is applied to an NVF system introducing a VNS concept, and an NFVO may perform an upgrading operation for the NS instance by using the VNS instance as a unit, without performing an upgrading operation or a capacity reduction operation on the VNF instance in the VNS instance, thereby reducing complexity of the NFVO in the operation and maintenance processes and improving scheduling efficiency.

Based on the NFV system shown in fig. 2, an embodiment of the present invention provides a VNS instantiation method, as shown in fig. 9, the method includes:

401. the VNSM receives a VNS instantiation request of a VNS sent by the NFVO, where the VNS instantiation request is used to indicate VNF instances required in the VNS and VL instances required to compose the VNS instances.

402. The (optional) VNSM checks the validity of the VNS instantiation request.

403. The VNSM looks up whether a VNF instance exists within the VNS.

404. And the VNSM sends a VL instantiation request to the VIM according to the VNS instantiation request, so that the VIM executes VL instantiation operation after receiving the VL instantiation request to obtain a second VL instance between the VNF instances.

405. If the VNF instance does not exist in step 403, the VNSM performs VNF instantiation operation to obtain the VNF instance.

406. The VNSM sends a connection request to the VIM to cause the VIM to establish a connection between the VNF instance obtained in step 405 and the second VL instance obtained in step 404.

407. And the VNSM sends a VNS instantiation operation completion message to the NFVO to confirm that the VNS instantiation operation is completed and establish the VNS instance.

In step 401, the VNSM obtains a VNS instantiation request of the VNS, for example, receives a VNS instantiation request for the VNS from the NFVO.

Specifically, in the above-mentioned embodiment of the NS instance, in step 106a, when the NFVO needs to execute VNS instantiation, a VNS instantiation request may be sent to the VNSM, so that the VNSM executes steps 402 and 407 described below to establish the VNS instance.

Wherein the VNS instantiation request is used to indicate a VNF instance required in the VNS and a second VL instance required to compose the VNS instance.

For example, the VNS instantiation request may carry an identifier of a VNSD and an identifier of specification information, where the identifier of the VNSD is used to indicate a type of a VNF instance in the VNS; the identifier of the specification information is used to indicate the attribute of the VNF instance and the attribute of the VNF instance in the VNF instance, for example, the capacity size of the current VNS, the number of VNF instances 1, and the like.

And, the VNSM may also determine, according to the VNSD, VNFFGD in the VNS, where the VNFFGD is used to describe a VNFFG of the VNS, that is, a second VL instance required to compose the VNS instance, and one VNS instance may include one or more VNFFGs, that is, the VNSD may include multiple VNFFGD. If the VNS instance includes a plurality of VNFFGs, then, for each VNFFG, the NFVO may repeatedly perform the above step 403-.

Referring to the schematic diagram of the VNFFG shown in fig. 4, the VNSM determines, according to the VNFFGD, a VNFFG corresponding to the VNFFGD, and further determines a second VL instance between VNF instances in the VNFFG.

Thus, the VNSM can determine which VNF instances are needed in the VNS instance according to the VNFD and the specification information corresponding to the VNFD, and determine which second VL instances are needed in the VNS instance according to the VLD and the specification information corresponding to the VLD, where the VNF instances and the second VL instances form the VNS.

It should be noted that, step 401 is illustrated by setting the VNSM on an entity device other than the NFVO, and it should be clear that, if the VNSM is set in the NFVO, that is, the VNSM and the NFVO are integrated on one entity device, at this time, in step 401, the VNSM itself may determine, by calling corresponding data, a VNF instance required for performing VNS instantiation operation and a second VL instance required for forming the VNS instance, without acquiring the VNS instantiation request.

Step 402 is an optional step, and in step 402, the VNSM checks the validity of the VNS instantiation request. E.g. check if the sender of the VNS instantiation request is authorized, etc. If multiple VNFFGs and policy rules are included in the current VNS, the policy rules may cause only a portion of the VNFFGs to be valid for the NS.

Specifically, according to the identifier of the VNSD and the identifier of the specification information carried in the VNS instantiation request in step 401, the VNSM may further determine a required VNF instance in the VNS instance, and at this time, in step 403, the VNSM may search whether the required VNF instance exists by checking the history.

In step 404, as already stated in step 401, since the VNSD indicated by the VNS instantiation request carries the VLD in the VNS, and the VLD can be used to describe the VL, the VNSM can request the VIM to perform VL instantiation operation according to the VLD, so as to obtain a second VL instance in the VNS.

It should be noted that, since one or more VLs in the VNS instance may have already been instantiated, that is, an existing second VL instance may already exist, and thus, the VNSM only needs to be expanded on the existing second VL instance.

In step 405, if the VNF instance does not exist in step 403, the VNSM performs a VNF instantiation operation to obtain the VNF instance. The VNF instantiation operation is the same as the VNF instantiation process in the prior art, and therefore, the description is omitted here.

Through steps 401 and 405, all VNF instances and second VL instances required in one VNFFG in the VNS instance may be obtained, and therefore, in step 406, the VNSM communicates with the VIM, sends a connection request to the VIM, and requests the VIM to establish a connection between the VNF instance obtained in step 405 and the second VL instance obtained in step 404.

If all VNFFGs in the VNS instance have been instantiated, step 407 is executed, in which the VNSM sends a VNS instantiation completion message to the sender (e.g., NFVO) requesting to establish the VNS instance, and confirms that the VNS instantiation operation is completed.

The steps executed by the VNSM in steps 401 and 407 may be implemented by the VNSM according to the program instructions stored in the memory executed by the processor in fig. 5.

To this end, an embodiment of the present invention provides a VNS instantiation method, which is applied to an NVF system introducing a VNS concept, where a VNSM determines a VNF instance required for performing a VNS instantiation operation and a second VL instance required for forming the VNS instance; further, the VNSM performs a VNF instantiation operation and a VL instantiation operation to obtain the VNF instance and a second VL instance; the VNSM sends a connection request to the VIM to cause the VIM to establish a connection between the VNF instance and the second VL instance according to the connection request. Thus, in the NFV system, the VNSM may be responsible for establishing a VNS instance, and managing and maintaining a VNF instance and a second VL instance in one VNS instance, and the NFVO does not need to schedule the VNF instance and the second VL instance in the VNS instance, and only needs to manage the VNS instance where the VNF instance is located, thereby reducing complexity of the NFVO in the operation and maintenance process and improving scheduling efficiency.

Based on the NFV system shown in fig. 2, an embodiment of the present invention provides a method for extending a VNS instance, as shown in fig. 10, the method includes:

501. the VNSM receives an expansion request of a VNS instance sent by the NFVO, where the expansion request carries an identifier of specification information greater than a current VNS capacity.

In step 501, the VNSM obtains a capacity expansion request of the VNS instance, for example, receives a capacity expansion request for the VNS instance from the NFVO, where the capacity expansion request carries an identifier of specification information that is greater than a current VNS capacity.

Referring to step 204a in fig. 7, when the NFVO needs to perform capacity expansion on the VNS instance during the NS capacity expansion operation, a capacity expansion request of the VNS instance may be sent to the VNSM, so that the VNSM performs the following steps 502 and 505 to complete capacity expansion of the VNS instance.

Further, to indicate which VNS instance the VNSM performs the capacity expansion operation, the capacity expansion request may also carry an identifier of the VNS instance.

Similar to step 501-506, based on the NFV system shown in fig. 2, the embodiment of the present invention further provides a method for expanding a VNS instance.

Similar to step 501, when performing a VNS instance capacity reduction operation, the VNSM obtains a capacity reduction request of the VNS instance, where the capacity reduction request carries an identifier of specification information smaller than the current VNS capacity.

502. The (optional) VNSM checks the validity of the capacity expansion request.

Similarly, when performing a VNS instance capacity reduction operation, the VNSM may check the validity of the capacity reduction request.

503. And the VNSM determines an expansion plan according to the identifier of the specification information and the VNSD indicated by the expansion request.

Because the capacity expansion of one VNS instance is realized by capacity expansion of the VNF instances constituting the VNS instance, the capacity expansion of one VNF instance includes two ways, that is, applying for more resources for the VNF instance or directly generating a new VNF instance.

Thus, the capacity plan of a VNS instance specifically includes the following possibilities: when a VNF instance in the VNS instance needs to be expanded, the VNF instance may be expanded (i.e., more resources are applied for the VNF instance) or a VNF instance may be reestablished to meet a capacity requirement after expansion.

504a, if the capacity expansion plan includes the VNF instance expansion, the VNSM communicates with the VNFM to perform an expansion operation on the VNF instance.

504b, if the capacity expansion plan includes the VNF instantiation operation, the VNSM communicates with the VNFM, and executes the VNF instantiation operation to establish a new VNF instance.

505. And the VNSM sends an update request to the VIM, so that the VIM updates the second VL instance in the expanded VNS instance according to the update request.

In step 505, after the above-mentioned expansion plan is executed, the connection relationship between the VNF instances in the VNS instances may be changed, for example, before capacity expansion, the VNF instance 1 and the VNF instance 2 are connected through VL1, but after the capacity expansion plan in step 504b is executed, a new VNF instance 3 is established to replace the VNF instance 1 before capacity expansion operation, and therefore, the VNSM needs to send an update request to the VIM, so that the VIM updates a second VL instance in the VNS instances after capacity expansion according to the update request, for example, the VNF instance 3 and the VNF instance 1 are connected through VL 1.

506. And the VNSM sends a VNS instance capacity expansion operation completion message to the NFVO.

Specifically, the VNSM may send a VNS instance capacity expansion operation completion message to a sender (e.g., NFVO) that sends the capacity expansion request of the VNS instance, so as to confirm that the capacity expansion operation of the VNS instance is completed.

The steps 501-506 related to the execution of the VNSM may be implemented by the VNSM according to the program instructions stored in the memory executed by the processor in fig. 5.

Similar to the above capacity expansion operation, the capacity reduction of a VNS instance is implemented by capacity reduction of the VNF instances that constitute the VNS instance, and the capacity reduction of a VNF instance is implemented in two ways, namely, reducing the resources of the VNF instance or directly terminating the VNF instance.

Thus, the capacity reduction plan of a VNS instance specifically includes the following possibilities: the capacity of the VNS instance may be reduced by scaling (i.e. reducing the resources of the VNF instance) one or more VNF instances within the VNS instance or by terminating one or more VNFs to meet the scaled capacity demand.

Specifically, if the capacity plan includes a VNF instance capacity, the VNSM performs a capacity reduction operation on the VNF instance. If the capacity reduction plan includes the VNF instance termination operation, the VNSM performs the VNF instance termination operation. Further, the VNSM requests the VIM to update the second VL instance within the scaled VNS instance.

Therefore, embodiments of the present invention provide a variable capacity method (i.e., capacity expansion operation or capacity reduction operation) of a VNS instance, which is applied to an NVF system introducing a VNS concept, and a VNSM may perform a capacity expansion operation or a capacity reduction operation on one VNS instance independently, without directly performing a capacity expansion operation or a capacity reduction operation on each VNF instance by an NFVO, thereby reducing complexity of the NFVO in operation and maintenance processes and improving scheduling efficiency.

Based on the NFV system shown in fig. 2, an embodiment of the present invention provides a method for terminating a VNS instance.

Specifically, the VNSM may obtain a termination request of the VNS instance, where the termination request carries an identifier of the VNS instance. Further, the VNSM communicates with the VNFM, requesting the VNFM to terminate a VNF instance included in the VNS instance. And the VNSM is communicated with the VIM and requests the VIM to delete the connection relation between the VNF instances in the VNS instance so as to finish the termination operation of the VNS instance.

Therefore, the embodiment of the invention provides a VNS instance termination method, which is applied to an NVF system introducing a VNS concept, and a VNSM can perform a termination operation on one VNS instance independently without the need of directly interacting with each VNF instance by an NFVO, thereby reducing complexity of the NFVO in operation and maintenance processes and improving scheduling efficiency.

Based on the NFV system shown in fig. 2, an embodiment of the present invention provides an upgrade method for a VNS instance, as shown in fig. 11, the method includes:

601. the VNSM receives an upgrade request of a VNS instance sent by the NFVO, wherein the upgrade request comprises an identification of a VNFD to be upgraded and an identification of the VNFD used for upgrading.

Further, to indicate which VNS instance the VNSM performs the upgrade operation on, the upgrade request may also carry an identifier of the VNS instance.

Optionally, the upgrade request may also carry an identifier and a requirement (the requirement may be version information, resource information, or the like) of the VNFD on which the upgrade request operation depends.

602. The (optional) VNSM checks the validity of the upgrade request.

603. And the VNSM determines a third VNF list needing to be instantiated according to the identifier of the VNFD used for upgrading, and determines a fourth VNF list needing to be terminated according to the identifier of the VNFD to be upgraded.

Specifically, the VNSM performs resource and dependency check according to the identifier of the VNFD for upgrade, determines a third VNS list that needs to be instantiated (i.e., a VNF instance that needs to be reestablished), and determines a fourth VNS list that needs to be terminated (i.e., a VNF instance that needs to be terminated), so that the VNSM can replace a new VNF instance in the third VNS list with a VNF instance in the fourth VNS list, thereby completing the upgrade operation of the VNS instance.

604. And the VNSM is communicated with the VNFM according to the third VNF list and executes VNF instantiation operation so as to obtain an upgraded VNS instance.

605. The VNSM sends an update request to the VIM so that the VIM updates the second VL instances between VNF instances within the VNS instance after receiving the update request.

Specifically, because the VNSM replaces the updated VNF instance with the VNF instance in the original fourth VNF list, the connection relationship in the VNS instance changes, and therefore, the VNSM needs to send an update request to the VIM, so that the VIM updates the second VL instance between the VNF instances in the VNS instance to obtain a new VNFFG.

606. The VNSM communicates with the VNFM and terminates the VNF instance in the fourth VNF list.

It should be noted that the present invention does not limit the execution sequence between step 1005 and step 1006.

Further, in step 607, the VNSM sends a VNS instance upgrade operation completion message to the NFVO to confirm that the upgrade operation of the VNS instance is completed.

The steps 601-607 related to the execution of the VNSM may be implemented by the VNSM according to the program instructions stored in the memory executed by the processor in fig. 5.

Therefore, the embodiment of the invention provides an upgrading method of a VNS instance, which is applied to a NVF system introducing a VNS concept, and a VNSM can independently upgrade one VNS instance without directly interacting with each VNF instance by a NFVO to perform upgrading operation, thereby reducing complexity of the NFVO in operation and maintenance processes and improving scheduling efficiency.

Further, in the NFV system provided in the embodiment of the present invention, a publishing process of the VNS may be further included, for example, methods of publishing, disabling, enabling, upgrading, querying, deleting, and the like of the VNSD.

The publishing, disabling, enabling, upgrading, querying and deleting methods of the VNSD are similar to the publishing, disabling, enabling, upgrading, querying and deleting methods of the existing NSD, and thus are not described herein again.

Further, in the NFV system provided in the embodiment of the present invention, a lifecycle management procedure of the VNFFG may be further included, for example, methods such as generation, upgrade, and query of the VNFFG.

Taking a VNFFG generation method as an example, a sender (e.g., an OSS) sends a VNFFG generation request to an NFVO, where the VNFFG generation request carries an ID of an NS instance, an ID of a VNFFGD, and an ID list of a VNS instance, and if the ID list of the VNS instance is empty, it indicates that the NS instance does not include the VNS instance, that is, a VNFFG corresponding to the ID of the VNFFGD can be directly generated according to an existing flow; and if the ID list of the VNS instance is not empty, the NS instance is indicated to comprise the VNS instance, and the NFVO schedules the VNSM to generate the VNFFG of the VNS instance.

As can be seen from the above, the NFV system provided in the embodiment of the present invention introduces a concept of a VNS, where the VNS may specifically include one or more VNS instances, and one VNS instance may specifically include multiple VNF instances having a specific connection relationship, so that in the NFV system, the VNS instance may be used as a unit to perform scheduling and management, thereby reducing complexity in the operation and maintenance process of the NFV system and improving scheduling efficiency.

Note that the actions of the NFVO may be implemented by a processor in the NFVO executing computer-executable instructions stored in a memory; similarly, the actions of the VNSM described above may be implemented by a processor in the VNSM executing memory-stored computer-executable instructions.

Fig. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of an NFVO according to an embodiment of the present invention, where the NFVO according to the embodiment of the present invention may be used to implement the method implemented by the embodiments of the present invention shown in fig. 2 to fig. 11, and for convenience of description, only a portion related to the embodiment of the present invention is shown, and details of the technology are not disclosed, please refer to fig. 1 to fig. 11 for the embodiments of the present invention.

Specifically, as shown in fig. 12, the NFVO includes an obtaining unit 21, a VNS instantiation unit 22, a VL instantiation unit 23, and a sending unit 24.

The acquiring unit 21 is configured to acquire an NS instantiation request of an NS, where the NS instantiation request is used to indicate a VNS instance required in the NS and a first VL instance required to compose the NS, where the VNS instance includes a VNF instance and a second VL instance composing the VNS instance; a VNS instantiation unit 22, configured to perform a VNS instantiation operation according to the NS instantiation request to obtain the VNS instance; a VL instantiation unit 23, configured to perform VL instantiation operation according to the NS instantiation request to obtain the first VL instance; a sending unit 24, configured to send a first connection request to the VIM, so that the VIM establishes a connection between the VNS instance and the first VL instance according to the first connection request.

Further, as shown in fig. 12, the NFVO further includes an NS varactor unit 25, where the obtaining unit 21 is further configured to obtain a varactor request of the NS instance, where the varactor request carries an identifier of specification information different from a current NS capacity, and the varactor request includes a capacity expansion request or a capacity reduction request; the NS variable volume unit 25 is configured to determine a variable volume plan according to the identifier of the specification information different from the current NS capacity and the NSD indicated by the variable volume request, where the variable volume plan includes a capacity expansion plan or a capacity reduction plan; and if the variable capacity plan comprises VNS instance variable capacity, executing capacity expansion operation or capacity reduction operation on the VNS instance.

Further, as still shown in fig. 12, the NFVO further includes an NS upgrade unit 26, where the obtaining unit 21 is further configured to obtain an upgrade request of the NS instance, where the upgrade request includes an identifier of a VNSD to be upgraded and an identifier of a VNSD used for upgrading; the NS upgrade unit 26 is configured to determine, according to the identifier of the VNSD for upgrading, a first VNS list that needs to be instantiated, and determine, according to the identifier of the VNSD to be upgraded, a second VNS list that needs to be terminated; executing VNS instantiation operation according to the first VNS list, obtaining an upgraded VNS instance, and terminating the VNS instance in the second VNS list; updating a first VL instance comprising the NS to complete the upgrade of the NS instance.

In this embodiment, NFVO is presented in the form of a functional unit. An "element" may refer to an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor and memory that execute one or more software or firmware programs, an integrated logic circuit, and/or other devices that may provide the described functionality. In a simple embodiment, it is conceivable for NFVO to take the form shown in fig. 5, for example, the obtaining unit 21 and the sending unit 24 may be implemented by the processor and the communication interface of fig. 5, and the VNS instantiation unit 22, the VL instantiation unit 23, the NS varactor unit 25, and the NS upgrade unit 26 may be implemented by a processor executing computer instructions in a memory.

Fig. 13 is a schematic structural diagram of a VNSM according to an embodiment of the present invention, where the VNSM according to the embodiment of the present invention may be used to implement the method according to the embodiments of the present invention shown in fig. 2 to fig. 11, for convenience of description, only the part related to the embodiment of the present invention is shown, and details of the specific technology are not disclosed, please refer to fig. 1 to fig. 11 for the embodiments of the present invention.

Specifically, as shown in fig. 13, the VNSM includes a determination unit 31, a VNF instantiation unit 32, a VL instantiation unit 33, and a transmission unit 34.

The determining unit 31 is configured to determine a VNF instance required for performing VNS instantiation operation and a VL instance required for forming the VNS instance; a VNF instantiation unit 32, configured to perform a VNF instantiation operation to obtain the VNF instance; a VL instantiation unit 33, configured to perform a VL instantiation operation to obtain the VL instance; a sending unit 34, configured to send a connection request to the VIM, so that the VIM establishes a connection between the VNF instance and the VL instance according to the connection request.

Further, as shown in fig. 13, the VNSM further includes a VNS capacity-changing unit 35, and the determining unit 31 further includes a determining unit 311, where the obtaining unit 311 is further configured to obtain a capacity-changing request of the VNS instance, where the capacity-changing request carries an identifier of specification information different from a current VNS capacity, and the capacity-changing request includes a capacity-expanding request or a capacity-reducing request; the VNS capacity-changing unit 35 is configured to determine a capacity-changing plan according to the identifier of the specification information different from the current VNS capacity and the VNSD indicated by the capacity-changing request, where the capacity-changing plan includes a capacity-expanding plan or a capacity-shrinking plan; and executing a capacity expansion operation or a capacity reduction operation on the VNF instance according to the capacity change plan.

Further, as also shown in fig. 13, the VNSM further includes a VNS upgrade unit 36, where the obtaining unit 311 is further configured to obtain an upgrade request of the VNS instance, where the upgrade request includes an identifier of a VNFD to be upgraded and an identifier of the VNFD used for upgrading; the VNS upgrade unit 36 is configured to determine, according to the identifier of the VNFD to be upgraded, a first VNF list that needs to be instantiated, and determine, according to the identifier of the VNFD to be upgraded, a second VNF list that needs to be terminated; executing VNF instantiation operation according to the first VNF list, obtaining an upgraded VNF instance, and terminating the VNF instance in the second VNF list; updating VL instances that make up the VNS instance to complete the upgrade of the VNS instance.

In this embodiment, the VNSM is presented in the form of a functional unit. An "element" may refer to an application specific integrated circuit, a processor and memory that execute one or more software or firmware programs, an integrated logic circuit, and/or other devices that may provide the described functionality. In a simple embodiment, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the VNSM may take the form shown in FIG. 5. For example, the sending unit 34 may be implemented by the processor and the communication interface of fig. 5, and the VNF instantiation unit 32, the VL instantiation unit 33, the VNS varactor unit 35, and the VNS upgrade unit 36 may be implemented by executing computer instructions in a memory by a processor.

An embodiment of the present invention further provides a computer storage medium for storing computer software instructions for the NFVO shown in fig. 12, which includes a program designed to execute the method embodiment. By executing the stored program, operations such as NS instantiation, NS varactor, and NS upgrade can be realized.

Another computer storage medium for storing computer software instructions for the VNSM shown in fig. 13 includes a program designed to perform the method embodiments described above. By executing the stored program, operations such as VNS instantiation, VNS variable volume, and VNS upgrade can be realized.

While the invention has been described in connection with various embodiments, other variations to the disclosed embodiments can be understood and effected by those skilled in the art in practicing the claimed invention, from a review of the drawings, the disclosure, and the appended claims. In the claims, the word "comprising" does not exclude other elements or steps, and the word "a" or "an" does not exclude a plurality. A single processor or other unit may fulfill the functions of several items recited in the claims. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used to advantage.

It will be clear to those skilled in the art that, for convenience and simplicity of description, the foregoing division of the functional modules is merely used as an example, and in practical applications, the above function distribution may be performed by different functional modules according to needs, that is, the internal structure of the device is divided into different functional modules to perform all or part of the above described functions. For the specific working processes of the system, the apparatus and the unit described above, reference may be made to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, and details are not described here again.

In the several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed system, apparatus and method may be implemented in other manners. For example, the above-described apparatus embodiments are merely illustrative, and for example, the division of the modules or units is only one logical division, and there may be other divisions when actually implemented, for example, a plurality of units or components may be combined or may be integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted, or not executed. In addition, the shown or discussed mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection may be an indirect coupling or communication connection through some interfaces, devices or units, and may be in an electrical, mechanical or other form.

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, 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, functional units in the embodiments of the present invention may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units are integrated into one unit. The integrated unit can be realized in a form of hardware, and can also be realized in a form of a software functional unit.

The integrated unit, if implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as a stand-alone product, may be stored in a computer readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present invention may be embodied in the form of a software product, which is stored in a storage medium and includes instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device) or a processor to execute all or part of the steps of the method according to the embodiments of the present invention. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: a U disk, a removable hard disk, a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a magnetic disk or an optical disk, and other various media capable of storing program codes.

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. Therefore, the protection scope of the present invention shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A method of network service NS instantiation, comprising:

a network function virtualization orchestrator NFVO obtains an NS instantiation request of an NS, the NS instantiation request indicating a virtual network subsystem, VNS, instance required in the NS and a first virtual connection, VL, instance required to compose the NS, wherein the VNS instance comprises a virtual network function, VNF, instance and a second VL instance to compose the VNS instance;

the NFVO executes VNS instantiation operation according to the NS instantiation request to obtain the VNS instance;

the NFVO executes VL instantiation operation according to the NS instantiation request to obtain the first VL instance;

the NFVO sends a first connection request to a virtual infrastructure manager, VIM, to cause the VIM to establish a connection between the VNS instance and the first VL instance according to the first connection request.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the NS instantiation request comprises an identification of a network service description information block (NSD) and an identification of NS specification information,

the NSD corresponding to the identification of the NSD comprises an identification of a virtual network function forwarding graph information description block VNFFGD, wherein the identification of the VNFFGD is used for indicating a first VL instance required by the NS;

the identification of the NSD and the identification of the NS specification information are used to indicate a VNS instance required in the NS.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the NFVO performs VNS instantiation operations according to the NS instantiation request, comprising:

the NFVO determines a VNS instance list required by the NS instantiation according to the identification of the NSD and the identification of the NS specification information, wherein the VNS instance list comprises at least one VNS instance;

the NFVO determines whether the at least one VNS instance exists from instance record information, wherein the instance record information records the established VNS instance;

and if the VNS instance does not exist, the NFVO executes VNS instantiation operation.

4. The method of any of claims 1-3, wherein the NFVO performs VNS instantiation operations comprising:

the NFVO sending a VNS instantiation request to a Virtual Network Subsystem Manager (VNSM), the VNS instantiation request being used for indicating VNF instances needed in the VNS and second VL instances needed for composing the VNS instances;

and the NFVO receives a VNS instantiation completion message sent by the VNSM, wherein the VNS instantiation completion message comprises the identifier of the VNS instance.

5. The method of any of claims 1-3, wherein the NFVO performs VNS instantiation operations comprising:

the NFVO determining VNF instances required in the VNS and second VL instances required to compose the VNS instances;

the NFVO executes VNF instantiation operation according to a VNF instance required in the VNS to obtain the VNF instance;

the NFVO executes VL instantiation operation according to a second VL instance required by the VNS instance to obtain the second VL instance;

the NFVO sends a second connection request to the VIM to cause the VIM to establish a connection between the VNF instance and the second VL instance according to the second connection request.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein after the NFVO sending a first connection request to a VIM to cause the VIM to establish a connection between the VNS instance and the first VL instance according to the first connection request, further comprising:

the NFVO acquires a variable capacity request of the NS instance, wherein the variable capacity request carries an identifier of specification information different from the current NS capacity, and the variable capacity request comprises a capacity expansion request or a capacity reduction request;

the NFVO determines a capacity-variable plan according to the identifier of the specification information different from the current NS capacity and the NSD indicated by the capacity-variable request, wherein the capacity-variable plan comprises a capacity expansion plan or a capacity reduction plan;

and if the variable capacity plan comprises VNS instance variable capacity, the NFVO executes capacity expansion operation or capacity reduction operation on the VNS instance.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the NFVO performs a capacity expansion operation or a capacity reduction operation on the VNS instance, comprising:

the NFVO sends a variable capacity request of a VNS instance to a VNSM, wherein the variable capacity request carries an identifier of specification information different from the current VNS capacity;

and the NFVO receives a VNS instance variable-volume completion message sent by the VNSM, wherein the VNS instance variable-volume completion message comprises the connection relation of VNF instances in the VNS instances after variable volume.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein after the NFVO sending a first connection request to a VIM to cause the VIM to establish a connection between the VNS instance and the first VL instance according to the first connection request, further comprising:

the NFVO acquires an upgrade request of the NS instance, wherein the upgrade request comprises an identifier of a description information block (VNSD) of a virtual network subsystem to be upgraded and an identifier of the VNSD for upgrading;

the NFVO determines a first VNS list needing to be instantiated according to the identifier of the VNSD used for upgrading, and determines a second VNS list needing to be terminated according to the identifier of the VNSD to be upgraded;

the NFVO executes VNS instantiation operation according to the first VNS list to obtain an upgraded VNS instance, and terminates the VNS instance in the second VNS list;

the NFVO updates a first VL instance that makes up the NS to complete the upgrade of the NS instance.

9. A method of Virtual Network Subsystem (VNS) instantiation, comprising:

a Virtual Network Subsystem Manager (VNSM) determines a Virtual Network Function (VNF) instance required for VNS instantiation operation and a virtual connection (VL) instance required for forming the VNS instance;

the VNSM performing a VNF instantiation operation to obtain the VNF instance;

the VNSM performing a VL instantiation operation to obtain the VL instance;

the VNSM sends a connection request to a virtual infrastructure manager, VIM, to cause the VIM to establish a connection between the VNF instance and the VL instance according to the connection request.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the VNSM determining VNF instances required for VNS instantiation operations and VL instances required for composing the VNS instances comprises:

the VNSM acquiring a VNS instantiation request of the VNS, wherein the VNS instantiation request is used for indicating VNF instances needed in the VNS and VL instances needed for forming the VNS instances;

wherein the VNSM performing a VNF instantiation operation to obtain the VNF instance comprises:

and the VNSM executes VNF instantiation operation according to the VNS instantiation request so as to obtain the VNF instance.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the VNS instantiation request comprises an identification of a virtual network subsystem description information block (VNSD) and an identification of VNS specification information,

the VNSD corresponding to the identifier of the VNSD comprises an identifier of a virtual network function forwarding graph information description block VNFFGD, and the identifier of the VNFFGD is used for indicating VL instances required by the VNS;

the identity of the VNSD and the identity of the VNS specification information are used to indicate a VNF instance required in the VNS.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the VNSM performs VNF instantiation operations according to the VNS instantiation request, comprising:

the VNSM determines a VNF instance list required by the instantiation of the VNS according to the identifier of the VNSD and the identifier of the VNS specification information, wherein the VNF instance list comprises at least one VNF instance;

the VNSM determines whether the at least one VNF instance exists from instance record information, wherein the instance record information records the established VNF instance;

and if the VNF instance does not exist, the VNSM executes a VNF instantiation operation.

13. The method of any of claims 9-12, wherein after the VNSM sending a connection request to the VIM to cause the VIM to establish a connection between the VNF instance and the VL instance according to the connection request, further comprising:

the VNSM acquires a variable capacity request of the VNS instance, wherein the variable capacity request carries an identifier of specification information different from the current VNS capacity, and the variable capacity request comprises an expansion request or a contraction request;

the VNSM determines a capacity-variable plan according to the identifier of the specification information different from the current VNS capacity and the VNSD indicated by the capacity-variable request, wherein the capacity-variable plan comprises a capacity-expansion plan or a capacity-reduction plan;

and the VNSM executes capacity expansion operation or capacity reduction operation on the VNF instance according to the capacity-variable plan.

14. The method of any of claims 9-12, wherein after the VNSM sending a connection request to the VIM to cause the VIM to establish a connection between the VNF instance and the VL instance according to the connection request, further comprising:

the VNSM acquires an upgrade request of the VNS instance, wherein the upgrade request comprises an identifier of a virtual network function description information block (VNFD) to be upgraded and an identifier of the VNFD used for upgrading;

the VNSM determines a first VNF list needing to be instantiated according to the identifier of the VNFD used for upgrading, and determines a second VNF list needing to be terminated according to the identifier of the VNFD to be upgraded;

the VNSM executes VNF instantiation operation according to the first VNF list to obtain an upgraded VNF instance, and terminates the VNF instance in the second VNF list;

the VNSM updates VL instances that make up the VNS instance to complete the upgrade of the VNS instance.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising, after the VNSM sending a connection request to the VIM to cause the VIM to establish a connection between the VNF instance and the VL instance according to the connection request:

16. A network function virtualization orchestrator NFVO, comprising:

an obtaining unit, configured to obtain an NS instantiation request of a network service NS, where the NS instantiation request is used to indicate a virtual network subsystem VNS instance required in the NS and a first virtual connection VL instance required to compose the NS, where the VNS instance includes a virtual network function VNF instance and a second VL instance constituting the VNS instance;

a VNS instantiation unit, configured to perform a VNS instantiation operation according to the NS instantiation request to obtain the VNS instance;

a VL instantiation unit, configured to perform a VL instantiation operation according to the NS instantiation request, so as to obtain the first VL instance;

a sending unit, configured to send a first connection request to a virtual infrastructure manager, VIM, so that the VIM establishes a connection between the VNS instance and the first VL instance according to the first connection request.

17. The NFVO of claim 16,

the VNS instantiation unit is specifically configured to determine, according to an identifier of a network service description information block NSD and an identifier of NS specification information, a VNS instance list required by the NS instantiation, where the VNS instance list includes at least one VNS instance; determining whether the at least one VNS instance exists from instance record information, wherein the instance record information records the established VNS instance; if the VNS instance does not exist, executing VNS instantiation operation;

the NS instantiation request comprises an identifier of the NSD and an identifier of the NS specification information, the NSD corresponding to the identifier of the NSD comprises an identifier of a virtual network function forwarding graph information description block VNFFGD, and the identifier of the VNFFGD is used for indicating a first VL instance required by the NS; the identification of the NSD and the identification of the NS specification information are used to indicate a VNS instance required in the NS.

18. The NFVO of claim 17,

the sending unit is further configured to send a VNS instantiation request to a virtual network subsystem manager, VNSM, where the VNS instantiation request is used to indicate a VNF instance required in the VNS and a second VL instance required to compose the VNS instance;

the obtaining unit is further configured to receive a VNS instantiation completion message sent by the VNSM, where the VNS instantiation completion message includes an identifier of the VNS instance.

19. The NFVO of claim 17,

the VNS instantiation unit is specifically configured to determine a VNF instance required in the VNS and a second VL instance required to compose the VNS instance; executing VNF instantiation operation according to a VNF instance required in the VNS to obtain the VNF instance; according to a second VL instance required by the VNS instance, executing VL instantiation operation to obtain the second VL instance;

the sending unit is further configured to send a second connection request to the VIM, so that the VIM establishes a connection between the VNF instance and the second VL instance according to the second connection request.

20. The NFVO of any of claims 17-19, further comprising an NS varactor, wherein,

the obtaining unit is further configured to obtain a variable volume request of the NS instance, where the variable volume request carries an identifier of specification information different from a current NS capacity, and the variable volume request includes a capacity expansion request or a capacity reduction request;

the NS capacity-changing unit is used for determining a capacity-changing plan according to the identifier of the specification information different from the current NS capacity and the NSD indicated by the capacity-changing request, wherein the capacity-changing plan comprises a capacity-expanding plan or a capacity-reducing plan; and if the variable capacity plan comprises VNS instance variable capacity, executing capacity expansion operation or capacity reduction operation on the VNS instance.

21. The NFVO of claim 20,

the sending unit is further configured to send a variable volume request of a VNS instance to a virtual network subsystem manager VNSM, where the variable volume request carries an identifier of specification information different from a current VNS capacity;

the obtaining unit is further configured to receive a VNS instance volume change completion message sent by the VNSM, where the VNS instance volume change completion message includes a connection relationship of VNF instances in the VNS instances after volume change.

22. The NFVO of any of claims 17, 18, 19, or 21, further comprising an NS promotion unit, wherein,

the obtaining unit is further configured to obtain an upgrade request of the NS instance, where the upgrade request includes an identifier of a virtual network subsystem description information block VNSD to be upgraded and an identifier of the VNSD used for upgrading;

the NS upgrading unit is used for determining a first VNS list needing to be instantiated according to the identifier of the VNSD used for upgrading, and determining a second VNS list needing to be terminated according to the identifier of the VNSD to be upgraded; executing VNS instantiation operation according to the first VNS list, obtaining an upgraded VNS instance, and terminating the VNS instance in the second VNS list; updating a first VL instance comprising the NS to complete the upgrade of the NS instance.

23. The NFVO of claim 20, wherein the NFVO further comprises an NS upgrade unit, wherein,

24. A virtual network subsystem manager, VNSM, comprising:

a determining unit, configured to determine a virtual network function VNF instance required for performing an instantiation operation of a virtual network subsystem VNS and a virtual connection VL instance required for forming the VNS instance;

a VNF instantiation unit, configured to perform a VNF instantiation operation to obtain the VNF instance;

a VL instantiation unit, configured to perform a VL instantiation operation to obtain the VL instance;

a sending unit, configured to send a connection request to a virtual infrastructure manager, VIM, so that the VIM establishes a connection between the VNF instance and the VL instance according to the connection request.

25. The VNSM of claim 24, wherein the determination unit includes an acquisition unit, wherein,

the obtaining unit is configured to obtain a VNS instantiation request of the VNS, where the VNS instantiation request is used to indicate a VNF instance required in the VNS and a VL instance required to compose the VNS instance;

a VNF instantiation unit, configured to perform a VNF instantiation operation according to the VNS instantiation request, to obtain the VNF instance.

26. The VNSM of claim 25,

a VNF instantiation unit, configured to determine, according to an identifier of a virtual network subsystem description information block VNSD and an identifier of VNS specification information, a VNF instance list required for VNS instantiation, where the VNF instance list includes at least one VNF instance; determining whether the at least one VNF instance exists from instance record information in which established VNF instances are recorded; if the VNF instance does not exist, executing a VNF instantiation operation;

the VNS instantiation request comprises an identifier of the VNSD and an identifier of the VNS specification information, wherein the VNSD corresponding to the identifier of the VNSD comprises an identifier of a virtual network function forwarding graph information description block VNFFGD, and the identifier of the VNFFGD is used for indicating VL instances required by the VNS; the identity of the VNSD and the identity of the VNS specification information are used to indicate a VNF instance required in the VNS.

27. The VNSM of any of claims 25-26, further comprising a VNS varactor, wherein,

the obtaining unit is further configured to obtain a variable volume request of the VNS instance, where the variable volume request carries an identifier of specification information different from a current VNS capacity, and the variable volume request includes a capacity expansion request or a capacity reduction request;

the VNS variable volume unit is configured to determine a variable volume plan according to the identifier of the specification information different from the current VNS capacity and the VNSD indicated by the variable volume request, where the variable volume plan includes a capacity expansion plan or a capacity reduction plan; and executing a capacity expansion operation or a capacity reduction operation on the VNF instance according to the capacity change plan.

28. The VNSM of any of claims 25-26, further comprising a VNS upgrade unit, wherein,

the obtaining unit is further configured to obtain an upgrade request of the VNS instance, where the upgrade request includes an identifier of a virtual network function description information block VNFD to be upgraded and an identifier of the VNFD used for upgrading;

the VNS upgrading unit is configured to determine a first VNF list that needs to be instantiated according to the identifier of the VNFD used for upgrading, and determine a second VNF list that needs to be terminated according to the identifier of the VNFD to be upgraded; executing VNF instantiation operation according to the first VNF list, obtaining an upgraded VNF instance, and terminating the VNF instance in the second VNF list; updating VL instances that make up the VNS instance to complete the upgrade of the VNS instance.

29. The VNSM of claim 27, further comprising a VNS upgrade unit, wherein,

30. A network function virtualization orchestrator NFVO, comprising: a processor, a memory, a bus, and a communication interface;

the memory is configured to store computer-executable instructions, and the processor is connected to the memory through the bus, and when the NFVO is running, the processor executes the computer-executable instructions stored in the memory to cause the NFVO to perform the method of network service NS instantiation as recited in any one of claims 1 to 8.

31. A virtual network subsystem manager, VNSM, comprising: a processor, a memory, a bus, and a communication interface;

the memory is configured to store computer-executable instructions, the processor is coupled to the memory via the bus, and when the VNSM is running, the processor executes the computer-executable instructions stored by the memory to cause the VNSM to perform the method instantiated by the virtual network subsystem VNS of any of claims 9-14.

32. A network function virtualization, NFV, system comprising a network function virtualization orchestrator, NFVO, according to any of claims 16-23, and a virtual network subsystem manager, VNSM, according to any of claims 24-29, connected to the NFVO.