CN107534577B

CN107534577B - Method and equipment for instantiating network service

Info

Publication number: CN107534577B
Application number: CN201580080046.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 季莉; 彭展
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2015-05-20
Filing date: 2015-05-20
Publication date: 2020-02-11
Anticipated expiration: 2035-05-20
Also published as: CN107534577A; WO2016183832A1

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention provides a method and equipment for instantiating a network service, which are used for solving the problem that a VNF instance can not serve other NS and can meet the requirement of the NS in the prior art. The method comprises the following steps: the method comprises the steps that a first device receives an instantiation request of a network service NS sent by a second device; wherein the instantiation request of the NS is used for instructing the first device to perform the NS instantiation process; the instantiation request of the NS comprises modification information for modifying at least one Virtual Network Function (VNF) instance; the first device is a management entity for performing the NS instantiation, the second device is an initiation entity for the NS instantiation, and the at least one VNF instance is at least one of VNF instances which are required by the NS and are created in a network architecture; the first device modifies the at least one VNF instance according to the modification information.

Description

Method and equipment for instantiating network service

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a method and a device for instantiating a network service.

Background

With the development of cloud technology, virtualization technology is used as a basic technology of cloud computing in large scale in the fields of enterprise data centers and large-scale cluster computing.

Network Function Virtualization (NFV) technology virtualizes a computer into multiple Virtual logical computers, i.e., Virtual Machines (VMs). Virtual machines typically communicate data externally to the server using a virtual network card, a virtual switch, and a physical network port of the server that connects to an in-chassis switch or a top-chassis switch.

NFV Technology enables many types of network devices to be incorporated into industry standards by borrowing virtualization Technology from Information Technology (IT), for example: services, switching, storage, etc. may be deployed in a data center or network node. Various Network functions are realized in a software mode, can run on an industrial standard server, can be migrated, instantiated, redeployed and the like according to needs, and generate virtual Network functions (VNF for short) without installing new equipment. Network Service (NS for short) can be realized among a plurality of virtual Network functions.

When a network service initiator needs to implement an NS, an NS initialization request can be sent to a resource management entity; the resource management entity may be a network function virtualization Orchestrator (NFV editor, NFVO for short). The initialization request includes network service description information (NSD), and the NSD indicates a VNF required by the NS. Wherein, some VNF or some VNFs required by the NS are already instantiated in the network architecture, and the instantiated VNF may serve the NS or other NS.

However, if the required VNF specified in the NSD is an already instantiated VNF and the VNF is already serving other NS, the remaining resources of the VNF cannot meet the requirement of the current NS. In the prior art, there is no method for enabling resources of a VNF instance to meet the requirements of the current NS while meeting other NS.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the invention provides a method and equipment for instantiating a network service, which are used for solving the problem that a VNF instance can not serve other NS and can meet the requirement of the NS in the prior art.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a method for instantiating a network service, where the method includes:

the method comprises the steps that a first device receives an instantiation request of a network service NS sent by a second device;

wherein the instantiation request of the NS is used for instructing the first device to perform the NS instantiation process; the instantiation request of the NS comprises modification information for modifying at least one Virtual Network Function (VNF) instance; the first device is a management entity for performing the NS instantiation, the second device is an initiation entity for the NS instantiation, and the at least one VNF instance is at least one of VNF instances which are required by the NS and are created in a network architecture;

the first device modifies the at least one VNF instance according to the modification information.

With reference to the first aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the instantiation request includes instantiation parameters of the NS, and the instantiation parameters of the NS include modification information indicating that a modification is performed on the at least one VNF instance; or

The instantiation request comprises network service description information NSD, and the NSD comprises modification information used for indicating modification aiming at the at least one VNF instance.

With reference to the first aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the modification information includes a modification identifier and/or modification content that is modified for the at least one VNF instance.

With reference to the first aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the modification information includes capacity expansion information or capacity reduction information used for indicating that the at least one VNF instance is subjected to capacity expansion or capacity reduction;

the modifying the at least one VNF instance according to the modification information includes:

according to the capacity expansion information, performing capacity expansion on the at least one VNF instance; or

And performing capacity reduction on the at least one VNF instance according to the capacity reduction information.

With reference to the first aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the instantiation request further includes indication information used for indicating to update the monitoring parameter of the at least one VNF instance;

the modifying the at least one VNF instance comprises:

updating the monitoring parameters of the at least one VNF instance according to the indication information.

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

the second device determines that at least one Virtual Network Function (VNF) instance needs to be modified for the Network Service (NS) to be initiated at this time, wherein the at least one VNF instance is at least one of created VNF instances in VNFs required by the NS;

the second device sending an instantiation request of the NS to the first device, the instantiation request comprising modification information for indicating modification to the at least one VNF instance;

wherein the first device is a management entity that performs the NS instantiation, and the second device is an initiation entity of the NS instantiation.

With reference to the second aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the determining, by the second device, that the at least one VNF instance needs to be modified for the NS to be initiated this time includes:

the second device sends a query request message for querying the first device about the residual resource information of the created VNF instances in the VNFs required by the NS;

the second device receives a query request response message sent by the first device, wherein the query request response message carries the residual resource information of the created VNF instance;

the second device determines, according to the remaining resource information of the created VNF instance, that the at least one created VNF instance needs to be modified.

With reference to the second aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the sending, by the second device, an instantiation request of the NS including modification information indicating that a modification is performed on the at least one VNF instance to the first device includes:

the second device generating instantiation parameters including modification information for modifying the at least one VNF instance, and sending an instantiation request of the NS including the instantiation parameters to the first device; or

The second device generates network traffic description information, NSD, including modification information to modify the at least one VNF instance, and sends an instantiation request of the NS including the NSD to the first device.

With reference to the second aspect and any one of the first to second possible implementation manners of the second aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the modification information includes a modification identifier and/or modification content that is modified for the at least one VNF instance.

With reference to the second aspect and any one of the first to third possible implementation manners of the second aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the modification information includes capacity expansion information used for indicating that the at least one VNF instance is expanded or capacity reduction information used for indicating that the at least one VNF instance is reduced.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a device for instantiating a network service, where the device is a management entity that performs NS instantiation, and the device includes:

a receiving module, configured to receive an instantiation request of the NS sent by an opposite-end device corresponding to the receiving module; the peer device is an initiating entity instantiated by the NS;

a modification module, configured to modify the at least one VNF instance according to the modification information received by the receiving module.

With reference to the third aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the instantiation request includes instantiation parameters of the NS, and the instantiation parameters of the NS include modification information indicating that a modification is performed on the at least one VNF instance; or

With reference to the third aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the third aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the modification information includes a modification identifier and/or modification content that is modified for the at least one VNF instance.

With reference to the third aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the third aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the modification information includes capacity expansion information used for indicating that the at least one VNF instance is expanded or capacity reduction information used for indicating that the at least one VNF instance is reduced;

the modification module is specifically configured to perform capacity expansion on the at least one VNF instance according to the capacity expansion information; or

The at least one VNF instance is specifically configured to perform capacity reduction on the at least one VNF instance according to the capacity reduction information.

With reference to the third aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the third aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the instantiation request further includes indication information used for indicating to update the monitoring parameter of the at least one VNF instance;

the modification module is specifically configured to update the monitoring parameter of the at least one VNF instance according to the indication information.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a device for instantiating a network service, where the device is an initiating entity instantiated by an NS, and the device includes:

a determining module, configured to modify at least one virtual network function VNF instance for a network service NS to be initiated this time; the at least one VNF instance is at least one of created VNF instances in VNFs required for the NS;

a sending module, configured to send an instantiation request of the NS including modification information indicating that modification is performed on the at least one VNF instance to a peer device corresponding to the sending module; the peer device is a management entity that performs the NS instantiation.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, further including,

a second sending module, configured to send, to the peer device, a query request message for querying remaining resource information of a created VNF instance in the VNFs required by the NS;

a receiving module, configured to receive a query request response message sent by the peer device, where the query request response message carries the remaining resource information of the created VNF instance;

the determining module is specifically configured to determine, according to the remaining resource information of the created VNF instance, that the at least one created VNF instance needs to be modified.

With reference to the fourth aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the method further includes:

a generating module, configured to generate instantiation parameters, where the instantiation parameters include modification information for modifying the at least one VNF instance, and the sending module is specifically configured to send an instantiation request of the NS including the instantiation parameters to the peer device; or

A generating module, configured to generate network service description information NSD, where the NSD includes modification information for modifying the at least one VNF instance, and the sending module is specifically configured to send an instantiation request of the NS including the NSD to the peer device.

With reference to the fourth aspect and any one of the first to second possible implementation manners of the fourth aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the modification information includes a modification identifier and/or modification content that is modified for the at least one VNF instance.

With reference to the fourth aspect and any one of the first to third possible implementation manners of the fourth aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the modification information includes capacity expansion information used for indicating to expand the at least one VNF instance or capacity reduction information used for indicating to reduce the at least one VNF instance.

With the solution provided by the embodiment of the present invention, after the instantiation request includes modification information indicating that at least one VNF instance is modified, the first device serving as a network management entity modifies the at least one VNF instance according to the modification information after receiving the instantiation request. The resource information of the VNF instance existing in the network architecture can be modified to serve other NS and meet the requirement of the NS.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic system architecture diagram of an NFV system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 2 is a flowchart of a method for instantiating a network service according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of a method for instantiating a network service according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a device instantiated by a network service according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of another network service instantiation device provided in the embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of a device instantiated by another network service according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of a device for instantiating a network service according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention clearer, the present invention will be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, and it is apparent that the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, not all of the embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

The embodiment of the invention provides a method and equipment for instantiating a network service, which are used for solving the problem that a VNF instance can not serve other NS and can meet the requirement of the NS in the prior art. The method and the device are based on the same inventive concept, and because the principles of solving the problems of the method and the device are similar, the implementation of the device and the method can be mutually referred, and repeated parts are not repeated.

Referring to fig. 1, an embodiment of the present invention provides a system architecture diagram of an NFV system, which can implement instantiation of a network service. Network traffic refers to applications running in a network, such as web services, video services, and the like.

The NFV system may be implemented by various networks, such as a data center Network, a service provider Network, or a Local Area Network (LAN).

As shown in FIG. 1, the NFV System may include an NFV Management and orchestration System (NFV-MANO) 101, an NFV Infrastructure (NFV Infrastructure) 102, a plurality of Virtual Network Functions (VNF) 103, a plurality of Element Management Systems (EMS) 104, a Service, VNF, and Infrastructure Description (VNF and Infrastructure Description) 105, and one or more Operation Support systems/Service Support systems (OSS/BSS) 106.

NFV-MANO 101 may include a network function virtualization Orchestrator (NFV Orchester, NFVO)107, one or more VNFMs 108, and one or more Virtualization Infrastructure Managers (VIM) 109; NFVI 102 may include a hardware resource layer composed of computing hardware 110, storage hardware 111, network hardware 112, a virtualization layer, and a virtual resource layer composed of virtual computing 113 (e.g., virtual machines), virtual storage 114, and virtual network 115.

The computing hardware 110 in the hardware resource layer may be a dedicated processor or a general-purpose processor for providing processing and computing functionality; the storage hardware 111 is used to provide a storage capability, which may be provided by the storage hardware 111 itself (for example, a local memory of a server), or may be provided through a network (for example, a server is connected to a network storage device through a network); the network hardware 112 may be a switch, router, and/or other network device, and the network hardware 112 is used to enable communication between multiple devices, which may be connected via wireless or wired connections.

The virtualization layer in the NFVI 102 is used to abstract hardware resources of the hardware resource layer, decouple the VNF103 and a physical layer to which the hardware resources belong, and provide the VNF103 with virtual resources.

The virtual resource layer may include virtual compute 113, virtual storage 114, and virtual network 115. Virtual computing 113, virtual storage 114 may be provided to VNF103 in the form of virtual machines or other virtual containers, e.g., one or more VNFs 103 may be deployed on one virtual machine. The virtualization layer forms a virtual network 115 through abstract network hardware 112. Virtual network 115, such as a virtual switch (e.g., Vswitches), is used to enable communication between multiple virtual machines, or between multiple other types of virtual containers that carry VNFs. Virtualization of Network hardware can be realized by technologies such as Virtual LAN (Virtual LAN, abbreviated as VLAN), Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS), Virtual eXtensible Local Area Network (VxLAN), or general routing encapsulation Network Virtualization (NVGRE).

The OSS/BSS106 is mainly oriented to telecommunication service operators, and provides integrated network management and service operation functions, including network management (e.g., fault monitoring, network information collection, etc.), billing management, and customer service management. The service, VNF and infrastructure description system 105 is described in detail in the ETSI GS NFV 002 v1.1.1 standard, and embodiments of the present invention are not described in detail herein.

NFV-MANO 101 may be used to implement monitoring and management of VNF103 and NFVI 102. NFVO 107 may communicate with one or more VNFMs 108 to implement resource-related requests, send configuration information to VNFMs 108, and collect VNF103 status information. In addition, NFVO 107 may also communicate with VIM 109 to enable resource allocation and/or to enable reservation and exchange of configuration information and status information for virtualized hardware resources. VNFM 108 may be used to manage one or more VNFs 103, perform various management functions, such as being responsible for initialization, updating, querying, and/or termination of VNFs 103, and the like. The VIM 109 may be used to control and manage the interaction of the VNF103 with the computing hardware 110, storage hardware 111, network hardware 112, virtual computing 113, virtual storage 114, virtual network 115. For example, the VIM 109 may be used to perform resource allocation operations to the VNF 103. The VNFM 108 and VIM 109 may communicate with each other to exchange virtualized hardware resource configuration and status information.

NFVI 102 contains hardware and software that together establish a virtualized environment to deploy, manage, and execute VNF 103. In other words, the hardware resource layer and the virtual resource layer are used to provide virtual resources, such as virtual machines and/or other forms of virtual containers, to the respective VNFs 103.

As shown in fig. 1, VNFM 108 may communicate with VNF103 and EMS 104 to perform VNF103 lifecycle management and enable exchange of configuration/state information. VNF103 is a virtualization of at least one network function that was previously provided by a physical network device. In one implementation, the VNF103 may be a virtualized Mobility Management Entity (MME) node, which is used to provide all network functions provided by a typical non-virtualized MME device. In another implementation, VNF103 may be used to implement the functionality of some of all components provided on a non-virtualized MME device. One or more VNFs 103 may be deployed on one virtual machine (or other form of virtual container). EMS 104 may be used to manage one or more VNFs.

An embodiment of the present invention provides a method for instantiating a network service, as shown in fig. 2, the method includes:

step 201, a first device receives an instantiation request of an NS sent by a second device; wherein the instantiation request of the NS is used for instructing the first device to perform the NS instantiation process; the instantiation request of the NS comprises modification information for modifying at least one Virtual Network Function (VNF) instance; the at least one VNF instance is at least one of a VNF instance required by the NS and already created in a network architecture; the first device is a management entity that performs the NS instantiation, and the second device is an initiation entity of the NS instantiation.

The first device may be NFVO, and the second device may be a network service user equipment, such as an Operation Support System (OSS) and a network controller (NM).

The instantiation request comprises NS instantiation input parameters and NSD. The instantiation input parameters may generally include an NSD Identification (NSD Identification), an existing VNF instance Identification, and a processing method, such as capacity expansion, capacity reduction, etc., adopted for the VNF instance.

NSD is used to describe an NS. One NS includes at least one VNF for which the first device creates an instance. An instantiated VNF is referred to as a VNF Instance (VNF Instance).

The network service instantiation request from the network service user equipment to the NFVO is used to instantiate a network service, and the specific process includes instantiating VNFs required by the network service, and performing operations such as upgrading, changing, requesting to increase or decrease resources for some of the instantiated VNFs.

The NSD includes description information of each of VNFs included in the network traffic. The Description information of each VNF is called a VNF Description (english: VNF Description, abbreviated as VNFD), and each VNFD includes information of software and platform that the corresponding VNF needs to run, and resource requirement information of the VNF. The resource requirement information is used to indicate resources, including computing resources, storage resources, etc., required to create an instance for the VNF.

Step 202, the first device modifies the at least one VNF instance according to the modification information.

With the solution provided by the embodiment of the present invention, the instantiation request includes modification information for indicating that at least one VNF instance is modified, and then the first device serving as a network management entity modifies the at least one VNF instance according to the modification information after receiving the instantiation request. The resource information of the VNF instance existing in the network architecture can be modified to serve other NS and meet the requirement of the NS.

Specifically, after receiving the instantiation request of the NS, the first device performs an instantiation process according to NS instantiation input parameters and the NSD included in the instantiation request, and modifies the at least one VNF instance according to the modification information.

It should be noted that, for the prior art, details of how to modify, such as expanding or contracting, the VNF instance are not described herein again. The specific process of performing NS instantiation is the prior art, and the embodiments of the present invention are not described herein again.

Optionally, modification information indicating a modification to at least one VNF instance may be included in the NS instantiation request input parameter.

Optionally, the instantiation request includes modification information indicating a modification to at least one VNF instance. The modification information comprises a modification identification and/or modification content for modifying the at least one VNF instance. Each VNF instance that needs to be modified may correspond to a modification identity and/or modification content. Wherein, the modification identifier for modifying the at least one VNF instance may be an addition modification identifier directly for the at least one VNF instance that needs to be modified. Modification identification and/or modification content for whether modification is performed or not can be added to each VNF instance which is created in the network architecture. The modification flag may be specifically 0 or1, for example. 0 indicates no modification is required and 1 indicates modification is required. The modification manner may be embodied as a target template (default) identifier of capacity expansion or capacity reduction, for example. For example, as shown in table 1. In table 1, 0 indicates the presence of the parameter, and 1 indicates the absence of the parameter.

TABLE 1

Optionally, modification information indicating a modification to at least one VNF instance may be included in the NSD. The modification information may include a modification identifier and/or modification content for modifying at least one VNF instance. Or may include capacity expansion information or capacity reduction information indicating to expand or reduce the capacity of the at least one VNF instance.

Specifically, the NSD indicates that an existing VNF1 instance and a VNF2 instance in the network architecture need to be used, and indicates that an extension needs to be performed on a VNF1 instance, a target template for capacity expansion is a default flag 1 (this template may be defined in a VNFD corresponding to this VNF 1), and for a VNF2 instance, capacity reduction needs to be performed, and a target template for capacity reduction is a default flag 2 (this template may be defined in a VNFD corresponding to this VNF 2).

The modification information may be included in the NSD in an embodiment of the present invention. For example, as shown in table 2, the VNFD of the NSD may be included, for example, to add the identifier of an existing VNF instance in the network and to add the meaning of the VNF _ reflector _ id _ reference, that is, when the VNF _ instance _ reference exists, the VNF _ reflector _ id _ reference may also be used to represent the modified target template identifier for the VNF instance. In table 2, 0 indicates the presence of the parameter, and 1 indicates the absence of the parameter.

TABLE 2

The modification information may further include only a modification identifier for modifying at least one VNF instance. Then, the modification content for modifying each VNF instance is configured in the first device in advance. Such as the percentage of the VNF's computational resources, storage resources that are increased or decreased, and so forth.

If the instantiation request does not include modification content for modifying the at least one VNF instance, but only includes a modification identifier, the first device may modify the at least one VNF instance according to pre-stored modification content.

The modification information may further include only modification content for modifying at least one VNF instance, and the first device directly modifies the VNF instance according to the modification content.

The modification identifier may be an identifier indicating that the at least one VNF instance is modified, such as an identifier of capacity expansion (scale-out) or an identifier of capacity contraction (scale-in).

When the at least one VNF instance is modified according to the modification identifier, the first device performs capacity expansion on the at least one VNF instance according to the capacity expansion identifier; or the first device performs capacity reduction on the at least one VNF instance according to the identification of the capacity reduction.

The instantiation request may further include a percentage of the resource that is expanded or contracted.

The resource information for carrying out capacity expansion and the resource information for carrying out capacity reduction on the VNF instance can be configured in the first equipment in advance; if the instantiation request does not include the capacity-expansion resource information or the capacity-reduction resource information, when it is determined that the instantiation request includes the capacity-expansion identifier, the at least one VNF instance corresponding to the modification identifier may be expanded according to the capacity-expansion resource information of the VNF instance configured in the first device.

Optionally, the instantiation request further includes indication information for indicating to update the monitoring parameter of the at least one VNF instance;

the modifying the at least one VNF instance according to the modification identifier includes:

and the first equipment updates the monitoring parameters of the at least one VNF instance according to the indication information. For example, the monitoring parameter indicates that the capacity expansion processing needs to be performed on the VNF when the CPU utilization exceeds 90%, or the capacity reduction processing needs to be performed on the VNF when the CPU utilization is lower than 20%.

An embodiment of the present invention further provides a method for instantiating a network service, as shown in fig. 3, where the method includes:

step 301, the second device determines that, for the network service NS to be initiated this time, at least one virtual network function VNF instance needs to be modified, where the at least one VNF instance is at least one of VNF instances that have been created in VNFs required by the NS.

Step 303, the second device sends an instantiation request of the NS to the first device, the instantiation request of the NS including modification information indicating a modification for the at least one VNF instance.

And after receiving the instantiation request of the NS, the first device instantiates the NS according to the instantiation request of the NS and modifies the at least one VNF instance according to the modification information. .

The modification information may comprise a modification identity and/or modification content for modifying the at least one VNF instance. The modification identifier included in the instantiation request may also be an identifier indicating to extend or reduce the capacity of the at least one VNF instance. The instantiation request may further include indication information indicating that the monitoring parameters of the at least one VNF instance are updated.

The modification information may also include only a modification identifier for modifying at least one VNF instance, and does not include modification content. The modification content may be pre-configured. The modified content includes the resource information of capacity expansion or the resource information of capacity reduction, etc.

With the solution provided by the embodiment of the present invention, the instantiation request includes modification information for indicating to modify at least one VNF instance, and then the first device serving as a network management entity modifies the at least one VNF instance according to the modification information after receiving the instantiation request. The resource information of the VNF instance existing in the network architecture can be modified to serve other NS and meet the requirement of the NS.

Wherein the first device is a management entity, such as NFVO, that performs the NS instantiation. The second device is an originating entity instantiated by the NS, such as a network service user equipment.

Optionally, the second device determines that the at least one VNF instance needs to be modified for the NS to be initiated this time, and may be implemented by:

Optionally, the second device sends an instantiation request of the NS including modification information indicating a modification for the at least one VNF instance to the first device, which may be implemented by, but is not limited to:

the first implementation mode comprises the following steps:

the second device generates instantiation parameters including modification information for modifying the at least one VNF instance, and sends an instantiation request of the NS including the instantiation parameters to the first device.

The second implementation mode comprises the following steps:

the second device generates an NSD including modification information to modify for the at least one VNF instance, and sends an instantiation request of the NS including the NSD to the first device.

An embodiment of the present invention further provides a network service initialization request device, where the device is a management entity that performs NS instantiation, and as shown in fig. 4, the device includes:

a receiving module 401, configured to receive an instantiation request of the NS sent by an opposite-end device corresponding to the receiving module 401; the peer device is an initiating entity instantiated by the NS;

wherein the instantiation request of the NS is used for instructing the first device to perform the NS instantiation process; the instantiation request of the NS comprises modification information for modifying at least one Virtual Network Function (VNF) instance; the at least one VNF instance is at least one of a VNF instance that is required by the NS and that has been created in a network architecture.

Optionally, the instantiation request includes instantiation parameters of the NS, the instantiation parameters of the NS including modification information indicating a modification to the at least one VNF instance; or

A modifying module 402, configured to modify the at least one VNF instance according to the modification information received by the receiving module 401.

With the solution provided by the embodiment of the present invention, the instantiation request includes modification information for indicating modification of at least one VNF instance, and then the device serving as the network management entity modifies the at least one VNF instance according to the modification information after receiving the instantiation request. The resource information of the VNF instance existing in the network architecture can be modified, so that the VNF instance can serve other NS and meet the requirement of the NS.

Optionally, the modification information includes a modification identifier and/or modification content for modifying the at least one VNF instance;

the modification module 402 is specifically configured to modify, according to the modification content, the content corresponding to the VNF instance corresponding to the modification identifier.

Optionally, the modification information includes capacity expansion information for indicating to expand the capacity of the at least one VNF instance or capacity reduction information for performing capacity reduction;

the modifying module 402 is specifically configured to perform capacity expansion on the at least one VNF instance according to the capacity expansion information; or

Optionally, the instantiation request may further include indication information indicating to update the monitoring parameter of the at least one VNF instance;

the modifying module 402 is specifically configured to update the monitoring parameter of the at least one VNF instance according to the indication information when the at least one VNF instance is modified according to the determined modification identifier.

An embodiment of the present invention further provides a device for instantiating a network service, as shown in fig. 5, where the device is an initiating entity of an NS instantiation, and the device includes:

a determining module 501, configured to modify at least one virtual network function VNF instance for a network service NS to be initiated this time; the at least one VNF instance is at least one of created VNF instances in VNFs required for the NS;

a sending module 502, configured to send an instantiation request of the NS including modification information indicating that modification is performed on the at least one VNF instance to a peer device corresponding to the sending module; the peer device is a management entity that performs the NS instantiation.

With the solution provided by the embodiment of the present invention, the instantiation request includes modification information for indicating modification of at least one VNF instance, and then, after receiving the instantiation request, the device serving as a network management entity modifies the at least one VNF instance according to the modification information. The resource information of the VNF instance existing in the network architecture can be modified to serve other NS and meet the requirement of the NS.

Optionally, the apparatus may further include:

the determining module 501 is specifically configured to determine, according to the remaining resource information of the created VNF instance, that the at least one created VNF instance needs to be modified.

Optionally, the apparatus may further include:

a generating module, configured to generate instantiation parameters, where the instantiation parameters include modification information for modifying the at least one VNF instance, and the sending module 503 is specifically configured to send an instantiation request of the NS including the instantiation parameters to the peer device; or

A generating module, configured to generate network service description information NSD, where the NSD includes modification information for modifying the at least one VNF instance, and the sending module 502 is specifically configured to send an instantiation request of the NS including the NSD to the peer device.

Optionally, the modification information includes a modification identifier and/or modification content for modifying the at least one VNF instance.

Optionally, the modification information includes capacity expansion information or capacity reduction information for indicating that the at least one VNF instance is subjected to capacity expansion or capacity reduction.

The embodiment of the present invention further provides a network service initialization request device, which is a management entity for performing the NS instantiation, and may be set in the NFVO, or may be implemented by the NFVO. As shown in fig. 6, the apparatus includes a transceiver 601, a processor 602, and a memory 603. The transceiver 601, the processor 602 and the memory 603 are connected to each other. The specific connection medium between the above components is not limited in the embodiments of the present invention. In fig. 6, the memory 603, the processor 602, and the transceiver are connected by a bus 604, the bus is represented by a thick line in fig. 6, and the connection manner among other components is only schematically illustrated and is not limited. The bus may be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For ease of illustration, only one thick line is shown in FIG. 6, but this is not intended to represent only one bus or type of bus.

The memory 603 in the embodiment of the present invention is used for storing a program code executed by the processor 602, and may be a volatile memory (such as a random-access memory (RAM); the memory 603 may also be a non-volatile memory (non-volatile memory), such as a read-only memory (ROM), a flash memory (flash memory), a Hard Disk Drive (HDD) or a solid-state drive (SSD), 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 thereto. The memory 603 may be a combination of the above memories.

The processor 602 in the embodiment of the present invention may be a Central Processing Unit (CPU).

The transceiver 601 receives an instantiation request of an NS sent by a peer device corresponding to the transceiver 601; and the opposite terminal equipment is an initiating entity instantiated by the NS. The instantiation request comprises modification information for indicating modification of at least one VNF instance.

The processor 602 instantiates the NS according to the instantiation request received by the transceiver 601 and modifies the at least one VNF instance according to modification information included in the instantiation request.

Wherein the at least one VNF instance is at least one of a VNF instance required by the NS and already created in a network architecture.

When the instantiation request received by the transceiver 601 includes modification information indicating a modification to at least one VNF instance, the following may be performed:

the instantiation request received by the transceiver 601 includes instantiation parameters of the NS, wherein the instantiation parameters of the NS include modification identifiers for indicating modification to the at least one VNF instance; or

The instantiation request received by the transceiver 601 includes network traffic description information NSD, and the NSD includes a modification identifier for indicating a modification to the at least one VNF instance.

Wherein the modification information comprises a modification identification and/or modification content for modifying the at least one VNF instance.

The processor 602, when modifying the at least one VNF instance, may be implemented by:

the processor 602 modifies the content of the VNF instance identified by the modification identifier according to the modification content.

Optionally, the memory 603 includes modification content for modifying the VNF instance. Any modification to the VNF instance may refer to this modification. The modification information may comprise only a modification identification. Wherein the modification identifier may be an identifier indicating an extension or a contraction of the at least one VNF instance. Two kinds of modified contents are included, one is modified contents corresponding to the expansion, and the other is modified contents corresponding to the contraction.

the processor 602 updates the monitoring parameters of the at least one VNF instance according to the indication information.

The embodiment of the invention also provides a network service initialization request device, which is an initiating entity for NS instantiation and can be arranged in the network service user equipment or realized by the network service user equipment. As shown in fig. 7, the apparatus includes a transceiver 701, a processor 702, and a memory 703. The transceiver 701, the processor 702, and the memory 703 are connected to each other. The specific connection medium between the above components is not limited in the embodiments of the present invention. In fig. 7, the memory 703, the processor 702, and the transceiver are connected by a bus 704, the bus is shown by a thick line in fig. 7, and the connection manner between other components is only schematically illustrated and is not limited. The bus may be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For ease of illustration, only one thick line is shown in FIG. 7, but this is not intended to represent only one bus or type of bus.

The memory 703 is used for storing a program code executed by the processor 702 in the embodiment of the present invention, and may be a volatile memory (such as a random-access memory (RAM); the memory 703 may also be a non-volatile memory (non-volatile memory), such as a read-only memory (ROM), a flash memory (flash memory), a Hard Disk Drive (HDD) or a solid-state drive (SSD), 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 thereto. The memory 703 may be a combination of the above memories.

The processor 702 in the embodiment of the present invention may be a Central Processing Unit (CPU).

The processor 702 determines that at least one VNF instance of a virtual network function needs to be modified for the network service NS to be initiated this time; the at least one VNF instance is at least one of VNF instances that have been created in VNFs required by the NS.

The transceiver 701 sends an instantiation request of the NS including modification information indicating modification for the at least one VNF instance to a peer device corresponding to the transceiver;

wherein the peer device is a management entity that performs the NS instantiation.

Optionally, the transceiver 701 sends, to the peer device, a query request message for querying remaining resource information of a created VNF instance in VNFs required by the NS;

then, the transceiver 701 receives a query request response message sent by the peer device, where the query request response message carries the remaining resource information of the created VNF instance;

the processor 702 determines that the at least one created VNF instance needs to be modified according to the remaining resource information of the created VNF instance.

Optionally, the processor 702 generates instantiation parameters including modification information for modifying the at least one VNF instance, and then the transceiver 701 sends an instantiation request of the NS including the instantiation parameters to the peer device.

Or may also be implemented by:

the processor 702 generates network traffic description information NSD including modification information for modifying the at least one VNF instance, and then the transceiver 701 transmits an instantiation request of the NS including the NSD to the correspondent device.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, embodiments of the present invention may be provided as a method, system, or computer program product. Accordingly, the present invention may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Furthermore, the present invention may take the form of a computer program product embodied on one or more computer-usable storage media (including, but not limited to, disk storage, CD-ROM, optical storage, and the like) having computer-usable program code embodied therein.

The present invention is described with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of the invention. It will be understood that each flow and/or block of the flow diagrams and/or block diagrams, and combinations of flows and/or blocks in the flow diagrams and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, embedded processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instruction means which implement the function specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

While preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described, additional variations and modifications in those embodiments may occur to those skilled in the art once they learn of the basic inventive concepts. Therefore, it is intended that the appended claims be interpreted as including preferred embodiments and all such alterations and modifications as fall within the scope of the invention.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the embodiments of the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the embodiments of the invention. Thus, if such modifications and variations of the embodiments of the present invention fall within the scope of the claims of the present invention and their equivalents, the present invention is also intended to encompass such modifications and variations.

Claims

1. A method of network service instantiation, comprising:

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the instantiation request comprises instantiation parameters of the NS, wherein the instantiation parameters of the NS comprise modification information indicating a modification to the at least one VNF instance; or

3. The method of claim 1 or2, wherein the modification information comprises a modification identity and/or a modification content for modifying the at least one VNF instance.

4. The method of claim 1 or2, wherein the modification information comprises capacity expansion information indicating expansion or capacity reduction information indicating reduction of the at least one VNF instance;

5. The method of claim 1 or2, wherein the instantiation request further comprises indication information indicating updating of the monitoring parameters of the at least one VNF instance;

the modifying the at least one VNF instance comprises:

6. A method of network service instantiation, comprising:

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the second device determining that the at least one VNF instance needs to be modified for the NS that is about to be initiated this time comprises:

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the second device sending an instantiation request of the NS to the first device that includes modification information to indicate a modification to the at least one VNF instance, comprising:

9. The method of any of claims 6 to 8, wherein the modification information comprises a modification identification and/or modification content for modifying the at least one VNF instance.

10. The method of any of claims 6 to 8, wherein the modification information comprises capacity expansion information indicating expansion or capacity reduction information indicating reduction of the at least one VNF instance.

11. A device for network service instantiation, wherein the device is a management entity for network service NS instantiation, the device comprising:

wherein the instantiation request of the NS is used for instructing the first device to perform the NS instantiation process; the instantiation request of the NS comprises modification information for modifying at least one Virtual Network Function (VNF) instance; the at least one VNF instance is at least one of a VNF instance required by the NS and already created in a network architecture;

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the instantiation request comprises instantiation parameters of the NS, wherein the instantiation parameters of the NS comprise modification information indicating a modification to the at least one VNF instance; or

13. The apparatus of claim 11 or 12, wherein the modification information comprises a modification identification and/or modification content for modifying the at least one VNF instance.

14. The apparatus of claim 11 or 12, wherein the modification information comprises capacity expansion information indicating to expand or capacity reduction information indicating to reduce the capacity of the at least one VNF instance;

15. The apparatus of claim 11 or 12, wherein the instantiation request further comprises indication information indicating updating of the monitoring parameters of the at least one VNF instance;

16. A device for instantiation of a network service, wherein the device is an originating entity for instantiation of a network service NS, the device comprising:

17. The apparatus of claim 16, further comprising,

18. The apparatus of claim 16, further comprising:

19. The apparatus of any of claims 16 to 18, wherein the modification information comprises a modification identification and/or modification content for modifying the at least one VNF instance.

20. The apparatus of any of claims 16 to 18, wherein the modification information comprises capacity expansion information indicating expansion or capacity reduction of the at least one VNF instance.