CN108234174B

CN108234174B - Management method and device of virtual network function

Info

Publication number: CN108234174B
Application number: CN201611190013.5A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 钟国城; 李飞; 宋文健; 林乐
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2016-12-21
Filing date: 2016-12-21
Publication date: 2020-04-21
Anticipated expiration: 2036-12-21
Also published as: CN108234174A

Abstract

The application discloses a method and a device for managing virtual network functions, and belongs to the field of virtualization. The management method comprises the following steps: acquiring a first VNF mirror image file; generating a VNF image notification message according to the first VNF image file, wherein the VNF image notification message carries attribute information of the first VNF image file; sending a VNF mirror image notification message to a remote management component; receiving a VNF starting instruction sent by a remote management component, wherein the VNF starting instruction is generated by the remote management component according to a VNF mirror image notification message; and loading the first VNF image file according to the VNF starting instruction. According to the method and the device, the remote management component generates the VNF starting instruction according to the received VNF image notification message and loads the first VNF image file in the network equipment, so that the remote management component can remotely start the first VNF image file on the network equipment.

Description

Management method and device of virtual network function

Technical Field

The embodiment of the application relates to the field of virtualization, in particular to a method and a device for managing virtual network functions.

Background

In a conventional telecommunication network, dedicated network devices are used to implement different network functions, such as a router to implement a routing function, a switch to implement a switching function, etc. Network Function Virtualization (NFV) is a method of virtualizing network functions on a conventional dedicated network device on a standard general-purpose computing device by means of a virtualization technology. The NFV can realize the decoupling and function abstraction of software and hardware, so that the network function is not dependent on special hardware equipment.

As shown in fig. 1, in a typical system employing NFV, includes: at least one network device 120 and a remote management component 140. Among them, the network device 120 includes: network Function Virtualization Infrastructure (NFVI) and Virtual Network Functions (VNF), where NFVI is a general name for hardware and software that construct a VNF deployment environment, and VNF is a virtual machine that runs on NFVI and provides a specific network function, and each VNF is used to implement one or more network functions. VNFs running on NFVI are typically managed by a remote management component 140, and the remote management component 140 implements lifecycle management and run state acquisition for the VNFs, such as starting or shutting down the VNFs by the remote management component 140. Wherein the lifecycle management for the VNF comprises: creating, copying, starting, upgrading, expanding capacity, reducing capacity, terminating, restarting and the like; the operational state of the VNF includes: wait for run state, stop state, restart state, etc.

The remote management component 140 can only start the VNF image sent by the remote management component 140 in the network device 120, and cannot remotely start the VNF image copied by the mobile storage device in the network device 120.

Disclosure of Invention

In order to solve the problem that a remote management component cannot remotely start a VNF image file copied by a mobile storage device in a network device, the application provides a VNF management method and a VNF management device. The technical scheme is as follows:

in a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a VNF management method. Because the remote management component can only manage the VNF remotely started by the remote management component in the network device, and cannot manage the VNF on the network device, the remote management component manages the VNF on the network device, and thus the management method of the VNF is improved.

As a possible implementation manner of this embodiment, the method is performed by a network device managed by a remote management component, and the method includes:

acquiring a first VNF mirror image file;

generating a VNF image notification message according to the first VNF image file, wherein the VNF image notification message carries attribute information of the first VNF image file;

sending a VNF mirror image notification message to a remote management component;

receiving a VNF starting instruction sent by a remote management component, wherein the VNF starting instruction is generated by the remote management component according to a VNF mirror image notification message;

and loading the first VNF image file according to the VNF starting instruction to obtain a first VNF corresponding to the first VNF image file.

In the embodiment, after acquiring the first VNF image file, the network device sends a VNF image notification message to the remote management component; the network equipment receives a VNF starting instruction sent by a remote management component; the network equipment loads a first VNF image file according to the VNF starting instruction; therefore, the remote management component can remotely start the first VNF image file on the network device, and since the first VNF is a VNF remotely started by the remote management component, the remote management component also has the capability of performing lifecycle management and the capability of acquiring the running state of the first VNF.

In a first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the obtaining the first VNF image includes:

acquiring file information after detecting an insertion event of the mobile storage device;

judging whether a first VNF image file exists in the mobile storage device or not according to the file information;

and if the first VNF image file exists, reading the first VNF image file.

In the embodiment, an insertion event of the mobile storage device is detected through the network device, and after the insertion event of the mobile storage device is detected, file information is acquired; judging whether a first VNF image file exists in the mobile storage device or not according to the file information; if the first VNF image file exists, reading the first VNF image file; after the network device detects the insertion event of the mobile storage device, the first VNF image file can be automatically read.

In a second possible implementation manner of the first aspect, generating a VNF image advertisement packet according to a first VNF image file includes:

acquiring attribute information of a first VNF image file, wherein the attribute information comprises: at least one item of information of an automatic start identifier, a mirror image file format, a device address of network equipment, a VNF name, a bottom layer driving mode, a network model type, a file path, the number of distributed CPUs (central processing units), a distributed memory space, a network interconnection protocol IP address and a medium access control MAC address;

and generating a VNF image notification message according to the attribute information of the first VNF image file.

In this embodiment, the attribute information of the first VNF image file is acquired by the network device, and a VNF image notification packet is generated according to the attribute information of the first VNF image file; the attribute information comprises an automatic starting identifier, so that the remote management component judges whether the first VNF needs to be automatically started or not according to the automatic starting identifier in the subsequent starting process; the remote management component sends the VNF starting instruction to a position corresponding to the equipment address of the network equipment; because the attribute information further includes the path where the file is located, the remote management component starts the image file corresponding to the path where the file is located as the first VNF, and the VNF start instruction sent by the remote management component to the network device does not need to carry the image file.

In a third possible implementation form of the first aspect, the remote management component comprises: a first remote management component and a second remote management component;

receiving a VNF starting instruction sent by a remote management component, wherein the VNF starting instruction comprises:

receiving a VNF starting instruction in a first format sent by a first remote management component, wherein the first remote management component is a system receiving a VNF image notification message;

or the like, or, alternatively,

and receiving a VNF starting instruction in a second format sent by the second remote management component, wherein the VNF starting instruction in the second format is generated by the second remote management component according to the call request after the first remote management component sends the call request to the second remote management component according to the VNF image notification message.

In this embodiment, when the remote management component includes a first remote management component and a second remote management component, the sending method for sending the VNF start instruction to the network device includes two possible sending methods, the first possible sending method is that the first remote management component directly sends the VNF start instruction in the first format to the network device, and the second possible sending method is that after the first remote management component sends the call request to the second remote management component, the second remote management component sends the VNF start instruction in the second format to the network device according to the call request, so that both the first remote management component and the second remote management component have a capability of remotely starting the first VNF image file on the network device.

With reference to the first aspect, the first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, or the second possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner, after the loading the first VNF image according to the VNF start instruction and obtaining the first VNF corresponding to the first VNF image, the method further includes:

receiving a first VNF management instruction sent by a remote management component, wherein the first VNF management instruction is an instruction for performing life cycle management on the first VNF or an instruction for acquiring the running state of the first VNF;

and executing corresponding operation according to the first VNF management instruction.

In this embodiment, a first VNF management instruction sent by a remote management component is received by a network device; since the first VNF management instruction is an instruction for performing lifecycle management on the first VNF or an instruction for acquiring an operating state of the VNF, the remote management component has a capability of performing lifecycle management on the first VNF and a capability of acquiring an operating state.

With reference to the third possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner, the Netconf server receives, by the Netconf server, a VNF start instruction in a first format sent by a Netconf client in the first remote management component, where the VNF start instruction in the first format is generated by the Netconf client according to the VNF advertisement packet.

In this embodiment, when the first remote management component is a controller, a communication channel exists between a Netconf server in the network device and a Netconf client in the controller, that is, the Netconf server can receive a VNF start instruction in a first format sent by the Netconf client, so that the controller can remotely start the first VNF image file of the network device.

With reference to the third possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a sixth possible implementation manner, the VNF start instruction in the second format, which is sent by the control node in the second remote management component, is received by the computing node, where the VNF start instruction in the second format is generated by the control node according to a call request after the Netconf client sends the call request to the control node according to the VNF image advertisement packet, and the computing node is a component of the network device.

In this embodiment, when the second remote management component is an Openstack, a communication channel exists between a computing node in the network device and a control node in the Openstack, that is, the computing node can receive a VNF start instruction in the second format sent by the control node, so that the Openstack can remotely start the first VNF image file of the network device.

With reference to the first aspect, the first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, or the second possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a seventh possible implementation manner, the remote management component includes: a first remote management component and a second remote management component; the method further comprises the following steps:

obtaining attribute information of a second VNF which is started by a first remote management component;

sending attribute information of the second VNF to a second remote management component;

receiving a second VNF management instruction sent by the first remote management component, where the second VNF management instruction is an instruction for performing lifecycle management on the second VNF, or an instruction for acquiring an operating state of the second VNF;

and executing corresponding operation according to the second VNF management instruction.

In the embodiment, the attribute information of the second VNF remotely started by the first remote management component is acquired by the network device, the attribute information of the second VNF is sent to the second remote management component, and the network device receives the second VNF management instruction sent by the first remote management component and executes corresponding operation according to the second VNF management instruction; and enabling the second remote management component to generate a second VNF management instruction according to the attribute information of the second VNF, wherein the second VNF management instruction is used for managing the second VNF remotely started by the first remote management component, and the second VNF remotely started by the first remote management component in the network equipment is managed by the second remote management component.

With reference to the seventh possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in an eighth possible implementation manner, the computing node is a node corresponding to the second remote management component, and the Netconf server is a server corresponding to the first remote management component;

before acquiring the attribute information of the started second VNF, the method further includes:

receiving a VNF starting instruction in a first format sent by a first remote management component through a Netconf server, wherein the first format is a message format supported by the Netconf server;

executing a VNF starting instruction in a first format through a Netconf server, and loading a predetermined second VNF image file to obtain a second VNF corresponding to the second VNF image file;

acquiring attribute information of the started second VNF, including:

after the second VNF is started, generating attribute information of the second VNF in the first format through a Netconf server;

converting the attribute information of the second VNF in the first format into the attribute information of the second VNF in the second format through the interworking module;

obtaining, by the computing node, attribute information of a second VNF in a second format.

In this embodiment, after the second VNF is started by the network device, the Netconf server generates the attribute information of the second VNF in the first format, converts the attribute information of the second VNF in the first format into the attribute information of the second VNF in the second format through the interworking module, and acquires the attribute information of the second VNF in the second format through the computing node; and enabling the computing node to acquire the attribute information of the second VNF generated by the Netconf server through the intercommunication module.

With reference to the seventh possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a ninth possible implementation manner, the sending attribute information of the started second VNF to the second remote management component includes:

and sending the attribute information of the second VNF to the second remote management component by the computing node by adopting a RabbitMQ channel.

In this embodiment, the network device sends the attribute information of the second VNF to the second remote management component through the compute node by using the RabbitMQ channel, so that the communication between the network device and the second remote management component is realized, and after the first remote management component remotely starts the second VNF, the second remote management component can receive the attribute information of the second VNF generated by the Netconf server.

With reference to the first aspect, the first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, or the second possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a tenth possible implementation manner,

the remote management component comprises: a first remote management component and a second remote management component; the method further comprises the following steps:

obtaining attribute information of a third VNF that has been started, the third VNF being a VNF that is remotely started by a second remote management component;

sending attribute information of the third VNF to the first remote management component;

receiving a third VNF management instruction sent by the first remote management component, where the third VNF management instruction is an instruction for performing lifecycle management on the third VNF, or an instruction for acquiring an operating state of the third VNF;

and executing corresponding operation according to the third VNF management instruction.

In the embodiment, the network device acquires the attribute information of the third VNF remotely started by the second remote management component, and sends the attribute information of the started third VNF to the first remote management component, and the network device receives the third VNF management instruction sent by the first remote management component and executes corresponding operation according to the third VNF management instruction; and enabling the first remote management component to generate a third VNF management instruction according to the attribute information of the third VNF, where the third VNF management instruction is used for managing the third VNF remotely started by the second remote management component, so that the first remote management component manages the third VNF remotely started by the second remote management component in the network device.

With reference to the tenth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in an eleventh possible implementation manner, a network device includes: the system comprises a Netconf server, an intercommunication module and a computing node, wherein the Netconf server is a server corresponding to a first remote management component, and the computing node is a node corresponding to a second remote management component;

before acquiring the attribute information of the started third VNF, the method further includes:

receiving, by the compute node, a VNF start instruction in a second format sent by a second remote management component, where the second format is a packet format supported by the compute node;

the VNF starting instruction in the second format is converted into a VNF starting instruction in the first format through the intercommunication module, and the first format is a message format supported by a Netconf server;

executing a VNF starting instruction in a first format through a Netconf server, and loading a predetermined third VNF image file to obtain a third VNF corresponding to the VNF image file;

acquiring attribute information of the started third VNF, including:

and after the third VNF is started, acquiring the attribute information of the third VNF through a Netconf server.

In this embodiment, a VNF start instruction in a second format sent by a second remote management component is received by a network device through a computing node, the VNF start instruction in the second format is converted into a VNF start instruction in a first format through an interworking module, the VNF start instruction in the first format is executed through a Netconf server, and a predetermined third VNF mirror image file is started as a third VNF; and enabling the Netconf server to receive the VNF starting instruction in the second format sent by the second remote management component through the interworking module.

With reference to the eleventh possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a twelfth possible implementation manner, the sending attribute information of the started third VNF to the first remote management component includes:

and sending the attribute information of the third VNF to the first remote management component through the Netconf server.

In this embodiment, the network device sends the attribute information of the third VNF to the first remote management component through the Netconf server, so that the network device and the first remote management component communicate with each other, and after the second remote management component remotely starts the third VNF, the first remote management component can receive the attribute information of the third VNF.

With reference to the eleventh possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a thirteenth possible implementation manner, the method further includes:

receiving, by the computing node, a third VNF management instruction in the second format sent by the second remote management component, and executing, by the computing node, the third VNF management instruction in the second format;

or the like, or, alternatively,

and receiving a third VNF management instruction in a second format sent by a second remote management component through the computing node, converting the third VNF management instruction in the second format into a third VNF management instruction in a first format through the intercommunication module, and executing the third VNF management instruction in the first format through the Netconf server.

In this embodiment, when the network device receives, through the computing node, a third VNF management instruction in the second format sent by the second remote management component, there are two possible execution manners for the network device to execute the third VNF management instruction, and in the first possible execution manner, the network device executes, through the computing node, the third VNF management instruction in the second format; in a second possible implementation manner, the network device executes a third VNF management instruction in the first format through the Netconf server; so that the third VNF management instruction sent by the second remote management component can be executed either by the compute node or by the Netconf server.

With reference to the thirteenth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a fourteenth possible implementation manner, the converting, by the interworking module, the third VNF management instruction in the second format into the third VNF management instruction in the first format includes:

when the preset identification bit in the configuration file of the computing node is a first value, converting a third VNF management instruction in a second format into a third VNF management instruction in a first format through an intercommunication module;

or the like, or, alternatively,

and when the Netconf server is detected to exist, converting the third VNF management instruction in the second format into the third VNF management instruction in the first format through the interworking module.

In this embodiment, the network device determines, according to the predetermined flag in the configuration file or the step of detecting whether the Netconf server exists, whether it is necessary to convert the third VNF management instruction in the second format into the third VNF management instruction in the first format through the interworking module, and if so, executes the conversion step, so that the network device can select whether to convert the third VNF management instruction in the second format into the third VNF management instruction in the first format.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a VNF management method, where the method includes:

receiving a VNF image notification message sent by network equipment, wherein the VNF image notification message is generated after the network equipment acquires a first VNF image file, and the VNF image notification message carries attribute information of the first VNF image file;

acquiring attribute information of a first VNF image file from a VNF image notification message;

generating a VNF starting instruction according to the attribute information of the first VNF image file;

and sending a VNF starting instruction to the network equipment, wherein the VNF starting instruction is used for instructing the network equipment to load the first VNF image file.

In the embodiment, a remote management component receives a VNF image notification message sent by a network device, acquires attribute information of a first VNF image file, generates a VNF starting instruction according to the attribute information of the first VNF image file, and sends the VNF starting instruction to the network device; therefore, the remote management component can remotely start the first VNF image file on the network device, and since the first VNF is a VNF remotely started by the remote management component, the remote management component also has the capability of performing lifecycle management and the capability of acquiring the running state of the first VNF.

In a first possible implementation manner of the second aspect, after sending the VNF start instruction to the network device, the method further includes:

and sending a first VNF management instruction to the network device, wherein the first VNF management instruction is an instruction for performing lifecycle management on the first VNF, or an instruction for acquiring the running state of the first VNF.

The first VNF is a VNF obtained by the network device loading the first VNF image file.

With reference to the first possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a second possible implementation manner, the first remote management component includes a Netconf client;

sending a VNF starting instruction in a first format to network equipment through a Netconf client;

and sending a first VNF management instruction to the network equipment through the Netconf client.

In a third possible implementation of the second aspect, the method is applied to a second remote management component, and the method further comprises:

receiving attribute information of a second VNF sent by the network device, wherein the second VNF is a VNF remotely started by the first remote management component;

generating a second VNF management instruction according to attribute information of a second VNF, where the second VNF management instruction is an instruction for performing lifecycle management on the second VNF or an instruction for acquiring an operating state of the second VNF;

and sending a second VNF management instruction to the network device.

In this embodiment, the second remote management component receives attribute information of the second VNF sent by the network device, generates a second VNF management instruction according to the attribute information of the second VNF, and sends the second VNF management instruction to the network device; since the second VNF is a VNF remotely started by the first remote management component, the second remote management component has the capability of performing lifecycle management and the capability of acquiring the running state of the second VNF.

In a fourth possible implementation of the second aspect, the method is applied to a first remote management component, and the method further includes:

receiving attribute information of a third VNF sent by the network device, wherein the third VNF is a VNF remotely started by a second remote management component;

generating a third VNF management instruction according to attribute information of the third VNF, where the third VNF management instruction is an instruction for performing lifecycle management on the third VNF or an instruction for acquiring an operating state of the third VNF;

sending a third VNF management instruction to the network device.

In this embodiment, the first remote management component further receives attribute information of a third VNF sent by the network device, generates a third VNF management instruction according to the attribute information of the third VNF, and sends the third VNF management instruction to the network device; since the third VNF is a VNF remotely started by the second remote management component, the first remote management component has a capability of performing lifecycle management and a capability of acquiring a running state of the third VNF.

In a third aspect, the present embodiment provides a VNF management method, including:

receiving a VNF image notification message sent by the network device, wherein the VNF image notification message is generated after the network device acquires a third VNF image file, and the VNF image notification message carries attribute information of the third VNF image file;

acquiring attribute information of a third VNF image file from the VNF image notification message;

sending a calling request to a second remote management component according to the attribute information of the third VNF image file, wherein the calling request is used for calling the second remote management component to generate a VNF starting instruction and sending the VNF starting instruction to the network equipment;

the VNF start instruction is used to instruct the network device to load the third VNF image.

And sending a calling request to the second remote management component according to the attribute information of the third VNF image file.

In the embodiment, a first remote management component receives a VNF image notification message sent by a network device, acquires attribute information of a third VNF image file, and sends a call request to a second remote management component according to the attribute information of the third VNF image file, where the call request is used to call the second remote management component to generate a VNF start instruction and send the VNF start instruction to the network device; the second remote management component is enabled to have the capability of remotely starting a third VNF image file on the network device, and since the third VNF is a VNF remotely started by the second remote management component, the second remote management component also has the capability of performing lifecycle management on the third VNF and the capability of acquiring a running state.

In a fourth aspect, the present embodiment provides a VNF management method, including:

receiving a call request sent by a first remote management component, wherein the call request carries attribute information of a third VNF image file, and the third VNF image file is an image file acquired by network equipment;

generating a VNF starting instruction according to the calling request;

and sending a VNF starting instruction to the network equipment, wherein the VNF starting instruction is used for instructing the network equipment to load the third VNF image file.

In the embodiment, a second remote management component receives a call request sent by a first remote management component, generates a VNF starting instruction according to the call request, and sends the VNF starting instruction to network equipment; the second remote management component is enabled to have the capability of remotely starting a third VNF image file on the network device, and since the third VNF is a VNF remotely started by the second remote management component, the second remote management component also has the capability of performing lifecycle management on the third VNF and the capability of acquiring a running state.

In a first possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, after the sending the VNF start instruction to the network device, the method further includes:

and sending a third VNF management instruction to the network device, where the third VNF management instruction is an instruction for performing lifecycle management on the third VNF, or an instruction for acquiring an operating state of the third VNF.

With reference to the fourth aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in one possible implementation manner, the attribute information of the third VNF image file includes: the method comprises the following steps of automatically starting at least one item of information of an identification, a mirror image file format, a device address of network equipment, a VNF name, a bottom layer driving mode, a network model type, a path where a file is located, the number of distributed CPUs (central processing units), a distributed memory space, an IP (Internet protocol) address and an MAC (media access control) address.

In a fifth aspect, the present embodiment provides a VNF management method, including:

receiving attribute information of a fourth VNF sent by the network device, wherein the fourth VNF is a VNF remotely started by other remote management components;

generating a fourth VNF management instruction according to attribute information of a fourth VNF, where the fourth VNF management instruction is an instruction for performing lifecycle management on the fourth VNF or an instruction for acquiring an operating state of the fourth VNF;

and sending a fourth VNF management instruction to the network device, where the fourth VNF management instruction is used to instruct the network device to perform a corresponding operation.

In this embodiment, a remote management component receives attribute information of a fourth VNF remotely started by another remote management component, which is sent by a network device, and the remote management component generates a fourth VNF management instruction according to the attribute information of the fourth VNF and sends the fourth VNF management instruction to the network device; since the fourth VNF is a fourth VNF that is remotely started by another remote management component different from the remote management component, the remote management component has a capability of performing lifecycle management and a capability of acquiring a running state of the fourth VNF.

In a sixth aspect, this embodiment provides a management apparatus of a VNF, where the management apparatus of the VNF includes at least one unit, and the at least one unit is configured to implement the management method of the VNF provided in the first aspect or any one of the possible implementation manners of the first aspect.

In a seventh aspect, this embodiment provides a management apparatus of a VNF, where the management apparatus of the VNF includes at least one unit, and the at least one unit is configured to implement the management method of the VNF provided in any one of the foregoing second aspect and possible implementation manners of the second aspect.

In an eighth aspect, this embodiment provides a management apparatus of a VNF, where the management apparatus of the VNF includes at least one unit, and the at least one unit is configured to implement the management method of the VNF provided in any one of the possible implementation manners of the third aspect or the third aspect.

In a ninth aspect, the present embodiment provides a management apparatus of a VNF, where the management apparatus of the VNF includes at least one unit, and the at least one unit is configured to implement the management method of the VNF provided in any one of the possible implementation manners of the fourth aspect or the fourth aspect.

In a tenth aspect, the present embodiment provides a management apparatus of a VNF, where the management apparatus of the VNF includes at least one unit, and the at least one unit is configured to implement the management method of the VNF provided in any one of the possible implementation manners of the fifth aspect or the fifth aspect.

In an eleventh aspect, this embodiment provides a computer-readable storage medium, where an executable program for implementing the VNF management method provided in any one of the above-mentioned first aspect or any one of the above-mentioned possible implementations of the first aspect, or any one of the above-mentioned possible implementations of the second aspect or the above-mentioned possible implementations of the second aspect, or any one of the above-mentioned possible implementations of the third aspect or the above-mentioned possible implementations of the third aspect, or any one of the above-mentioned possible implementations of the fourth aspect or the above-mentioned possible implementations of the fourth aspect, or any one of the above-mentioned possible implementations of the fifth aspect or the above-mentioned fifth aspect is stored in the computer-readable storage medium.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a typical system employing NFV as provided in the background;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a prior art architecture in which network devices are managed by two heterogeneous remote management components;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a management system according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a flowchart of a VNF management method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a management system according to another embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6A is a flowchart of a VNF management method according to another embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6B is a flowchart of a VNF management method according to another embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a management system according to another embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is a flowchart of a VNF management method according to another embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 is a flowchart of a VNF management method according to another embodiment of the present application;

fig. 10 is a flowchart of a VNF management method according to another embodiment of the present application;

fig. 11 is a flowchart of a VNF management method according to another embodiment of the present application;

fig. 12 is a block diagram of a VNF management apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 13 is a block diagram of a VNF management apparatus according to another embodiment of the present application;

fig. 14 is a block diagram of a VNF management apparatus according to another embodiment of the present application;

fig. 15 is a block diagram of a VNF management apparatus according to another embodiment of the present application;

fig. 16 is a block diagram of a VNF management apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 17 is a schematic structural diagram of a network device 320 according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 18 is a schematic structural diagram of a network device 320 according to another embodiment of the present application;

fig. 19 is a schematic structural diagram of a remote management component 340 according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

To make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present application more clear, embodiments of the present application will be described in further detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Remote management components typically include two types: the first type is a management component based on the data modeling language YANG/Network Configuration Protocol (NetConf); the second type is a cloud management component represented by Openstack. Alternatively, the YANG/Netconf based management component is also referred to as a controller based management component, the first type of remote management component is a management component provided by the manufacturer of the network device, and the YANG/Netconf based management components provided by different manufacturers may be slightly different. The network device may be managed by at least one remote management component. When the network device is managed by two or more remote management components, the two or more remote management components may be the same kind of remote management component or different kinds of remote management components. Fig. 2 shows a schematic of the structure of a network device managed by two different kinds of remote management components.

The first type of remote management component in the remote management components 240 is a YANG/Netconf-based management component and the second type of remote management component is Openstack.

The first type of remote management component includes a controller 241, and the controller 241 mainly includes the following components: file server, Netconf client and service engine. Generally, the process for the controller to start a VNF is: the service engine acquires a VNF image file 1 (English: image) from the file server, generates configuration information according to the VNF image file 1, and matches the configuration information with a corresponding YANG model according to service requirements, wherein the configuration information comprises: and the VNF name, the bottom layer driving mode, the network model type, the number of the distributed CPUs and all or part of information in the distributed memory space corresponding to the VNF image file 1. The service engine generates a Netconf message according to the configuration information, the Netconf message is sent to the Netconf client, the Netconf client sends the Netconf message to the network equipment through a Secure Shell (SSH) protocol, a Netconf server on the network equipment analyzes the Netconf message according to a YANG model, a libvirt interface of an NFVI layer is called according to the analyzed configuration information, and a VNF mirror image file 1 stored on the network equipment is loaded to obtain VNF 1. After VNF1 is started, lifecycle management and operational state acquisition for VNF1 is implemented by the controller. When the VNF image 1 is not stored on the network device, the network device needs to acquire the VNF image 1 from the controller 214.

The second type of remote management component is Openstack242, and Openstack242 mainly includes the following components: control node, network management service Neutron and mirror image management service Glance. Generally, the process of Openstack242 starting a VNF is: the Neutron acquires the VNF image file 2 from the Glance, generates configuration information according to the VNF image file 2, and then sends the configuration information of the VNF image file 2 to the network equipment through the control node, wherein the configuration information is similar to the configuration information in the first type of remote management component. And the computing node on the network equipment calls a libvirt interface of the NFVI layer according to the received configuration information, and loads the VNF image file 2 stored on the network equipment to obtain the VNF 2. After VNF2 is started, Openstack implements lifecycle management and run state acquisition for VNF 2. When the VNF image 2 is not stored on the network device, the network device needs to obtain the VNF image 2 from the Openstack 242.

The network device mainly comprises the following components: the acquisition module comprises a Command Line Interface (CLI), a computing node and a Netconf server. In addition to VNF1 and VNF2 being remotely launched by remote management component 240, a user may also launch VNFs directly on a network device. In one implementation, the process of the user starting the VNF on the network device is as follows: the user inserts a mobile storage device into the network device, where the mobile storage device may be a usb disk storing the VNF image file 3, and the network device obtains the VNF image file 3 from the usb disk through the obtaining module, and calls a libvirt interface to load the VNF image file 3, so as to obtain the VNF 3. After VNF3 is started, lifecycle management and operational state acquisition for VNF3 is implemented by the network device.

In the above technology, because the first-type remote management component, the second-type remote management component, and the network device have their respective VNF startup flows. These three types of management components are independent of each other, leading to technical problems: firstly, the VNF image 3 acquired by the network device can only be started on the network device by a user, and the first type remote management component and the second type remote management component cannot not only trigger the network device to load the VNF image 3, but also manage the VNF3 obtained by loading the VNF image 3; secondly, the first type of remote management component can only manage the VNF1 remotely started by the first type of remote management component in the network device, and cannot manage the VNF2 remotely started by the second type of remote management component in the network device; similarly, the second type of remote management component can only manage the VNF2 remotely started by the second type of remote management component in the network device, and cannot manage the VNF1 remotely started by the first type of remote management component in the network device. That is, the above-described scheme cannot uniformly manage multiple VNFs that are started by different ways.

To this end, the present application provides the embodiments of fig. 3 to 8 to solve the first technical problem; further, the embodiments of fig. 9 to 11 are used to solve the second technical problem.

Referring to fig. 3, a schematic structural diagram of a management system according to an embodiment of the present application is shown. The management system includes: at least one network device 320 and a remote management component 340.

The network device 320 includes: NFVI321, VNF322, management module 323; the NFVI321 is used to construct hardware and software of a VNF deployment environment, and the VNF322 is a virtual machine running on the NFVI321 and providing a specific network function; optionally, network device 320 includes at least two VNFs 322, each for implementing one or several network functions. The management module 323 is configured to perform corresponding operations through a libvirt interface provided by the NFVI.

The remote management component 340 includes: mirror server 341 and control module 342; the image server 341 is configured to store a VNF image, and the control module 342 is configured to send a VNF start instruction and a VNF management instruction to the management module 323 in the network device 320.

It should be noted that there may be one or two remote management components 340. This embodiment is not limited thereto.

Referring to fig. 4, a flowchart of a VNF management method according to an embodiment of the present application is shown. The present embodiment is exemplified by applying the VNF management method to the management system shown in fig. 3, where the method includes:

step 401, a network device acquires a first VNF image file.

Optionally, the network device reads the first VNF image file stored in the mobile storage device or receives the first VNF image file sent by the other device. Wherein the other device may be a stand-alone file server.

The first VNF image is a template for creating the first VNF. A first VNF on a network device is capable of being copied, migrated, and rebuilt using a first VNF image. The different first VNF image is used to create a first VNF of a different network function, such as: the image file 1 is used to create a first VNF implementing router functionality and the image file 2 is used to create a first VNF implementing switch functionality.

Due to the large amount of data of the first VNF image, it takes a lot of time to download the first VNF image from the remote management component. As another implementation, a user obtains the first VNF image file through a mobile storage device. Illustratively, the mobile storage device includes a mobile hard disk, a U disk, an SD card, an MS card, and the like.

Optionally, after the mobile storage device is inserted into the network device, a bottom driver in the network device may generate an insertion event of the mobile storage device; the method comprises the steps that after a network device detects an insertion event of a mobile storage device, file information is obtained; judging whether a first VNF image file exists in the mobile storage device or not according to the file information; and if the first VNF image file exists, the network equipment reads the first VNF image file.

Step 402, the network device generates a VNF image notification packet according to the first VNF image file, where the VNF image notification packet carries attribute information of the first VNF image file.

Optionally, the network device obtains attribute information of the first VNF image file, where the attribute information includes at least one of an automatic start identifier, an image file format, a device address of the network device, a VNF name, a bottom driver mode, a network model type, a file path, an allocated number of CPUs, an allocated memory space, an Internet Protocol (IP) address, and a Media Access Control (MAC) address.

The automatic start identifier is used for identifying whether the first VNF image file supports automatic start or not; the image file format refers to a file format of the first VNF image file, including but not limited to a raw format, a qcow2 format, and a vmdk format; the device address of the network device is used to identify the location of the network device in the network; the name of the VNF is the name of the first VNF obtained by loading the first VNF image file; the bottom layer driving mode comprises qemu simulation software, a Linux Container, a KVM virtualization driver and the like; the network model types include: bridge type, Network Address Translation (NAT) type, host mode, etc.; the path of the file is a file path of the first VNF image file in the mobile storage device.

Optionally, the network device generates a VNF image notification packet according to attribute information of the first VNF image file; exemplarily, referring to table one, a message format of a VNF mirror image notification message is shown, where MsgType is a message type, MsgLen is an information length, AutoStart is an automatic start identifier, ImageType is a mirror image file format, ComputeNode is an equipment address of a network device, Name is a VNF Name, driver is a bottom layer drive mode, NetworkTpye is a network model type, Path is a Path where a file is located, CPU is an allocated number of CPUs, Memory is an allocated Memory space, IPAddr is an IP address, MacAddr is an MAC address, and Option of expansion, that is, a custom parameter.

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In step 403, the network device sends a VNF image advertisement message to the remote management component.

The network device encapsulates the VNF image advertisement message into a message of a predetermined format according to the message format supported by the remote management component.

Optionally, when the remote management component includes an Openstack, the network device encapsulates the VNF mirror notification packet into a message of the Nova protocol.

Optionally, when the remote management component includes a controller, the network device encapsulates the VNF image advertisement packet into a notification packet of a Netconf protocol. Optionally, the network device sends the VNF image notification packet to the remote management component through an encryption channel; illustratively, the encrypted channel is a secure shell protocol.

In step 404, the remote management component receives a VNF image advertisement message sent by the network device.

In step 405, the remote management component obtains attribute information of the first VNF image file from the VNF image advertisement packet.

Optionally, the remote management component parses the received VNF image notification packet, and obtains attribute information of the first VNF image file.

Optionally, the remote management component identifies an automatic start identifier according to the attribute information of the first VNF image file, and determines whether the first VNF image file supports automatic start according to the automatic start identifier; illustratively, when the auto-start flag is 1, indicating that the first VNF image file supports auto-start, the remote management component continues to perform step 406; when the automatic boot identifier is 0, which indicates that the first VNF image file does not support automatic boot, the remote management component stores the attribute information of the first VNF image file.

In step 406, the remote management component generates a VNF start instruction according to the attribute information of the first VNF image file.

Optionally, the VNF start instruction carries all or part of the attribute information. .

In step 407, the remote management component sends a VNF start instruction to the network device, where the VNF start instruction is used to instruct the network device to load the first VNF image file.

Optionally, the remote management component encapsulates the VNF startup instruction into a message in a predetermined format, where the predetermined format is the same type of format as the format of the received VNF image advertisement message.

Optionally, the remote management component sends the VNF start instruction to the network device according to a device address of the network device.

In step 408, the network device receives a VNF start instruction sent by the remote management component.

Step 409, the network device loads the first VNF image file according to the VNF start instruction, and obtains the first VNF corresponding to the first VNF image file.

And the network equipment loads the first VNF image file according to the VNF starting instruction to obtain the first VNF corresponding to the first VNF image file. Optionally, after the network device loads the first VNF image, a startup success response is further sent to the remote management component.

In this embodiment, although the first VNF image is an image acquired through the mobile storage device, since the first VNF is a VNF started according to an instruction of the remote management component, the remote management component may still perform lifecycle management and acquisition of a running state on the first VNF in the following.

In summary, in the method provided in this embodiment, after acquiring the first VNF image file, the network device sends a VNF image notification packet to the remote management component; the network equipment receives a VNF starting instruction sent by a remote management component; the network equipment loads a first VNF image file according to the VNF starting instruction; therefore, the remote management component can remotely start the first VNF image file on the network device, and since the first VNF is a VNF started according to an instruction of the remote management component, the remote management component also has a capability of performing lifecycle management on the first VNF and a capability of acquiring a running state.

In some embodiments of the present application, the remote management component 340 provided in FIG. 3 includes two different types of remote management components. Referring to fig. 5, the remote management component 340 includes: a first remote management component 341 and a second remote management component 342. The embodiment is exemplified by the first remote management component 341 being a controller and the second remote management component 342 being an Openstack-based remote management component.

The first remote management component 341 comprises: and (4) a Netconf client.

The second remote management component 342 includes: and controlling the nodes.

The network device 320 includes: netconf server 321 and compute node 322. The Netconf server 321 is used for realizing communication with the Netconf client, the computing node 322 is used for realizing communication with the control node, and the computing node 322 can also be referred to as a nova computing node.

Wherein, the Netconf server 321 includes: a confd module and a virt module. The confd module has the capability to communicate with Netconf clients and the virt module has the capability to communicate with mobile storage devices and to invoke the libvirt interface in the NFVI layer.

The Netconf client, the control node, the Netconf server 321, and the computing node 322 are all logic modules implemented by a processor executing program codes in a memory.

In other embodiments, the first remote management component 341 and the second remote management component 342 may also be other remote management components, which is not limited in this application.

To implement the management of the VNF image file acquired by the network device by the first remote management component 341 in fig. 5, please refer to fig. 6A, which shows a flowchart of a VNF management method according to another embodiment of the present application. The present embodiment is exemplified by applying the VNF management method to the remote management component 340 shown in fig. 5, where the method includes:

step 601, the network device acquires a second VNF image file.

In one embodiment, the network device obtains the second VNF image from the mobile storage device. When the mobile storage device is plugged into the network device 320, the underlying driver generates a plug-in event of the mobile storage device. After detecting an insertion event of the mobile storage device, a virt module in the Netconf server 321 acquires file information; the virt module judges whether a second VNF image file exists in the mobile storage device or not according to the file information; and if the second VNF image file exists, the virt module reads the second VNF image file.

Step 602, the network device obtains attribute information of the second VNF image file.

And the virt module acquires the attribute information of the second VNF image file according to the read second VNF image file.

Step 603, the network device generates a VNF image advertisement packet according to the attribute information of the second VNF image file.

And the virt module generates a VNF image notification message according to the attribute information of the second VNF image file. Optionally, a message format of the VNF image advertisement message is as shown in table one.

In step 604, the network device sends a VNF image advertisement packet to the first remote management component.

The virt module reports the VNF image notification message to the confd module, and the confd module encapsulates the VNF image notification message into a VNF image notification message in the first format. Optionally, the first format is a message format supported by the Netconf server, and the first format is a Netconf message format.

And the confd module reports the VNF image notification message with the first format to the Netconf client in the first remote management component through an encryption channel. Optionally, the encryption channel is an SSH channel.

Correspondingly, the Netconf client receives the VNF image advertisement packet in the first format.

Step 605, the first remote management component acquires the attribute information of the second VNF image file from the VNF image advertisement packet.

And the Netconf client analyzes the VNF image notification message with the first format to obtain the attribute information of the second VNF image file.

In step 606, the first remote management component generates a VNF start instruction in a first format according to the attribute information of the second VNF image file.

Optionally, the Netconf client identifies an automatic start identifier according to the attribute information of the second VNF image file, and determines whether the second VNF image file supports automatic start according to the automatic start identifier; illustratively, when the auto-start flag is 1, indicating that the second VNF image file supports auto-start, the Netconf client continues to perform step 607; when the automatic start identifier is 0, which indicates that the second VNF image file does not support automatic start, the Netconf client stores the attribute information of the second VNF image file.

In step 607, the first remote management component sends VNF activation instructions in the first format to the network device.

And when the second VNF image file supports automatic starting, the Netconf client generates a VNF starting instruction in the first format and sends the VNF starting instruction in the first format to a confd module in the Netconf server. Optionally, the Netconf client sends the VNF start instruction to the confd module according to the device address of the network device.

The VNF start instruction is used to instruct the network device to load the second VNF image. In this embodiment, the VNF start instruction in the first format is a VNF start instruction in a netconf packet format.

At step 608, the network device receives the VNF activation instruction in the first format sent by the first remote management component.

The confd module receives a VNF starting instruction in a first format sent by the Netconf client.

In step 609, the network device loads the second VNF image according to the VNF startup instruction in the first format.

And the confd module sends the VNF starting instruction to the virt module, and the virt module calls a libvirt interface according to the VNF starting instruction and loads a second VNF image file to obtain the VNF corresponding to the second VNF image file. Optionally, the VNF start instruction carries configuration information of the second VNF image.

Optionally, after the second VNF is successfully started, the virt module further reports the operation state of the second VNF to the Netconf client through the confd module.

In step 610, the first remote management component saves the attribute information and the running state of the second VNF.

After the second VNF is started, the Netconf client stores the attribute information and the operating state of the second VNF.

Wherein the operating state of the second VNF includes: wait for run state, stop state, restart state, etc.

In step 611, the first remote management component sends a second VNF management instruction to the network device.

Since the Netconf client stores the attribute information and the operating state of the second VNF, the Netconf client has the capability of performing lifecycle management and/or state information acquisition on the second VNF.

Optionally, when the second VNF needs to be managed, the Netconf client generates a second VNF management instruction in the first format, and then sends the second VNF management instruction in the first format to the network device.

The second VNF management instruction is an instruction for performing lifecycle management on the second VNF, or the second VNF management instruction is an instruction for acquiring an operating state of the second VNF.

In step 612, the network device receives a second VNF management instruction sent by the first remote management component.

The confd module receives the second VNF management instruction sent by the first remote management component, and sends the second VNF management instruction to the virt module.

Step 613, the network device executes a corresponding operation according to the second VNF management instruction.

And the virt module calls a libvirt interface according to the second VNF management instruction to execute corresponding operation.

Wherein the operation comprises creating, copying, starting, expanding, shrinking, terminating, restarting, or sending a state of the second VNF to the first remote management component.

To sum up, in this embodiment, the first remote management component receives a VNF image notification packet sent by the network device, where the VNF image notification packet is generated after the network device acquires the second VNF image file, and the VNF image notification packet carries attribute information of the second VNF image file; acquiring attribute information of a second VNF image file from the VNF image notification message; and generating a VNF starting instruction according to the attribute information of the second VNF image file, and sending the VNF starting instruction to the network equipment. Thus, the first remote management component has the capability of remotely booting a second VNF image on the network device, and since the second VNF is a second VNF that the first remote management component remotely boots from, the first remote management component also has the capability of lifecycle management and runtime state acquisition for the second VNF.

As an alternative implementation of the embodiment shown in fig. 6A, the VNF startup procedure shown in steps 606 to 613 in fig. 6A may be performed by the second remote management component 342 instead of the first remote management component 341. As shown in fig. 6B, steps 606 to 613 can be alternatively implemented as steps 606a to 615 a:

in step 606a, the first remote management component sends a call request to the second remote management component according to the attribute information of the third VNF image file.

And the Netconf client sends a call request to the control node through the restful interface, and optionally, the call request carries the attribute information of the third VNF image file.

In step 607a, the second remote management component receives the call request sent by the first remote management component.

And the control node receives a calling request of the Netconf client.

In step 608a, the second remote management component generates a VNF start instruction according to the call request.

And the control node acquires the attribute information of the third VNF image file from the calling request, calls the nova _ api interface according to the attribute information of the third VNF image file, and generates a VNF starting instruction.

Optionally, the control node generates the VNF start instruction in the second format according to the attribute information of the third VNF image file in the call request. The second format is a message format supported by the compute node 322.

In step 609a, the second remote management component sends a VNF start instruction to the network device.

The control node sends VNF startup instructions to the computing node 322 in the network device. Optionally, the control node sends the VNF start instruction to the computing node 322 according to the device address of the network device.

In step 610a, the network device receives a VNF activation instruction in a second format sent by a second remote management component.

The computing node 322 receives the VNF activation instruction in the second format.

In step 611a, the network device loads the third VNF image according to the VNF start instruction in the second format.

The computing node 322 calls the libvirt interface to load the third VNF image file according to the VNF start instruction, so as to obtain a third VNF corresponding to the third VNF image file.

Optionally, after the VNF is successfully started, the computing node 322 further reports the operation state of the third VNF to the control node.

In step 612a, the second remote management component saves the attribute information and the running state of the third VNF.

After the VNF is successfully started, the control node saves the attribute information and the running state of the third VNF.

In step 613a, the second remote management component sends a third VNF management instruction to the network device.

The third VNF management instruction is an instruction for performing lifecycle management on the third VNF, or an instruction for acquiring an operating state of the third VNF.

Since the control node holds the attribute information and the operating state of the third VNF, the control node has the capability of performing lifecycle management and/or state information acquisition on the third VNF.

Optionally, when the VNF needs to be managed, the control node generates a third VNF management instruction in the second format, and then the control node sends the third VNF management instruction in the second format to the network device.

In step 614a, the network device receives a third VNF management instruction sent by the second remote management component.

The computing node 322 receives the third VNF management instruction sent by the second remote management component.

In step 615a, the network device executes a corresponding operation according to the third VNF management instruction.

And the computing node 322 calls a libvirt interface according to the third VNF management instruction to execute a corresponding operation.

In summary, in this embodiment, a second remote management component receives a call request sent by a first remote management component, where the call request carries attribute information of a third VNF image file, and the third VNF image file is an image file read by a network device from a mobile storage device; generating a VNF starting instruction according to the calling request; sending a VNF starting instruction to the network equipment, wherein the VNF starting instruction is used for indicating the network equipment to load a third VNF image file; and enabling the second remote management component to generate a VNF starting instruction according to the received call request, wherein the VNF starting instruction is used for starting a third VNF image file in the network device to be a third VNF, so that the second remote management component can start and subsequently manage the third VNF on the network device.

In order to realize that the VNF1 remotely started by the first remote management component can be managed by the second remote management component, and the VNF2 remotely started by the second remote management component can be managed by the first remote management component, based on the remote management component shown in fig. 5, the interworking module 32 is further added to the network device, and an information parsing module is added to the second remote management component 342, as shown in fig. 7:

the interworking module 32 is configured to implement communication between the Netconf server 321 and the computing node 322, for example, convert a message in the second format from the computing node 322 into a message in the first format supported by the Netconf server 321.

The information parsing module (e.g., NetconfProc in Openstack) is configured to parse the packet reported by the computing node 322.

Optionally, the first remote management component 341 and the second remote management component 342 further comprise respective image file servers (not shown in fig. 7).

The embodiments shown in fig. 8 and 9 are embodiments in which VNF1 for implementing remote boot of a first remote management component can be managed by a second remote management component.

Please refer to fig. 8, which illustrates a flowchart of a VNF management method according to another embodiment of the present application. The present embodiment is exemplified by applying the VNF management method to the management system shown in fig. 7. The method comprises the following steps:

in step 801, the network device obtains attribute information of a second VNF that has been started, where the second VNF is a VNF that is remotely started by the first remote management component.

Optionally, after the first remote management component remotely starts the second VNF, the network device acquires attribute information of the started second VNF. The second VNF may be started based on a second VNF image in the first remote management component or may be started based on a second VNF image in the mobile storage device.

Optionally, the attribute information includes: the method comprises the following steps of automatically starting at least one item of information of an identification, a mirror image file format, a device address of network equipment, a VNF name, a bottom layer driving mode, a network model type, a path where a file is located, the number of distributed CPUs (central processing units), a distributed memory space, an IP (Internet protocol) address and an MAC (media access control) address.

Step 802, the network device sends the attribute information of the second VNF to the second remote management component.

In step 803, the second remote management component receives the attribute information of the second VNF sent by the network device.

Step 804, the second remote management component generates a second VNF management instruction according to the attribute information of the second VNF.

And when the second VNF needs to be managed, the second remote management component generates a second VNF management instruction according to the attribute information of the second VNF.

The second VNF management instruction is an instruction for performing lifecycle management on the second VNF, or an instruction for acquiring an operating state of the second VNF.

Optionally, the instruction for lifecycle management of the second VNF includes at least one of create, copy, start, expand, contract, terminate, and restart; the instruction to the operating state of the second VNF includes any one of a wait-to-operate state, an operating state, a stop state, and a restart state.

In step 805, the second remote management component sends a second VNF management instruction to the network device, where the second VNF management instruction is used to instruct the network device to perform a corresponding operation.

At step 806, the network device receives a second VNF management instruction sent by the second remote management component.

In step 807, the network device performs corresponding operations according to the second VNF management instruction.

To sum up, in this embodiment, the network device obtains the attribute information of the second VNF remotely started by the first remote management component, and sends the started attribute information of the second VNF to the second remote management component, and the network device receives the second VNF management instruction sent by the second remote management component and executes a corresponding operation according to the second VNF management instruction; and enabling the second remote management component to generate a second VNF management instruction according to the attribute information of the started second VNF, wherein the second VNF management instruction is used for managing the VNF remotely started by the first remote management component, and the second remote management component manages the second VNF remotely started by the first remote management component in the network equipment.

Referring to fig. 9, a flowchart of a method for managing virtual network functions according to another embodiment of the present application is shown. The present embodiment is exemplified by applying the VNF management method to the management system shown in fig. 7, where the method includes:

in step 901, the network device receives, through the Netconf server, a VNF start instruction in a first format sent by a first remote management component.

Optionally, the first remote management component sends a VNF start instruction in a first format to the Netconf server 321 in the network device, where the first format is a message format supported by the Netconf server; illustratively, the first format is a Netconf message format supported by the Netconf server.

In step 902, the network device executes the VNF start instruction in the first format through the Netconf server, and starts a predetermined second VNF image file as a second VNF.

Optionally, the predetermined second VNF image is an image carried in the VNF start instruction in the first format, or the predetermined second VNF image is an image located in a network device, such as an image read by the network device in a mobile storage device.

Optionally, the Netconf server 321 includes a confd module and a virt module; the confd module receives a VNF starting instruction in a first format sent by the first remote management component, after the confd module identifies the VNF starting instruction in the first format, the confd module sends the VNF starting instruction to the virt module, and the virt module executes the VNF starting instruction by calling a libvirt interface and starts a preset second VNF image file into a second VNF.

In step 903, after the second VNF is started, the network device generates, through the Netconf server, attribute information of the second VNF in the first format.

Optionally, the attribute information of the second VNF includes: at least one item of information of a device address, a VNF name, a bottom layer driving mode, a network model type, the number of distributed CPUs, a distributed memory space, an IP address and an MAC address of the network device.

Optionally, after the virt module starts a predetermined second VNF image file as a second VNF, the virt module obtains attribute information of the second VNF, the virt module sends the obtained attribute information of the second VNF to the conf module in a socket (english: socket) manner, and the conf module encapsulates the attribute information of the second VNF into the attribute information of the second VNF in the first format and sends the attribute information of the second VNF to the interworking module.

In step 904, the network device converts the attribute information of the second VNF in the first format into the attribute information of the second VNF in the second format through the interworking module.

Wherein the second format is a message format supported by the computing node; illustratively, the second format is a rabbitm format supported by the compute node.

Step 905, the network device obtains, by the computing node, attribute information of the second VNF in the second format.

Optionally, the interworking module sends the converted attribute information of the second VNF in the second format to the computing node, and the computing node obtains the attribute information of the second VNF in the second format.

Step 906, the network device sends the attribute information of the second VNF to the second remote management component through the compute node by using the RabbitMQ channel.

Optionally, the second remote management component comprises: the system comprises a control node and an information analysis module.

Optionally, the computing node sends the attribute information of the second VNF to an information parsing module in the Openstack, where the information parsing module NetconfProc is configured to parse the received attribute information of the second VNF in the second format.

In step 907, the second remote management component receives the attribute information of the second VNF sent by the network device, where the second VNF is a VNF remotely started by the first remote management component.

Optionally, the information parsing module receives attribute information of the second VNF sent by the computing node, and stores the attribute information of the second VNF in a database of the Openstack.

Step 908, the second remote management component generates a second VNF management instruction according to the attribute information of the second VNF.

Optionally, the control node generates a second VNF management instruction according to the attribute information of the second VNF.

Optionally, the instructions for lifecycle management for the second VNF include at least one of creating, copying, starting, querying, scaling, terminating, restarting the VNF; the instruction to the operating state of the second VNF includes any one of a wait-to-operate state, an operating state, a stop state, and a restart state.

In step 909, the second remote management component sends a second VNF management instruction to the network device, where the second VNF management instruction is used to instruct the network device to perform a corresponding operation.

Optionally, the control node sends a second VNF management instruction to the computing node, where the second VNF management instruction is used to instruct the computing node to perform a corresponding operation.

In step 910, the network device receives a second VNF management instruction sent by the second remote management component.

Optionally, the computing node receives a second VNF management instruction sent by the control node.

Step 911, the network device executes a corresponding operation according to the second VNF management instruction.

Optionally, the computing node executes a corresponding operation by calling a libvirt interface.

The embodiments shown in fig. 10 and 11 are embodiments in which VNF2 for implementing remote boot of the second remote management component can be managed by the first remote management component.

Referring to fig. 10, a flowchart of a VNF management method according to another embodiment of the present application is shown. The present embodiment is exemplified by applying the VNF management method to the management system shown in fig. 7. The method comprises the following steps:

in step 1001, the network device obtains attribute information of a third VNF that has been started, where the third VNF is a VNF that is remotely started by the second remote management component.

In step 1002, the network device sends the attribute information of the started third VNF to the first remote management component.

In step 1003, the first remote management component receives attribute information of a third VNF sent by the network device, where the third VNF is a VNF remotely started by the second remote management component.

In step 1004, the first remote management component generates a third VNF management instruction according to the attribute information of the third VNF.

In step 1005, the first remote management component sends a third VNF management instruction to the network device, where the third VNF management instruction is used to instruct the network device to perform a corresponding operation.

In step 1006, the network device receives a third VNF management instruction sent by the first remote management component.

Optionally, the instruction for lifecycle management of the third VNF includes at least one of creating, copying, starting, querying, expanding, contracting, terminating, and restarting the third VNF; the instruction to the operating state of the third VNF includes any one of a wait-to-operate state, an operating state, a stop state, and a restart state.

Step 1007, the network device executes corresponding operation according to the third VNF management instruction.

To sum up, in the embodiment of the present application, the network device obtains the attribute information of the third VNF remotely started by the second remote management component, sends the started attribute information of the third VNF to the first remote management component, and receives the third VNF management instruction sent by the second remote management component, and executes a corresponding operation according to the third VNF management instruction; and the first remote management component generates a third VNF management instruction according to the attribute information of the started third VNF, wherein the third VNF management instruction is used for managing the VNF remotely started by the second remote management component, and the first remote management component manages the third VNF remotely started by the second remote management component in the network equipment.

Referring to fig. 11, a flowchart of a VNF management method according to another embodiment of the present application is shown. This embodiment is exemplified by applying the VNF management method to the management system shown in fig. 7, where the method includes:

in step 1101, the network device receives, by the computing node, the VNF start instruction in the second format sent by the second remote management component.

Optionally, the second remote management component sends the VNF activation instruction in the second format to the computing node in the network device, where the second format is a packet format supported by the computing node.

Step 1102, the network device converts the VNF start instruction in the second format into the VNF start instruction in the first format through the interworking module.

The first format is a message format supported by the Netconf server, and the converted VNF start instruction in the first format is used to instruct the Netconf server to start a predetermined third VNF image file to a third VNF.

In step 1103, the network device executes the VNF start instruction in the first format through the Netconf server, and starts a predetermined third VNF image file to be a third VNF.

Optionally, the predetermined third VNF image is an image carried in the VNF start instruction in the first format, or the predetermined third VNF image is an image located in a network device, for example, an image read by the network device in a mobile storage device.

Optionally, the Netconf server includes a confd module and a virt module; the confd module receives the VNF start instruction in the first format sent by the interworking module, and after identifying the VNF start instruction in the first format, the confd module sends the VNF start instruction to the virt module, and the virt module executes the VNF start instruction in the first format by calling the libvirt interface, and starts a predetermined third VNF image file to be a third VNF.

Step 1104, after the third VNF is started, the network device obtains attribute information of the third VNF through the Netconf server.

Optionally, the attribute information of the third VNF includes at least one item of information of a device address of the network device, a name of the VNF, an underlying driver mode, a network model type, an allocated number of CPUs, an allocated memory space, an IP address, and a MAC address.

Optionally, after the virt module starts a predetermined third VNF image file to be a third VNF by calling a libvirt interface, the virt module acquires attribute information of the third VNF.

In step 1105, the network device sends the attribute information and/or the status information of the third VNF to the first remote management component through the Netconf server.

Optionally, the virt module sends the acquired attribute information of the third VNF to the confd module, and the confd module sends the attribute information of the third VNF to the first remote management component.

Optionally, the virt module further obtains status information of a third VNF, and sends the status information of the third VNF to the confd module, and the confd module sends the status information of the third VNF to the first remote management component.

In step 1106, the first remote management component receives the attribute information and/or the status information of the third VNF sent by the network device.

Optionally, the first remote management component receives attribute information and/or status information of a third VNF sent by the confd module, where the third VNF is a VNF remotely started by the second remote management component.

The first remote management component stores attribute information and/or state information of the third VNF.

In step 1107, the first remote management component generates a third VNF management instruction according to the attribute information of the third VNF.

Optionally, the first remote management component generates a third VNF management instruction in the first format according to the attribute information of the third VNF.

Optionally, the instructions for lifecycle management of the third VNF include at least one of creating, copying, starting, querying, scaling, terminating, restarting the third VNF; the instruction to the operating state of the third VNF includes any one of a wait-to-operate state, an operating state, a stop state, and a restart state.

In step 1108, the first remote management component sends a third VNF management instruction to the network device.

Optionally, the first remote management component sends a third VNF management instruction in the first format to the Netconf server, where the third VNF management instruction is used to instruct the network device to perform a corresponding operation.

Optionally, the first remote management component sends a third VNF management instruction in the first format to the confd module, and the confd module sends the received third VNF management instruction in the first format to the virt module; correspondingly, the virt module receives a third VNF management instruction in the first format.

In step 1109, the network device executes the third VNF management instruction through the Netconf server.

Optionally, the Netconf server receives the third VNF management instruction, and calls a libirt interface to execute the third VNF management instruction.

In addition, in this embodiment, when the second remote management component manages the third VNF, there are two different implementation manners, which are specifically as follows:

at step 1110, the network device receives, by the computing node, a third VNF management instruction in the second format sent by the second remote management component.

Optionally, the network device receives, by the computing node, a third VNF management instruction in the second format sent by the second remote management component.

Step 1111, the network device converts the third VNF management instruction in the second format into the third VNF management instruction in the first format through the interworking module.

Optionally, when the predetermined identification bit in the configuration file of the computing node is the first value, the network device converts the third VNF management instruction in the second format into the third VNF management instruction in the first format through the interworking module, and continues to perform step 1112; and when the preset identification bit in the configuration file of the computing node is a second value, the network equipment directly executes a third VNF management instruction in a second format through the computing node.

Or, when the network device detects that the Netconf server exists, the interworking module converts the third VNF management instruction in the second format into the third VNF management instruction in the first format, and continues to execute step 1112; when the network device detects that the Netconf server does not exist, the network device directly executes a third VNF management instruction in the second format through the computing node.

In step 1112, the network device executes the third VNF management instruction in the first format through the Netconf server.

Optionally, when the virt module receives the third VNF management instruction in the first format, the virt module executes the third VNF management instruction in the first format by calling a libvirt interface.

The following are embodiments of the apparatus of the present application that may be used to perform embodiments of the method of the present application. For details which are not disclosed in the embodiments of the apparatus of the present application, reference is made to the embodiments of the method of the present application.

Referring to fig. 12, a block diagram of a VNF management apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application is shown. The VNF management apparatus may be implemented by software, hardware, or a combination of the two as all or a part of the management system that can provide the VNF management method. The device includes:

a processing unit 1210, configured to implement the

above steps

401, 402, 405, 406, and 409;

a sending unit 1220, configured to implement steps 403 and 407 described above;

a receiving unit 1230, configured to implement the

above steps

404 and 408.

The relevant details may be combined with the method embodiment shown in fig. 4, wherein the processing unit 1210 is further configured to implement any other implicit or disclosed functionality related to the processing steps in the method embodiment described above, the processing steps including at least one of obtaining, starting, generating, converting, calculating, and managing steps; the sending unit 1220 is further configured to implement any other implicit or disclosed functions related to the sending step in the foregoing method embodiments; the receiving unit 1230 is further configured to implement any other implicit or disclosed functionality related to the receiving step in the above method embodiments.

Referring to fig. 13, a block diagram of a VNF management apparatus according to another embodiment of the present application is shown. The VNF management apparatus may be implemented by software, hardware, or a combination of the two as all or a part of the management system that can provide the VNF management method. The device includes:

a processing unit 1310, configured to implement the above steps 601 to 603, 605, 606, 609, 610 and 613;

a sending unit 1320, configured to implement the above steps 604, 607, and 611;

a receiving unit 1330, configured to implement the steps 608 and 612;

a processing unit 1310, further configured to implement the

above steps

608a, 611a, 612a, and 615 a;

a sending unit 1320, further configured to implement the above steps 606a, 609a and 613 a;

the receiving unit 1330 is further configured to implement the

steps

607a, 610a, and 614 a.

Relevant details may be combined with the method embodiment shown in fig. 6A and 6B, wherein the processing unit 1310 is further configured to implement any other implicit or disclosed functionality associated with the processing steps of the method embodiment described above, wherein the processing steps include at least one of obtaining, initiating, generating, converting, calculating, and managing steps; the sending unit 1320 is further configured to implement any other implicit or disclosed functions related to the sending step in the foregoing method embodiments; the receiving unit 1330 is further configured to implement any other implicit or disclosed functionality related to the receiving step in the above method embodiments.

Referring to fig. 14, a block diagram of a VNF management apparatus according to another embodiment of the present application is shown. The VNF management apparatus may be implemented by software, hardware, or a combination of the two as all or a part of the management system that can provide the management method of the VNF. The device includes:

a processing unit 1410 for implementing the

above steps

801, 804 and 807;

a sending unit 1420, configured to implement the steps 802 and 805 described above;

a receiving unit 1430 for implementing the

above steps

803 and 806;

the processing unit 1410 includes: a computing node 1411, an interworking module 1412 and a Netconf server 1413, wherein the computing node 1411 is a node corresponding to the second remote management component, and the Netconf server 1413 is a server corresponding to the first remote management component;

a Netconf server 1413, configured to implement the steps 901 to 903;

an interworking module 1412 for implementing the step 904;

a compute node 1411 to implement step 905 above;

the computing node 1411 is further configured to implement the step 906 through the sending unit 1420.

A processing unit 1410, further configured to implement the

above steps

908 and 911;

a sending unit 1420, configured to implement the step 909;

a receiving unit 1430, further configured to implement the

steps

907 and 910.

Relevant details may be combined with the method embodiments shown in fig. 8 and 9, wherein processing unit 1410 is further configured to implement any other implicit or disclosed functionality associated with the processing steps of the method embodiments described above, including at least one of obtaining, initiating, generating, converting, calculating, and managing steps; the sending unit 1420 is further configured to implement any other implicit or disclosed functions related to the sending step in the foregoing method embodiments; the receiving unit 1430 is further configured to implement any other implicit or disclosed functionality related to the receiving step in the above-described method embodiments.

Referring to fig. 15, a block diagram of a VNF management apparatus according to another embodiment of the present application is shown. The VNF management apparatus may be implemented by software, hardware, or a combination of the two as all or a part of the management system that can provide the VNF management method. The device includes:

a processing unit 1510 configured to implement the

above steps

1001, 1004, and 1007;

a transmitting unit 1520, configured to implement steps 1002 and 1005 described above;

a receiving unit 1530, configured to implement

steps

1003 and 1006 described above;

the processing unit 1510 includes: a computing node 1511, an interworking module 1512, and a Netconf server 1513, where the computing node 1511 is a node corresponding to the second remote management component, and the Netconf server 1513 is a server corresponding to the first remote management component;

a computing node 1511, configured to implement the above-mentioned

steps

1101 and 1110;

interworking module 1512 for implementing

steps

1102 and 1111 above;

a Netconf server 1513, configured to implement the

above steps

1103, 1104, 1105, 1109, and 1112;

processing unit 1510, further configured to implement step 1107 above;

a sending unit 1520, further configured to implement the step 1108;

receiving unit 1530 is further configured to implement step 1106 described above.

Relevant details may be combined with the method embodiments shown with reference to fig. 10 and 11, wherein the processing unit 1510 is further configured to implement any other implicit or disclosed functionality associated with the processing steps of the method embodiments described above, including at least one of obtaining, initiating, generating, converting, computing, and managing steps; the sending unit 1520 is further configured to implement any other implicit or disclosed functionality related to the sending step in the above method embodiment; the receiving unit 1530 is further configured to implement any other implicit or disclosed functionality related to the receiving step in the above method embodiments.

Referring to fig. 16, a block diagram of a VNF management apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application is shown. The management apparatus of the VNF may be implemented by software, hardware, or a combination of the two as all or a part of the management system of the management method of the VNF, and the apparatus includes:

a receiving unit 1610, configured to receive attribute information of a fourth VNF sent by the network device, where the fourth VNF is a VNF that is remotely started by another remote management component;

a processing unit 1620, configured to generate a fourth VNF management instruction according to attribute information of the fourth VNF, where the fourth VNF management instruction is an instruction for performing lifecycle management on the fourth VNF, or an instruction for acquiring an operating state of the fourth VNF;

a sending unit 1630, configured to send a fourth VNF management instruction to the network device, where the fourth VNF management instruction is used to instruct the network device to perform a corresponding operation.

Optionally, the fourth VNF is the second VNF or the third VNF described in the above embodiments.

The relevant details may be combined with the method embodiments shown in fig. 8, 9, 10, and 11, wherein the receiving unit 1610 is further configured to implement any other implicit or disclosed functionality related to the receiving step in the above method embodiments; processing unit 1620 is also configured to implement any other implicit or disclosed functionality associated with a process step in the above method embodiments, the process step including at least one of an acquisition, initiation, generation, transformation, calculation, and management step; the sending unit 1630 is further configured to implement any other implicit or disclosed functionality related to the sending step in the above method embodiments.

Referring to fig. 17, a schematic structural diagram of a network device 320 according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown.

The network device 320 includes a Central Processing Unit (CPU) 1710, a memory 1720, and a network interface 1730.

The central processor 1710 includes one or more processing cores. The central processor 1710 serves to execute various functional applications of the network device 320 and to perform data processing.

Network device 320 typically includes a number of network interfaces 1730. Network device 320 communicates with other management systems through network interface 1730.

The memory 1720 is connected to the central processor 1710 via a bus. The memory 1720 is used to store instructions, and the processor 1710 implements the VNF management method or the VNF management method described above by executing the instructions stored in the memory 1720.

Memory 1720 may store an operating system 1721, underlying drivers 1722, VNFs 1723, and at least one application module 1724 required for functionality. Operating system 1721 includes a LINUX operating system.

Optionally, the underlying driver 1722 includes qemu emulation software, a Linux Container, a KVM virtualization driver, and the like.

Optionally, the VNF1723 is started based on a VNF image in a remote management component or based on a VNF image in a mobile storage device.

Optionally, the application module 1724 includes a processing unit, a sending unit, a receiving unit, and other units for implementing the VNF management method or the VNF management method described above.

The processing unit is used for acquiring a first virtual network function VNF mirror image file;

the processing unit is further configured to generate a VNF image notification packet according to the first VNF image file, where the VNF image notification packet carries attribute information of the first VNF image file;

a sending unit, configured to send a VNF mirror notification packet to a remote management component;

the VNF starting instruction is generated by the remote management component according to the VNF mirror image notification message;

and the processing unit is used for loading the first VNF image file according to the VNF starting instruction to obtain the first VNF corresponding to the first VNF image file.

Alternatively, memory 1720 may be implemented using any type or combination of volatile or non-volatile memory devices such as Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), read-only memory (ROM), magnetic memory, flash memory, magnetic or optical disks.

Optionally, the network Device 320 further includes a Complex Programmable Logic Device (CPLD) 1740 and a local area network Switch (LSW) chip 1750.

Referring to fig. 18 based on fig. 17, a schematic structural diagram of a network device 320 according to another embodiment of the present invention is shown.

The network interface 1730 includes at least one of a Combo interface, a Gigabit Ethernet (GE) interface, and a control (Console) interface, where the Combo interface includes 2 electrical interfaces and 2 optical interfaces.

Optionally, the network device 320 further includes at least one of a Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface, a power interface, a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) slot, a switch, and a battery.

Referring to fig. 19, a schematic structural diagram of a remote management component 340 according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown.

The remote management component 340 includes a CPU1910, a memory 1920, and a network interface 1930.

Central processor 1910 includes one or more processing cores. Central processor 1910 is used for executing various functional applications of remote management component 340 and for data processing.

The remote management component 340 typically includes a plurality of network interfaces 1930. The remote management component 340 communicates with other management systems through a network interface 1930.

Optionally, the remote management component 340 includes at least one of a Combo interface, a GE electrical interface, a USB interface, a power interface, and a Console interface, wherein the Combo interface includes 2 electrical interfaces and 2 optical interfaces.

The memory 1920 is connected to the central processor 1910 through a bus. The memory 1920 is configured to store instructions, and the processor 1910 implements the parameter configuration method described above by executing the instructions stored in the memory 1920.

The memory 1920 may store an operating system 1921 and application modules 1922 required for at least one function. The operating system 1921 includes a LINUX operating system.

Optionally, the application module 1922 includes a processing unit, a sending unit, a receiving unit, and other units for implementing the VNF management method or the VNF management method described above.

The receiving unit is used for receiving a virtual network function VNF image notification message sent by network equipment, wherein the VNF image notification message is generated after the network equipment acquires a first VNF image file, and the VNF image notification message carries attribute information of the first VNF image file;

the processing unit is used for acquiring the attribute information of the first VNF image file from the VNF image notification message;

the processing unit is used for generating a VNF starting instruction according to the attribute information of the first VNF image file;

a sending unit, configured to send a VNF start instruction to the network device, where the VNF start instruction is used to instruct the network device to load the first VNF image file.

Alternatively, memory 1920 may be implemented with any type or combination of volatile or non-volatile memory devices such as Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), read-only memory (ROM), magnetic memory, flash memory, magnetic or optical disks.

It should be noted that the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium, which may be a computer-readable storage medium contained in the memory in the foregoing embodiments; or it may be a separate computer-readable storage medium not incorporated in the terminal. The computer-readable storage medium stores one or more programs, which are used by one or more processors to execute the VNF management method.

The above-mentioned serial numbers of the embodiments of the present application are merely for description and do not represent the merits of the embodiments.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that all or part of the steps for implementing the above embodiments may be implemented by hardware, or may be implemented by a program instructing relevant hardware, where the program may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium, and the above-mentioned storage medium may be a read-only memory, a magnetic disk or an optical disk, etc.

The above description is only exemplary embodiments of the present application and should not be taken as limiting the present application, and any modifications, equivalents, improvements and the like that are made within the spirit and principle of the present application should be included in the protection scope of the present application.

Claims

1. A method of managing virtual network functions, the method being performed by a network device managed by a remote management component, the method comprising:

acquiring a first virtual network function VNF mirror image file;

sending the VNF image notification message to the remote management component;

receiving a VNF starting instruction sent by the remote management component, wherein the VNF starting instruction is generated by the remote management component according to the VNF image notification message;

2. The method of claim 1, wherein generating a VNF image advertisement packet according to the first VNF image file comprises:

acquiring attribute information of the first VNF image file, wherein the attribute information comprises: at least one item of information of an automatic start identifier, a mirror image file format, a device address of network equipment, a VNF name, a bottom layer driving mode, a network model type, a file path, the number of distributed CPUs (central processing units), a distributed memory space, a network interconnection protocol IP address and a medium access control MAC address;

and generating the VNF image notification message according to the attribute information of the first VNF image file.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein after the loading the first VNF image according to the VNF boot instruction and obtaining the first VNF corresponding to the first VNF image, further comprising:

receiving a first VNF management instruction sent by the remote management component, wherein the first VNF management instruction is an instruction for performing lifecycle management on the first VNF or an instruction for acquiring the running state of the first VNF;

4. The method of any of claims 1 to 3, wherein the remote management component comprises: a first remote management component and a second remote management component;

the method further comprises the following steps:

obtaining attribute information of a second VNF that has been started, the second VNF being a VNF that has been remotely started by the first remote management component;

sending attribute information of the second VNF to the second remote management component;

receiving a second VNF management instruction sent by the first remote management component, where the second VNF management instruction is an instruction for performing lifecycle management on the second VNF or an instruction for acquiring an operating state of the second VNF;

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the network device comprises: the system comprises a computing node, an intercommunication module and a Netconf server, wherein the computing node is a node corresponding to the second remote management component, and the Netconf server is a server corresponding to the first remote management component;

before the obtaining of the attribute information of the started second VNF, the method further includes:

receiving, by the Netconf server, a VNF start instruction in a first format sent by the first remote management component, where the first format is a packet format supported by the Netconf server;

executing the VNF starting instruction in the first format through the Netconf server, and loading a predetermined second VNF image file to obtain a second VNF corresponding to the second VNF image file;

the obtaining of the attribute information of the started second VNF includes:

after the second VNF is started, generating attribute information of the second VNF in the first format through the Netconf server;

converting, by the interworking module, the attribute information of the second VNF in the first format to the attribute information of the second VNF in the second format;

obtaining, by the computing node, attribute information of the second VNF in the second format.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein sending the attribute information of the second VNF to the second remote management component comprises:

7. The method of any of claims 1 to 3, wherein the remote management component comprises: a first remote management component and a second remote management component;

the method further comprises the following steps:

obtaining attribute information of a third VNF that has been started, the third VNF being a VNF that is remotely started by the second remote management component;

receiving a third VNF management instruction sent by the first remote management component, where the third VNF management instruction is an instruction for performing lifecycle management on the third VNF or an instruction for acquiring an operating state of the third VNF;

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the network device comprises: the Netconf server is a server corresponding to the first remote management component, and the computing node is a node corresponding to the second remote management component;

before the obtaining of the attribute information of the started third VNF, the method further includes:

receiving, by the computing node, a VNF activation instruction in a second format sent by the second remote management component, where the second format is a packet format supported by the computing node;

converting the VNF starting instruction in the second format into a VNF starting instruction in a first format through the intercommunication module, wherein the first format is a message format supported by the Netconf server;

executing the VNF starting instruction in the first format through the Netconf server, and loading a predetermined third VNF image file to obtain a third VNF corresponding to the VNF image file;

the obtaining of the attribute information of the started third VNF includes:

and after the third VNF is started, acquiring the attribute information of the third VNF through the Netconf server.

9. A method for managing virtual network functions, the method comprising:

receiving a Virtual Network Function (VNF) image notification message sent by a network device, wherein the VNF image notification message is generated after the network device acquires a first VNF image file, and the VNF image notification message carries attribute information of the first VNF image file;

acquiring attribute information of the first VNF image file from the VNF image notification message;

sending the VNF starting instruction to the network device, wherein the VNF starting instruction is used for instructing the network device to load the first VNF image file.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein after sending the VNF initiation instruction to the network device, further comprising:

sending a first VNF management instruction to the network device, the first VNF management instruction being an instruction for performing lifecycle management on a first VNF or an instruction for acquiring an operating state of the first VNF,

the first VNF is a VNF obtained by the network device after loading the first VNF image file.

11. The method of claim 9, applied to a second remote management component, the method further comprising:

receiving attribute information of a second VNF sent by the network device, wherein the second VNF is a VNF remotely started by a first remote management component;

generating a second VNF management instruction according to the attribute information of the second VNF, where the second VNF management instruction is an instruction for performing lifecycle management on the second VNF or an instruction for acquiring an operating state of the second VNF;

sending the second VNF management instruction to the network device.

12. The method of claim 9, applied to a first remote management component, the method further comprising:

generating a third VNF management instruction according to the attribute information of the third VNF, where the third VNF management instruction is an instruction for performing lifecycle management on the third VNF or an instruction for acquiring an operating state of the third VNF;

sending the third VNF management instruction to the network device.

13. An apparatus for managing virtual network functions, the apparatus comprising:

a sending unit, configured to send the VNF mirror notification packet to a remote management component;

a receiving unit, configured to receive a VNF start instruction sent by the remote management component, where the VNF start instruction is generated by the remote management component according to the VNF image advertisement packet;

the processing unit is further configured to load the first VNF image according to the VNF start instruction, and obtain a first VNF corresponding to the first VNF image.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the processing unit is configured to obtain attribute information of the first VNF image, and wherein the attribute information includes: at least one item of information of an automatic start identifier, a mirror image file format, a device address of network equipment, a VNF name, a bottom layer driving mode, a network model type, a file path, the number of distributed CPUs (central processing units), a distributed memory space, a network interconnection protocol IP address and a medium access control MAC address; and generating the VNF image notification message according to the attribute information of the first VNF image file.

15. The apparatus of claim 13,

the processing unit is further configured to receive a first VNF management instruction sent by the remote management component, where the first VNF management instruction is an instruction for performing lifecycle management on the first VNF or an instruction for acquiring an operating state of the first VNF; and the VNF management unit is further configured to perform a corresponding operation according to the first VNF management instruction.

16. The apparatus of any of claims 13 to 15, wherein the remote management component comprises: a first remote management component and a second remote management component;

the device, still include:

the processing unit is configured to acquire attribute information of a second VNF that has been started, where the second VNF is a VNF that is remotely started by the first remote management component;

the sending unit is further configured to send attribute information of the started second VNF to the second remote management component;

the receiving unit is further configured to receive a second VNF management instruction sent by the first remote management component, where the second VNF management instruction is an instruction for performing lifecycle management on the second VNF or an instruction for acquiring an operating state of the second VNF;

and the processing unit is used for executing corresponding operation according to the second VNF management instruction.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the processing unit comprises: the system comprises a computing node, an intercommunication module and a Netconf server, wherein the computing node is a node corresponding to the second remote management component, and the Netconf server is a server corresponding to the first remote management component;

the Netconf server is configured to receive, by the receiving unit, a VNF start instruction in a first format sent by the first remote management component, where the first format is a packet format supported by the Netconf server;

the Netconf server is further configured to execute the VNF start instruction in the first format, and load a predetermined second VNF image file to obtain a second VNF corresponding to the second VNF image file;

the Netconf server is further configured to generate, by the Netconf server, attribute information of the second VNF in the first format after the second VNF is started;

the interworking module is configured to convert the attribute information of the second VNF in the first format into the attribute information of the second VNF in the second format;

the computing node is configured to obtain the attribute information of the second VNF in the second format.

18. The apparatus of claim 17,

the computing node is configured to send, by the sending unit, the attribute information of the second VNF to the second remote management component by using a RabbitMQ channel.

19. The apparatus of any of claims 13 to 15, wherein the remote management component comprises: a first remote management component and a second remote management component;

the device, still include:

the processing unit is further configured to acquire attribute information of a third VNF that has been started, where the third VNF is a VNF that is remotely started by the second remote management component;

the sending unit is further configured to send attribute information of the third VNF to the first remote management component;

the receiving unit is further configured to receive a third VNF management instruction sent by the first remote management component, where the third VNF management instruction is an instruction for performing lifecycle management on the third VNF or an instruction for acquiring an operating state of the third VNF;

the processing unit is further configured to execute a corresponding operation according to the third VNF management instruction.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the processing unit comprises: the network connection management system comprises a Netconf server, an intercommunication module and a computing node, wherein the Netconf server is a server corresponding to the first remote management component, and the computing node is a node corresponding to the second remote management component;

the computing node is configured to receive, by the receiving unit, a VNF activation instruction in a second format sent by the second remote management component, where the second format is a packet format supported by the computing node;

the interworking module is configured to convert the VNF start instruction in the second format into a VNF start instruction in a first format, where the first format is a packet format supported by the Netconf server;

the Netconf server is configured to execute the VNF start instruction in the first format, and load a predetermined third VNF image file to obtain a third VNF corresponding to the VNF image file;

the Netconf server is further configured to acquire attribute information of the third VNF after the third VNF is started.

21. An apparatus for managing virtual network functions, the apparatus comprising:

a receiving unit, configured to receive a virtual network function VNF mirror image notification packet sent by a network device, where the VNF mirror image notification packet is generated after the network device obtains a first VNF mirror image file, and the VNF mirror image notification packet carries attribute information of the first VNF mirror image file;

a processing unit, configured to obtain attribute information of the first VNF image file from the VNF image advertisement packet;

the processing unit is further configured to generate a VNF start instruction according to the attribute information of the first VNF image file;

a sending unit, configured to send the VNF start instruction to the network device, where the VNF start instruction is used to instruct the network device to load the first VNF image file.

22. The apparatus of claim 21,

the sending unit is further configured to send a first VNF management instruction to the network device, where the first VNF management instruction is an instruction for performing lifecycle management on a first VNF or an instruction for acquiring an operating state of the first VNF,

23. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the apparatus is applied to a second remote management component, the apparatus further comprising:

the receiving unit is further configured to receive attribute information of a second VNF sent by the network device, where the second VNF is a VNF remotely started by a first remote management component;

the processing unit is further configured to generate a second VNF management instruction according to the attribute information of the second VNF, where the second VNF management instruction is an instruction for performing lifecycle management on the second VNF or an instruction for acquiring an operating state of the second VNF;

the sending unit is further configured to send the second VNF management instruction to the network device.

24. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the apparatus is applied to a first remote management component, the apparatus further comprising:

the receiving unit is further configured to receive attribute information of a third VNF sent by the network device, where the third VNF is a VNF remotely started by a second remote management component;

the processing unit is further configured to generate a third VNF management instruction according to the attribute information of the third VNF, where the third VNF management instruction is an instruction for performing lifecycle management on the third VNF or an instruction for acquiring an operating state of the third VNF;

the sending unit is further configured to send the third VNF management instruction to the network device.