CN109391982B

CN109391982B - Information packet generation method, arrangement management method, network element and storage medium

Info

Publication number: CN109391982B
Application number: CN201710680361.9A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 李响; 袁雁南; 白常明; 段然
Original assignee: China Mobile Communications Group Co Ltd; China Mobile Communications Ltd Research Institute
Current assignee: China Mobile Communications Group Co Ltd; China Mobile Communications Ltd Research Institute
Priority date: 2017-08-10
Filing date: 2017-08-10
Publication date: 2022-06-07
Anticipated expiration: 2037-08-10
Also published as: CN109391982A

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention discloses a PNF information packet generation method, an arrangement management method, a network element and a storage medium of PNF at RAN side. The PNF information packet generation method comprises the following steps: acquiring first preset information of a Physical Network Function (PNF) at an RAN side to generate a Physical Network Function Description (PNFD); and generating a PNF information packet comprising the PNFD and the PNF software, wherein the PNF information packet is used for PNF arrangement management.

Description

Information packet generation method, arrangement management method, network element and storage medium

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of Network technologies, and in particular, to a PNF information packet generation method, an arrangement management method, a Network element, and a storage medium for a Physical Network Function (PNF) on a wireless (radio Access Network, RAN) side.

Background

According to the specification requirements of the European Telecommunication Standards Institute (ETSI), a set of automatic deployment specifications is defined in a Network Function Virtualization Management and coordination (NFV-MANO) domain, and a set of virtualized application deployment processes and a virtualized application deployment architecture are realized. The virtualized application deployment architecture herein comprises: network Function Virtualization Orchestrators (NFVO), Virtualized Network Function Management (VNFM), and Virtualized Network Functions (VNF), among others; the NFVO is responsible for managing and scheduling VNFs and resources within the virtualization management platform, and the VNFM is responsible for lifecycle management of the VNFs.

The automatic deployment process of the virtualization network comprises the following steps:

a user equipment, an Operation Support System (OSS), a Business Support System (BSS), an Element Management System (EMS), or the like initiates a request for creating a VNF instance to the NFVO;

after the NFVO completes validity verification, sending a VNF instance creating request to the VNFM, and transmitting the file position information of the VNF package to the VNFM;

after downloading VNF information, the VNFM carries out resource verification and calculation and returns a calculation result to the NFVO;

the NFVO allocates resources according to the resource list information returned by the VNFM and notifies the VNFM to start the VNF;

and when the VNF is started, the automatic deployment initialization process of the virtualization network is finished, and the instantiation of the VNF is realized.

However, in the prior art, the above architecture and the above process are both resource virtualization and deployment for a general server. Generally, a general-purpose server, regardless of vendor or model, includes substantially the same physical resources, such as storage resources and computing resources, and can employ unified resource virtualization management.

However, for the wireless side, there are many non-generic server-type generic devices, such as Remote Radio units (Remote Radio units), distributed physical boards (DUs), or centralized physical boards (CUs) provided by different vendors and having various vendor features and model features. These physical resources have no way to virtualize and manage resources in the existing manner as in a generic device. In the prior art, generally, the management of these physical resources is managed by the manufacturer who provides these devices, and if problems such as abnormality or warning occur, the device manufacturer needs to inform the communication carrier of these problems. Therefore, on one hand, it is obvious that a communication operator has no way to fully and effectively manage a network deployed by the communication operator, and on the other hand, if a fault occurs or the network needs to be adjusted, equipment manufacturers must participate in resource participation, which causes the problems of low efficiency and large delay of fault recovery and network adjustment.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of the above, embodiments of the present invention provide a PNF packet generation method and an orchestration management method for a PNF on a RAN side, a network element, and a storage medium, which at least partially solve the above problems.

In order to achieve the purpose, the technical scheme of the invention is realized as follows:

in a first aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a method for generating a PNF packet of a physical network function PNF on a radio RAN side, including:

acquiring first preset information of a Physical Network Function (PNF) at an RAN side to generate a Physical Network Function Description (PNFD);

acquiring PNF software for realizing a specific network function by the PNF, wherein the PNF software is used for being installed on a corresponding PNF to realize the specific network function;

and generating a PNF information packet comprising the PNFD and the PNF software, wherein the PNF information packet is used for PNF arrangement management.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a method for scheduling and managing physical resources on a radio RAN side, including:

acquiring a PNF information packet of a physical network function PNF, wherein the PNF information packet comprises: physical network function description PNFD and PNF software;

receiving an arrangement management request of a PNF;

and performing network instantiation orchestration management on the PNF by using the PNF information packet of the target PNF responding to the orchestration management request.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a network element, where the network element includes: the PNF information packet generating device of the wireless RAN side physical network function PNF is characterized in that the network element comprises:

a first obtaining unit, configured to obtain first predetermined information of a physical network function PNF on a RAN side to generate a physical network function description PNFD;

the second acquisition unit is used for acquiring PNF software for realizing a specific network function by the PNF, wherein the PNF software is used for being installed on a corresponding PNF to realize the specific network function;

and the generating unit is used for generating a PNF information packet comprising the PNFD and the PNF software, wherein the PNF information packet is used for PNF arrangement management.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a network element, where the network element includes: an arrangement management apparatus of physical resources on a radio RAN side, comprising:

a third obtaining unit, configured to obtain a PNF packet of a physical network function PNF;

a receiving unit configured to receive an orchestration management request of the PNF;

and the response unit is used for performing network instantiation orchestration management on the PNF by using the PNF information packet of the target PNF responding to the orchestration management request.

In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a network element, including:

a first transceiver for data interaction with other network elements,

the first memory is used for storing information;

a first processor, connected to the first transceiver and the first memory, respectively, for controlling data exchange of the first transceiver and data storage of the first memory by executing a computer program stored in the first memory, and executing the following steps:

acquiring first preset information of a Physical Network Function (PNF) at an RAN side to generate a Physical Network Function Description (PNFD); wherein the PNFD comprises at least: resource parameters and deployment information of the PNF; the resource parameters of the PNF are used for selecting the corresponding PNF to participate in network arrangement; the deployment information is used for configuring and/or managing the PNF participating in network arrangement;

In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a network element, including:

a second transceiver for data interaction with other network elements,

the second memory is used for storing information;

a second processor, connected to the second transceiver and the second memory, respectively, for controlling data exchange of the second transceiver and data storage of the second memory by executing a computer program stored in the second memory, and executing the following steps:

acquiring a PNF information packet of a physical network function PNF;

receiving an arrangement management request of a PNF;

In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a network element, including: a third transceiver, a third memory, a third processor, and a computer program stored on the third memory and processed by the third processor;

the third processor is connected to the third transceiver and the third memory, and configured to control information interaction of the third transceiver and information storage of the third memory by executing the computer program, and execute the method for generating the PNF packet of the PNF according to one or more of the foregoing technical solutions. Or, the method for managing the layout of the PNF provided by one or more of the above technical solutions is executed.

In an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a computer storage medium, where the computer storage medium stores a computer program, and the computer program is executed by a processor, and executes the method for generating a PNF packet of a PNF according to one or more of the foregoing technical solutions. Or, the method for managing the layout of the PNF provided by one or more of the above technical solutions is executed.

The embodiment of the invention provides a PNF information packet generation method and an arrangement management method of PNF at RAN side, a network element and a storage medium, aiming at the physical network function (namely physical equipment) at RAN side, such as DU, CU, RRU, antenna and the like, the PNF information packet including PNFD and PNF software is formed. Therefore, even if the equipment provided by different manufacturers is provided, the communication operator can conveniently use the hardware equipment provided by the equipment manufacturer to carry out network deployment by the PNDF and the PNF software, the physical equipment can be arranged and managed by the communication operator, the equipment manufacturer does not need to manage the physical equipment, and the fault removal and the dynamic adjustment of the network can be carried out more timely

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic flowchart of a PNF packet generation method of a RAN-side PNF according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a PNFD packet according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating an online flow of a PNF packet according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a first method for orchestration management of a RAN-side PNF according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a first network element according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a second network element according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a third network element according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of a fourth network element according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a second method for orchestration management of a RAN-side PNF according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a third method for orchestration management of a RAN-side PNF according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a third method for orchestration management of a RAN-side PNF according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 12 is a schematic diagram illustrating another PNF packet according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

The technical solution of the present invention is further described in detail with reference to the drawings and the specific embodiments of the specification.

As shown in fig. 1, the present embodiment provides a method for generating a PNF packet of a physical network function PNF on a RAN side, including:

step S110: acquiring first preset information of a Physical Network Function (PNF) at the RAN side to generate a Physical Network Function Description (PNFD);

step S120: acquiring PNF software for realizing a specific network function by the PNF, wherein the PNF software is used for being installed on a corresponding PNF to realize the specific network function;

step S130: and generating a PNF information packet comprising the PNFD and the PNF software, wherein the PNF information packet is used for PNF arrangement management.

The embodiment provides a PNF information packet generation method of a physical network function PNF on a RAN side, which can be applied to an OSS of an existing virtualized application deployment architecture.

When the OSS deploys the physical resources, the OSS receives first predetermined information of the PNF from other equipment or a human-computer interaction interface. Here, the resource entities of the physical resources corresponding to the PNC are, for example, DU, CU, RRU, and the like.

The PNFD is essentially a description information or description file for describing the relevant information of the PNC from multiple levels.

The PNF information includes: various information enabling the network orchestration management of the PNF, for example, parameters related to the resources of the PNF, software used by the PNF, and the like. In some embodiments, the PNFD thereof comprises at least: resource parameters and deployment information of the PNF; the resource parameters of the PNF are used for selecting the corresponding PNF to participate in network arrangement; the deployment information is used for configuring and/or managing the PNF participating in network deployment.

In this embodiment, the PNFD at least includes: and the corresponding resource parameters and deployment information of the PNF. The resource parameters include: at least one of identification parameters, geographical location parameters, hardware parameters, software parameters, wireless parameters of the PNF and management network element EM information.

The identification parameter may also be referred to as PNF identity, and is used to uniquely identify a PNF in the entire network, for example, the identification code of the device of the PNF may be provided by the device vendor providing the PNF.

The geographic location parameter may be a geographic location where the PNF is deployed, and may be information related to the geographic location where the PNF is located, such as a machine room location where the PNF is located, a building name, a floor location, and a geographic coordinate (such as longitude and latitude). In some cases, for an antenna or other device whose geographic altitude also determines the transmission of its wireless signal, the geographic location parameter of the antenna may also include a poster height parameter, etc.

The hardware parameters may include: and the manufacturer information of the PNF, the hardware version information of the equipment, the working frequency band of the equipment, the cell bandwidth supported by the equipment, the number of computing resources and the number of storage resources of the equipment and other parameters directly related to the hardware of the equipment.

The wireless parameters may include: the wireless standard supported by the PNF can be used for indicating which communication standard among 2G, 3G and 4G is supported, and the like.

The EM information may be: and the management network element is connected with the PNF and directly controls and manages the PNF. For example, the EM information includes at least: the network protocol (IP) address of the EM of the PNF or the network element identification, etc.

The software information may include: one or more of information on software model, software version, and software function of software that can be run on the PNF. In some embodiments, the software information may further include: the resource path of the software provided by the PNF manufacturer may be read from the resource path to the corresponding PNF software, and installed or loaded on the corresponding PNF.

The deployment information may include: and when the PNF is instantiated, combining and connecting hardware, software and a wireless communication system (RAT) of the PNF. For example, the deployment information may include one or more sets of deployment information, the same PNF may be instantiated using different deployment information, the instantiated PNF may provide different network services, or may provide network services with different quality of service.

In this embodiment, the PNFs of different manufacturers may only have specific software to run on, so the PNF software is also obtained in this embodiment, where the PNF software may include: software image files and/or profile information that may be installed on the corresponding PNF; alternatively, a software installation package and/or property specification information may be installed on the corresponding PNF. The specification information may be used to describe information such as the particular network functions that may be implemented after the software is pressed onto the corresponding PNF.

As shown in fig. 2, a PNF packet is composed of two parts, one part is the PNFD, and the other part is the PNF software. The PNFD may include: deployment information and one or more resource parameters; and the PNF software may include: a software image file and specification information.

In some embodiments, a PNF may be further partitioned into smaller PNFCs depending on the functions it can implement, and/or the composition of the physical resources. One PNFC is fixed in its achievable functions. Therefore, in this embodiment, one PNF includes: n PNFCs, wherein N is a positive integer. The specific value of N can be positive integers such as 1, 2 or 3. The PNFD may be comprised of a plurality of PNFCDs. If the PNFD is a description file, one PNFCD may be a description part in one description file; if the PNFD is a description folder, one of the PNFCDs may be a description file in a description folder. In summary, in this embodiment, the PNFD includes: the N physical network functional units describe the PNFCD; one said PNFCD comprising: resource parameters and deployment information of one said PNFC.

For example, the PNFC may include at least one of the following information for one PNFC:

a PNFC identifier to uniquely identify a PNFC in a network. NFVO, EM, or the like can uniquely identify a PNFC by the identification.

The PNFC resource parameters, which are used to describe information about a PNFC from different dimensions, may include: hardware type information of the PNFC is described. For example, hardware parameters of a board, a transmission board, a baseband board, and the like may be controlled, and implemented network function information and the like may also be described.

The PNFC location information is used to describe the geographical location of the PNFC, such as the machine room, the rack, the subrack, the slot, and the like.

PNFC connection point information, which is information describing the exposed connection points of the PNFC, so that the MANO or EM can control the connection and disconnection of the PNFC with other PNFCs or other physical devices through the exposed connection points, and the dynamic adjustment of the number of the PNFCs in one PNF can be realized.

In some embodiments, the PNF packet is generated and then loaded to the functional entity with orchestration management function for the PNF, in this embodiment, the functional entity with orchestration management function for the PNF may be selected to be NFVO.

In this embodiment, if the PNF packet is formed by an OSS, the OSS uploads the PNF packet to the NFVO by an online request or the like.

As shown in fig. 3, this embodiment provides a method for orchestration and management of physical resources on a radio RAN side, further including:

the OSS sends an online request carrying a PNF information packet to the NFVO;

after receiving the online request, the NFVO stores the PNF information packet;

and the NFVO returns a successful response or a failed response of the online request to the OSS according to the storage operation of the PNF information packet and the like.

In some procedures, the OSS may also send other processing requests for the PNF packet to the NFVO, such as update requests, delete requests, add requests, and the like. The update request is used to update part of the content in the PNF packet, for example, to remove old content and write new content. The deletion request can be used for directly deleting part of contents in the PNF information packet; the add request may be for a portion of the content in the PNF package, e.g., to remove one or more PNFCDs, etc., depending on the particular deployment of the current PNF.

When data interaction of the PNF packet is performed, various checks of the PNF packet are performed. The verification here may include: correctness checking, validity checking, integrity checking and the like. For example, the correctness check is performed by a check code transmitted together with the PNF packet. For example, when the NFVO performs operations such as storing and updating of the PNF packet, it is necessary to perform authority check on the OSS to determine whether the current operation of the PNF packet is a legal operation. In some embodiments, the integrity of the PNF packet during transmission is also checked based on an integrity algorithm, so as to avoid problems caused by tampering of the PNF packet during transmission.

As shown in fig. 4, this embodiment provides a method for orchestration management of physical resources on the RAN side, including:

step S210: the PNF information packet of the PNF is acquired,

step S220: receiving an arrangement management request of a PNF;

step S230: and performing network instantiation orchestration management on the PNF by using the PNF information packet of the target PNF responding to the orchestration management request.

The method for performing orchestration management of physical resources on the RAN side provided in this embodiment may be applied to NFVO.

The NFVO may receive the PNF packet from other network elements such as OSS in step S210, or may read a PFN packet stored in advance from a local database.

In this embodiment, the PNF packet includes: physical network function description PNFD and PNF software; the PNFD at least comprises: resource parameters and deployment information of the PNF; the resource parameters of the PNF are used for selecting the corresponding PNF to participate in network arrangement; the deployment information is used for configuring and/or managing the PNF participating in network arrangement; and the PNF software is used for being installed on a corresponding PNF so as to realize the specific network function. For example, the PNF packet of the present embodiment may be the PNF packet formed in the method shown in fig. 1. The PNF packet is information such as resource parameters, deployment information, and PNF software for the PNF on the RAN side.

After the PNF information packet is acquired, if an orchestration management request of a corresponding PNF is received, instantiation orchestration management of the PNF can be performed based on the PNF information packet.

In the present embodiment, the PNF packet corresponds to various information required for performing PNF instantiation, and subsequent management configuration information.

Before instantiating the PNF, the physical device corresponding to the PNF has already completed physical deployment, multiple PNFs may be deployed in the RAN, and before responding to the orchestration management request, it needs to determine which PNF is the target PNF in the orchestration management.

In some embodiments, the orchestration management request carries identification information of the target PNF; this allows the target PNF to be identified easily and accurately based on the information carried by the orchestration management request itself.

In other embodiments, a PNF meeting the network deployment requirement is selected as the target PNF according to a network deployment requirement corresponding to the current orchestration management request.

Once the target PNF is determined, various operations such as configuration, update, and/or resource management may be performed on the target PNF using a PNF packet generated for the target PNF in advance.

In specific implementation, if the network element executing the method is NFVO, optionally PNF orchestration and management is performed, the NFVO finds a target management network element directly managing and controlling the PNF based on EM information configured in a PNF information packet of the target PNF, and triggers the target management network element to orchestrate and manage the target PNF based on the PNF information packet or based on content in the PNF information packet issued by the NFVO to the target management network element by issuing a corresponding instruction or request to the target management network element.

In some embodiments, the NFVO issues a corresponding instruction or request to the target management network element through the VNFM, or sends various information required for performing the target PNF orchestration management, for example, part or all of the content in the target PNF information packet.

In the network elements such as NFVO and the like in this embodiment, a communication operator can perform unified self-management on physical resources of RAN sides such as current DU, CU, or RRU and the like based on formed PNF information packets, and the management by equipment manufacturers of these devices is not required, so that the delay problems of various exception handling and network adjustment on the network are reduced, and the communication operator can perform network configuration and PNF configuration dynamically and flexibly in time according to the needs of the communication operator, thereby achieving effective management of a communication network, and particularly effective management on the RAN side.

The step S230 may include: selecting the target PNF according to the resource parameters; configuring and/or managing the target PNF according to the deployment parameters; installing the PNF software onto the target PNF to implement a particular network function.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises:

receiving second predetermined information reported by the instantiated PNF; wherein the second predetermined information includes: at least one of alarm information, monitoring information, and/or performance statistics;

performing a first preset operation on the instantiated PNF according to the second preset information; wherein the first preset operation comprises: at least one of a troubleshooting operation, a capacity expansion operation, a load balancing operation, and a capacity reduction operation.

In this embodiment, the instantiated PNF device may monitor its own operating state, and when an abnormality is monitored, may directly report the alarm information to the management entity of the communication operator to the network where the PNF device is located. In some cases, the instantiated PNF device may also perform daily monitoring to form monitoring information such as a monitoring log, and report the monitoring information to a corresponding management entity under the trigger of a reporting event or at a reporting time point corresponding to a reporting period. In this embodiment, the management entity may be an entity that performs unified orchestration management on PFNs, such as NFVO.

In some cases, instantiated PNF devices may also count information such as performance statistics and load conditions of the PNF devices themselves, report the statistical information to a management network element such as NFVO, and the management network element adjusts the working state of the PNF based on the information reported by the PNF, and performs preset operations such as redeployment and configuration on the PNF.

In this way, the report information such as the warning information of the PNF is not reported to the equipment manufacturer first, but is sent to the communication operator by the equipment manufacturer through other networks, and the PNF can directly report to the communication operator through the communication network where the PNF is located to perform various dynamic operations of the corresponding PNF.

In this embodiment, the instantiated PNF may report various information to the NFVO by sequentially passing through the EM and the VNFM.

In this way, when receiving the alarm information reported by the PNF, the NFVO analyzes the alarm information in time, determines the alarm type and the policy for removing the fault causing the alarm, and sends an operation instruction to the corresponding PNF through VNFM, EM, and the like based on the policy, so as to control the PNF to execute the first preset operation, thereby removing the corresponding fault. For example, when one PNF fails, the NFVO decides to enable a backup PNF and determine to restart the corresponding PNF through fault information reported by the fault PNF, then the NFVO sends a restart instruction to the fault PNF through the VNFM and the EM and sends a work instruction to the backup PNF, the backup PNF receives the work instruction and then works instead of the fault PNF, and the fault PNF automatically shuts down after receiving the restart instruction and restarts after shutting down, so that at least faults caused by software operation errors can be reduced.

In some embodiments, the NFVO may further send a copy instruction to the backup PNF to trigger the backup PNF to copy the current running data before the shutdown of the failure PNF, so as to ensure the continuity of the corresponding PNF to execute the function.

In some embodiments, the NFVO, or other management entity may also manage the lifecycle of the current configuration of the PNF. For example, one PNF may implement two or more network functions, and according to a user requirement, for example, according to user subscription information, a PNF may implement a specific function by corresponding software installation and enabling and disabling hardware parameters for the corresponding PNF, but an effective duration of the specific network function may be half a year or a month, and the effective duration may be one cycle of the life management cycle. When the management entity such as the NFVO performs the lifecycle management, the current configuration of the corresponding PNF may be removed and the PNF may be reconfigured again when the lifecycle management is finished.

In some embodiments, the service life of a PNF is limited, and the NFVO or other management entity may manage the service life of the PNF. As a PNF ages, its working performance also changes correspondingly, which can be adjusted by the attenuation curve in the PNF packet; the NFVO and other management entities may also perform lifecycle management, such as reconfiguration, by updating and updating the PNF information package according to a change in the working performance of the PNF. Of course, the above examples of the life cycle management are not limited to any of the above examples.

The step S220 may include: receiving a deployment request of a PNF; determining the target PNF meeting the position requirement according to the position requirement of the arrangement management request;

the step S230 may include: determining a target management network element for managing the target PNC by utilizing the PNF information packet of the target PNF; and sending an instantiation request for instantiating the PNC based on the PNF information packet to the target management network element.

The user equipments at different locations have different requirements for access, and based on the principle of proximity to the geographic location, in this embodiment, a target PNF that can provide a corresponding network function is selected based on the geographic location corresponding to the deployment request and in combination with the geographic location parameter in the PNF packet. After the target PNF is selected, the EM of the target PNF can be determined according to the EM information in the PNF information packet, and an instantiation request is sent to the EM according to information such as network requirements carried by the deployment request. The EM can deploy the target PNF according to data required by instantiation issued by a management entity such as NFVO and the like, and can also deploy the target PNF according to the network requirement based on a pre-stored PNF information packet of the target PNF.

In this way, in this embodiment, by introducing the PNF packet, the communications carrier can perform network deployment of the PNF by itself, and does not necessarily need to perform configuration by a device manufacturer, which can facilitate simple configuration of the communications carrier itself.

In some embodiments, the step S220 may include:

receiving an update request of a target PNF, wherein the update request comprises: one of a request for updating the physical resource quantity, a request for updating a wireless system, a request for allocating and updating wireless resources and software updating is carried out;

the step S230 may include:

sending an update request for updating the target PNF to a target management network element of the target PNC; wherein the update request is used to trigger the target management network element to update the configuration update of the instantiated target PNF by using the PNF information packet.

In this embodiment, the configuration update may include: and updating the working frequency band used by the PNF or the working system used by the PNF. The configuration update may further include: and updating the PNF software installed and operated in the PNF, realizing the change of the network function provided by the PNF and the adjustment of the quality of service of the same network function provided.

In other embodiments, the step S220 may include: receiving a delete request of a target PNF, wherein the delete request is used for removing instantiation of the target PNF;

the step S230 may include: sending a deletion request for performing de-instantiation of the target PNF to a target management network element of the target PNC; wherein the delete request is used to trigger the target management network element to remove the instantiation of the PNF.

In some embodiments, an already instantiated PNF may need to be de-instantiated to remove its usage status. In this embodiment, the management network element may receive the deletion request from another device or a human-computer interaction interface. After receiving the delete request, determining a target PNF needing to be de-instantiated, and then sending a delete instruction or a delete request to the EM of the target PNF to trigger the EM to de-instantiate the target PNF. In this embodiment, the de-instantiation may include: and restoring the default setting of the target PNF, or directly enabling the network function of the target PNF, or directly disconnecting the target PNF from other PNFs, thereby realizing the instantiation of the target PNF.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises:

receiving a processing request of the PNF information packet, wherein the processing request of the PNF information packet comprises: at least one of an update request, a delete request, an add request and an online request of the PNF packet;

and executing corresponding second preset operation related to the PNF information packet based on the processing request of the PNF information packet.

For example, when the management entity is an NFVO, the NFVO may receive a processing request from an OSS, and after receiving the processing request of the OSS, the NFVO performs a second preset operation on a corresponding PNF packet. The second preset operation herein may include: various requests such as online operation, delete request, add request, etc. When the online operation corresponding to the online request is executed, the method includes: and storing the corresponding PNF information packet, and setting the valid flag of the corresponding PNF information packet to be valid, so that the PNF information packet is valid, and the corresponding PNF can perform arrangement management by using the PNF information packet.

This embodiment provides a network element, where the network element includes: a PNF packet generation device of the wireless RAN side physical network function PNF. As shown in fig. 5, the network element includes:

a first obtaining unit 110, configured to obtain first predetermined information of a physical network function PNF on the RAN side to generate a physical network function description PNFD;

a second obtaining unit 120, configured to obtain PNF software for implementing a specific network function by the PNF, where the PNF software is configured to be installed on a corresponding PNF to implement the specific network function;

a generating unit 130, configured to generate a PNF packet including the PNFD and the PNF software, where the PNF packet is used for PNF layout management.

The first acquiring unit 110 and the second acquiring unit 120 may correspond to a communication interface, and may receive the first predetermined information and/or data such as the PNF software for generating the PNF packet from another device; the first obtaining unit 110 and the second obtaining unit 120 may also correspond to a human-computer interaction interface, and may be configured to receive corresponding information from the human-computer interaction interface.

The generating unit 130 may correspond to a processor, and the processor may include: a central processing unit, a microprocessor, a digital signal processor, an application processor, or a programmable array, etc.

In short, in this embodiment, the network element may generate the PNF packet, so that the PNF packet is conveniently used to perform arrangement and management on the physical network function of the RAN.

In some embodiments, the PNFD comprises at least: resource parameters and deployment information of the PNF; the resource parameters of the PNF are used for selecting the corresponding PNF to participate in network arrangement; the deployment information is used for configuring and/or managing the PNF participating in network deployment.

Optionally, the network element may include an operation support system OSS; the network element further comprises:

and the sending unit is used for transmitting the PNF information packet to network function virtualization orchestration NFVO, and the PNF information packet is used for PNF orchestration management of the NFVO.

The sending unit may send the generated PNF packet to the NFVO corresponding to a network interface capable of communicating with the NFVO, and the NFVO may perform scheduling management of PNFs.

In some embodiments, the resource parameters include: and at least one of the identification parameter, the geographic position parameter, the hardware parameter, the software parameter, the wireless parameter and the management network element EM information of the PNF.

The resource parameters are only examples, and the specific implementation is not limited to the above parameters.

Optionally, one said PNF comprises: n physical network function units PNFC, wherein N is a positive integer; the PNFD comprises: n physical network function units PNFC describe PNFCD; one said PNFCD comprising: resource parameters and deployment information of one said PNFC.

The composition of the PNFCD herein can be seen as described in the previous embodiments.

An embodiment of the present invention provides another network element, where the network element includes: as shown in fig. 6, the scheduling management apparatus for physical resources on the radio RAN side in this embodiment may include:

a third obtaining unit 210, configured to obtain a PNF packet of the physical network function PNF;

a receiving unit 220, configured to receive an orchestration management request of a PNF;

a response unit 230, configured to perform network instantiation orchestration management on the PNF by using the PNF information packet of the target PNF responding to the orchestration management request.

Likewise, the third obtaining unit 210 may correspond to a communication interface, and may receive the PNF packet from another network element.

The receiving unit 220 may correspond to a human-machine interaction interface or a communication interface for inter-device communication, and may receive the orchestration management request.

The response unit 230 may correspond to a processor, and may be configured to perform orchestration management of PNFs based on PHF packets.

Optionally, the receiving unit 220 may be further configured to receive second predetermined information reported by an instantiated PNF; wherein the second predetermined information includes: at least one of alarm information, monitoring information, and/or performance statistics;

the response unit 230 is further configured to perform a first preset operation on the instantiated PNF according to the second predetermined information; wherein the first preset operation comprises: at least one of a troubleshooting operation, a capacity expansion operation, a load balancing operation, and a capacity reduction operation. The PNF packet includes: physical network function description PNFD and PNF software; the PNFD at least comprises: resource parameters and deployment information of the PNF; the resource parameters of the PNF are used for selecting the corresponding PNF to participate in network arrangement; the deployment information is used for configuring and/or managing the PNF participating in network arrangement; and the PNF software is used for being installed on a corresponding PNF so as to realize a specific network function. Correspondingly, the response unit 230 is specifically configured to select the target PNF according to the resource parameter; configuring and/or managing the target PNF according to the deployment parameters; installing the PNF software onto the target PNF to implement a particular network function.

In other embodiments, the receiving unit 220 is specifically configured to receive a deployment request of a PNF;

the responding unit 230 is further configured to determine, according to a location requirement of the orchestration management request, the target PNF meeting the location requirement; the PNF information packet of the target PNF is used for determining a target management network element for managing the target PNC; and sending an instantiation request for instantiating the PNC based on the PNF information packet to the target management network element.

In some embodiments, the receiving unit 220 is further specifically configured to receive an update request of a target PNF, where the update request includes: one of a request for updating the physical resource quantity, a request for updating a wireless system, a request for allocating and updating wireless resources and software updating is carried out; the response unit 230 may be specifically configured to send an update request for updating the target PNF to a target management network element of the target PNC; wherein the update request is used to trigger the target management network element to update the configuration update of the instantiated target PNF by using the PNF information packet.

In still other embodiments, the receiving unit 220 may be configured to receive a delete request of a target PNF, where the delete request is used to remove an instantiation of the target PNF; the response unit 230 may be specifically configured to send a delete request for instantiating the target PNF to a target management network element of the target PNC; wherein the delete request is used to trigger the target management network element to remove the instantiation of the PNF.

In some embodiments, the receiving unit 220 may be further configured to receive a processing request of the PNF packet, where the processing request of the PNF packet includes: at least one of an update request, a delete request, an add request and an online request of the PNF packet; the response unit 230 may be further configured to execute a corresponding second preset operation related to the PNF packet based on the processing request of the PNF packet.

As shown in fig. 7, this embodiment further provides a network element, including:

a first transceiver 310 for data interaction with other network elements,

a first memory 320 for storing information;

a first processor 330, respectively connected to the first transceiver 310 and the first memory 320, for controlling data exchange of the first transceiver 310 and data storage of the first memory 320 by executing a computer program stored in the first memory 320, and performing the following steps:

In this embodiment, the first transceiver 310 may correspond to a network interface, and the network interface may be a cable interface, an optical cable interface, or a transceiver antenna, and may be used for data interaction with other network elements.

The first memory 320 may include: various types of storage media may be used for data storage. In this embodiment, the storage medium included in the second memory 320 is at least partially a non-volatile storage medium, and can be used for storing the computer program.

The first processor 330 may include: a central processing unit, microprocessor, digital signal processor, application specific integrated circuit, or programmable array, etc., may be used to implement the formation of PNF packets through the execution of computer programs.

In this embodiment, the first processor 330 may be connected to the first transceiver 310 and the first memory 320 via an intra-device bus such as an integrated circuit bus.

In some embodiments, the network element provided in this embodiment may be an OSS.

Further, the steps executed by the first processor 330 further include:

and transmitting the PNF information packet to Network Function Virtualization (NFVO), wherein the PNF information packet is used for PNF layout management of the NFVO.

In some embodiments, the resource parameters include: at least one of identification parameters, geographical location parameters, hardware parameters, software parameters, wireless parameters of the PNF and management network element EM information.

In other embodiments, one said PNF comprises: n physical network function units PNFC, wherein N is a positive integer; the PNFD comprises: n physical network function units PNFC describe PNFCD; one said PNFCD comprising: resource parameters and deployment information of one said PNFC.

As shown in fig. 8, this embodiment provides a network element, including:

a second transceiver 410 for data interaction with other network elements,

a second memory 420 for storing information;

a second processor 430, connected to the second transceiver 410 and the second memory 420 respectively, for controlling data exchange of the second transceiver 410 and data storage of the second memory 420 by executing the computer program stored in the second memory 420, and performing the following steps:

acquiring a PNF information packet of a physical network function PNF;

receiving an arrangement management request of a PNF;

In this embodiment, the second transceiver 410 may correspond to a network interface, and the network interface may be a cable interface, an optical cable interface, or a transceiver antenna, and may be used for data interaction with other network elements.

The second memory 420 may include: various types of storage media may be used for data storage. In this embodiment, the storage medium included in the second memory 420 is at least partially a non-volatile storage medium, and can be used for storing the computer program.

The second processor 430 may include: a central processing unit, microprocessor, digital signal processor, application specific integrated circuit, or programmable array, etc., may be used to implement the formation of PNF packets through the execution of computer programs.

In this embodiment, the second processor 430 may be connected to the second transceiver 410 and the second memory 420 through an intra-device bus such as an integrated circuit bus.

The PNF packet includes: physical network function description PNFD and PNF software; the PNFD at least comprises: resource parameters and deployment information of the PNF; the resource parameters of the PNF are used for selecting the corresponding PNF to participate in network arrangement; the deployment information is used for configuring and/or managing the PNF participating in network arrangement; and the PNF software is used for being installed on a corresponding PNF so as to realize specific network functions. The network element provided in this embodiment may be selected as NFVO.

Further, the second processor 430 performs the steps further including:

In some embodiments, the steps executed by the second processor 430 specifically include: receiving a deployment request of a PNF; determining the target PNF meeting the position requirement according to the position requirement of the arrangement management request; determining a target management network element for managing the target PNC by utilizing the PNF information packet of the target PNF; and sending an instantiation request for instantiating the PNC based on the PNF information packet to the target management network element.

In other embodiments, the steps executed by the second processor 430 specifically include:

receiving an update request of a target PNF, wherein the update request comprises: one of a request for updating the physical resource quantity, a request for updating a wireless system, a request for allocating and updating wireless resources and software updating is carried out; sending an update request for updating the target PNF to a target management network element of the target PNC; wherein the update request is used to trigger the target management network element to update the configuration update of the instantiated target PNF by using the PNF information packet.

In some embodiments, the steps performed by the second processor 430 may further include: receiving a delete request of a target PNF, wherein the delete request is used for removing instantiation of the target PNF; sending a deletion request for performing de-instantiation of the target PNF to a target management network element of the target PNC; wherein the delete request is used to trigger the target management network element to remove the instantiation of the PNF.

In still other embodiments, the steps performed by the second processor 430 may further include: receiving a processing request of the PNF information packet, wherein the processing request of the PNF information packet comprises: at least one of an update request, a delete request, an add request and an online request of the PNF packet; and executing corresponding second preset operation related to the PNF information packet based on the processing request of the PNF information packet.

An embodiment of the present invention further provides a network element, including: a third transceiver, a third memory, a third processor, and a computer program stored on the third memory and processed by the third processor;

the third processor is connected to the third transceiver and the third memory, respectively, and configured to control information interaction of the third transceiver and information storage of the third memory by executing the computer program, and execute the PNF packet generation method of the RAN-side physical network function PNF provided in one or more embodiments. Or, the method for orchestration management of physical resources on the RAN side provided in one or more of the foregoing embodiments is performed.

In this embodiment, the third transceiver may correspond to a network interface, and the network interface may be a cable interface, an optical cable interface, or a transceiver antenna, and may be used for data interaction with other network elements.

The third memory may include: various types of storage media may be used for data storage. In this embodiment, the second memory includes a storage medium, which is at least partially a non-volatile storage medium, and may be used to store the computer program.

The third processor may comprise: a central processing unit, microprocessor, digital signal processor, application specific integrated circuit, or programmable array, etc., may be used to implement the formation of PNF packets through the execution of computer programs.

In this embodiment, the third processor may be connected to the third transceiver and the third memory through an intra-device bus such as an integrated circuit bus.

An embodiment of the present invention further provides a computer storage medium, where a computer program is stored, and after the computer program is executed by a processor, the computer program executes the PNF packet generation method for the RAN-side physical network function PNF provided in one or more embodiments described above. Or, the method for orchestration management of physical resources on the RAN side provided in one or more of the foregoing embodiments is performed.

The computer storage medium provided by the embodiment of the invention comprises: a mobile storage device, a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a magnetic disk or an optical disk, and various media capable of storing program codes. Alternatively, the computer storage medium may be a non-transitory storage medium. The non-transitory storage medium herein may also be referred to as a non-volatile storage medium.

Several specific examples are provided below in connection with any of the above embodiments:

example 1:

this example proposes a method for arranging RAN-side physical resources by using MANO, which includes:

and encapsulating the PNFD and the PNF software version to generate a PNF information packet, so that the MANO obtains complete information required by PNF arrangement management.

The DU, the RRU and the antenna are abstracted by the resource which can be arranged, and the description content of the ETSI to the PNFD is expanded according to the proxy position information, the hardware information, the software information and the RAT information.

The enhancement of the NFVO editing management function is defined to support the MANO to complete operations of RAN side PNF resource query, PNF version update, PNF RAT configuration management, PNF state setting and the like, and the MANO can manage the life cycle of the PNF.

For the RAN-side PNF to be orchestratable and manageable in the MANO, the present example defines a PNF information package, and the NFVO can orchestrate the RAN network as needed through the resource information provided by the PNF software package.

The PNF information packet comprises two parts of PNFD and PNF software. The PNFD describes resource parameters of the PNF, indicates an arrangement parameter set of the PNF under different wireless systems, and can provide description from two dimensions of a complete machine and a pooling single board so as to meet the arrangement of PNFs in different forms. The PNF software information provides different software which can be used by the PNF under different wireless systems, and the PNF software is provided according to the granularity of the whole machine and the single board. Taking LTE, NB-IoT, and GSM as examples, the PNF packet may be as shown in fig. 9.

The PNFD packet may be defined as follows:

the PNFD may include geographical location parameters, hardware parameters, software parameters, and wireless parameters of the PNF.

The geographic location parameters may include: location information collected in various ways. The geographical location information at least comprises information such as machine room location information, building names, geographical location coordinates and the like. The antenna and other PNFs should also provide information on the antenna's altitude, the antenna structure's bottom altitude, etc.

The hardware parameters at least should provide hardware parameters such as device provider information, device hardware version information, operating frequency bands supported by the device, and cell bandwidths supported by the device.

The software parameters should provide at least software vendor information, software feature description information, and path information of the software. The PNF software information can be provided according to the whole machine or the single board. The PNF whole software information is explained according to the single board level.

The wireless system information at least comprises wireless system type information, working frequency band information, cell bandwidth information, center carrier frequency channel number and other information.

PNFD may be defined as follows:

the following geographical location parameters are relevant definitions.

The following table is a definition of hardware parameters

The relevant definition of software parameters can be as follows:

alternative relevant definitions of radio parameters may be as follows:

NFVO orchestrates the functional enhancement of PNF.

Further, 2) parameter extension of PNFD. Through the supplement of the position parameters, the hardware parameters, the software parameters and the wireless system parameters, the MANO has the capability of arranging the wireless network and prepares for the fine management of the frequency spectrum resources in the early stage.

3) The function of NFVO is enhanced. By defining the PNF management function of the NFVO, the NFVO can manage the PNF information packet, the NFVO can complete the life cycle management of the PNF, and the signaling flow on the PNF resource management interface can be completed.

In all the tables, if the attribute of the parameter is optional, the PNFD includes the resource parameter under any condition, and if the condition is optional, the resource parameter that must be included under a certain condition is identified.

Example 2:

the present example performs PNF orchestration based on the PNF information packet defined in example 1, for example, PNF orchestration and management using a PNF management interface corresponding to the PNF information packet.

The NFVO supports PNF packet management functions. The NFVO supports software package information management functions of an online request, an updating request, an adding request, a deleting request and the like of a PNF information package, and can be combined with OSS (open service system) or (network management, NM), EM and the like to complete functions of software package validity check, software package PNFD analysis and the like.

NFVO supports the orchestration and management functions of PNFs. When the PNF is installed, the NFVO can perform actual network function deployment (including PNF software deployment, RAT deployment and the like) on the PNF according to the parameters provided by the PNFD in the PNF information packet, and can arrange the PNF in the pool and deploy network functions with different capabilities as required) and the life cycle management flow of the PNF.

The NFVO supports PNF alerting and performance management. The NFVO can complete alarm elimination or performance strategy flow according to the alarm and performance statistics reported by the PNF. For example, when the PNF resource fails and alarms, the NFVO performs a restart operation on the PNF after receiving the alarm. For example, when the PNF reports that the resource load increases to the PM task threshold, the NFVO updates a part of PNFs of other RAT modes to the RAT mode in the existing network according to the performance report to increase coverage, and performs conforming sharing.

An interface function extension supported by MANO, comprising: the system refers to an Or-VNFM reference point between NFVO and NFM, and a Ve-VNFM-EM reference point between VNFM and EM, namely a PNF physical resource management interface, supports the NFVO to identify cells of the EM and supports the NFVO to identify cells of the PNF, so that the NFVO can complete the life cycle management of a designated PNF. The NFVO supports the identification of PNF resource parameters and state information.

The PNF information packet uploading method comprises the following steps:

the OSS uploads the PNF information packet to the NFVO through an online (Onboard) process;

the NFVO responds to PNF packet Onboard success/failure.

The present example also provides a network instantiation (PNF portion) of a network service of a RAN, which may include:

step 1: the OSS informs the needed established RAN side PNF network to NFVO through (on-line request) in the OnboardNSD process;

step 2: NFVO responds to OnboardNSD successfully;

and step 3: OSS informs NFVO to instantiate PNF;

and 4, step 4: NFVO sends a setnfratinforquest message to the VNFM. The message carries the emInfo, pnfId and PNF RAT configuration parameters;

and 5: the VNFM sends a request message to the EM;

step 6: after receiving the message, the EM checks whether the message is legal or not and whether the PNF exists or not. EM and PNF complete RAT parameter configuration;

and 7: EM responds SetNFRATInFOResponse to NFVO, and carries emInfo and pnfId;

and 8: the VNFM sends a response message to the NFVO;

and (4) repeating the steps 4 to 8, completing PNF network resource deployment by the NFVO, and responding to PNF network instantiation completion by the NFVO to the OSS.

Example 3:

the example provides a PNF-adjustable PNFD description mode, which adds a description PNFC in the PNF and defines an adjustment mode of the PNFC, so that a MANO can arrange the PNF like arranging a VNF, thereby implementing end-to-end arrangement of the whole network. The details are as follows:

PNFC is defined. The scheme adds a definition PNFC in the PNFD. The PNFC may represent one physical unit in a pooled resource or one physical resource component constituting a PNF network function. Each PNFC describes the components of one PNF, which may consist of one or more PNFCs. The PNFCs constituting the PNF may be the same type of physical resource or different types of physical resources. Accordingly, in order to perform deployment and management of the PNFC, at least the following information should be included in the PNFC description:

a PNFC identifier to uniquely identify a PNFC in a network. NFVO, EM, or the like can uniquely identify a PNFC by the identification. One PNF can be uniquely determined through the mark NFVO, and further, the information of EM for managing the PNF can be uniquely determined

The PNFC description, which is used to describe the PNFC, may describe hardware type information of the PNFC, for example, a main control board, a transport board, a baseband board, and the like. Network function information and the like of implementation can also be described

PNFC location information describing the location of the PNFC, e.g., the room, rack, frame, slot, etc

PNFC connection point information describing the exposed connection point information of the PNFC, so that MANO or EM can realize the dynamic adjustment of the number of PNFC through connecting/disconnecting the necessary connection point

PNF tuning parameters are defined. The scheme defines PNF adjustment parameters, namely the capacity or capacity of the PNF is adjusted by adjusting the dynamic increase and decrease of the deployment quantity of the PNFC forming the PNF. Accordingly, the same type of PNFC may be encapsulated into one set, with PNFC tuning being performed for one set. Wherein the purpose of the adjustment is to increase the number of PNFCs connected/disconnected.

According to the above cell description, the PNFD description is enhanced:

a description of the PNFC set is added. And encapsulating the PNFCs of the same type into a set, wherein the set is the PNFD, and the PNFC adjustment is carried out aiming at the set.

The initial PNFC number description is increased. Refers to the default PNFC configuration description at the time of initial PNF deployment.

NFVO orchestrates PNF functional enhancement, and NFVO supports PNFD parsing. The means that the NFVO can analyze PNFC information sets and adjustment information forming the PNF according to the PNFD description.

The NFVO may deploy the PNF according to the deployment level and adjust the network functions as needed according to the adjustment information.

Example 4:

3. functional enhancement of NFVO orchestration of PNF

In the PNF management interface defined in this example, the signaling flow of MANO orchestration management PNF is implemented in the interface, and coding management of PNF is performed.

The NFVO supports the PNF Package management function. The NFVO supports the On-board, Update, Add, Delete and other software Package information management functions of the PNF Package, and can complete the functions of software Package validity check, software Package PNFD analysis and the like by combining OSS/NM, EM and the like.

NFVO supports the orchestration and management functions of PNFs. When the PNF is installed, the NFVO may perform actual network function deployment (including PNF software deployment, RAT deployment, etc.) on the PNF according to the parameters provided by the PNFD in the PNF Package, and may orchestrate the PNF in the pool, deploy network functions of different capabilities as needed, and PNF lifecycle management procedures.

The NFVO supports PNF alerting and performance management. The NFVO can complete alarm elimination or performance strategy flow according to the alarm and performance statistics reported by the PNF. For example, when the PNF resource fails and gives an alarm, the NFVO performs a restart operation on the PNF after receiving the alarm. For example, when the PNF reports that the resource load increases to the PM task threshold, the NFVO updates a part of PNFs of other RAT modes to the RAT mode in the existing network according to the performance report to increase coverage, and performs conforming sharing.

The interface functions supported by MANO are extended. The system refers to a PNF physical resource management interface at an Or-VNFM reference point between NFVO and VNFM and a Ve-VNFM-EM reference point between VNFM and EM, supports the NFVO to identify cells of EM and supports the NFVO to identify cells of PNF, so that the NFVO can complete the life cycle management of a designated PNF. The NFVO supports the identification of PNF resource parameters and state information.

Main flow of NFVO editing PNF

NFVO functional enhancements as described above, NFVO can complete PNF lifecycle management according to the description of PNFD. Interface message content comes from PNFD definition, and the process initiation can be completed by operating NFVO interface or cooperating with OSS. The PNF deployment process and the spectrum resource replanning process are respectively described as an example.

As shown in fig. 9, the present example provides a PNF deployment method including:

step 1: the NFVO finds the PNFD meeting the requirements from the On-boundary PNF Package according to the deployment position, and the method specifically comprises the following steps: the NFVO determines the used PNFD according to the position requirement, and determines the deployment information (PNFD Deployed flag) according to the deployment characteristic requirement. NFVO determines the PNFD that needs to be used. NFVO determines deployment template from PNFD Deployed flag as required

Step 2: the NFVO organizes a deployment request (deployengfrequest) message to the VNFM. The message carries the destination EM information.

And step 3: after receiving the message, the VNFM sends a deployment request message to the EM.

And 4, step 4: after receiving the message, the EM checks whether the PNF in the request message exists and is in a power-on state, whether the software update operation can be completed, if yes, replies a deployment response (deployedpnresponse) success response, otherwise, replies a failure response and carries a cause value. The EM sends a response message to the VNFM;

and 5: after receiving the response message, the VNFM sends the response message to the NFVO;

step 6: and the EM interacts with the PNF according to the message content to complete the PNF software installation, complete the RAT configuration and complete the PNF deployment.

Step 6: the EM sends a Notification message to the VNFM to Notify the NFVO that the PNF deployment is completed

And 7: after receiving a notification (Notify) message, the VNFM sends the notification message to the NFVO;

and 8: NFVO determines to send certain PNFs from a certain wireless mode to other wireless modes, NFVO determines the software version which should be used by the PNFs in the target mode, and NFVO organizes UpdatePNFSwRequest messages to be sent to VNFM.

As shown in fig. 10, the present example provides a method for converting a wireless format of a PNF, including:

after receiving an update request (UpdatePNFSWRequest) message of the PNF, the VNFM sends the request message to the EM;

and after receiving the message, the EM checks whether the PNF in the request message exists and is in a power-on state, whether the software updating operation can be completed or not, if so, the successful response is recovered, otherwise, the failed response is recovered and the cause value is carried. The EM sends an update response (UpdatePNFSwResponse) message to the VNFM;

after receiving the response message, the VNFM sends an update response (UpdatePNFSwResponse) message to the NFVO;

the EM finishes the version updating of the PNF software;

the EM sends a notice (Notify) message to the VNFM to Notify the NFVO of the PNF software version change;

after receiving the notification (Notify), the VNFM sends the notification (Notify) to the NFVO;

the NFVO receives the PNF software version update notification, and the NFVO restarts the PNF through a restart request (OpPNFREQUEST) message.

After receiving the restart request (OpPNFREQUEST) message, the VNFM sends the restart request (OpPNFREQUEST) message to the EM;

after the EM receives the restart request (OpPNFResquest), it checks that the PNF is present and can perform the operation, replying a success response.

After receiving the restart response (OpPNFRESONSE) message, the VNFM sends the restart response (OpPNFRESONSE) message to the NFVO;

the EM finishes the PNF restarting operation;

after the PNF is restarted, an EM (Notify) informs the NFVO of the PNF state;

after receiving the notification (Notify) message, the VNFM sends the notification (Notify) message to the NFVO;

the NFVO receives the PNF restart success notice, can configure the target wireless system parameter already, send and reset the wireless system (SetNFRatInfoRequest) message to EM, configure PNF RAT parameter;

after the VNFM receives a reset wireless mode (SetNFRatInforequest) message, the VNFM sends a request message to the EM

EM checks whether the target PNF exists, whether the target PNF supports the wireless system in the request message, whether parameter configuration can be carried out, if yes, a successful response message of SetNFRatInfoResponse is sent to VNFM, otherwise, a failure response is returned

After receiving the response message, the VNFM sends the response message to the NFVO;

EM completes PNF RAT parameter configuration;

EM sends notice (Notify) message to VNFM to Notify NFVO of PNF RAT parameter change

After receiving the notification (Notify) message, the VNFM sends the message to the NFVO.

The MANO may complete the radio resource allocation procedure by looping through the steps.

Example 5:

as shown in fig. 11, the present example provides a processing flow of a PNF packet online request, including:

step 1: the OSS system informs the NFVO of the RAN-side PNF network to be established through an onboardssd process, for example, the NFVO receives an online request (onboardsreq) sent by the OSS;

step 2: the NFVO sends an on-line response (OnboarsResponse) to the OSS in response to the OnboardNSD success;

and step 3: the OSS notifies the NFVO to instantiate the PNF network, e.g., by sending an instantiation request (instatanenscreq);

and 4, step 4: the NFVO sends a set radio format request (setnfratinforrequest) message to the VNFM. The message carries the emInfo, pnfId and PNF RAT configuration parameters;

and 5: the VNFM sends a wireless system setting request (setnfratinfaway request message to the EM;

step 6: EM receives the request for setting wireless system (after SetNFRATInFoquest, checks whether the message is legal and whether PNF exists;

and 7: the EM sets PNF wireless system response (SetNFRATInFOResponse) to the NFVO, and carries the emInfo and the pnfId;

the VNFM sends a set PNF radio format response (setpfratinforresponse) message to the NFVO.

Example 6:

the present example provides a PNF packet composition of a network, as shown in fig. 12, including: PNFD and soft drop mirroring.

The description mode of the PNFD comprises the following steps: complete machine description and single board pooling description. The complete machine description is the description of the whole physical equipment, and the single-board pooling description is the description of each physical resource component in the pool by regarding one physical equipment as a resource pool.

For the complete machine description mode, the PNF may include, according to a network to which the corresponding PNF may belong: PNF-LTE, PNF-NB-IoT, and PNF-GSM. The PNF-LTE is a PNF belonging to a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network. The PNF-NB-IoT belongs to a PNF of the Internet of things; the PNF-GSM is a PNF belonging to a 2G packet-switched network.

Aiming at the single board pooling cat tertiary mode, the PNF-LTE, PNF-NB-IoT and PNF-GSM can be respectively ranged into one physical single board. In fig. 12, each PNF is configured with n physical boards.

Corresponding to the software image, the software image applied to different networks is provided also according to the network where the PNF is located, and at least in fig. 12, the software image includes: Img-LTE, Img-IoT and Img-GSM.

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

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

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

Those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that: all or part of the steps for implementing the method embodiments may be implemented by hardware related to program instructions, and the program may be stored in a computer readable storage medium, and when executed, the program performs the steps including the method embodiments.

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

Claims

1. A method for generating a PNF information packet of a physical network function PNF at a radio RAN side is characterized by comprising the following steps:

acquiring first predetermined information of a physical network function PNF at a RAN side to generate a physical network function description PNFD;

acquiring PNF software for realizing a specific network function by the PNF, wherein the PNF software is used for being installed on a corresponding PNF to realize the specific network function; the PNF software comprises: software image files and/or profile information that may be installed on the corresponding PNF; alternatively, software installation packages and/or property specification information that may be installed on the corresponding PNF;

generating a PNF information packet comprising the PNFD and the PNF software, wherein the PNF information packet is used for PNF arrangement management; the PNFD at least comprises: resource parameters and deployment information of the PNF; the resource parameters of the PNF are used for selecting the corresponding PNF to participate in network arrangement; the deployment information is used for configuring and/or managing the PNF participating in network arrangement; the resource parameters include: at least one of identification parameters, geographical location parameters, hardware parameters, software parameters, wireless parameters of the PNF and management network element EM information.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the method is applied in an Operation Support System (OSS);

the method further comprises the following steps:

3. The method of claim 1,

one said PNF comprising: n physical network function units PNFC, wherein N is a positive integer;

the PNFD comprises: n physical network function units PNFC describe PNFCD; one said PNFCD comprising: resource parameters and deployment information of one said PNFC.

4. A method for arranging and managing physical resources on a radio RAN side is characterized by comprising the following steps:

acquiring a PNF information packet of a physical network function PNF,

receiving an orchestration management request of a PNF;

performing network instantiation orchestration management on the PNF by using the PNF information packet of the target PNF responding to the orchestration management request;

the PNF packet includes: physical network function description PNFD and PNF software; the PNFD at least comprises: resource parameters and deployment information of the PNF;

the performing network instantiation orchestration management on the PNF by using the PNF information packet of the target PNF responding to the orchestration management request comprises:

selecting the target PNF according to the resource parameters;

configuring and/or managing the target PNF according to the deployment parameters;

installing the PNF software onto the target PNF to implement a specific network function;

the PNF software comprises: software image files and/or profile information that may be installed on the corresponding PNF; or, a software installation package and/or property specification information that may be installed on the corresponding PNF;

the resource parameters of the PNF are used for selecting the corresponding PNF to participate in network arrangement; the deployment information is used for configuring and/or managing the PNF participating in network arrangement; the resource parameters include: at least one of identification parameters, geographical location parameters, hardware parameters, software parameters, wireless parameters of the PNF and management network element EM information.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

6. The method of claim 4,

the receiving of the choreography management request of the PNF comprises:

receiving a deployment request of a PNF;

determining the target PNF meeting the position requirement according to the position requirement of the arrangement management request;

determining a target management network element for managing the target PNC by utilizing the PNF information packet of the target PNF;

and sending an instantiation request for instantiating the PNC based on the PNF information packet to the target management network element.

7. The method of claim 4,

the receiving of the choreography management request of the PNF comprises:

8. The method of claim 4,

the receiving of the choreography management request of the PNF comprises:

receiving a delete request of a target PNF, wherein the delete request is used for removing instantiation of the target PNF;

the performing network instantiation orchestration management on the PNF by using the PNF information packet of the target PNF responding to the orchestration management request comprises the following steps:

sending a deletion request for performing de-instantiation of the target PNF to a target management network element of the target PNC; wherein the delete request is used to trigger the target management network element to remove the instantiation of the PNF.

9. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

10. A network element, the network element comprising: the PNF information packet generating device of the wireless RAN side physical network function PNF is characterized in that the network element comprises:

the second acquisition unit is used for acquiring PNF software for realizing a specific network function by the PNF, wherein the PNF software is used for being installed on a corresponding PNF to realize the specific network function; the PNF software comprises: software image files and/or profile information that may be installed on the corresponding PNF; or, a software installation package and/or property specification information that may be installed on the corresponding PNF;

the generating unit is used for generating a PNF information packet comprising the PNFD and the PNF software, wherein the PNF information packet is used for PNF arrangement management; the PNFD at least comprises: resource parameters and deployment information of the PNF; the resource parameters of the PNF are used for selecting the corresponding PNF to participate in network arrangement; the deployment information is used for configuring and/or managing the PNF participating in network arrangement; the resource parameters include: at least one of identification parameters, geographical location parameters, hardware parameters, software parameters, wireless parameters of the PNF and management network element EM information.

11. A network element, the network element comprising: an arrangement management apparatus for physical resources on a radio RAN side, comprising:

a third acquiring unit for acquiring a PNF packet of the physical network function PNF,

the response unit is used for performing network instantiation orchestration management on the PNF by utilizing the PNF information packet of the target PNF responding to the orchestration management request;

the response unit is used for selecting the target PNF according to the resource parameters; configuring and/or managing the target PNF according to the deployment parameters; installing the PNF software onto the target PNF to implement a specific network function;

12. A network element, comprising:

a first transceiver for data interaction with other network elements,

the first memory is used for storing information;

acquiring PNF software for realizing a specific network function by the PNF, wherein the PNF software is used for being installed on a corresponding PNF to realize the specific network function; the PNF software comprises: a software image file and/or profile information that may be installed on the corresponding PNF; or, a software installation package and/or property specification information that may be installed on the corresponding PNF;

13. The network element of claim 12, wherein the first processor performs the steps further comprising:

14. A network element, comprising:

a second transceiver for data interaction with other network elements,

the second memory is used for storing information;

acquiring a PNF information packet of a physical network function PNF;

receiving an arrangement management request of a PNF;

the performing network instantiation orchestration management on the PNF by using the PNF information packet of the target PNF responding to the orchestration management request comprises: selecting the target PNF according to the resource parameters; configuring and/or managing the target PNF according to the deployment parameters; installing the PNF software onto the target PNF to implement a specific network function;

15. The network element of claim 14, wherein the second processor performs the steps further comprising:

16. The network element of claim 14 or 15,

the steps executed by the second processor specifically include:

receiving a deployment request of a PNF;

17. The network element of claim 14 or 15,

the steps executed by the second processor specifically include:

18. A network element, comprising: a third transceiver, a third memory, a third processor, and a computer program stored on the third memory and processed by the third processor;

the third processor is respectively connected with the third transceiver and the third memory, and is used for controlling information interaction of the transceivers, information storage of the memories by executing the computer program, and executing the method provided by any one of claims 1 to 3; or, performing the method provided by any one of claims 4 to 9.

19. A computer storage medium, characterized in that it stores a computer program which, when executed by a processor, performs the method as provided in any one of claims 1 to 3; or, performing the method provided by any one of claims 4 to 9.