CN109728921B

CN109728921B - Management, maintenance and control method of virtual network element and related device

Info

Publication number: CN109728921B
Application number: CN201711023648.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 张尧烨
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2017-10-27
Filing date: 2017-10-27
Publication date: 2021-12-03
Anticipated expiration: 2037-10-27
Also published as: WO2019080593A1; CN109728921A

Abstract

The application discloses a management method of a virtual network element and a related device. The VNFM maintains an example list and a connection relation table, updates the example list according to an example updating result of the VNF or the basic service, redistributes the connection relation between the paas example after the example updating of the basic service and the VNFC example of the VNF, and updates the connection relation table according to the redistributed connection relation, so that the call relation between the basic service and the VNF can be automatically reestablished, and the purposes of improving the service operation efficiency and quickly recovering the service are achieved.

Description

Management, maintenance and control method of virtual network element and related device

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of communications, and in particular, to a method and a related apparatus for managing, maintaining, and controlling a virtual network element of a virtual network element.

Background

NFV (network function virtualization) is a virtualization technology, and it implements software and hardware decoupling, so that the functions of network devices do not depend on dedicated hardware any more, and bears the functions of dedicated devices in a traditional network on general hardware, thereby reducing the expensive cost brought by deploying dedicated devices.

The NFV platform includes the following network elements: NFVO (network function virtualization editor), VNF (virtualized network function), VNFM (virtualized network function management), VIM (virtualized infrastructure management), and NFVI (network function virtualization infrastructure). NFVO, VNFM, and VIM are collectively referred to as NFV-MANO, and are equivalent to CSP (cloud service provider), and NFVO, VNFM (Network Functions virtualization Manager), and VIM (virtualized Infrastructure Manager) provide NFV management Functions together. The NFVO manages the lifecycle of the VNF through the VNFM, provides functions such as NS (network service) management and VNF Package management, and provides a management interface of the NS to an external entity (e.g., OSS/BSS). A VNF is an application deployed in NFVI that implements specific network functions. The VNFM is a functional module that performs lifecycle management on the VNF. The VIM is a functional module responsible for controlling and managing the NFVI computing, storage, and network resources, and may be deployed in the Infrastructure Domain (NFVI access point/service provider) of the Infrastructure network operator. NFVI is a generic term for all hardware devices and software components in an environment where NFV capabilities are deployed, and NFVI can be deployed in an extended manner across several physical locations (e.g., data center operating sites).

A paas (platform as a service) is a mode for providing a software development platform as a service to a user, and a scheme for introducing the paas mode into an NFV platform has been discussed so far, and a VNF in the NFV platform calls a basic service (for example, services such as a database, a log, authentication, encryption, and the like) in the paas platform by an API (application programming interface). Based on NFV's paas requirements, the underlying paas instance details may be masked with gateway or loadbalancers, or the VNF may invoke the paas instance directly without the above middleware. In the running process of the system, scaling (reduction or increase of instances) may occur in instances in the NFV platform or the paas platform, and when the VNF directly calls a paas instance, after the instances are scaled, the original call relationship between the VNF and the base service may fail, thereby causing service interruption, or the call relationship between the newly added VNFC instance and the newly added paas instance may not be dynamically updated, thereby reducing the running efficiency of the original service.

Disclosure of Invention

The technical problem to be solved in the embodiments of the present invention is how to provide a method and a related apparatus for managing, maintaining, and controlling a virtual network element of a virtual network element, wherein a VNFM maintains an instance list and a connection relationship list, and when an instance in an NFV platform or a paas platform is updated, a connection relationship between instances of the two platforms is automatically performed, so as to achieve the purpose of quickly establishing a call relationship between a VNF and a basic service and recovering a service function.

In a first aspect, the present application provides a method for managing a virtual network element, including: and under the condition that the basic service meets the instance updating condition, the paas management network element performs instance updating on the basic service, and sends an instance updating result of the basic service to the VNFM.

Wherein, the basic service in the paas platform provides basic service function for the paas platform, for example: database, log, authentication or encryption, etc. The instance update condition represents a condition for triggering the basic service to update the paas instance, the paas instance update described herein includes terminating or creating the paas instance, and the instance update condition may be a condition pre-stored or pre-configured by the paas management network element. The instance update result represents attribute information of the paas instance updated in the base service, for example: the attribute information includes at least one of an identifier of the paas instance, an identifier of the service type, an update type, and a network address, and the representation form of the instance update result includes, but is not limited to, a table, an array, a linked list, a structure, or other forms. The paas instance is an independently running logical entity with the basic service capability, and can run in an environment such as a physical machine, a virtual machine or a container, and the basic service is associated with at least one paas instance.

In the application, a paas management network element in a paas platform has an interface which is mutually communicated with a VNFM in an NFV platform, and when a basic service in the paas platform meets an instance updating condition, the paas management network element reports an instance updating result of the basic service to the VNFM through the interface, so that the VNFM automatically updates a maintained instance list and a connection relation list according to the instance updating result.

In one possible design, the instance update result includes at least one of an identification of the paas instance updated in the base service, a service type identification, an update type, and a network address.

Wherein, the identifier of the paas instance is used for uniquely representing the identity of the paas instance; the service type identification of the paas instance represents the service type of the paas instance; the network address of the paas instance indicates the address of the paas instance to the external service, which may be indicated by a port number and/or an IP address.

In one possible design, before the paas management network element performs the instance update on the basic service when the basic service satisfies the instance update condition, the method further includes:

the paas management network element acquires the average load of all paas instances associated with the basic service;

the paas management network element judges that the average load is greater than a first load threshold value; or

And the paas management network element judges that the average load is smaller than the second load threshold.

The service type identifier of the paas instance at this time is defined by using a first method, and all paas instances associated with the basic service have the same service type identifier. The load in the present application includes, but is not limited to, at least one of CPU occupancy, memory occupancy, and disk occupancy.

the paas management network element acquires the load of at least one paas instance in all paas instances associated with the basic service;

the paas management network element judges that the load of each paas instance in at least one paas instance is greater than a first load threshold value; or

And when the paas management network element judges that the load of each paas instance in the at least one service instance is smaller than the second load threshold value.

The service type identifier of the paas instance is defined by a second method, all paas instances associated with the basic service have different service type identifiers, and when the update type of the paas instance is termination, the service type identifier of the paas instance is the same as the identifier of the paas instance. The load in the present application includes, but is not limited to, at least one of CPU occupancy, memory occupancy, and disk occupancy.

In a second aspect, the present application provides a method for managing a virtual network element, including: the VNFM receives an instance updating result about the basic service from the paas management network element; the VNFM updates the connection point configuration information of all VNFs associated with the base service according to the instance update result.

The VNFM is a network element used for managing the VNF in the NFV platform, the paas management network element is a network element for managing basic services in the paas platform, and an interface for mutual communication is arranged between the VNFM and the paas management network element. The VNFM maintains the association between all VNFs in the NFV platform and all base services in the paas platform. The connection point configuration information of the VNF indicates a network address of a connection point of a VL instance to which the VNF belongs, the VL instance being used to connect two VNFC instances, or a VNFC instance and a paas instance. When the VL instance needs to be connected with the two instances, the connection with the two instances is a connection point, and the VNFM configures the network address of the connection point to be the same as the network address of the corresponding instance.

In the application, the VNFM receives the instance update result from the paas management network element to update the connection point configuration information of the associated VNF, so that when the paas instances associated with the basic service are increased or decreased, the call relationship between the basic service and the associated VNF can be automatically updated, so as to achieve the purpose of quickly recovering the service.

In one possible design, the VNFM updating the connection point configuration information for all VNFs associated with the base service according to the instance update structure includes: the VNFM updates a pre-stored or pre-configured instance list according to the instance updating result; the VNFM inquires all VNFs relevant to the basic service and VNFC instances relevant to all the VNFs according to a pre-stored or pre-configured connection relation table, the VNFM redistributes connection relations between paas instances relevant to the instance updating and VNFC instances relevant to all the VNFs after the instance updating is completed by the pass service, and the VNFM updates the pre-stored or pre-configured connection relation table according to the redistributed connection relations and updates connection point configuration information of all the VNFs according to the updated connection relation table.

The instance list represents attribute information of all paas instances in the paas platform, and the attribute information includes at least one of service type identifiers of the paas instances, and network addresses of the paas instances. The connection relationship table indicates the connection relationship between all paas instances in the paas platform and all VNFC instances in the NFV platform. The basic service can be called by at least one VNF, namely one basic service is associated with at least one VNF; a VNF includes at least one VNFC, each VNFC running on at least one VNFC instance, the VNFC instance being a virtual machine or container. The connection point configuration information of the VNF indicates a network address of a connection point of a VL instance associated with a VNFC instance within the VNF, the VL instance is used to connect two instances (two VNFC instances, or one VNFC instance and one paas instance), the corresponding VL instance has two connection points, and the network address of the connection point of the VL instance needs to be configured to be the same as the network address of the connected instance. The connection point where the VL instance and the VNFC instance are butted is an internal connection point (internal connection point), and the connection point where the VL instance and the paas instance are butted is an external connection point (external connection point).

In the application, the VNFM maintains an instance list and a connection relation table, updates the instance list according to an instance update result about the basic service notified by the paas management network element, reallocates a connection relation between the paas instance after the instance update of the basic service and the VNFC instance of the VNF, and updates the connection relation table according to the reallocated connection relation, so that a call relation between the basic service and the VNF can be automatically reestablished, and a purpose of quickly recovering a service is achieved.

In one possible design, the instance update result includes at least one of an identification of the paas instance updated in the pass service, a service type identification, an update type, and a network address.

Wherein the updated service instance is a paas instance created or terminated in the base service. The representation form of the instance update result may be a table, an array, a linked list, a structural body or other forms, and the application is not limited.

In one possible design, the service type identifier is defined using a first method, and all paas instances associated with a paas instance have the same service type identifier; or

The service type identifier is defined by using a second mode, all the paas instances related to the basic service have different service type identifiers, and when the update type of the paas instance is termination, the service type identifier of the paas instance is the same as the identifier of the paas instance.

In one possible design, the instance list includes at least one of a set of service type identifications, a set of paas instance identifications, and a set of network addresses; the service type identification set comprises n service type identifications, the paas instance identification set comprises n paas instance identification subsets, and the network address set comprises n network address subsets. The example list has n rows, each row including a service type identifier, a paas example identifier subset, and a network address subset having an association.

In one possible design, the VNFM updating the instance list according to the instance update result includes:

under the condition that the update type of the updated paas instance is created and the service type identifier is defined by using a first mode, retrieving in a service type identifier set of the instance list according to the service type identifier of the updated paas instance;

in the case that the service type identification of the updated paas instance is retrieved, adding the identification of the updated paas instance in a subset of paas instance identifications associated with the update type of the updated paas instance in the instance list, and adding the network address of the updated paas instance in a subset of network addresses associated with the updated paas instance in the instance list; or

In case the service type identification of the updated paas instance is not retrieved, a row is created in the instance list, the service type identification of the updated paas instance is added to the set of service type identifications, and the identification of the updated paas instance is added to the subset of paas instance identifications associated with the service type identification of the updated paas instance in the instance list, and the network address of the updated paas instance is added to the subset of network addresses associated with the service type identification of the updated paas instance in the instance list.

under the condition that the updating type of the updated paas instance is termination and the service type identifier is defined by using a first mode, retrieving in a service type identifier set according to the service type identifier of the paas instance;

and if the service type identifier of the paas instance is retrieved, deleting the identifier of the updated paas instance from the basic service identifier subset associated with the service type identifier of the updated paas instance in the instance list, and deleting the network address of the updated paas instance from the network address subset associated with the service type identifier of the updated paas instance in the instance list.

under the condition that the update type of the updated paas instance is created and the service type identifier is defined by using a second mode, retrieving in a paas instance identifier set according to the service type identifier of the updated paas instance;

if the same paas instance identifier as the updated paas instance is retrieved, adding the identifier of the updated paas instance in a subset of paas instance identifiers associated with the paas instance identifier in the instance list, and adding the network address of the updated paas instance in a subset of network addresses associated with the paas instance identifier in the instance list; or

If the same paas instance identifier as the updated paas instance is not retrieved, 1 row is created in the instance list, the service type identifier of the updated paas instance is added to the set of service type identifiers, the identifier of the updated paas instance is added to the subset of paas instance identifiers associated with the service type identifier of the updated paas instance in the instance list, and the network address of the updated paas instance is added to the subset of network addresses associated with the service type identifier of the updated paas instance in the instance list.

under the condition that the updating type of the updated paas instance is termination and the service type identifier is defined by using a second mode, searching in a paas instance identifier set according to the service type identifier of the updated paas instance;

and if the same paas instance identifier as the updated paas instance is retrieved, deleting the identifier of the updated paas instance from the subset of paas instance identifiers corresponding to the paas instance identifier in the instance list, and deleting the network address of the updated paas instance from the subset of network addresses associated with the paas instance identifier in the instance list.

In one possible design, the connection relation table includes at least one of a VNF identification, a VNFC identification, a paas instance identification, and a VL instance identification.

Each row of the connection relation table comprises a VNF identifier, a VNFC identifier, a paas instance identifier and a VL instance identifier with an association relation.

In one possible design, the redistributing the connection relationship between the associated paas instance and the VNFC instance associated with the at least one VNF after the base service completes the instance update includes:

redistributing the connection relation between the paas instance and the at least one VNFC instance after the instance is updated by the basic service in a random mode; wherein each paas instance is connected to at least one VNFC instance.

In one possible design, updating the connection relation table includes: searching in the connection relation table according to the VNFC instance identifier to be updated in the redistributed connection relation;

if the to-be-updated VNFC instance identification is retrieved, comparing whether the connection relation of the to-be-updated VNFC instance identification in the redistributed connection relation is the same as the corresponding connection relation of the to-be-updated VNFC instance in the connection relation table;

if the data are the same, the updating is not executed;

if not, identifying whether the connection relationship in the redistributed connection relationship is the corresponding connection relationship of the VNFC instance to be updated in the connection relationship table according to the VNFC instance to be updated;

if the to-be-updated VNFC instance identifier is not retrieved, 1 row is created in the connection relation table, and the connection relation of the to-be-updated VNFC instance in the connection relation table is added to the created row.

In one possible design, updating the connection point configuration information for all VNF associations includes: acquiring a modified or created connection relation in the updated connection relation table, and if the modified or created connection relation comprises a VL instance identifier, configuring a network address of an external connection point of a corresponding VL instance as a network address of a connected paas instance; if the modified or created connection relationship does not include the VL instance identifier, creating a VL instance, configuring the internal connection point configuration information of the created VL instance as the network address of the connected VNFC instance, configuring the external connection point configuration information of the created VL instance as the network address of the connected paas instance, and adding the created VL instance identifier to the connection relationship.

In a third aspect, the present application provides a method for managing a virtual network element, including:

and under the condition that the VNF meets the instance updating condition, the VNFM acquires an instance updating result of the VNF, and updates the connecting point configuration information of the VNF according to the instance updating result of the VNF.

The VNF is associated with at least one VNFC instance and/VL instance, the instance update condition indicates a condition for triggering the VNF to increase or decrease an instance (VNFC instance and/VL instance), and the instance update result indicates attribute information of an increased or decreased instance in the VNF. The connection point configuration information of the VNF indicates a network address of a connection point of a VL instance to which the VNF belongs, the VL instance being used to connect two VNFC instances, or a VNFC instance and a paas instance. When the VL instance needs to be connected with the two instances, the connection with the two instances is a connection point, and the VNFM configures the network address of the connection point to be the same as the network address of the corresponding instance.

In the application, the VNFM updates the connection point configuration information of the associated VNF according to the instance update result of the VNF, so that when the VNFC instances associated with the VNF are increased or decreased, the call relationship between the VNFC instances associated with the VNF and the associated paas instances can be automatically updated, so as to achieve the purpose of quickly recovering the service.

In one possible design, updating the connection point configuration information of the VNF according to the instance update result of the VNF includes:

inquiring all basic services related to the VNF according to a pre-stored or pre-configured connection relation table, inquiring paas examples related to all basic services, updating the connection relation between the related examples after the VNFM re-allocation of the examples and the paas examples related to all the basic services, updating the pre-stored or pre-configured connection relation table according to the re-allocated connection relation, and updating the connection point configuration information of the VL related to the VNF according to the updated connection relation table.

Wherein an instance update condition represents a condition that triggers adding or deleting an instance (VNFC instance and/or VL instance) in a VNF, such as: the VNFM may determine whether an instance update condition is satisfied according to a load of a VNFC instance associated with the VNF. The instance update result includes attribute information of the VNFC instance in which the update occurred in the VNF, for example: the attribute information includes, but is not limited to, at least one of a VNFC identification, a VNF identification, and a VL identification.

In one possible design, the connection relation table includes at least one of a VNF identification, a VNFC identification, a paas instance identification, and a VL instance identification. The connection relationship table identifies the connection relationships of all instances in the NFV platform and all instances in the paas platform.

In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a method for managing a virtual network element, including:

under the condition that a VNF needs to be created, acquiring a paas instance allocation result and a VNFC instance allocation result of the VNF by a VNFM;

updating an instance list according to the paas instance distribution result;

distributing the connection relation between the VNFC instance corresponding to the VNFC instance distribution result and the paas instance corresponding to the paas instance distribution result;

and updating a connection relation table according to the distributed connection relation, and updating the connection point configuration information of the VNF according to the updated connection relation table.

In one possible design, the instance list includes at least one of a service type identifier set, a paas instance identifier set, and a network address set, where the service type identifier set includes n service type identifiers, the paas instance identifier set includes n paas instance identifier subsets, the network address set includes n network address subsets, service type identifiers in the service type identifier set, paas instance identifier subsets in the paas instance identifier set, and network address subsets in the network address set are in one-to-one correspondence, and n is an integer greater than 0.

In one possible design, the connection relation table includes at least one of a VNF identifier, a VNFC identifier, a paas instance identifier, and a VL instance identifier.

In a fifth aspect, the present application provides a management apparatus for a virtual network element, where the management apparatus has a function of implementing a behavior of a paas management network element in the foregoing method. The functions can be realized by hardware, and the functions can also be realized by executing corresponding software by hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above-described functions.

In one possible implementation, the management apparatus includes: the processing unit is used for carrying out instance updating on the basic service under the condition that the basic service meets instance updating conditions; and the sending unit is used for sending the instance updating result of the basic service to a virtual network function management network element VNFM.

In another possible implementation manner, the management apparatus includes: a transmitter, a memory, and a processor; wherein the memory stores a set of program codes therein, and the processor is configured to call the program codes stored in the memory to perform the following operations: and under the condition that the basic service meets the instance updating condition, performing instance updating on the basic service. The transmitter is configured to send an instance update result of the basic service to a virtual network function management network element VNFM.

Based on the same inventive concept, as the principle and the beneficial effects of the apparatus for solving the problems can refer to the method implementation modes of the possible terminal devices and the beneficial effects brought by the method implementation modes, the method implementation can refer to the method implementation, and repeated parts are not described again.

In a sixth aspect, the present application provides a maintenance apparatus for a virtual network element, where the maintenance apparatus has a function of implementing a behavior of a VNFM in the foregoing method. The functions can be realized by hardware, and the functions can also be realized by executing corresponding software by hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above-described functions.

In one possible implementation, the maintenance apparatus includes: a receiving unit, configured to receive an instance update result regarding the basic service from the paas management network element; and the processing unit is used for updating the connection point configuration information of all VNFs related to the basic service according to the instance updating result.

In another possible implementation manner, the maintenance device includes: a receiver, a memory, and a processor; wherein, the receiver is used for receiving an instance update result about the basic service from the paas management network element; the memory stores a set of program code therein, and the processor is configured to call the program code stored in the memory, performing the following: and updating the connection point configuration information of all VNFs associated with the basic service according to the instance updating result.

In a seventh aspect, the present application provides a control apparatus for a virtual network element, where the control apparatus has a function of implementing a behavior of a VNFM in the foregoing method. The functions can be realized by hardware, and the functions can also be realized by executing corresponding software by hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above-described functions.

In one possible implementation, the control device includes: an obtaining unit, configured to obtain an instance update result of a VNF when the VNF satisfies an instance update condition; and the processing unit is used for updating the connection point configuration information of the VNF according to the instance updating result of the VNF.

In another possible implementation manner, the control device includes: a transmitter, a receiver, a memory, and a processor; wherein the memory stores a set of program codes therein, and the processor is configured to call the program codes stored in the memory to perform the following operations: acquiring an instance update result of a VNF under the condition that the VNF meets an instance update condition; and the processing unit is used for updating the connection point configuration information of the VNF according to the instance updating result of the VNF.

In a seventh aspect, the present application provides a device for creating a virtual network element, where the device has a function of implementing a behavior of a VNFM in the foregoing method. The functions can be realized by hardware, and the functions can also be realized by executing corresponding software by hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above-described functions.

In one possible implementation manner, the creating apparatus includes: the VNFM acquires a paas instance allocation result and a VNFC instance allocation result of the VNF under the condition that the VNF needs to be created;

the processing unit is used for updating an instance list according to the paas instance distribution result; distributing the connection relation between the VNFC instance corresponding to the VNFC instance distribution result and the paas instance corresponding to the paas instance distribution result; and updating a connection relation table according to the distributed connection relation, and updating the connection point configuration information of the VNF according to the updated connection relation table.

In another possible implementation manner, the creating device includes: a transmitter, a receiver, a memory, and a processor; wherein the memory stores a set of program codes therein, and the processor is configured to call the program codes stored in the memory to perform the following operations: under the condition that a VNF needs to be created, obtaining paas instance allocation results and VNFC instance allocation results of the VNF; updating an instance list according to the paas instance distribution result; distributing the connection relation between the VNFC instance corresponding to the VNFC instance distribution result and the paas instance corresponding to the paas instance distribution result; and updating a connection relation table according to the distributed connection relation, and updating the connection point configuration information of the VNF according to the updated connection relation table.

Yet another aspect of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium having stored therein instructions, which when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of the above-described aspects.

Yet another aspect of the present application provides a computer program product containing instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of the above-described aspects.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments or the background art of the present invention, the drawings required to be used in the embodiments or the background art of the present invention will be described below.

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

fig. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a method for managing a virtual network element according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3 is a schematic flowchart of a method for maintaining a virtual network element according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a method for creating a virtual network element according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a management apparatus for a virtual network element according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6 is another schematic structural diagram of a management apparatus for a virtual network element according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a maintenance apparatus for a virtual network element according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 8 is another schematic structural diagram of a maintenance apparatus for a virtual network element according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a control apparatus of a virtual network element according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 10 is another schematic structural diagram of a control apparatus of a virtual network element according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of an apparatus for creating a virtual network element according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 12 is another schematic structural diagram of an apparatus for creating a virtual network element according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed description of the invention

The embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention, where the communication system includes a VFV platform and a paas platform, where the NFV platform includes an OSS/BSS, an NFVO, a VNFM, a VIM, an NFVI, and a VNF.

The OSS/BSS is a comprehensive business operation and management platform with major functions including network management, system management, billing, business, finance and customer service.

NFVO is mainly used for business lifecycle management, resource scheduling capabilities across data centers, and business lifecycle management capabilities across vendors (including business deployment, capacity expansion, capacity reduction, and offline).

A VNF is a virtualized network element device or service, and is typically made up of multiple independently functioning components, referred to as VNFCs, which typically run on one or more instances (virtual machines or containers).

The VNFM is used for providing automatic management capabilities of deployment, capacity expansion, capacity reduction, offline and the like for the VNF.

The VNFM maintains an instance list and a connection relation table, and the instance list and the connection relation table may be located in the VNFM or in other network elements, which is not limited in this embodiment. The instance list stores attribute information of all paas instances in the paas platform, for example, the attribute information includes but is not limited to at least one of an identity, a service type identifier, an update type and a network address. The connection relation table holds connection relations between instances in the paas platform and instances in the NFV platform, for example: the connection relation table includes at least one of a VNFC identifier, a VNF identifier, a paas instance identifier, and a VL instance identifier.

NFVI is the infrastructure of the NFV platform, providing virtual computing, storage, and network resources to upper layers in the form of virtual machines or containers.

The VIM is primarily responsible for managing and monitoring the underlying virtual resources.

VNFCs (virtualized Network Function components) are a subset of VNF-related functions.

A VNFC Instance (VNFC Instance) is an Instance of a virtualized network function module component, VNFC, deployed to a particular virtualized container Instance, with its lifecycle management having dependencies with its associated VNFs.

The VL instance is used to connect two VNFCs and may also be used to connect 1 VNFC instance and 1 paas instance, and includes two connection points, where the connection point interfacing with the VNFC instance is an internal connection point and the connection point interfacing with the paas instance is an external connection point.

In the communication system of the embodiment of the present invention, the paas platform includes one or more basic services, the type of the basic service may be a general basic service or a special basic service, and the basic service provides a corresponding service function. The paas platform may have a variety of deployments, for example: the entire VNF black box or NFVI exists, but in any deployment form, the basic service can be managed only by the paas management network element, and the basic service is invisible to parts outside the paas platform, for example: the virtual network element in the NVF platform cannot directly know the attribute information (load status or number of instances, etc.) of the basic service.

Referring to fig. 2, fig. 2 is a method for managing a virtual network element according to an embodiment of the present invention, where the method includes, but is not limited to, the following steps:

s201, the paas management network element detects that the basic service meets the instance updating condition.

Specifically, the instance update condition is a condition for triggering the basic service to terminate or create the paas instance, and the paas management network element may determine whether the instance update condition is satisfied by detecting a load associated with the paas instance, where the load includes, but is not limited to, at least one of CPU occupancy, memory occupancy, and disk occupancy.

In one possible implementation, the paas management network element uses method one to detect whether the base service satisfies the instance update condition: the paas management network element acquires the average load of all paas instances related to the basic service, and if the average load is greater than a first load threshold value, the basic service is determined to meet instance updating conditions; or if the average load is smaller than the second load threshold, determining that the basic service meets the instance updating condition.

In another possible implementation, the paas management network element uses the second method to detect whether the base service satisfies the instance update condition: the paas management network element acquires the load of at least one paas instance in all paas instances related to the basic service, and if the load of at least one service instance is greater than a pre-stored or pre-configured first load threshold value, the basic service is determined to meet instance updating conditions; or, if the load of at least one service instance is smaller than a pre-stored or pre-configured second load threshold, determining that the base service meets the instance update condition.

S202, the paas management network element performs instance update on the basic service.

When the paas management network element judges that the basic service meets the instance updating condition, the paas instances in the basic service are increased or decreased according to a pre-stored or pre-configured instance updating strategy.

When the paas management network element detects whether the basic service meets the instance updating condition by using the first method, if the average load of all paas instances related to the basic service is greater than a first load threshold value, the paas management network element creates a new paas instance for the basic service according to a pre-stored or pre-configured instance updating strategy; if the average load is smaller than the second load threshold, the paas management network element terminates the paas instance in the basic service according to the pre-stored or pre-configured instance updating policy.

When the paas management network element uses the second method to detect whether the basic service meets the instance updating condition, if the load of at least one paas instance in all paas instances associated with the basic service is greater than a pre-stored or pre-configured first load threshold, creating a new paas instance for the basic service according to a pre-stored or pre-configured instance updating policy; and if the load of at least one paas instance is smaller than a pre-stored or pre-configured second load threshold value, terminating the paas instance in the basic service according to the instance updating policy.

In the method for updating paas instances, the first load threshold is greater than or equal to the second load threshold, the instance update policy indicates a policy for increasing or decreasing paas instances, the number and the location of the terminated or created paas instances in the instance update policy are not limited in this embodiment, and may be predefined or preconfigured as needed.

S203, the paas management network element sends the instance update result of the basic service to the VNFM, and the VNFM receives the instance update result from the paas management network element.

The instance update result represents attribute information of an updated paas instance in the paas instance, the updated paas instance is a created paas instance or a terminated paas instance, and the instance update result includes at least one of an identifier of the updated paas instance, a service type identifier, an update type and a network address. The identity of the paas instance is used for uniquely indicating the identity of the paas instance, the service type identity is used for indicating the service type of the paas instance, the update type of the paas instance indicates that the paas instance is terminated or created, and the network address indicates the address of the paas instance for providing services to outside, including an IP address and a port number. Wherein, when the update type of the paas instance is termination, the network address may be null; the network address is indispensable when the update type of the paas instance is creation.

The service type identifier of the paas instance may have different definition modes according to different methods for detecting the load of the basic service, and the service type identifier of the paas instance uses a unified definition mode in the same paas platform.

In a possible implementation, in case of using the method in S201 to trigger the instance update condition, all paas instances associated with the base service have the same service type identifier, which may be specified by the paas management element at the time of base service creation.

In another possible implementation manner, in the case that the instance update condition is triggered by using the method two in S202, all paas instances associated with the base service have different service type identifiers, and if the update type of a paas instance is termination, the service type identifier of the paas instance is the same as the identifier of the paas instance. For example: the basic service is associated with 4 paas instances, the identifiers of the 4 paas instances are 2, 4, 6 and 7 respectively, then the service type identifiers and the identifiers of the 4 paas instances are the same, the update types of the 4 paas instances are all created, and the service type identifiers of the 4 paas instances are 3, 5,7 and 8 respectively. Another example is: the identifier of the paas instance is 5, the update type of the paas instance is termination, and the service type identifier of the paas instance is the same as the identifier representing the identity, which is also 5.

For example, the instance update result is represented in a table manner, each row of the instance update result represents attribute information of 1 updated paas instance, and the instance update result is shown in table 1:

paas instance identification	Service type identification	Update type	Network address
				2	6	TERMINATE
5	6	CREATE	192.168.1.3:80
				12	6	CREATE	192.168.1.55:8080

TABLE 1

The paas instance identifiers updated in table 1 are 2, 5 and 12, wherein the update types of the paas instances 2, 5 and 12 use a first definition mode, the service type identifier has 6, the update type of the paas instance 2 is termination, and the corresponding network address may be null; the update types of paas instance 5 and paas instance 12 are creation and the network addresses are not null.

It should be noted that the data structure of the example update result is not limited to the form of table 1, and may also be represented by an array, a linked list, a structural body, or another data structure, which is not limited in this embodiment.

The process of updating the instance list by the paas management network element may include:

the instance list represents attribute information of all paas instances in the paas platform, and the attribute information comprises at least one of identification, service type identification and network address of the paas instances.

In a possible implementation manner, the instance list includes at least one of a service type identifier set, a paas instance identifier set, and a network address set, the service type identifier set includes n service type identifiers, the paas instance identifier set includes n paas instance identifier subsets, the network address set includes n network address subsets, the service type identifiers in the service type identifier set, the paas instance identifier subsets in the paas instance identifier set, and the network address subsets in the network address set correspond to one another one to one, that is, the instance list includes n rows, each row includes a service type identifier, a paas instance identifier subset, and a network address subset having an association relationship, and the service type identifier set, the paas instance identifier set, and the network address set are columns of the instance list.

Illustratively, a pre-stored or pre-configured list of instances of VNFM is shown in table 2:

service type identification Collection	paas instance identification Collection	Network address aggregation
			1	{1,2,3}	{192.168.1.1:80, 192.168.1.2:80, 192.168.1.3:80}
5	{5,7,8,9,12}	{192.168.1.55:8080, 192.168.1.57:8080, 192.168.1.58:8080, 192.168.1.59:8080, 192.168.1.62:8080}

TABLE 2

The elements in each row in table 2 have an association relationship, the service type identifier 1, the paas instance identifier subset {1,2,3} and the network address subset {192.168.1.1:80, 192.168.1.2:80, 192.168.1.3:80} are associated, the paas instance identifier 1 and the network address 192.168.1.1:80 correspond, the paas instance identifier 2 and the network address 192.168.1.2:80 correspond, and the paas instance identifier 3 and the network address 192.168.1.3:80 correspond. The service type identification 5, the paas example identification subset {5,7,8,9,12} is associated with the network address subset {192.168.1.55:8080,192.168.1.57:8080,192.168.1.58:8080, 192.168.1.59:8080, 192.168.1.62:8080}, and the paas example identification subset {5,7,8,9,12} corresponds to the elements in the network address subset {192.168.1.55:8080,192.168.1.57:8080,192.168.1.58:8080, 192.168.1.59:8080, 192.168.1.62:8080}, one to one.

In one possible implementation, the method for updating the instance list by the VNFM includes:

in the case that the service type identifier of the updated paas instance is retrieved, adding the identifier of the updated paas instance in a subset of paas instance identifiers in the instance list associated with the update type of the updated paas instance, and adding the network address of the updated paas instance in a subset of network addresses in the instance list associated with the updated paas instance; or

In case the service type identifier of the updated paas instance is not retrieved, adding the service type identifier of the updated paas instance to the service type identifier set, adding the identifier of the updated paas instance to a subset of paas instance identifiers associated with the service type identifier of the updated paas instance in the instance list, and adding the network address of the updated paas instance to a subset of network addresses associated with the service type identifier of the updated paas instance in the instance list.

For example: the service type identifier of the updated paas instance is 1, the update type is create, the identifier of the updated paas instance is 4, the network address is 192.168.1.105:80, the VNFM retrieves the service type identifier 1 from the service type identifier set in the instance list of table 2, the retrieval result is that the service type identifier 1 is retrieved, the identifier 4 of the updated paas instance is added to the paas instance identifier set {1,2,3}, the updated paas instance is {1,2,3,4}, the network address 192.168.1.105:80 of the updated paas instance is added to the network address subset {192.168.1.1:80, 192.168.1.2:80, 192.168.1.3:80}, the updated network address subset is {192.168.1.1:80, 192.168.1.2:80, 192.168.1.3:80,192.168.1.105:80}, and the paas instance identifier 4 and the network address 192.168.1.105:80 are associated. The example list in table 2 is updated as shown in table 3:

service type mark Sign board	paas example mark Sign board	Network address
			1	{1,2,3,4}	{192.168.1.1:80, 192.168.1.2:80, 192.168.1.3:80,192.168.1.105:80}
5	{5,7,8,9, 12}	{192.168.1.55:8080, 192.168.1.57:8080, 192.168.1.58:8080, 192.168.1.59:8080, 192.168.1.62: 8080}

TABLE 3

Another example is: the service type identifier of the updated paas instance is 2, the service type identifier is defined by using a first mode, the update type of the paas instance is creation, the network address is 192.168.1.105:80, and the identifier of the updated paas instance is 4. The VNFM does not retrieve paas instance 4 in the service type identifier set of the instance list of table 2, creates 1 row in the instance list, adds service type identifier 4, paas instance identifier 4 and network address 192.168.1.105:80 in the row, and the updated instance list is as shown in table 4:

service type identification set Combination of Chinese herbs	paas instance identity set Combination of Chinese herbs	Network address aggregation
			1	{1,2,3}	{192.168.1.1:80, 192.168.1.2:80, 192.168.1.3:80}
5	{5,7,8,9,12}	{192.168.1.55:8080, 192.168.1.57:8080, 192.168.1.58:8080, 192.168.1.59:8080, 192.168.1.62:8080}
			4	{4}	{192.168.1.105:80}

TABLE 4

In another possible implementation, the updating, by the VNFM, the instance list according to the instance update result includes:

under the condition that the updating type of the updated paas instance is termination and the service type identifier is defined by using a first mode, retrieving in the service type identifier set according to the service type identifier of the paas instance;

if the service type identifier of the paas instance is retrieved, terminating the identifier of the updated paas instance in a basic service identifier subset associated with the service type identifier of the updated paas instance in the instance list, and terminating the network address of the updated paas instance in a network address subset associated with the service type identifier of the updated paas instance in the instance list.

For example: the update type of the updated paas instance is termination, the service type identifier is defined in a first manner, the paas instance identifier is 5, the paas instance identifier is 8, the VNFM retrieves the service type identifier 5 from the service type identifier set in the instance list of table 2, deletes the paas instance identifier 8 from the paas instance identifier subset associated with the service type identifier 5, and deletes the network address 192.168.1.58:8080 from the network address subset associated with the paas instance identifier 8, and the updated instance list is shown in table 5:

service type identification set Combination of Chinese herbs	paas instance identity set Combination of Chinese herbs	Network address aggregation
			1	{1,2,3}	{192.168.1.1:80, 192.168.1.2:80, 192.168.1.3:80}
5	{5,7,9,12}	{192.168.1.55:8080, 192.168.1.57:8080, 192.168.1.59:8080, 192.168.1.62: 8080}

TABLE 5

under the condition that the update type of the updated paas instance is created and the service type identifier is defined by using a second mode, retrieving in the paas instance identifier set according to the service type identifier of the updated paas instance;

If the same paas instance identifier as the updated paas instance is not retrieved, adding the service type identifier of the updated paas instance to the service type identifier set, adding the identifier of the updated paas instance to a paas instance identifier subset associated with the service type identifier of the updated paas instance in the instance list, and adding the network address of the updated paas instance to a network address subset associated with the service type identifier of the updated paas instance in the instance list.

For example: the update type of the updated paas instance is creation, the service type identifier is defined in a second manner, the service type identifier of the created paas instance is 8, the paas instance identifier is 10, the network address is 192.168.1.70:8080, the VNFM retrieves the service type identifier 8 from the service type identifier set shown in table 2, the service type identifier 9 is not retrieved, then the VNFM continues to retrieve from the paas instance identifier set of the instance list, the paas instance identifier 8 is retrieved, the updated paas instance identifier 10 is added to the paas instance identifier set corresponding to the paas instance identifier 8, and the network address is 192.168.1.70:8080 is added to the network address subset. The updated example list 3 is shown in table 6.

Service type mark Identification set	paas example mark Identification set	Network address aggregation
			1	{1,2,3}	{192.168.1.1:80, 192.168.1.2:80, 192.168.1.3:80}
5	{5,7,8,9, 12,10}	{192.168.1.55:8080, 192.168.1.57:8080, 192.168.1.58:8080, 192.168.1.59: 8080, 192.168.1.62:8080, 192.168.1.70:8080}

TABLE 6

Another example is: the update type of the updated paas instance is creation, the service type identifier is defined by the second method, the service type identifier of the created paas instance is 11, the identifier of the updated paas instance is 13, and the network address is 192.168.1.71: 8080. The VNFM first retrieves the service type identifier 11 from the service type identifier set of the instance list, does not retrieve the service type identifier 11, continues to retrieve from the paas instance identifier set, still does not retrieve 11, creates a row, adds the updated service type identifier, and network address of the paas instance to the row, and the updated instance list is shown in table 7:

service type mark Identification set	paas example mark Identification set	Network address aggregation
			1	{1,2,3}	{192.168.1.1:80, 192.168.1.2:80, 192.168.1.3:80}
5	{5,7,8,9, 12}	{192.168.1.55:8080, 192.168.1.57:8080, 192.168.1.58:8080, 192.168.1.59:8080, 192.168.1.62:8080}
			11	{13}	{192.168.1.71:8080}

TABLE 7

under the condition that the updating type of the updated paas instance is termination and the service type identifier is defined by using a second mode, retrieving in the paas instance identifier set according to the service type identifier of the updated paas instance;

if the same paas instance identifier as the updated paas instance is retrieved, terminating the identifier of the updated paas instance in a subset of paas instance identifiers corresponding to the paas instance identifier in the instance list, and terminating the network address of the updated paas instance in a subset of network addresses associated with the paas instance identifier in the instance list.

For example: the update type of the updated paas instance is termination, the service type identifier of the terminated service instance is defined by a second method, the service type identifier of the terminated paas instance is 12, the identifier is 12, the VNFM retrieves the service type identifier 12 from the service type identifier set, if the retrieval result is that the service type identifier 12 is not retrieved, the search continues in the paas instance identifier set, the paas instance identifier 12 is retrieved, the paas instance 12 is deleted from the paas instance identifier set, and the associated network address is deleted from the network address set, and the updated instance list is shown in table 8.

Service type identification set	paas instance identity set	Network address aggregation
			1	{1,2,3}	{192.168.1.1:80, 192.168.1.2:80, 192.168.1.3:80}
5	{5,7,8,9}	{192.168.1.55:8080, 192.168.1.57:8080, 192.168.1.58:8080, 192.168.1.59:8080}

TABLE 8

And S204, updating the connection point configuration information corresponding to all VNFs related to the basic service according to the instance updating result.

Specifically, the VNFM maintains an association relationship between all VNFs in the NFV platform and all basic services in the paas platform. The connection point configuration information of the VNF indicates a network address of a connection point of a VL instance to which the VNF belongs, the VL instance being used to connect two VNFC instances, or a VNFC instance and a paas instance. When the VL instance needs to be connected with the two instances, the connection with the two instances is a connection point, and the VNFM configures the network address of the connection point to be the same as the network address of the corresponding instance.

In one possible implementation, the VNFM updating the connection point configuration information of all VNFs associated with the base service according to the instance update structure includes: the VNFM updates a pre-stored or pre-configured instance list according to the instance updating result; the VNFM inquires all VNFs relevant to the basic service and VNFC instances relevant to all the VNFs according to a pre-stored or pre-configured connection relation table, the VNFM redistributes connection relations between paas instances relevant to the instance updating and VNFC instances relevant to all the VNFs after the instance updating is completed by the pass service, and the VNFM updates the pre-stored or pre-configured connection relation table according to the redistributed connection relations and updates connection point configuration information of all the VNFs according to the updated connection relation table.

Specifically, the connection relation table is used to record connection relations between all VNFC instances in the NFV platform and all instances in the paas platform. Optionally, the connection relation table includes at least one of a VNF identifier, a VNFC instance identifier, a paas instance identifier, and a VL instance identifier. The VNF identification is used to uniquely represent an identity of the VNF, which may be assigned by the MANO at VNF creation time; the VNFC instance is used to uniquely represent the identity of the VNFC, and may also be assigned by the MANO; VL instances are used to connect two instances, for example: a VL instance connects two VNFC instances, or connects a VNFC instance and a paas instance, the VL instance has two connection points, the network address of a connection point is the same as the network address of the connected VNFC instance or paas instance, for example: the VL instance is used for connecting the VNFC instance 1 and the VNFC instance 2, a connection point between the VL instance and the VNFC instance 1 is set as a first connection point, and the network address of the first connection point is the same as that of the VNFC instance 1; the connection point between the VL instance and the VNFC instance 2 is a second connection point, and the network address of the second connection point is the same as the network address of the VNFC instance 2.

Wherein, the connection point between the VL instance and the VNFC instance is an internal connection point (internal connection point), and the connection point between the VL instance and the paas instance is an external connection point (external connection point).

For example: each row of the connection relation table represents 1 connection relation, and the pre-stored or pre-configured connection relation table of VNFM is shown in table 9:

VNF identification	VNFC instance identification	paas instance identification	VL instance identification
				1	2	4	3
1	3	5	4
				1	4	6	5

TABLE 9

The VNFM queries the updated instances of paas of the base service occurrence instance in the updated instance list, for example: and inquiring the paas instances which belong to the same service type identification as the updated paas instances in the updated instance list, and generating a paas instance list by the inquired paas instances. And then, retrieving in the connection relation table according to each paas instance identifier in the paas instance list, and generating a VNFC instance list according to the retrieved VNFC instance, wherein the VNFC instance list can be classified according to the VNF.

The VNFM reallocates the VNFC instances in the VNFC instance list and the paas instances in the paas instance list to connection relationships according to a preset rule, for example: the method comprises the following steps of adopting a random mode to redistribute VNFC instances in a VNFC instance list and paas instances in a paas instance list, ensuring that at least one VNFC instance is connected with one paas instance, and in the process of redistributing connection relations, three conditions are included: the connection relation between the VNFC instance and the paas instance is kept unchanged, the connection between the VNFC instance and the paas instance is deleted, and the VNFC instance is changed to be connected with other paas instances.

For example: the paas instances after the instance update of the base service are paas instance 1, paas instance 5 and paas instance 6, and the VNFM retrieves, in the connection relation table, VNFC instances associated with the base service, which are VNFC instance 2, VNFC instance 3 and VNFC instance 4, where VNFC instance 2, VNFC instance 3 and VNFC instance 4 all belong to VNF 1. The VNFM re-allocation is shown in table 10 for the connection relationship between the 3 paas instances and the 3 VNFC instances:

VNF identification	VNFC instance identification	paas instance identification	VL instance identification
				1	2	1	7
1	3	5	8
				2	4	6	9

Watch 10

The VNFM connects VNFC instance 2 with paas instance 1, VNFC instance 2 with paas instance 5, and VNFC instance 4 with paas instance 6. VNFC instance 2 and paas instance 1 are connected via VL instance 7, VNFC instance 3 and paas instance 5 are connected via VL instance 7, and VNFC instance 4 is connected via VL instance 8.

It should be noted that the connection relationship reallocated in table 10 is only an example, and does not limit the embodiment of the present invention.

The process of updating the connection relation table by the VNFM may include:

and the VNFM updates the connection relation table according to the redistributed connection relation, and the updating process comprises the following steps: searching in a connection relation table according to each VNFC instance identifier and VNF identifier corresponding to the redistributed connection relation, if the VNFC instance identifier and the VNF identifier are searched in the connection relation table, comparing whether the connection relation searched in the connection relation table is the same as the connection relation corresponding to the VNFC instance identifier in the redistributed connection relation, if so, keeping the connection relation unchanged, and if not, covering and updating the connection relation in the connection relation table by the reclassified connection relation; and if the VNFC instance identification is not retrieved, creating a row in the connection relation table, and adding the VNF identification, the VNFC instance identification and the paas instance identification at the corresponding position of the created row.

For example: the update process of the connection relation table will be explained based on the examples of table 9 and table 10:

the VNFC first retrieves from table 9 according to the VNFC instance identifier 2 and the VNF identifier 1 in table 10, retrieves the VNFC instance identifier 2 and the VNF identifier 1 from table 9, compares the row retrieved from table 9 with the row where the VNFC instance identifier 2 in table 10 is located, and overwrites the row retrieved from table 9 with the row where the VNFC instance identifier 2 in table 10 is located. The VNFC retrieves from table 9 according to VNFC instance identifier 1 and VNFC instance 3 in table 10, retrieves VNFC instance identifier 3 and VNF identifier 1, compares the row retrieved from table 9 with the row corresponding to table 10, and overlays the row retrieved from table 9 with the row corresponding to VNFC identifier 3 and VNF identifier 1 in table 10. The VNFM retrieves from the table 9 according to the VNFC instance identifier 4 and the VNF identifier 2, does not retrieve a corresponding row from the table 9, creates 1 row from the table 9, and adds identifiers corresponding to the VNFC instance 4 and the VNF identifier 2 in the table 10 in the row.

According to the above-described updating process of the connection relation table, the updated connection relation table is shown in table 11.

VNF identification	VNFC instance identification	paas instance identification	VL instance identification
				1	2	1	7
1	3	5	8
				2	4	6	9
1	4	6	5

TABLE 11

The process of updating the connection point configuration information of all VNFs by the VNFM may include:

the VNFM acquires a modified connection relation or a created connection relation in the updated connection relation table, and if the modified connection relation or the created connection relation comprises a VL instance identifier, the external connection point configuration information of the corresponding VL instance is configured as a network address of the connected paas instance; if the modified or created connection relationship does not include the VL instance identifier, creating a VL instance, configuring the internal connection point configuration information of the created VL as the network address of the connected VNFC instance, configuring the external connection point configuration information of the created VL instance as the network address of the connected paas instance, and adding the created VL instance identifier to the connection relationship.

For example: the procedure of updating the connection point configuration information of the VNF is explained according to the connection relationship table of table 11:

the VNFM determines that the rows (connection relationships) in table 11 where the update occurs are rows 1 to 3, and configures the network address of the internal connection point of VL instance 7 as the network address of VNFC instance 2, and configures the network address of the external connection point of VL instance 7 as the network address of paas instance 1. The VNFM configures the network address of the internal connection point of VL-instance 8 as the network address of VNFC-instance 2 and the network address of the external connection point of VL-instance 8 as the network address of paas-instance 5. The VNFM configures the network address of the internal connection point of VL-instance 9 as the network address of VNFC-instance 4 and the network address of the external connection point of VL-instance 9 as the network address of paas-instance 6.

In the method described in fig. 2, the VNFM maintains an instance list and a connection relationship table, and updates the instance list according to an instance update result about the basic service notified by the paas management network element, reallocates the connection relationship between the paas instance after the instance update of the basic service and the VNFC instance of the VNF, and updates the connection relationship table according to the reallocated connection relationship, so as to automatically reestablish the call relationship between the basic service and the VNF, thereby achieving the purpose of quickly recovering the service.

Referring to fig. 3, a flowchart of a method for managing a virtual network element according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown, where in this embodiment, the method includes the following steps:

s301, the VNFM detects that the VNF meets an instance updating condition, and instance updating is carried out on the VNF.

Specifically, the instance update condition is a condition that triggers the termination or creation of an instance of the VNF, and the instance of the VNF is terminated or created and includes a VNFC instance and/or a VL instance. The VNFM may determine whether the instance update condition is satisfied according to a load of the VNFC instance associated with the VNF, where the load includes, but is not limited to, at least one of a CPU load, a memory load, and a disk load.

In one possible implementation, the VNFM uses method one to determine whether the instance update condition is satisfied: the VNFM acquires the average load of the loads of all VNFC instances related to the VNF, and if the average load is larger than a first load threshold value, the VNF is determined to meet instance updating conditions; alternatively, if the average load is less than the second load threshold, it is determined that the VNF satisfies the instance update condition.

In another possible implementation, the VNFM uses a second method to determine whether the instance update condition is satisfied: the VNFM acquires the load of at least one VNFC instance in all VNFC instances related to the VNF, and if the load of each VNFC instance in the load of the at least one VNFC instance is greater than a first load threshold, the VNF is determined to meet an instance update condition; or if the load of each VNFC instance of the at least one VNFC instance is less than the second load threshold, determining that the VNF satisfies the instance update condition.

In the above example, the detection mode is updated, and the first load threshold is greater than or equal to the second load threshold.

Wherein the VNFM may instruct the VNF to perform the instance update by sending a VNF instance update indication instructing the VNF to add or subtract instances (VL instances and/or VNFC instances) according to a pre-stored or pre-configured instance update policy.

S302, the VNFM acquires an instance updating result of the VNF.

Specifically, the instance update result represents attribute information of an instance (VNFC instance and/or VL instance) in the VNF that is increased or decreased, for example, the instance update result includes at least one of a VNF identifier, a VL instance identifier, and a VNFC identifier.

S303, the VNFM updates the configuration information of the connecting point of the VNF.

Specifically, the connection point configuration information of the VNF indicates a network address of a connection point of a VL instance to which the VNF belongs, and the VL instance is used to connect two VNFC instances, or a VNFC instance and a paas instance. When the VL instance needs to be connected with the two instances, the connection with the two instances is a connection point, and the VNFM configures the network address of the connection point to be the same as the network address of the corresponding instance.

Specifically, the instance update result represents attribute information of the instance updated in the VNF, for example: the attribute information includes at least one of a VNF identification, a VNFC instance identification, and a VL instance identification. In one possible embodiment, the instance update result is represented in a tabular manner, such as: example update results are shown in table 12:

VNF identification	VNFC instance identification	VL instance identification
			2	5	11
2	6	12

TABLE 12

The VNFM acquires a VNFC instance associated after an instance update of the VNF occurs, for example: the VNFM searches, in the instance list, for a VNFC instance that belongs to the same VNF as the updated VNFC instance in the VNF, generates a VNFC instance list according to the found VNFC instance, searches, in the connection relationship table, all corresponding paas instances according to the found VNFC instance, generates a paas instance list according to the found paas instances, reallocates the connection relationship between the VNFC instance in the VNFC instance list and the paas instance in the paas instance list, and ensures that the VNFC instance is connected with at least one paas instance, where a process of reallocating the connection relationship refers to the description of the embodiment in fig. 2, and is not described herein again.

The process of updating the connection relation table by the VNFM may include:

and the VNFM updates the connection relation table according to the redistributed connection relation, and the updating process comprises the following steps: searching in a connection relation table according to each VNFC instance identifier corresponding to the redistributed connection relation, if the VNFC instance identifier is searched in the connection relation table, comparing whether the connection relation searched in the connection relation table is the same as the connection relation corresponding to the VNFC instance identifier in the redistributed connection relation, if so, keeping the connection relation unchanged, and if not, covering and updating the connection relation in the connection relation table by the reclassified connection relation; and if the VNFC instance identification is not retrieved, creating a row in the connection relation table, and adding the VNF identification, the VNFC instance identification and the paas instance identification at the corresponding position of the created row.

The process of updating the connection point configuration information of the VNF by the VNFM may include:

In the method described in fig. 3, the VNFM maintains a connection relationship table, and according to the result of the instance update of the VNF, the VNFM reallocates the connection relationship between the instance after the instance update of the VNF and the paas instance corresponding to the VNF, and updates the connection relationship table according to the reallocated connection relationship, so as to automatically reestablish the call relationship between the VNF and the basic service, thereby achieving the purpose of quickly recovering the service.

Referring to fig. 4, which is a flowchart illustrating a method for creating a virtual network element according to an embodiment of the present invention, in an embodiment of the present invention, the method includes:

s401, VNFM is established to be VNF.

Specifically, the VNFM may instantiate the created VNF according to a VNFD (virtual network function descriptor), allocate a VNFC instance to the created VNF, and configure related parameters of the VFN, so that the created VNF can operate as one logical entity. The VNFM acquires a VNFC instance assignment result of the created VNF, where the VNFC instance assignment result includes attribute information of a VNFC assigned to the VNF, and the attribute information includes, but is not limited to, at least one of a VNFC identifier, a VNF identifier, and a VNFC instance identifier.

S402, the VNFM sends a request for allocating a basic service to the paas management network element, and the paas management network element receives the request from the VNFM.

Specifically, when the VNF needs to invoke a certain basic service, the VNFM sends a request for allocating the basic service to the paas management network element, where the request may carry attribute information of the basic service, where the attribute information includes but is not limited to: deployment location information, basic capability information, identification and the like.

S403, the paas management network element sends the paas instance allocation result to the VNFM, and the VNFM receives the paas instance allocation result from the paas management network element.

The paas instance allocation result indicates attribute information of a paas instance allocated by the paas management network element for the created VNF, where the attribute information includes, but is not limited to, at least one of a paas instance identifier, a service type identifier, and a network address. The paas instance identification is used for uniquely representing the identity of the paas instance, the service type identification represents the service type of the paas instance, and the service type identifications of all paas instances related to the basic service are the same or different; the network address represents the address of the paas instance to the foreign service. The expression form of the paas instance allocation result can be a table, an array, a linked list or a structural body and the like. The paas instance allocated by the paas management network element to the VNF may be an existing paas instance or a created paas instance.

S404, updating an example list by the VNFM.

Specifically, the VNFM updates a pre-stored or pre-configured instance list according to the paas instance allocation result, where the instance list indicates attribute information of all paas instances in the paas platform, and the attribute information includes: at least one of an identification, a service type identification, and a network address. The VNFM is searched in the instance list, and if the instance list comprises the attribute information of the allocated paas instance, the instance list is not updated; if the allocated paas instance is not included in the instance list, the attribute information of the allocated paas instance is added to the instance list.

S405, the VNFM allocates connection relations.

Wherein, the connection relationship between the VNFC instance in the VNFC instance allocation result in the VNFM allocation S401 and the paas instance in the paas instance allocation result in S403 is, for example: the VNFM adopts a random mode to distribute connection relations, and the VNFC instances are ensured to be connected with at least one paas instance. The connection relationship between the paas instance and the VNFC instance is required to be established in such a way that the paas instance and the VNFC instance are butted through the VL instance. In the process of allocating the connection relationship, it needs to be ensured that each VNFC instance establishes a connection relationship with at least 1 paas instance.

S406, the VNFM updates the connection relation table.

Specifically, the connection relationship table is pre-stored or pre-configured, and may be set in the VNFM, and the connection relationship table is used to record connection relationships between all VNFC instances in the NFV platform and all instances in the paas platform. And the VNFM updates the connection relation table according to the distributed connection relation, and the updating process comprises the following steps: searching in a connection relation table according to each VNFC instance identifier corresponding to the distributed connection relation, if the VNFC instance identifier is searched in the connection relation table, comparing whether the connection relation searched in the connection relation table is the same as the connection relation corresponding to the VNFC instance identifier in the redistributed connection relation, if so, keeping the connection relation unchanged, and if not, covering and updating the connection relation in the connection relation table by the reclassified connection relation; and if the VNFC instance identification is not retrieved, creating a row in the connection relation table, and adding the VNF identification, the VNFC instance identification and the paas instance identification at the corresponding position of the created row.

S407, the VNFM updates the configuration information of the connecting point of the VNF.

Specifically, the VNFM acquires a modified connection relationship or a created connection relationship in the updated connection relationship table, and if the modified connection relationship or the created connection relationship includes a VL instance identifier, configures a network address of an external connection point of a corresponding VL instance as a network address of a connected paas instance; if the VL instance identification is not included in the modified or created connection relationship, creating a VL instance, configuring the network address of the internal connection point of the created VL as the network address of the connected VNFC instance, configuring the network address of the external connection point of the created VL instance as the network address of the connected paas instance, and adding the identification of the created VL instance to the connection relationship.

In the method described in fig. 4, the VNFM maintains an instance list and a connection relationship table, and according to the created VNF assignment and paas instance update instance list, the VNFM assigns a connection relationship between a paas instance associated with the VNF and a VNFC instance of the VNF, and according to the assigned connection relationship, updates the connection relationship table, and can automatically establish a call relationship between the basic service and the VNF, so as to achieve the purpose of quickly establishing a service.

The method of embodiments of the present invention is set forth above in detail and the apparatus of embodiments of the present invention is provided below.

Referring to fig. 5, fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a management apparatus for a virtual network element according to an embodiment of the present invention, which is hereinafter referred to as a management apparatus 5 for short, where the management apparatus 5 may include a processing unit 501 and a sending unit 502, where details of each unit are described below.

A processing unit 501, configured to perform instance update on a basic service when the basic service meets an instance update condition; for example: the processing unit 501 executes S201 and S202 in fig. 2.

A sending unit 502, configured to send an instance update result of the basic service to a virtual network function management network element VNFM. For example: the transmitting unit 502 is configured to execute S203 in fig. 2.

In a possible implementation, the instance update result includes at least one of an identification, a service type identification, an update type, and a network address of the paas instance updated in the base service.

In a possible implementation manner, the processing unit 501 is configured to, before the paas management network element updates the basic service, in a case that the basic service satisfies the instance update condition, further:

detecting an average load of all paas instances associated with the base service;

judging that the average load is greater than a first load threshold; or

And judging that the average load is smaller than a second load threshold value.

In one possible implementation, the service type identifier is defined in a first manner, and all paas instances associated with the base service have the same service type identifier.

detecting the load of at least one paas instance in all paas instances associated with the basic service;

determining that the load of each of the at least one paas instance is greater than a first load threshold; or

And judging that the load of each paas instance in the at least one paas instance is smaller than a second load threshold value.

In a possible implementation manner, the service type identifier is defined in a second manner, all the paas instances associated with the base service have different service type identifiers, and when the update type of a paas instance is termination, the service type identifier of the paas instance is the same as the identifier of the paas instance.

The management device 5 may be a paas management network element, and the management device 5 may also be a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), an application-specific integrated chip (asic), a system on chip (SoC), a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a Network Processor (NP), a digital signal processing circuit, a Micro Controller Unit (MCU), or a Programmable Logic Device (PLD) or other integrated chips, which implement related functions.

The embodiment of the present invention and the embodiment of the method in fig. 2 are based on the same concept, and the technical effects brought by the embodiment of the present invention are also the same, and the specific process can refer to the description of the embodiment of the method in fig. 2, and will not be described herein again.

As shown in fig. 6, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a management device for a virtual network element, which is hereinafter referred to as a management device 6.

In one possible design, the management device 6 is a paas management network element that includes:

a memory 602 for storing programs and data. The number of the memories may be one or more, and the type of the memories may be any form of storage medium. For example: the memory may be a Random Access Memory (RAM) or a Read Only Memory (ROM), or a flash memory, where the memory 602 may be located in the terminal device alone or in the processor 601.

A receiver 603 for receiving signals. The receiver 603 may be implemented as a separate chip, or may be implemented as a receiving circuit within the processor 601 or as an input interface.

A processor 601, configured to execute the program code stored in the memory 602, and when the program code is executed, the processor 601 is configured to perform an instance update on a basic service if the basic service satisfies an instance update condition; for example: the processor 601 executes S201 and S202 in fig. 2.

A transmitter 604 for transmitting a signal. The transmitter 604 may be implemented as a separate chip, or may be implemented as a transmit circuit within the processor 601 or as an output interface. Optionally, the transmitter 604 may also include a transmit antenna. The transmitting antenna included in the transmitter 604 and the receiving antenna included in the receiver 603 may be two antennas separately arranged, or may be one antenna. A transmitter 604, configured to send an instance update result of the basic service to a virtual network function management network element VNFM, for example, the transmitter performs S203 in fig. 2.

The receiver 603, the transmitter 604, the memory 602, and the processor 601 are in communication with each other via internal connection paths, such as: connected by a bus.

In a possible implementation, the processor 601 is further configured to perform:

judging that the average load is greater than a first load threshold; or

In one possible design, the management device 6 may be a chip, for example: may be a processor chip in a computing device for implementing the relevant functions of a processor in the computing device. The chip can be a field programmable gate array, a special integrated chip, a system chip, a central processing unit, a network processor, a digital signal processing circuit and a microcontroller which realize related functions, and can also adopt a programmable controller or other integrated chips. The chip may optionally include one or more memories for storing program code that, when executed, causes the processor to implement corresponding functions.

These chips may be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented using a software program, may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions (also sometimes referred to as code or program). The procedures or functions described in accordance with the embodiments of the present application are all or partially generated upon loading and execution of computer program instructions on a computer. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a network of computers, or other programmable device. The computer instructions may be stored on a computer readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer readable storage medium to another, for example, from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center via wire (e.g., coaxial cable, fiber optic, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or can comprise one or more data storage devices, such as a server, a data center, etc., that can be integrated with the medium. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium (e.g., floppy disk, hard disk, magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., DVD), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., Solid State Disk (SSD)), among others.

Referring to fig. 7, fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a maintenance apparatus for a virtual network element according to an embodiment of the present invention, which is hereinafter referred to as a maintenance apparatus 7 for short, where the maintenance apparatus 7 may include a receiving unit 701 and a processing unit 702, where details of each unit are described below.

A receiving unit 701, configured to receive an instance update result regarding a basic service from a paas management network element; for example: the receiving unit 701 performs S203 in fig. 2.

The processing unit 702 updates the connection point configuration information of all VNFs associated with the base service according to the instance update result. For example: the processing unit 702 executes S204 in fig. 2.

In a possible implementation manner, the processing unit 702 updates, according to the instance update result, connection point configuration information of all VNFs associated with the basic service, specifically:

updating an instance list according to the instance updating result;

querying all VNFs associated with the basic service and VNFC instances associated with all the VNFs according to a connection relation table;

redistributing the connection relationship between the associated paas instances and the VNFC instances associated with all VNFs after the basic service completes instance updating;

and updating the connection relation table according to the redistributed connection relation, and updating the connection point configuration information of all VNFs according to the updated connection relation table.

In a possible implementation manner, the service type identifier is defined by using a first method, and all paas instances associated with the basic service have the same service type identifier; or

The service type identifier is defined by a second method, all the paas instances associated with the basic service have different service type identifiers, and when the update type of the paas instance is termination, the service type identifier of the paas instance is the same as the identifier of the paas instance.

In one possible implementation, the instance list includes at least one of a service type identifier set, a paas instance identifier set, and a network address set, where the service type identifier set includes n service type identifiers, the paas instance identifier set includes n paas instance identifier subsets, the network address set includes n network address subsets, service type identifiers in the service type identifier set, paas instance identifier subsets in the paas instance identifier set, and network address subsets in the network address set are in one-to-one correspondence, and n is an integer greater than 0.

In a possible implementation manner, the processing unit 702 is configured to update the instance list according to the instance update result, specifically:

under the condition that the update type of the updated paas instance is creation and the service type identifier is defined by using a first mode, retrieving in the service type identifier set according to the service type identifier of the updated paas instance;

if the service type identifier of the updated paas instance is retrieved, adding the identifier of the updated paas instance in a subset of paas instance identifiers associated with the update type of the updated paas instance, and adding the network address of the updated paas instance in a subset of network addresses associated with the updated paas instance; or

If the service type identification of the updated paas instance is not retrieved, adding the service type identification of the updated paas instance in the service type identification set, adding the identification of the updated paas instance in a paas instance identification subset associated with the service type identification of the updated paas instance, and adding the network address of the updated paas instance in a network address subset associated with the service type identification of the updated paas instance.

under the condition that the updating type of the updated paas instance is termination and the service type identifier is defined by using a first mode, retrieving in the service type identifier set according to the service type identifier of the updated paas instance;

if the service type identification of the paas instance is retrieved, deleting the identification of the updated paas instance in a basic service identification subset associated with the service type identification of the updated paas instance, and deleting the network address of the updated paas instance in a network address subset associated with the service type identification of the updated paas instance.

under the condition that the update type of the updated paas instance is creation and the service type identifier is defined by using a second mode, retrieving in the service type identifier set according to the service type identifier of the updated paas instance;

if the service type identifier of the updated paas instance is not retrieved, continuing to retrieve in the paas instance identifier set according to the service type identifier of the updated paas instance;

if a paas instance identifier which is the same as the service type identifier of the updated paas instance is retrieved, adding the identifier of the updated paas instance in a paas instance identifier subset where the paas instance identifier is located, and adding the network address of the updated paas instance in a network address subset associated with the paas instance identifier; or

If the same paas instance identification as the updated paas instance service type identification is not retrieved, adding the updated paas instance service type identification in the service type identification set, adding the updated paas instance identification in a paas instance identification subset associated with the updated paas instance service type identification, and adding the updated paas instance network address in a network address subset associated with the updated paas instance service type identification.

In a possible implementation manner, the processing unit 702 updates the instance list according to the instance update result, specifically:

retrieving in the service type identifier set according to the service type identifier of the updated paas instance when the update type of the updated paas instance is terminated and the service type identifier is defined using a second approach;

In one possible embodiment, the connection relation table includes at least one of a VNF identifier, a VNFC identifier, a paas instance identifier, and a VL instance identifier.

In a possible implementation manner, the processing unit 702 is configured to reallocate a connection relationship between the paas instance associated after the update of the basic service completion instance and the VNFC instance associated with the at least one VNF, specifically:

re-allocating the connection relationship between the associated paas instance and the at least one VNFC instance after the base service completes instance updating in a random mode; wherein each paas instance is connected to at least one VNFC instance.

In a possible implementation manner, the processing unit 702 is configured to update the connection relation table, specifically:

searching in the connection relation table according to the VNFC instance identifier to be updated in the redistributed connection relation;

if the data are the same, the updating is not executed;

In a possible implementation manner, the processing unit 702 is configured to update connection point configuration information associated with all VNFs, specifically: acquiring a modified or created connection relation in the updated connection relation table, and if the modified or created connection relation comprises a VL instance identifier, configuring a network address of an external connection point of a corresponding VL instance as a network address of a connected paas instance; if the modified or created connection relationship does not include the VL instance identifier, creating a VL instance, configuring the internal connection point configuration information of the created VL instance as the network address of the connected VNFC instance, configuring the external connection point configuration information of the created VL instance as the network address of the connected paas instance, and adding the created VL instance identifier to the connection relationship.

The maintenance device 7 may be a VNFM, and the maintenance device 7 may also be a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), an application-specific integrated chip (asic), a system on chip (SoC), a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a Network Processor (NP), a digital signal processing circuit, a Micro Controller Unit (MCU), or a Programmable Logic Device (PLD) or other integrated chips, which implement related functions.

As shown in fig. 8, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a maintenance apparatus 8 for a virtual network element, which is hereinafter referred to as the maintenance apparatus 8 for short.

In one possible design, the maintenance device 8 is a VNFM that includes:

a memory 802 for storing programs and data. The number of the memories may be one or more, and the type of the memories may be any form of storage medium. For example: the memory may be a Random Access Memory (RAM) or a Read Only Memory (ROM), or a flash memory, where the memory 802 may be located in the terminal device alone or in the processor 801.

A receiver 803 for receiving a signal. The receiver 803 may be implemented as a separate chip, or may be implemented as a receiving circuit within the processor 801 or as an input interface. The receiver 803 is configured to receive an instance update result regarding the basic service from the paas management network element; for example: the receiver 803 performs S203 in fig. 2.

A processor 801 for executing the program code stored by the memory 802, the processor 801 for updating the connection point configuration information of all VNFs associated with the base service according to the instance update result when the program code is executed. For example: the processor 801 executes S204 in fig. 2.

And a transmitter 804 for transmitting the signal. The transmitter 804 may be implemented as a separate chip, or may be implemented as transmit circuitry within the processor 801 or as an output interface.

The receiver 803, the transmitter 804, the memory 802 and the processor 801 are in communication with each other via internal connection paths, such as: connected by a bus.

In a possible implementation manner, the processor 801 updates, according to the instance update result, connection point configuration information of all VNFs associated with the basic service, specifically:

updating an instance list according to the instance updating result;

In a possible implementation, the processor 801 is configured to update the instance list according to the instance update result, specifically:

In a possible implementation manner, the processor 801 updates the instance list according to the instance update result, specifically:

In a possible implementation manner, the processor 801 is configured to reallocate a connection relationship between the paas instance associated after the update of the basic service completion instance and the VNFC instance associated with the at least one VNF, specifically:

In one possible implementation, the processor 801 executes an update of the connection relation table, specifically:

if the data are the same, the updating is not executed;

In a possible implementation, the processor 801 performs updating of connection point configuration information associated with all VNFs, specifically: acquiring a modified or created connection relation in the updated connection relation table, and if the modified or created connection relation comprises a VL instance identifier, configuring a network address of an external connection point of a corresponding VL instance as a network address of a connected paas instance; if the modified or created connection relationship does not include the VL instance identifier, creating a VL instance, configuring the internal connection point configuration information of the created VL instance as the network address of the connected VNFC instance, configuring the external connection point configuration information of the created VL instance as the network address of the connected paas instance, and adding the created VL instance identifier to the connection relationship.

In one possible design, the maintenance device 8 may be a chip, for example: may be a processor chip in a computing device for implementing the relevant functions of a processor in the computing device. The chip can be a field programmable gate array, a special integrated chip, a system chip, a central processing unit, a network processor, a digital signal processing circuit and a microcontroller which realize related functions, and can also adopt a programmable controller or other integrated chips. The chip may optionally include one or more memories for storing program code that, when executed, causes the processor to implement corresponding functions.

Referring to fig. 9, fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a control apparatus of a virtual network element according to an embodiment of the present invention, which is hereinafter referred to as the control apparatus 9 for short, where the control apparatus 9 may include an obtaining unit 901 and a processing unit 902, where details of each unit are described below.

An obtaining unit 901, configured to obtain an instance update result of a VNF when the VNF satisfies an instance update condition; for example: the acquisition unit 901 is configured to execute S301 and S302 in fig. 3.

A processing unit 902, configured to update the connection point configuration information of the VNF according to an instance update result of the VNF. For example: the processing unit 902 is configured to execute S303 in fig. 3.

Acquiring an instance updating result of the VNF under the condition that the VNF meets an instance updating condition;

and updating the connection point configuration information of the VNF according to the instance updating result of the VNF.

In a possible implementation manner, the processing unit 902 updates the connection point configuration information of the VNF according to the instance update result of the VNF, specifically:

inquiring all basic services related to the VNF according to a connection relation table, and inquiring paas instances related to all basic services;

reallocating the connection relationship between the instance associated after the VNF completes scaling and the queried paas instance;

and updating a connection relation table according to the redistributed connection relation, and updating the connection point configuration information of the VL associated with the VNF according to the updated connection relation table.

In a possible implementation manner, the instance update result includes at least one of an identifier of the VNF, an identifier of a VNFC instance associated with the VNF, and a VL instance identifier.

The control device 9 may be a VNFM, and the control device 9 may also be a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), an application-specific integrated chip (asic), a system on chip (SoC), a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a Network Processor (NP), a digital signal processing circuit, a Micro Controller Unit (MCU), or a Programmable Logic Device (PLD) or other integrated chips, which implement related functions.

The embodiment of the present invention and the embodiment of the method in fig. 3 are based on the same concept, and the technical effects brought by the embodiment of the present invention are also the same, and the specific process can refer to the description of the embodiment of the method in fig. 3, and will not be described herein again.

As shown in fig. 10, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a control device for a virtual network element, which is hereinafter referred to as the control device 10.

In one possible design, the control device 10 is a VNFM that includes:

a memory 1002 for storing programs and data. The number of the memories may be one or more, and the type of the memories may be any form of storage medium. For example: the memory may be a Random Access Memory (RAM) or a Read Only Memory (ROM), or a flash memory, where the memory 1002 may be located in the terminal device alone or in the processor 1001.

A receiver 1003 for receiving signals. The receiver 1003 may be implemented as a separate chip, or may be implemented as a receiving circuit within the processor 1001 or as an input interface.

A processor 1001 configured to execute the program code stored in the memory 1002, and when the program code is executed, the processor 1001 is configured to obtain an instance update result of the VNF if the VNF satisfies an instance update condition; and updating the connection point configuration information of the VNF according to the instance updating result of the VNF. For example: the processor 1001 is configured to execute S301, S302, and S303 in fig. 3.

A transmitter 1004 for transmitting a signal. The transmitter 1004 may be implemented as a separate chip, or may be implemented as a transmit circuit within the processor 1001 or as an output interface.

The receiver 1003, the transmitter 1004, the memory 1002 and the processor 1001 are in communication with each other through internal connection paths, such as: connected by a bus.

In a possible implementation manner, the processor 1001 executes updating of the connection point configuration information of the VNF according to the instance update result of the VNF, specifically:

In one possible design, the control device 10 may be a chip, for example: may be a processor chip in a computing device for implementing the relevant functions of a processor in the computing device. The chip can be a field programmable gate array, a special integrated chip, a system chip, a central processing unit, a network processor, a digital signal processing circuit and a microcontroller which realize related functions, and can also adopt a programmable controller or other integrated chips. The chip may optionally include one or more memories for storing program code that, when executed, causes the processor to implement corresponding functions.

Referring to fig. 11, fig. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of a creating apparatus for a virtual network element according to an embodiment of the present invention, which is hereinafter referred to as the creating apparatus 11 for short, where the creating apparatus 11 may include an obtaining unit 1101 and a processing unit 1102, where details of each unit are described below.

An obtaining unit 1101, configured to obtain a paas instance allocation result and a VNFC instance allocation result of a VNF when the VNF needs to be created; for example: the acquisition unit 1101 is configured to execute S401 to S403 in fig. 4.

A processing unit 1102, configured to update an instance list according to the paas instance allocation result;

and updating a connection relation table according to the distributed connection relation, and updating the connection point configuration information of the VNF according to the updated connection relation table. For example: the processing unit 1102 is configured to execute S404 to S407 in fig. 4.

In one possible implementation, the connection relation table includes at least one of a VNF identifier, a VNFC identifier, a paas instance identifier, and a VL instance identifier.

The specific process of updating the implementation list and the connection relation table in this embodiment may be described with reference to fig. 2, and is not described herein again.

The creating device 11 may be a VNFM, and the creating device 11 may also be a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), an application-specific integrated chip (asic), a system on chip (SoC), a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a Network Processor (NP), a digital signal processing circuit, a Micro Controller Unit (MCU), or a Programmable Logic Device (PLD) or other integrated chips, which implement related functions.

The embodiment of the present invention and the embodiment of the method in fig. 4 are based on the same concept, and the technical effects brought by the embodiment are also the same, and the specific process can refer to the description of the embodiment of the method in fig. 3, and will not be described again here.

As shown in fig. 12, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a creating apparatus 12 for a virtual network element, which is hereinafter referred to as the creating apparatus 12.

In one possible design, the creation device 12 is a VNFM that includes:

a memory 1202 for storing programs and data. The number of the memories may be one or more, and the type of the memories may be any form of storage medium. For example: the memory may be a Random Access Memory (RAM) or a Read Only Memory (ROM), or a flash memory, where the memory 1202 may be located in the terminal device alone or in the processor 1201.

A receiver 1203 is used for receiving the signal. The receiver 1203 may be implemented as a separate chip, or may be implemented as a receiving circuit within the processor 1201 or as an input interface.

A processor 1201, configured to execute the program code stored in the memory 1202, and when the program code is executed, the processor 1201 is configured to obtain a paas instance assignment result and a VNFC instance assignment result of a VNF in a case that the VNF needs to be created; updating an instance list according to the paas instance distribution result;

A transmitter 1204 for transmitting a signal. The transmitter 1204 may be implemented as a separate chip, or may be implemented as a transmitting circuit within the processor 1201 or as an output interface.

The receiver 1203, the transmitter 1204, the memory 1202 and the processor 1201 are in communication with each other through internal connection paths, such as: connected by a bus.

In one possible design, the creation means 12 may be a chip, for example: may be a processor chip in a computing device for implementing the relevant functions of a processor in the computing device. The chip can be a field programmable gate array, a special integrated chip, a system chip, a central processing unit, a network processor, a digital signal processing circuit and a microcontroller which realize related functions, and can also adopt a programmable controller or other integrated chips. The chip may optionally include one or more memories for storing program code that, when executed, causes the processor to implement corresponding functions.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative elements and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware or combinations of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the implementation. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application. It is clear to those skilled in the art that, for convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the above-described systems, apparatuses and units may refer to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, and are not described herein again. In the several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed system, apparatus and method may be implemented in other ways. For example, the above-described apparatus embodiments are merely illustrative, and for example, the division of the units is only one logical division, and other divisions may be realized in practice, for example, a plurality of units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted, or not executed. In addition, the shown or discussed mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection may be an indirect coupling or communication connection through some interfaces, devices or units, and may be in an electrical, mechanical or other form. The units described as separate parts may or may not be physically separate, and parts displayed as units may or may not be physical units, may be located in one place, or may be distributed on a plurality of network units. Some or all of the units can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of the embodiment. In addition, functional units in the embodiments of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units are integrated into one unit.

In the above embodiments, the implementation may be wholly or partially realized by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When loaded and executed on a computer, cause the processes or functions described in accordance with the embodiments of the invention to occur, in whole or in part. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a network of computers, or other programmable device. The computer instructions may be stored in or transmitted over a computer-readable storage medium. The computer instructions may be transmitted from one website site, computer, server, or data center to another website site, computer, server, or data center via wired (e.g., coaxial cable, fiber optic, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device, such as a server, a data center, etc., that incorporates one or more of the available media. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium (e.g., floppy Disk, hard Disk, magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., DVD), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., solid State Disk Sol identified State Disk (SSD)), among others.

One of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that all or part of the processes in the methods of the above embodiments may be implemented by hardware related to instructions of a computer program, which may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium, and when executed, may include the processes of the above method embodiments. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: various media capable of storing program codes, such as ROM or RAM, magnetic or optical disks, etc.

Claims

1. A method for managing a virtual network element, comprising:

under the condition that the basic service meets the instance updating condition, a platform, namely a service paas management network element, performs instance updating on the basic service;

the paas management network element sends an instance update result of the basic service to a virtual network function management network element VNFM, and the instance update result is used for the VNFM to update connection point configuration information of all virtual network function VNFs related to the basic service according to the instance update result.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the instance update result comprises at least one of an identification of a paas instance updated in the base service, a service type identification, an update type, and a network address.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein before the paas management network element updates the base service in case that the base service satisfies the instance update condition, further comprising:

the paas management network element detects the average load of all paas instances associated with the basic service;

the paas management network element judges that the average load is greater than a first load threshold; or

And the paas management network element judges that the average load is smaller than a second load threshold.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein a service type identifier is defined using a first approach, all paas instances of the base service association having the same service type identifier.

5. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein before the paas management network element updates the base service in case that the base service satisfies the instance update condition, further comprising:

the paas management network element detects the load of at least one paas instance in all paas instances associated with the basic service;

the paas management network element judges that the load of each paas instance in the at least one paas instance is greater than a first load threshold; or

And the paas management network element judges that the load of each paas instance in the at least one paas instance is smaller than a second load threshold value.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the service type identifier is defined in a second manner, all the paas instances associated with the base service have different service type identifiers, and when the update type of a paas instance is termination, the service type identifier of the paas instance is the same as the identifier of the paas instance.

7. A method for maintaining a virtual network element, comprising:

a virtual network function management network element VNFM receives an instance updating result about basic service from a platform serving paas management network element;

and the VNFM updates the connection point configuration information of all the VNFs related to the basic service according to the instance updating result.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the VNFM updating connection point configuration information for all VNFs associated with the base service according to the instance update result comprises:

the VNFM updates an instance list according to the instance updating result;

the VNFM inquires all VNFs related to the basic service and VNFC instances related to all the VNFs according to a connection relation table;

the VNFM redistributes the connection relationship between the paas instances associated after the base service completes instance updating and the VNFC instances associated with all VNFs;

and the VNFM updates the connection relation table according to the redistributed connection relation and updates the connection point configuration information of all VNFs according to the updated connection relation table.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the instance update result comprises at least one of an identification of a paas instance updated in the base service, a service type identification, an update type, and a network address.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein a service type identifier is defined using a first approach, all paas instances associated with the base service having the same service type identifier; or

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the instance list comprises at least one of a service type identifier set comprising n service type identifiers, a paas instance identifier set comprising n paas instance identifier subsets, and a network address set comprising n network address subsets, wherein the service type identifiers in the service type identifier set, the paas instance identifier subsets in the paas instance identifier set, and the network address subsets in the network address set are in one-to-one correspondence, and n is an integer greater than 0.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the VNFM updating the instance list according to the instance update result comprises:

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the VNFM updating the instance list according to the instance update result comprises:

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the VNFM updating the instance list according to the instance update result comprises:

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the VNFM updating the instance list according to the instance update result comprises:

16. The method according to any of claims 8-15, wherein the connection relation table comprises at least one of VNF identification, virtual network function component, VNFC, paas instance identification, and virtual link, VL, instance identification.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the redistributing the connection relationship between the associated paas instance and the at least one VNFC instance of the VNF association after the base service completes the instance update comprises:

18. A method for controlling a virtual network element, comprising:

under the condition that the virtual network function VNF meets an instance updating condition, the virtual network function management network element VNFM acquires an instance updating result of the VNF;

and updating a connection relation table according to the redistributed connection relation, and updating the connection point configuration information of the VNF according to the updated connection relation table.

19. The method as recited in claim 18, wherein the instance update result comprises at least one of an identification of the VNF, an identification of a VNFC instance associated with the VNF, and a VL instance identification.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the connection relationship table comprises at least one of a VNF identification, a virtual network function component, VNFC, an paas instance identification, and a virtual link, VL, instance identification.

21. An apparatus for managing a virtual network element, comprising:

the processing unit is used for carrying out instance updating on the basic service under the condition that the basic service meets instance updating conditions;

a sending unit, configured to send an instance update result of the basic service to a virtual network function management network element VNFM, where the instance update result is used by the VNFM to update connection point configuration information of all virtual network function VNFs associated with the basic service according to the instance update result.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the instance update result comprises at least one of an identification of a paas instance updated in the base service, a service type identification, an update type, and a network address.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein a service type identifier is defined using a first approach, all paas instances of the base service association having the same service type identifier; or

24. An apparatus for maintaining a virtual network element, comprising:

a receiving unit, configured to receive an instance update result regarding a basic service from a platform as a service paas management network element;

and the processing unit is used for updating the connection point configuration information of all the virtual network functions VNFs related to the basic service according to the instance updating result.

25. The apparatus according to claim 24, wherein the processing unit is configured to update, according to the instance update result, connection point configuration information of all VNFs associated with the base service, specifically:

updating an instance list according to the instance updating result;

redistributing the connection relationship between the paas instances associated after the basic service completes instance updating and the virtual network function component VNFC instances associated with all VNFs;

26. A control apparatus for a virtual network element, comprising:

the device comprises an acquisition unit, a processing unit and a processing unit, wherein the acquisition unit is used for acquiring an instance updating result of a Virtual Network Function (VNF) under the condition that the VNF meets an instance updating condition;

the processing unit is used for inquiring all basic services related to the VNF according to the connection relation table and inquiring paas examples related to all the basic services; reallocating the connection relationship between the instance associated after the VNF completes scaling and the queried paas instance; and updating a connection relation table according to the redistributed connection relation, and updating the connection point configuration information of the VNF according to the updated connection relation table.