CN110740197B

CN110740197B - Core network equipment, core network system and communication method

Info

Publication number: CN110740197B
Application number: CN201810804336.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 陈秋玲; 张晓奎
Original assignee: Datang Mobile Communications Equipment Co Ltd
Current assignee: Datang Mobile Communications Equipment Co Ltd
Priority date: 2018-07-20
Filing date: 2018-07-20
Publication date: 2021-03-12
Anticipated expiration: 2038-07-20
Also published as: CN110740197A

Abstract

The invention discloses a core network device, a core network system and a communication method, wherein the core network device comprises a single board based on an advanced telecom computing platform ATCA and a service node supporting an open source server architecture TARS; the single board sends a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) interface message to the serving node, the serving node converts the TCP interface message into a serving interface message, determines target core network equipment corresponding to the serving interface message according to the configuration information, and the serving node sends the serving interface message to the target core network equipment, so that the serving of a communication interface between network elements of a core network is realized, and the flexibility of a core network architecture is improved.

Description

Core network equipment, core network system and communication method

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a core network device, a core network system, and a communication method.

Background

In recent years, with the development of communication technology, the development of core network architecture is changing rapidly.

Typically, the core network Architecture is constructed based on the Advanced Telecom Computing Architecture (ATCA). The 4G core network architecture is taken as an example for explanation: at present, in a 4G core network architecture formed by using an ATCA hardware platform, interfaces between network elements need to be defined and configured in advance, and the defined interfaces can only be used between two specific types of network elements.

For example, when a Mobility Management Entity (MME) communicates with a base station, a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) Protocol is used for the communication, the MME may send a TCP interface message to the base station, and an interface is needed to establish a link between the MME and the base station, and service data Transmission is performed through the link, where the link cannot be modified in general, that is, a permanent physical link is established, and a network cannot be flexibly adjusted, so as to implement a serviced interface process.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention aims to provide core network equipment, a core network system and a communication method, so as to realize a service core network architecture and improve the flexibility of the core network architecture.

The purpose of the invention is realized by the following technical scheme:

in a first aspect, the present invention provides a core network device, including:

the system comprises a single board based on an advanced telecom computing platform ATCA and a service node supporting an open source server architecture TARS; the single board is used for realizing the function of the core network equipment;

the single board sends a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) interface message to the serving node;

the service node converts the TCP interface message into a service interface message and determines target core network equipment corresponding to the service interface message according to configuration information;

the configuration information includes a corresponding relationship between the service interface message and the identification information of the core network device.

And the service node sends the service interface message to the target core network equipment.

Optionally, the sending, by the board, a TCP interface message to the serving node includes:

the single board determines the IP address of the service node according to the Internet protocol IP address of the single board;

the IP address of the single board is determined based on the frame slot position of the single board, the IP address of the service node is determined based on the frame slot position of the service node, and the frame slot position of the single board and the frame slot position of the service node have a corresponding relation;

and the single board sends the TCP interface message to the service node according to the IP address of the service node.

Optionally, the TCP message carries an IP address of the board, an IP address of the serving node, and a port number, where the port number is a port number of a process in the core network device interacting with the serving node.

Optionally, the single board is connected to the service node through a twisted pair ethernet.

In a second aspect, the present invention provides a communication method, applied to a core network device, including:

the service node converts the TCP interface message into a service interface message;

the service node determines a target single board corresponding to the service interface message according to the configuration information and sends the service interface message to the target single board;

Optionally, the TCP message carries an IP address of the board, an IP address of the serving node, and a port number, where the port number is a port number of a process interacting with the serving node.

In a third aspect, the present invention provides a core network system, including:

a first core network device, a second core network device;

the first core network equipment comprises a first single board based on an advanced telecom computing platform (ATCA) and a first service node supporting an open source server architecture (TARS); the second core network equipment comprises a second single board based on an advanced telecom computing platform (ATCA) and a second service node supporting a TARS; the first single board is used for realizing the function of the first core network device; the second single board is used for realizing the function of the second core network device;

the first service node receives a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) interface message sent by the first single board;

the first service node converts the TCP interface message into a service interface message communicated with second core network equipment, and sends the service interface message to a second single board of the second core network equipment;

and the second single board sends the service interface message to the second service node.

The invention provides a core network device, a core network system and a communication method, wherein the core network device comprises a single board of an advanced telecom computing platform ATCA for realizing the functions of the core network device and a service node for supporting an Tencent open source server architecture TARS; the single board sends a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) interface message to a serving node, the serving node converts the TCP interface message into a serving interface message and determines target core network equipment corresponding to the serving interface message, the serving node sends the serving interface message to the target core network equipment, and the single board on the ATCA and the serving node in the TARS are linked by utilizing an ATCA hardware platform and the TARS for realizing the functions of the core network equipment, so that the core network architecture is serviced, and the flexibility of the core network architecture is improved.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic board diagram of an ATCA hardware platform according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a board of another ATCA hardware platform according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 is a schematic core network deployment diagram of an ATCA hardware platform according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of a TARS framework according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of a core network device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6 is a flowchart for implementing a core network device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of a board bus connection based on ATCA according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is a schematic link connection diagram of a TARS virtual machine according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of an implementation manner of an AMF based on ATCA and TARS architectures according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 10 is a schematic diagram of a single board communicating with a service node according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 11 is a flowchart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 12 is a schematic diagram of a core network system provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 13 is a schematic diagram of a core network architecture for serving according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, and not all of the embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

At present, core networks of the third Generation mobile communication technology (3rd-Generation, 3G) and the fourth Generation mobile communication technology (4 th Generation mobile communication technology, 4G) are all built based on an ATCA hardware platform, and in the international mobile communication standards organization third Generation Partnership Project (3 GPP) professional conference, a Service-based network architecture (SBA) is adopted as a basic architecture for a core network of the fifth Generation mobile communication technology (5th-Generation, 5G), but no specific software platform realizes the Service of the 5G core network.

The ATCA hardware platform is mainly composed of single boards, a single frame is provided with 14 groups of board cards (one group of board cards comprises a front panel and a rear panel, and some board cards do not have rear panels as required), a backboard is arranged between the front panel and the rear panel, and two main system buses are arranged on the backboard: a Base line (Base bus) and a Fabric bus (Fabric bus) which are responsible for management information communication, signaling communication, and data communication for all boards within the frame.

Specifically, the Base bus is a management control plane bus of the system. Each switch board slot is internally provided with 24 Base bus interfaces, 12 of the 24 Base bus interfaces are respectively connected to the node slot, 2 of the 24 Base bus interfaces are connected to the main and standby global boards, 1 of the 24 Base bus interfaces is used for intercommunication between the main and standby switch boards, 4 of the 24 Base bus interfaces are externally provided through the rear plug board of the switch board, and 5 interface systems are reserved, and the reference is made to fig. 1.

The Fabric bus is a data channel that provides a system service plane. Each switch board slot is internally provided with 24 Fabric bus interfaces, 12 of which are respectively connected to the node slot, 1 of which is used for the intercommunication between the main switch board and the standby switch board, 8 of which are externally provided through the rear plug board of the switch board, and 3 of which are reserved, and refer to fig. 2.

Based on the ATCA hardware platform, the deployment environment of a single-box core network system can be seen in fig. 3.

In the core network architecture based on ATCA, the communications between the network elements are all "point-to-point," i.e., the communications between the network elements are all performed through predefined and configured interfaces, and the interfaces can only be used between fixed network elements. When two network elements need to communicate, a link needs to be established through an interface to perform service transmission, under the ATCA architecture, a protocol used for communication is a TCP protocol, and once the link for performing service transmission is established, the link always exists, so that the flexibility of a core network is poor, and the core network architecture cannot be serviced.

In view of this, embodiments of the present application provide a core network device, a core network system, and a communication method, which implement the core network Architecture serving by using an ATCA hardware platform and a time Open source server Architecture (TARS).

It should be noted that, the embodiments of the present application are mainly applicable to a 5G core network, and the TARS framework may be an Tencent Source Server framework.

The architectural topology of the TARS framework can be seen in fig. 4, which includes a service node and a common framework node.

Specifically, the service node may be considered as a specific operating system instance actually run by the service, and may be a physical host, or a virtual host, or a cloud host. As the variety and scale of services expand, service nodes may number in the thousands or even hundreds of thousands. Each service Node is provided with a Node service Node and N (N > ═ 0) service nodes, the Node service nodes can uniformly manage the service nodes, provide the functions of starting and stopping, releasing, monitoring and the like, and simultaneously receive the heartbeat reported by the service nodes.

The common frame node manages services except for the service node, and other service nodes are classified into one type. The number of the common frame nodes is not fixed, and generally, for fault tolerance and disaster tolerance of the common frame nodes, deployment is required to be performed on a plurality of servers of a plurality of computer rooms, where the specific number of the nodes is related to the scale of the service nodes, for example, if some services need to make more logs, more log service nodes need to be deployed.

The common framework node in the TARS architecture may specifically include: web management system, Registry (routing + management service), Patch (distribution management), Config (configuration center), Log (remote Log), Stat (call statistics), Property (service attribute), Notify (exception information), and the like.

In principle, network interworking between all nodes is required, and at least the node of each machine can communicate with the common framework node.

When the TARS framework is used for service transmission, a tas protocol is used, the protocol is realized by adopting an Interface Description Language (IDL), and the Interface Description Language (IDL) is a binary, extensible, code automatic generation protocol and multi-platform supporting protocol, so that objects running on different platforms and programs written by different languages can communicate with each other in a programmed suspension Control (PRC) remote calling mode, and the TARS framework is mainly applied to a network transmission protocol between background services, serialization and deserialization of the objects and the like.

Fig. 5 shows a core network device 100 according to an embodiment of the present application, which specifically includes: a single board 101 of ATCA and a servlet node 102.

The ATCA single board is used for realizing the function of core network equipment, and the service node is used for supporting a TARS framework.

In one possible implementation, the following steps may be used to implement the communication, as shown in fig. 6:

s101: the single board sends the TCP interface message to the service node.

S102: the servitizing node converts the TCP message into a servitizing interface message.

S103: and the service node determines the target core network equipment corresponding to the service interface message according to the configuration information.

S104: and sending the service interface message to the target core network equipment.

The steps involved will be described in detail below.

In the embodiment of the present application, a core network architecture that utilizes ATCA and TARS virtual machines to implement services is used, so a description is first given of network deployment of ATCA and TARS in the prior art:

specifically, fig. 7 shows a deployment manner of a single board under the ATCA architecture according to an embodiment of the present application. The global version, the signaling board, the service board and the interface board are all connected with a base network, a fabric network and an Operation, Maintenance and Administration (OAM) network, and then the interface board is used as an interface for generating non-service signaling and is connected with the non-service signaling network, and the interface board generates the non-service signaling and transmits the non-service signaling to the non-service signaling network.

Fig. 8 shows a link deployment manner of a Tars virtual machine according to an embodiment of the present application. The service server node (SigMsgGlbServer), the service node (SigMsgCommenServer) and the main control node (HttpApipServer) are all connected with the base, the fabric and the OAM network. In addition, the http api master node has a function of generating a serviced signaling.

The core network architecture for implementing the servization by using the ATCA and TARS virtual machines provided in the embodiment of the present application includes a plurality of core network devices, and a communication process between the board and the servization node will be described in detail below by taking one core network device as an example.

As shown in fig. 9, which is a schematic diagram of a core network device provided in the embodiment of the present application, a bus connection manner of an ATCA hardware platform is adopted for communication between a board on an access and mobility management entity (AMF), that is, the connection manner shown in fig. 7. Fig. 9 illustrates an example in which one global board, two signaling boards, and one interface board are required to implement the function of the AMF. In this embodiment, a serving node is configured for the global board and the signaling board, respectively. In order to distinguish between the servicing nodes configured for the global board and the servicing nodes configured for the signaling board, in fig. 9, the servicing nodes configured for the global board are referred to as sigmsglbserver, and the servicing nodes configured for the signaling board are referred to as sigmscommenserver. The service node is mainly used for analyzing the TCP message sent by the single board. The global board and the signaling board are both referred to herein as a single board. The servering node converts the TCP message into a servering interface message and sends the servering interface message to the http pipserver main control node, and the http pipserver main control node can send the converted message to http pipserver main control nodes of other network elements, so that the core network architecture is served.

It can be understood that sigmsglbserver can be used as a service node connected to a global board, and sigmscommenserver can be used as a service node connected to other boards (signaling board, service board, interface board).

In fig. 9, Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) indicates that a link between a base station and a core network access device AMF transmits data by an SCTP Protocol, and eNB indicates the base station.

Data processing can be performed between the single board and the Tars service node based on a User Datagram Protocol (UDP), and communication can be performed between the service node and the main control node by using a standard high-performance Remote Procedure Call (RPC) framework.

The service interface message may be a hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) message, and may be sent in the form of a JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) string.

The interface board a is an interface for generating an unserviceable signaling, and if a core network device does not need to communicate with other network devices through an unserviceable interface, the interface board a may not be configured in the core network device.

It can be understood that, a plurality of service nodes are configured for a core network device capable of implementing service, and the number of the configured service nodes may be determined according to the number of boards required for implementing the functions of the core network device. For example, if the AMF shown in fig. 9 needs 3 boards, a http mappiserver master node, a sigmsglbserver, and two sigmsgcommensenservers are configured for the AMF.

Specifically, the service node may determine the target core network device corresponding to the service interface message according to the configuration information.

The configuration information may include a correspondence between the service interface message and the identification information of the core network device.

In a possible implementation manner, the board may send the TCP message to the serving node in the following manner:

the single board determines an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the serving node according to the IP address of the single board, and sends the TCP message to the serving node through the IP address of the serving node.

It is understood that the single board communicates with the servicing node via an IP address.

The IP address of the single board can be determined by the position of the frame slot where the single board is located, the IP address of the service node can be determined by the position of the frame slot of the service node, and the position of the frame slot where the single board is located and the position of the frame slot of the service node have a corresponding relation.

It should be noted that the position of the frame slot is understood as the frame number of the frame slot.

It is understood that a rack slot is a rack under the ATCA architecture, and includes a machine frame and a board slot. For example, the frame slots used by Datang have three frames in a frame, and a frame has 14 slots.

In the practical application process, the frame number and the frame slot number of the frame slot are both configured in advance, for example, if the frame number of the frame slot of the Amf signaling board is 1 and the frame slot number is 3, the frame number of the frame slot of the service node may be the frame number plus 2, and the frame slot number is not changed, that is, the frame number of the frame slot of the service node is 3 and the frame slot number is 3.

The relationship between the frame number of the frame slot of the service node and the frame number of the frame slot of the single board is not limited to plus 2, and the above description is only an exemplary description, and the embodiment of the present application does not limit this.

Optionally, the TCP message carries an IP address of the board, an IP address of the serving node, and a port number.

The port number is a port number of a process interacting with the service node in the core network device.

Fig. 10 shows a communication process between a Tars virtual machine and a board according to an embodiment of the present application, specifically taking an Amf signaling board and a service node as an example, as shown in fig. 10.

The communication process of communication between the service node and the Amf signaling board can be specifically divided into:

amf signaling board → serving node: and calculating the IP address of the service node in the Tars virtual machine through the frame slot of the signaling board.

It is understood that the IP address is an IP address calculated based on the rack frame slot under the ATCA architecture, i.e., a base IP address.

Serving node → Amf signaling board: and acquiring the port number of a process for interacting the service node and the single board and the IP address of the service node.

Specifically, the service node interacts with the msps process of the board in the Amf network element.

It should be understood that the processes with which the servitizing node interacts in different network elements are different, and that which process the servitizing node interacts with is preconfigured.

For example, for a servitization node in the Amf, the msps process is:

root 4762 1 0 11:59？00:01:39./msps.exe cpsstag 102410c3 2000000102410c3 21001 21001fa04d1

the port number of the msps process is a 12-bit higher value of the parameter after the process information column cpsstag, and f is supplemented in front, namely 0xf 102.

The servitization node may read the base ip address of the signaling board and the port number of the corresponding process in a configuration file (DTApp _ sba.cfg).

Further, the single board and the service node may be connected via a twisted pair ethernet (base network).

The embodiment of the application also provides a communication method which can be applied to the core network equipment. The following will describe the procedure of the corresponding communication method in the above-mentioned core network device in the embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 11 shows a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application, where an execution subject of the method shown in fig. 11 may be a communication device, for example, the method may be the core network device mentioned above, and referring to fig. 11, the method includes:

s201: the single board sends a TCP interface message to the serving node.

S202: the servitizing node converts the TCP interface message to a servitizing interface message.

S203: and the service node determines the target single board according to the configuration information.

Specifically, the service node may determine the target board corresponding to the service interface message according to the configuration information.

The configuration information may include a corresponding relationship between the service interface message and the identification information of the board.

S204: and the service node sends the service interface message to the target single board.

Further, the board may send the TCP interface message to the serving node in the following manner:

and determining the IP address of the service node according to the IP address of the single board, and then sending the TCP interface message to the service node according to the IP address of the service node.

The IP address of the single board can be determined based on the frame slot position of the single board, the IP address of the service node can also be determined according to the frame slot position, and the frame slot position of the single board and the frame slot position of the service node have a preset corresponding relationship.

It is understood that the position of the frame slot may be preset, and secondly, the relationship between the frame slot position of the single board and the frame slot position of the service node is not particularly limited.

Optionally, the TCP message may carry an IP address of the board, an IP address of the serving node, and a port number.

Wherein, the port number is the port number of the process interacting with the service node.

Furthermore, the single board is connected to the serving node through a twisted pair ethernet network, that is, the single board communicates with the serving node through the twisted pair ethernet network (base network).

Fig. 12 shows a core network system 200 according to an embodiment of the present application, and referring to fig. 12, the system includes: a first core network device 201 and a second core network device 202.

The first core network device comprises a first single board of an advanced telecom computing platform (ATCA) for realizing the function of the first core network device, and a first service node supporting TARS.

The second core network device comprises a second single board of an advanced telecom computing platform (ATCA) for realizing the functions of the second core network device, and a second service node supporting the TARS.

Specifically, in the first core network device, the first board sends a TCP interface message to the first serving node, and the first serving node converts the TCP message into the serving interface message after receiving the TCP interface message, determines the second core network device in communication with the serving interface message, and sends the serving interface message to the second core network device.

In the second core network device, after receiving the service interface message, the second board sends the service interface message to the second service node.

Fig. 13 is a schematic diagram of a core network architecture according to an embodiment of the present application, and referring to fig. 13, a process involved in the above system is described.

The first core Network device may be understood as the AMF in fig. 13, and when the http server main control node in the AMF receives the service interface message (http message), the http server main control node sends the message to a Network Function library Function (Network redundancy Function, NRF) in a json string form, and since the NRF has a Management Function, the NRF may schedule the core Network device for the service interface message, that is, to which core Network device the service interface message is sent, and assuming that the service interface message is to be sent to a Session Management Function (SMF), the SMF may be understood as the second core Network device.

In fig. 13, a Radio Access Network (RAN) is connected to an interface board in the AMF, a signaling board of the SMF is connected to a signaling board of a User Plane Function (UPF), and an NRF, a Policy Control Function (PCF), and a User Data Management (UDM) are further connected to the service interface bus.

It is to be understood that in the foregoing description, words such as "first", "second", etc. are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance, nor order.

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

Claims

1. A core network device, comprising:

the configuration information comprises a corresponding relation between the service interface information and the identification information of the core network equipment;

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the board sending a TCP interface message to the servization node comprises:

3. The device according to claim 2, wherein the TCP interface message carries an IP address of the board, an IP address of the serving node, and a port number, and the port number is a port number of a process interacting with the serving node in the core network device.

4. The apparatus according to any of claims 1-3, wherein the single board is connected to the service node via a twisted pair Ethernet network.

5. A communication method is applied to core network equipment, and is characterized by comprising the following steps:

the configuration information includes a corresponding relationship between the service interface message and the identification information of the board.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein said board sending a TCP interface message to said servitizing node comprises:

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the TCP interface message carries an IP address of the board, an IP address of the serving node, and a port number, and the port number is a port number of a process interacting with the serving node in the core network device.

8. The method according to any of claims 5-7, wherein the single board is connected to the service node via a twisted pair ethernet network.

9. A core network system, comprising:

a first core network device, a second core network device;

the first core network equipment comprises a first single board based on an advanced telecom computing platform (ATCA) and a first service node supporting an open source server architecture (TARS); the second core network equipment comprises a second single board based on an advanced telecom computing platform (ATCA) and a second service node supporting a TARS; the first board is configured to implement the function of the first core network device, and the second board is configured to implement the function of the second core network device;