Detailed Description
The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present application.
Fig. 1 is a system framework diagram of an NFV system to which the embodiment of the present application is applicable. As shown in fig. 1, the NFV system 100 mainly includes the following functional entities:
NFVO102 is mainly responsible for life cycle management of NS, and for allocation and scheduling of virtual resources in Network Function Virtual Infrastructure (NFVI) 104. NFVO102 may communicate with one or more VNFMs 106, perform operations related to instantiating NS, such as sending corresponding configuration information to VNFM106, requesting status information of one or more VNFs 108 from VNFM 106. In addition, NFVO102 may also communicate with a Virtual Infrastructure Manager (VIM) 110 to perform allocation and/or reservation of resources in NFVI104, exchange resource configuration and status information, and the like.
The VNFM106 is primarily responsible for lifecycle management of one or more VNFs 108, such as instantiating (updating) VNFs 108, updating (updating) VNFs 108, querying VNFs 108, scaling (scaling) VNFs 108, terminating (terminating) VNFs 108, and so on. VNFM106 may communicate with VNF108 to manage the lifecycle of VNF108, exchange configuration and status information with the VNF, and the like. It is understood that one or more VNFMs 106 may be included in the NFV system 100, and each VNFM106 performs lifecycle management on different types of VNFs 108.
NFVI104, referring to the infrastructure of NFV system 100, includes hardware components, software components, and combinations thereof to establish a virtualized environment in which VNF108 is deployed, managed, and implemented. The NFVI104 may include at least computing (computing) hardware 1041, storage hardware 1042, network hardware 1043; the virtualization layer 1044 of the NFVI104 may abstract the foregoing hardware, decouple the hardware from the VNF108, and obtain corresponding virtual computing (virtual computing) resources 1045, virtual storage resources 1046, and virtual network resources 1047, thereby providing a virtual machine and other forms of virtualized containers for the VNF 108.
The VIM110 is mainly configured to control and manage interaction between the VNF108 and the computing hardware 1041, the storage hardware 1042, the network hardware 1043, the virtual computing resource 1045, the virtual storage resource 1046, and the virtual network resource 1047. For example, VIM110 may perform resource management functions, such as adding corresponding virtual resources to a virtual machine or other form of virtual container, gathering fault information of NFVI104 during system operation, and so on. In addition, the VIM110 may communicate with the VNFM106, such as receiving resource allocation requests from the VNFM106, feeding back resource configuration and status information to the VNFM106, and so on.
VNF108, VNF108 includes one or more VNFs (typically multiple VNFs) that may run one or more virtual machines or other forms of virtual containers corresponding to a set of network functions that are originally implemented by a dedicated device.
An Equipment Management System (EMS) 112 may be used to configure and manage VNF108 and initiate lifecycle management operations, such as instantiation of a new VNF108, to VNFM 106. It is understood that one or more EMSs 112 may be included in the NFV system 100.
An Operation Support System (OSS) or a Business Support System (BSS) 114 may support various end-to-end telecommunication services. The management functions supported by the OSS may include network configuration, service provision, fault management, and the like; the BSS can be used for processing related services such as orders, payments, incomes, and the like, and support functions such as product management, order management, revenue management, customer management, and the like. It should be noted that OSS/BSS114 may request NFVO to instantiate NS as a service requester, and OSS/BSS114 or the computing device on which OSS/BSS114 depends may be referred to as a service requester.
It is understood that, in the NFV system 100 shown in fig. 1, the aforementioned functional entities may be respectively deployed in different computing devices, or part of the functional entities may be integrated into the same computing device.
As shown in fig. 2, NFVO-C is a network-wide NFVO (also called composite NFVO) and is responsible for the management of network-wide NS, VNF. NFVO-N is an NFVO (also called nested NFVO) within a sub-management domain, and is responsible only for the management of NS and VNF within its management domain. The number of the NFVO-N can be 1 or more, and the NFVO-N and the NFVO-C have communication interfaces. Composite NS _ a is a large network service as shown in fig. 1, which contains different VNFs and a Nested network service Nested NS _1, Nested NS _1 belonging to the management domain of the sub-management domain that is under the responsibility of NFVO _ N, including the allocation of resources for Nested NS _1, the management throughout the lifetime, etc. NFVO-C is responsible for the management of the entire NS _ A network, and when NS _ A is deployed, when an operation involving Nested NS _1, such as instantiation, NFVO-C requests completion from NFVO-N.
The NFVO-N is a management orchestrator in an autonomous domain, and one autonomous domain can have a plurality of different NFVO-N, which belong to different equipment vendors. When an NFVO-C needs to deploy a nested NS (nested NS) service, how to select which NFVO-N in which autonomous domain to deploy the service is not mentioned in the prior art, nor is there a relevant standard to define how the NFVO-C can determine at which NFVO-N to deploy the nested NS service, so as to notify the corresponding NFVO-N.
Embodiment 1 of the present application provides a method for instantiating an NS, as shown in fig. 3, the steps specifically include:
301. one or more nested NFVOs (NFVO-N) register information of their management domain, including location information of an NS managed by the NFVO-N and vendor information corresponding to the NFVO-N, with a composite NFVO (NFVO-C).
For better understanding, this step and the following steps are illustrated in fig. 2, and after a plurality of NFVO-ns (such as NFVO-N1, NFVO-N2 or NFVO-N3, only NFVO-N1 is shown in the figure) are registered with NFVO-C, the management domain information of NFVO-N stored in NFVO-C includes the following information:
wherein, the device supplier 1 and the device supplier 2 are respectively providers of devices of NFVO-N1 and NFVO-N2, and the Location is specifically a physical Location information, for example, Location1 may be: shanghai, China, location 2 is: beijing, China, location 3 is: shenzhen, China, can refer to the cities and location codes defined in the international standards RFC 4776 and ISO 3166 to express specific location information.
The registration request can also be sent by a subscription mechanism, the NFVO-C subscribes the newly accessed management domain information of the NFVO-N, the NFVO-C sends a subscription subscribe request to the NFVO-N, the NFVO-N replies a notification, and the address position information of the NS managed by the NFVO-C is reported to the NFVO-C.
The OSS/BSS uploads NSD (composite NSD) information of the composite NS that needs to be instantiated and NSD (nested NSD) information of the nested NS, wherein the nested NSD contains nfoinfo, which may be presented in the form of a list (list) indicating the ability or authorization to process NFVO information of the nested NSD.
Referring to fig. 2, the Nested NS to be instantiated is Nested _ NS _1, and nfvoInfo of NSD contains NFVO-N1 and NFVO-N3, which indicate that NFVO-N1 and NFVO-N3 of the device 1 can manage lifecycle management operations such as deployment of Nested _ NS _ 1. Wherein different vendors design the NSD individually, and different vendors do not share the same NSD, for example, NFVO-N2 of vendor 2 cannot use the NSD designed by vendor 1. The nfoinfo of the NSD may also contain equipment vendor information, which indicates that NFVO-N of the equipment vendor may manage lifecycle management operations such as deployment of the Nested _ NS _ 1.
OSS/BSS sends an instantiate composite NS request to NFVO-C, the request including an instance id of the composite NS to be instantiated, the instance id including a field NsLocationConstraint indicating deployment location information of each nested NS in the composite NS instance.
Referring to fig. 2, the instantiated composite NS request includes an instance identification of composite NS _ a, which includes a field NsLocationConstraint for indicating deployment Location information, such as Location1, of the Nested NS (i.e., Nested _ NS _1) in the composite NS _ a instance.
If the NS to be instantiated comprises a plurality of Nested NS, the instance identifier comprises a plurality of NsLocationConstrainment fields respectively indicating the deployment position information of the plurality of Nested NS. Meanwhile, in step 302, the OSS/BSS uploads NSD information for a plurality of nested NSs that need to be instantiated, each NSD containing a respective nfvoInfo indicating that NFVO information for the NSD can be processed. Step 302 and step 303 are not in sequence, and step 302 may occur after step 303.
The NFVO-C obtains the NSD information of the corresponding composite NS according to the instance identifier included in the instantiated composite NS request received in step 303 (the NSD information is uploaded by the OSS/BSS in step 302), parses the NSD information, and obtains the NSD identifiers of one or more nested NS included therein, thereby obtaining the NSD information of each corresponding nested NS (as described in step 302, the NSD information of each nested NS is uploaded to the NFVO-C by the OSS/BSS), and obtains the NFVO information capable of processing the NSD according to the nfvoInfo information included therein.
Referring to fig. 2, NFVO-C obtains NSD information of corresponding NS _ a according to an instance id of NS _ a included in the received instantiated composite NS request, parses the NSD information of NS _ a, obtains an NSD id of Nested _ NS _1 included in the NSD of NS _ a, obtains NSD information of Nested _ NS _1 according to the NSD id of Nested _ NS _1, and obtains NFVO information that can process the NSD, which is NFVO-N1 and NFVO-N3, according to nfvoInfo information included therein.
Further, the NFVO-C acquires deployment location information of the nested NS according to the NsLocationConstraint information in the NS instantiation request in step 303, and matches the NFVO information of the NSD that can process the nested NS acquired in the above step with the information of the management domain registered by the nested NFVO (NFVO-N) to the composite NFVO (NFVO-C) in step 301 to determine the NFVO-N meeting the requirements.
Referring to fig. 2, NFVO-C determines that Nested _ NS _1 needs to be deployed at Location1 according to nslocation constraint in NS instantiation request, and then determines that NFVO at Location1 has NFVO-N1 and NFVO-N2 in combination with the registration information of NFVO-N in the first step, and NFVO that can process NSD information of Nested _ NS _1 is NFVO-N1 and NFVO-N3, and NFVO-C determines that NFVO-N1 is eligible according to the above.
NFVO-C obtains Virtual Link (VL) information connected to the nested NS according to the obtained NSD information of the composite NS instance, and instantiates the VL. The specific process of instantiating the VL is the prior art, and the basic flow is that NFVO-C requests network resources required for instantiating the VL from the VIM managed by the NFVO-C, and when the VL is instantiated, the VIM returns VL instance information to the NFVO-C.
Referring to fig. 2, NFVO-C acquires VL _2 information connected to Nested _ NS _1 based on the acquired NSD information of NS _ a, and then instantiates VL _ 2. This step is not in order of sequence with the above steps, and may be performed before step 302-304, for example.
NFVO-C sends an instantiate nested NS request to the corresponding NFVO-N containing the instance identification of the corresponding nested NS and VL information connected to the nested NS 306.
Referring to fig. 2, in particular, NFVO-C sends an instantiation request for Nested _ NS _1 to NFVO-N1, the request containing the identity of the Nested _ NS _1 instance, which also contains connection information for VL _2 connected to Nested _ NS _ 1.
307. And the NFVO-N determines each VNF contained by the nested NS, selects proper VIM access information for the VNF, and initiates a VNF instantiation request to a VNFM managed by the VNF, wherein the VNVO-N contains the selected VIM access information.
Referring to fig. 2, Nested _ NS _1 contains two VNFs, VNF _4 and VNF _5, for which NFVO-C selects the appropriate VIM access information and initiates a VNF instantiation request to the VNFM that it manages.
And 308, the VNFM completes the instantiation process of each VNF, and after the VNFM completes the instantiation of the VNF, the NFVO-N establishes the connection of each VNF through the VL, so that the instantiation of the nested NS is completed.
Referring to FIG. 2, VNFM completes the instantiation of VNF _4 and VNF _5, which NFVO-N1 connects through VL _3, thus completing the instantiation of Nested _ NS _ 1.
309. After the instantiation of the nested NS is completed, NFVO-N establishes a connection between the nested NS instance and the VL according to the VL connection information in step 306. Further, NFVO-C completes instantiation of the other individual VNFs that the composite NS _ a includes, and connects through VL, and then establishes a connection with the nested NS through VL, thereby completing instantiation of the entire NS _ a.
Referring to FIG. 2, in particular, NFVO-N1 establishes a connection between Nested _ NS _1 and VL _2 instance according to the connection information of VL _2 in step 306. Further, NFVO-C completes instantiation of other parts of the composite NS _ a, such as VNF1, VNF2, and VNF3, and makes internal interconnections with VL _1, and then establishes a connection with VL _2 instance, thereby completing instantiation of the entire NS _ a.
The instantiation of the other part of the composite NS _ A by the NFVO-C can be performed before the completion of the instantiation of the Nested _ NS _1, or before the step 305-306, without any difference.
In addition, the present invention also provides another embodiment 2, as shown in fig. 4, the steps are specifically as follows:
401. one or more nested NFVOs (NFVO-N) register information of their management domain with a composite NFVO (NFVO-C), which is different from embodiment 1 in that the information includes location information of an NS managed by the NFVO-N and NSD information supported by the NFVO-N.
For better understanding, this step and the following steps are also exemplified by fig. 2, and after a plurality of NFVO-ns (NFVO-N1, NFVO-N2, NFVO-N3) are registered with NFVO-C, the management domain information of NFVO-N stored on NFVO-C includes the following information:
the registration request can also be sent by a subscription mechanism, the NFVO-C subscribes the newly accessed management domain information of the NFVO-N, the NFVO-C sends a subscription Subscribe request to the NFVO-N, the NFVO-N replies Notification, and the address position information of the NS managed by the NFVO-N is reported to the NFVO-C.
The OSS/BSS uploads NSD (composite NSD) information of the composite NS and NSD (nested NSD) information of the nested NS that need to be instantiated, wherein the nested NSD may not contain nfovinfo and the like as described in step 302 of example 1.
403. The same procedure as in step 303 of example 1.
The NFVO-C obtains the NSD information of the corresponding composite NS according to the instance identifier included in the instantiated composite NS request received in step 403, and parses the NSD information, and obtains the NSD identifiers of one or more nested NS included therein.
Referring to fig. 2, NFVO-C obtains NSD information of the corresponding NS _ a according to the instance identifier of NS _ a included in the received instantiated composite NS request, parses the NSD information of NS _ a, and obtains NSD identifier NSD-1 of Nested _ NS _1 included in the NSD of NS _ a.
Further, the NFVO-C obtains the deployment location information of the nested NS according to the NsLocationConstraint information in the NS instantiation request of step 403, and matches the deployment location information with the information of the management domain registered by the nested NFVO (NFVO-N) to the composite NFVO (NFVO-C) in step 401, thereby determining the NFVO-N meeting the requirements.
Referring to FIG. 2, NFVO-C determines that Nested _ NS _1 needs to be deployed at Location1 according to NsLocation constraint in NS instantiation request, and then determines that NFVO at Location1 has NFVO-N1 and NFVO-N2 and NFVO capable of processing NSD-1 information of Nested _ NS _1 is NFVO-N1 and NFVO-N3 in combination with the registration information of NFVO-N in step 401, and NFVO-C thereby determines that NFVO-N1 is eligible.
405- > 409. the same as step 305- > 309 in example 1.
By the scheme of the embodiment of the invention, the problem that the NFVO-C can not correctly select the NFVO-N in the nested NS scene in the prior art is solved; the embodiment of the invention selects the appropriate NFVO-N to execute the corresponding nested NS deployment request by specifying the deployment position of the nested NS in the NS request and combining the range of the nested NS managed by the NFVO-N.
In addition, the present invention also provides a composite network function virtualization orchestrator NFVO device 50, where the composite NFVO device 50 includes:
a receiving unit 501, configured to receive an instantiated composite NS request, where the instantiated composite NS request includes deployment location information of a nested NS that needs to be instantiated;
a processing unit 502, configured to determine a corresponding nested NFVO according to the deployment location information of the nested NS and the nested NFVO information supporting the nested NS;
a sending unit 503, configured to send an instantiation nested NS request to the nested NFVO.
The nested NFVO information supporting the nested NS comprises: the nested NFVO information of the network service descriptor NSD of the nested NS can be processed.
Prior to the receiving of the instantiate composite NS request, the receiving unit 501 is further configured to,
receiving registration information of a nested NFVO, wherein the registration information comprises deployment position information of a nested NS managed by the nested NFVO;
receiving Network Service Descriptor (NSD) information of a nested NS of a composite NS, wherein the NSD comprises nested NFVO information capable of processing the NSD.
The nested NFVO information supporting the nested NS comprises: nested NFVO supported nested NSD information.
Prior to the receiving of the instantiate composite NS request, the receiving unit 501 is further configured to,
receiving registration information of the nested NFVO, wherein the registration information comprises deployment position information of a nested NS managed by the nested NFVO and nested NSD information supported by the nested NFVO.
The processing unit 502 is further configured to: acquiring NSD of a corresponding composite NS according to the composite NS request, acquiring virtual link VL information of the nested NS to be instantiated connected with other NS according to the composite NSD, and instantiating the VL;
and establishing the connection between the nested NS instance and the VL instance according to the virtual link VL information.
The above description is only a general description of the composite NFVO, and the specific implementation steps and actions thereof are the same as those implemented by NFVO-C in method embodiments 1 and 2 described above and will not be repeated here.
In addition, the invention also provides an NFVO system 60, which comprises a composite NFVO 601 and a nested NFVO 602,
the composite NFVO 601 is used for,
receiving an instantiated composite NS request including a deployment bit for a nested NS that requires instantiation
Setting information;
determining corresponding nested NFVO information according to the deployment position information of the nested NS and the nested NFVO information supporting the nested NS
Nesting the NFVO 602;
sending an instantiate nested NS request to the nested NFVO 602;
the nested NFVO 602 is used to,
determining one or more VNFs included by the nested NS, and initiating an instantiation request of the one or more VNFs to a VNFM managed by the VNFM, so that the VNFM instantiates the nested NS by completing the instantiation of each VNF.
The composite NFVO 601 is further configured to acquire an NSD of a corresponding composite NS according to the composite NS request, acquire virtual link VL information of the nested NS to be instantiated connected to other NS according to the composite NSD, and instantiate the VL;
and establishing the connection between the nested NS instance and the VL instance according to the virtual link VL information.
Again, the above description is merely a generalized description of the composite NFVO system, and the specific steps and acts performed are the same as those performed by NFVO-C and NFVO-N in method embodiments 1 and 2 above and will not be repeated here.
Also provided in an embodiment of the present application is a computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor of a computing device, cause the computing device to implement the method of instantiating an NS provided in any one of the embodiments of the present application.
A computer program product is provided in an embodiment of the present application, comprising computer program code which, when run on a computing device, causes the computing device to perform a method of instantiating an NS as provided in any of the embodiments of the present application.
The embodiment of the application provides a computing device, which comprises a memory and a processor, wherein the memory stores executable codes, and when the processor executes the executable codes, the method for instantiating the NS, which is provided by any embodiment of the application, is realized.
The embodiment of the present application further provides a chip system, where the chip system includes a processor, and is configured to implement the functions of the NFVO described in any embodiment of the present application, for example, to receive or process data and/or information involved in the method of instantiating the NS described in any embodiment of the present application. In one possible design, the system-on-chip further includes a memory to hold program instructions and/or data. The chip system may be formed by a chip, and may also include a chip and other discrete devices.
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 embodiments of the present application.
It should be understood that, in various embodiments of the present application, the sequence numbers of the above-mentioned processes do not imply an order of execution, and the order of execution of the processes should be determined by their functions and inherent logic, and should not limit the implementation processes of the embodiments of the present application.
It can be clearly understood by those skilled in the art that, for convenience and brevity of description, the specific working process of the network device may refer to the corresponding process in the foregoing method embodiment, and is not described herein again.
It will be appreciated that the above-described apparatus embodiments are illustrative, and that the division of the modules/units, for example, is merely one logical division, and that in actual implementation there may be additional divisions, for example, where multiple units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or where some features may be omitted, or not implemented. 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 above embodiments are only specific examples of the present application, but the scope of the embodiments of the present application is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art can easily conceive of changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the embodiments of the present application, and all the changes or substitutions should be covered by the scope of the embodiments of the present application
Finally, it should be noted that the above embodiments are only used for illustrating the technical solutions of the present application, and do not limit the same; although the present application has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.