CN115842734A

CN115842734A - Network management method, controller and SDN (software defined network)

Info

Publication number: CN115842734A
Application number: CN202310093087.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 杨光
Original assignee: Alibaba China Co Ltd
Current assignee: Alibaba China Co Ltd
Priority date: 2023-01-30
Filing date: 2023-01-30
Publication date: 2023-03-24
Anticipated expiration: 2043-01-30
Also published as: CN115842734B

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention provides a network management method, a controller and an SDN network, wherein the method comprises the following steps: a controller in the SDN network may first obtain target information in a data packet corresponding to a target service provided by the controller, determine a processing policy of the data packet according to the target information, and finally send the processing policy on a control plane of the SDN network, so that a network device may process the data packet according to the processing policy. The data packet may be transmitted in a user plane of the SDN network, and the processing policy may be issued in a control plane of the SDN network. The above process realizes that the data packet transmitted in the user plane is opened to the controller, and the controller participates in the control and processing process of the data packet. Meanwhile, the data packet may correspond to different services provided by the SDN network, and the controller has the ability to determine processing strategies applicable to the different services by using target information obtained after the user plane is opened, so that the SDN network can provide richer services.

Description

Network management method, controller and SDN network

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a network management method, a controller, and an SDN network.

Background

Software Defined Networking (SDN) is a new Network innovation architecture that can separate the control plane from the user plane, making control of the Network more flexible. An SDN network built based on an SDN architecture may include a controller (i.e., an SDN controller) and a network device. The SDN controller is used for issuing a processing strategy of the data packet on the control plane, and the network equipment is used for processing the data packet according to the processing strategy issued by the SDN controller, so that the SDN can normally provide various network services, such as live broadcast service, automatic driving service and the like.

In practice, the processing policy generated by the SDN controller may affect the processing effect of the network device on the data packet, and ultimately affect the type and quality of service that can be provided by the SDN network. Therefore, how to obtain an appropriate processing strategy for the SDN controller becomes a problem to be solved urgently.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of this, embodiments of the present invention provide a network management method, a controller, and an SDN network, where the controller is configured to determine an accurate processing policy according to target information in a data packet, so as to implement network management.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a network management method applied to a controller in a software defined network SDN network, including:

acquiring target information contained in a data packet in the SDN, wherein the data packet is transmitted in a user plane of the SDN;

determining a processing policy of the data packet according to the target information, wherein the processing policy and the data packet correspond to a target service provided by the SDN network;

sending, at a control plane of the SDN network, the processing policy to process, by a network device in the SDN network, the data packet in accordance with the processing policy.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a network management method applied to a controller in a cloud network based on a software defined network SDN, including:

acquiring target information contained in a data packet in the cloud network, wherein the data packet is transmitted on a user plane of the cloud network;

determining a processing strategy of the data packet according to the target information, wherein the processing strategy and the data packet correspond to a target service provided by the cloud network;

and sending the processing strategy on a control plane of the cloud network, so that network equipment in the cloud network processes the data packet according to the processing strategy, wherein the network equipment comprises a functional network element contained in a 5G core network in the cloud network and/or access equipment contained in a 5G access network.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a controller, which is deployed in a software defined network SDN network, and includes: a first standard interface and a policy determination component;

the policy determination component is configured to acquire, by using the first standard interface, target information included in a first data packet in the SDN network, where the first data packet is transmitted between different network devices in the SDN network via a user plane of the SDN network;

determining a processing policy of the first data packet according to the target information, wherein the processing policy and the first data packet correspond to a target service provided by the SDN network;

sending, at a control plane of the SDN network, the processing policy to process, by the network device, the first data packet according to the processing policy.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a network management method, applied to a parsing component in an SDN network, including:

analyzing target information contained in a data packet in the SDN network, wherein the data packet is transmitted in a user plane of the SDN network;

sending the target information to a controller in the SDN network to determine, by the controller in the SDN network, a processing policy of the data packet according to the target information, the processing policy and the data packet corresponding to a target service provided by the SDN network.

In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides an SDN network, including: the system comprises a public sub-network and a private sub-network, wherein a controller is deployed in the public sub-network, and network equipment is deployed in the private sub-network;

the controller is used for acquiring target information contained in a first data packet in the SDN network, wherein the first data packet is transmitted between different network devices in the SDN network by means of a user plane of the SDN network;

In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium having stored thereon executable code, which when executed by a processor of an electronic device, causes the processor to implement at least the network management method according to any one of the first, second or fourth aspects.

In the network management method provided by the embodiment of the invention, the SDN network based on the software defined network may include a controller and various network devices, and by using the characteristic of separation of a user plane and a control plane in the SDN network, a processing policy of a data packet determined by the controller may be issued on the control plane of the SDN network, and the network devices may process the data packet transmitted on the user plane of the SDN network according to the processing policy issued by the controller.

Based on this, the controller in the SDN network may first obtain target information in the data packet, determine a processing policy of the data packet according to the target information, and finally send the processing policy on a control plane of the SDN network, so that the network device may process the data packet according to the processing policy. Wherein the data packet and the processing policy both correspond to a target service provided by the SDN network.

In the above process, the controller can obtain the target information in the data packet, that is, the controller is opened by the user plane. Further, the controller may determine the processing policy based on the target information, which is also equivalent to enabling the controller to participate in a processing procedure of the data packet, and enabling the controller to participate in a management procedure of the SDN network. And the accuracy of the processing strategy can be improved by the target information. Meanwhile, the data packet can correspond to different services provided by the SDN network, and the controller can determine different processing strategies suitable for the different services by utilizing target information obtained after the user plane is opened, so that the SDN network can add the different services reversely due to the richness of the processing strategies.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be briefly described below, and it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are some embodiments of the present invention, and those skilled in the art can also obtain other drawings according to the drawings without creative efforts.

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of an SDN network according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of another SDN network according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of another SDN network according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4 is a schematic working diagram of a cloud network based on an SDN architecture according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5 is a flowchart of a network management method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6a is a flow chart of a method for determining a processing policy according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6b is a flow chart illustrating another process strategy determination according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6c is a flowchart of another method for determining a processing policy according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 7 is a flowchart of another network management method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

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

fig. 9 is a flowchart of another network management method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of an analysis component according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present invention clearer, 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 some, but not all, embodiments of the present invention. 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.

The terminology used in the embodiments of the invention is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used in the examples of the present invention and the appended claims, the singular forms "a", "an", and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, and "a" and "an" generally include at least two, but do not exclude at least one, unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

It should be understood that the term "and/or" as used herein is merely one type of association that describes an associated object, meaning that three relationships may exist, e.g., a and/or B may mean: a exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone. In addition, the character "/" herein generally indicates that the former and latter related objects are in an "or" relationship.

The words "if", as used herein, may be interpreted as "at … …" or "at … …" or "in response to a determination" or "in response to a recognition", depending on the context. Similarly, the phrases "if determined" or "if identified (a stated condition or event)" may be interpreted as "when determined" or "in response to a determination" or "when identified (a stated condition or event)" or "in response to an identification (a stated condition or event)", depending on the context.

It should also be noted that the terms "comprises," "comprising," or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a good or system that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such good or system. Without further limitation, an element defined by the phrase "comprising a … …" does not exclude the presence of additional like elements in a commodity or system comprising the element.

Some embodiments of the invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The features of the embodiments and examples described below may be combined with each other without conflict between the embodiments. In addition, the sequence of steps in each method embodiment described below is only an example and is not strictly limited.

Fig. 1 is an SDN network according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 1, the network may include a public sub-network and a private sub-network deployed at the edge of the network.

In the embodiments, for brevity of the following description, the SDN controller is simply referred to as a controller in the present embodiment and each of the following embodiments. Alternatively, the public sub-network may be specifically the Internet (Internet).

Wherein a network device for enabling the network to have a communication function is disposed in the private sub-network. It should be noted that the Network device in the dedicated sub-Network may be a hardware device, such as a switch, a router, a gateway, or the like, or may be a Virtualized Network Function module (Virtualized Network Function, VNF) deployed in a Network Function virtualization Infrastructure (Virtualized Network Function, NFVI for short). Alternatively, a private sub-network may be in particular a communication network dedicated for use by a certain administrative area, a certain industrial park or a certain organization. A private subnetwork is typically deployed at the network edge of an entire SDN network.

Based on the above description, the working process of the SDN network shown in fig. 1 may be specifically described as follows:

a network device of the network in the private sub may acquire the first data packet in the SDN network. This first data packet may be generated when the target service is provided for the SDN network, i.e. the first data packet corresponds to the target service. Further, the controller deployed in the public sub-network may obtain the target information in the first data packet via the public sub-network, and determine a processing policy of the first data packet based on the target information, where the processing policy also corresponds to the target service. The controller may issue the processing policy to process the first packet by the network device according to the processing policy. Optionally, the processing policy may specifically include a forwarding policy or a scheduling policy for the first packet. And because the SDN network has a characteristic of separation of a control plane and a user plane, the processing policy may be issued in the control plane of the SDN network, and the first data packet may be transmitted in the user plane of the SDN network, more specifically, the first data packet may be transmitted between different network devices in the SDN network.

The target service may be any service provided by the SDN network, such as a video-on-demand service, a video live broadcast service, an automatic driving service, a control service of an intelligent robot arm on an industrial production line, and the like, which are mentioned in the background. The live video may be a sporting event, a telemedicine video, a remote teaching video, and the like.

Optionally, the first data packet may be generated by a device deployed in a dedicated sub-network, and the first data packet may also be considered as user traffic generated in a process of using the target service by the user. The terminal device is not shown in fig. 1.

Optionally, the device generating the first data packet may be a user terminal used by the user, or may be a server corresponding to the target service. The user terminal may be, for example, a mobile terminal device such as a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a notebook computer, etc. installed with a live or on-demand application program, or may be a vehicle-mounted terminal device, etc. to receive the above-mentioned target service. Optionally, the terminal device generating the first data packet may also be a server. The server can store live videos or on-demand videos, can also store various state data of the vehicle, which are collected and reported by the vehicle-mounted terminal equipment, and has the capability of determining a control instruction according to the various state data, wherein the control instruction is used for enabling the vehicle to realize automatic driving.

In order to enable the user to normally use the target service, the user terminal and the server described above need to access the SDN network through a network device, and optionally, the first data packet may also be generated by a network device in a dedicated sub-network. The packet may also be considered to implement and maintain control signaling generated by the device's network entry.

Alternatively, the target information required for determining the processing policy may include attribute information of the data packet, such as a source address in a header of the data packet, a destination address, a forwarding priority of the data packet, and the like. Optionally, the destination information may also include useful data in the data packet. The controller may determine the processing policy applicable to different services and different situations according to different target information, and the specific determination process may be referred to in the following description of embodiments.

In the working process of the SDN network, the user plane of the SDN network is opened to the controller, so that the controller can acquire target information included in a data packet transmitted on the user plane, and the controller can indirectly participate in the processing process of the data packet. And after the user plane is opened, the controller can obtain rich data transmitted in the user plane, so that the controller also has the capability of determining rich processing strategies suitable for different services. Therefore, the SDN network may add a corresponding service according to various processing policies determined by the controller. It can be seen that the opening of the user plane enables the controller to also implement orchestration of services, i.e. to enrich the service content that the SDN network can provide.

In this embodiment, after a first data packet corresponding to a target service is generated in an SDN network, a controller in the SDN network may first obtain target information in the first data packet, and further determine a processing policy of the first data packet according to the target information. Finally, the processing policy is sent at the control plane of the SDN network, so that the network device processes the data packet according to the processing policy, that is, the controller controls the processing process of the data packet in the SDN network.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 1, if the controller can acquire the target information in the first data packet, to achieve acquisition of the target information, fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of another SDN network provided in the embodiment of the present invention. On the basis of the network shown in fig. 1, the controller may comprise a first standard interface and the SDN network may further comprise a parsing component deployed in a dedicated sub-network.

The parsing component may parse the first data packet and extract target information required by the controller to determine the processing policy from a parsing result. As will be appreciated from the description of the embodiment shown in fig. 1, the first data packet may be generated by a user terminal, a server or a network device, and the parsing component may act as a proxy for these devices to send the target information in the generated first data packet to the controller via the common sub-network. At the same time, the controller may be configured with a first standard interface to receive target information transmitted in the public sub-network thereby. Optionally, the first standard interface is a standardized communication interface that is open to the outside, and may include an ABIS interface, for example.

Alternatively, the process of determining the processing policy of the first packet according to the target information may be specifically performed by a policy determination component in the controller.

In the process, on one hand, by utilizing the analysis capability of the analysis component, all data in the first data packet is not required to be sent to the controller, but the target information required for determining the processing strategy is transmitted to the controller, so that the data transmission pressure between the analysis component and the controller is reduced, and the transmission efficiency is improved. Meanwhile, due to the stability of the public sub-network, the target information can be ensured to be timely and stably transmitted to the controller, so that the controller can smoothly realize the determination of the processing strategy. On the other hand, even if the implementation mode of the network device is not considered, the network device is not reconfigured, and the controller can directly receive the target information by using the standard interface, namely, the white-box of the network device in the special sub-network is realized.

In this embodiment, the parsing component can parse the target information in the first data packet and transmit the target information via the public sub-network, and the controller can also accurately determine the processing policy by using the target information while ensuring stability and efficiency of target information transmission. In addition, the controller can realize white-box of the network equipment by means of a standard interface, namely, the difficulty of acquiring target information and the requirement on the network equipment are reduced. In addition, the content that is not described in detail in this embodiment and the technical effect that can be achieved may also refer to the related description in the embodiment shown in fig. 1, and are not described again here.

In the embodiments shown in fig. 1 and fig. 2, after the controller acquires the target information, it may determine the corresponding processing policy according to the target information, and as can be seen from the description in the above embodiments, it may determine the processing policy applicable to different services or different situations by using different target information, which may be separately described below.

Optionally, the first data packet may be user traffic or control signaling, and at this time, the target information extracted by the parsing component may include a source address and a destination address of the first data packet. The source address and the destination address are both contained in the header of the data packet, which can be regarded as the attribute information of the data packet. In this case, in one case, if the source address and the destination address in the first packet belong to the same private sub-network, which indicates that the receiver and the sender of the first packet are located in the same local area network, the processing policy determined by the controller may include: and directly forwarding the first data packet at a data link layer according to the destination address. This processing strategy is actually a forwarding strategy for packets. Compared with the forwarding of the data packet in the network layer, the forwarding in the data link layer can simplify the processing process of the data packet and improve the forwarding efficiency of the data packet, so that the processing strategy can be applied to services with strict requirements on the forwarding delay of the data packet, such as the above-mentioned automatic driving service or the control service of an intelligent mechanical arm and the like.

Alternatively, if the source address and the destination address in the first packet belong to different private subnets, the processing policy determined by the controller may include: and forwarding the first data packet according to the destination address in the network layer. Such a processing strategy may be applicable to services that do not have strict requirements on the forwarding delay of the data packet, such as the above-mentioned live broadcast service, and the like.

Optionally, the first data packet may be user traffic or control signaling, and in this case, the target information extracted by the parsing component may include a forwarding priority of the data packet, and this target information is also included in a header of the data packet and may be considered as attribute information of the data packet.

The controller may count respective numbers of first packets with different forwarding priorities generated in the SDN network within a preset time period, and readjust the forwarding priorities of the first packets according to the counted numbers. This processing strategy is actually a packet forwarding strategy.

For example, the controller device may count the original forwarding priorities of the first packet, where the original forwarding priorities include a-D priorities, and among the original forwarding priorities, the a priority is the highest priority, and by analogy, the D priority is the lowest priority. If the controller counts that the number of the first data packets corresponding to the levels a to D increases in sequence within a preset time period, the controller may adjust the level D to the highest forwarding priority according to the number of the data packets corresponding to different forwarding priorities, and so on, and adjust the level a to the lowest priority. The adjusted forwarding priority is the processing strategy of the first data packet determined by the controller according to the target information.

In practice, the first data packets with different forwarding priorities may correspond to different services, and for example, the number of the first data packets with the lowest level, that is, the number of the first data packets with the D level is the largest, which indicates that the service corresponding to the first data packet with the D level is frequently used by the user within the preset time period, and the probability that the service is subsequently used by the user is higher, the forwarding priority of the first data packet corresponding to the service may be increased, and the network device may preferentially forward the first data packet corresponding to the service with high frequency usage, compared with the first data packets corresponding to other services with infrequent usage, so as to preferentially ensure that the service with high frequency usage can be provided normally. This processing strategy is particularly well suited for services that are used more frequently.

When the network device is embodied as a hardware device, the first data packet may also be a measurement report generated by a target network device in the form of hardware, and each index parameter in the measurement report may reflect communication quality of the target network device. Optionally, the measurement report may include Reference Signal Receiving Power (RSRP), received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI), reference Signal Received Quality (RSPQ), signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio (SINR), and other index parameters of the target network device. By comprehensively utilizing the index parameters, a Channel Quality Indicator (CQI for short) value can be calculated, and the size of the CQI value can reflect the communication Quality of the wireless Channel of the target network device.

If the index parameter in the measurement report indicates that the communication quality of the target network device does not meet the preset requirement, that is, the CQI value does not meet the preset threshold, in order to ensure that the data packet can be normally transmitted between the network devices and that the SDN network can normally provide respective services, the processing policy determined by the controller may include forwarding the data packet in the SDN network to an alternative network device having the same function as the target network device. Wherein the target network device may be any network device in the SDN network. And after the alternative network device obtains the processing strategy, the data packet processed by the target network device can be forwarded to the alternative network device and processed by the alternative network device. It can be seen that such a processing strategy is actually a scheduling strategy of the data packet, that is, the data packet is scheduled from the network device with poor communication quality to the alternative network device with normal communication quality.

According to the above description, the measurement report controller may actually implement detection of communication quality of network devices in the SDN network, and adjust the processing policy in time according to the detection result, so that the first data packet can be normally forwarded to the network device with better communication quality and processed, thereby ensuring that the SDN network can normally provide various services. The scheduling policy determined from the measurement report may actually be applicable to any service provided by the SDN network.

Optionally, in practice, different services have different requirements on the delay of packet processing, for example, a video-on-demand service and a video live broadcast service have lower requirements on the delay, that is, a slightly larger delay can be allowed; and the automatic driving service and the control service of the intelligent mechanical arm have lower time delay requirements, namely, have smaller time delay. Different CQI values may be set for different services, for example, a larger CQI value may be set for a service with a higher requirement on delay, so that a network device with better communication quality can process a data packet in time, and ensure the processing efficiency of the data packet, otherwise, a smaller CQI value may be set.

In the above embodiments, the processing policy determined by the controller is applicable to a first data packet generated in the SDN network and transmitted in the user plane. In addition, optionally, the SDN network may also generate a second data packet, which may also be transmitted in the user plane of the SDN network. Wherein, for the first data packet and the second data packet, the two can be compared to understand: as described in the embodiment shown in fig. 1, the first data packet may be transmitted between different network devices in the SDN network by means of a user plane of the SDN network, and the first data packet may be user traffic generated by an end device or control signaling generated by a network device. And the second data packet may be generated by the network device and may be transmitted to the controller by means of the user plane. This second data packet can reflect the operational state of the network device itself and/or the entire SDN network. The second data packet may include network management data, which may specifically include monitoring information and configuration information of the network device, monitoring information and configuration information of the entire SDN network, and the like.

For the processing of the second packet, fig. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of another SDN network according to the embodiment of the present invention. On the basis of the network shown in fig. 2, a forwarding component is also deployed in the private sub-network, and the controller further comprises a second standard interface.

The forwarding component may be considered a proxy for the network device and the forwarding component may retrieve and forward this second packet to the controller in the common sub-network. Alternatively, the forwarding component may forward the second packet to the controller using a standard interface configured by itself. The controller may receive a second data packet transmitted in the common sub-network by using a second standard interface configured by the controller, and monitor an operation state of the SDN network according to the second data packet. Optionally, the controller may specifically implement monitoring of the SDN network operation state by using a monitoring component configured by itself.

Optionally, similar to the first standard interface, the second standard interface is also a standardized interface, and specific contents may refer to the description of the first standard interface in the above embodiment, and are not described herein again.

In this embodiment, a second data packet reflecting an operation state of the network device and/or the SDN network can be obtained by using the forwarding component controller, and the controller can monitor a network fault by using the second data packet, so as to ensure high availability of the entire SDN network. In addition, the contents that are not described in detail in this embodiment and the technical effects that can be achieved may also refer to the related descriptions in the above embodiments, and are not described again here.

In addition, an SDN network may also be provided in an embodiment of the present invention, that is, on the basis of the network shown in fig. 1, a forwarding component is further deployed in the dedicated sub-network, and the controller further includes a second standard interface. At this time, the forwarding component and the second standard interface act in the same process as described in the embodiment shown in fig. 3, and are not described again here.

In the SDN network provided in the foregoing embodiments, the public sub-network may specifically be the internet, and then the various services mentioned in the foregoing embodiments may also be implemented by using public resources in the public sub-network. And the controller may use public cloud resources provided by a public sub-network to effect determination of a processing policy for the data packet via the internet. The SDN network provided by the above embodiments may be embodied as a cloud network.

In the cloud network, the private sub-network may specifically be a 5G private network based on a fifth Generation Mobile Communication Technology (5 th Generation Mobile Communication Technology, abbreviated as 5G). The 5G private Network may specifically include a 5G Core Network (5G Core Network, abbreviated as 5 GC) and a Radio Access Network (Radio Access Network, abbreviated as RAN), and the Network device mentioned in the foregoing embodiment may specifically be a functional Network element in the 5G Core Network and/or an Access device in the RAN, such as a 5G base station (the next Generation Node B, abbreviated as gNB), and the like. Compared with other networks, the cloud network comprising the 5G private network can provide higher-quality services due to the characteristics of low time delay, high speed and high reliability of the 5G technology. The 5GC has a general core network structure, and the control plane functional network element and the user plane functional network included in the core network structure are not described in detail herein.

The following illustrates a specific working process of the SDN network provided in the foregoing embodiments. The SDN network is actually a 5G cloud network, since the controller may implement the determination of the processing policy by means of cloud services provided by the internet and the dedicated sub-network may in turn be specifically a 5G private network. The network device in the 5G cloud network may be a functional network element included in the 5GC and/or a gNB in the RAN, and the like. And this 5G cloud network can specifically deploy in an industrial park to for this industrial park provides the control service of intelligent arm on the assembly line in the park.

Based on the specific scenario, the controller in the 5G cloud network may determine the processing manner of different data packets in the network according to the following manner:

the first data packet transmitted on the user plane can be generated in the 5G cloud network, and the first data packet can be user traffic generated by a server, that is, a data packet containing a control instruction generated by the server in the process of providing the smart mechanical arm control service. The first data packet may be forwarded to the gNB by a User Plane Function (UPF) network element in the 5GC, and then forwarded to the User terminal by the gNB. The first data packet may also be a control signaling generated during the process of accessing the 5G private network by the user terminal or the server. The control signaling may be transmitted between an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) network element and a Session Management Function (SMF) network element in the 5 GC.

The first data packet can be acquired by a parsing component deployed in the 5G private network and target information is extracted from the first data packet. The target information can also be transmitted from the 5G private network to the controller via the internet, i.e. the user plane is opened to the controller. Because the internet is stable, the target information extracted by the analysis component can be stably transmitted to the controller.

For a first packet that appears as control signaling or user traffic, the destination information extracted from the parsing component may include a source address and a destination address of the packet. At this time, the processing policy determined by the controller according to the target information may include: and if the source address and the destination address are the same, forwarding the data packet at a data link layer according to the destination address in the data packet. Compare in carrying out data forwarding in the network layer, use the processing strategy to carry out the efficiency of forwardding that can improve the data packet, consequently, use the processing strategy can guarantee terminal equipment's timely access, simultaneously, also can guarantee that intelligent arm's control command can in time forward, realizes the real-time control of arm.

In practice, while providing a control service for the intelligent mechanical arm, the 5G cloud network also needs to add a service, such as an automatic driving service, which has a higher requirement on data packet transmission delay, that is, requires a smaller delay. At this time, since the user plane is open to the controller, the controller has the ability to determine the processing strategy capable of realizing efficient forwarding of the data packet, which makes it possible to add an automatic driving service to the 5G cloud network. That is, with the help of an open user plane, the controller can obtain rich information in the data packet, so that different processing strategies suitable for different services can be determined, and the new service of the 5G cloud network is easier to add.

After generating the first data packet (indicated by the dotted line in the figure) corresponding to the first driving service, the controller may also determine the processing policy in the above manner, so that the network device performs processing according to the determined processing policy.

Optionally, after the automatic driving service is successfully added to the cloud network, the first data packet in the cloud network may be user traffic generated by the automatic driving service or user traffic generated by the control service. For this first packet, the destination information extracted from the parsing component may include the forwarding priority of the packet. And the raw processing strategy is: the first data packet corresponding to the automatic driving service has the highest forwarding priority, and the first data packet corresponding to the control service has the lowest forwarding priority. However, in the actual use process, the controller finds that the number of the first data packets corresponding to the automatic driving service is far smaller than that of the first data packets corresponding to the control service by counting the first data packets, and indicates that the use frequency of the control service is greatly higher than that of the automatic driving service, so that the controller can re-adjust the processing strategy as follows according to the forwarding priority analyzed by the analysis component: the first data packet corresponding to the automatic driving service has the lowest forwarding priority, and the first data packet corresponding to the control service has the highest forwarding priority. The first data packet corresponding to the control service can be processed by the network equipment in priority through adjustment, so that the service quality of the control service is ensured.

In the process, the target information can be sent to the controller by means of the high-stability internet, so that the success rate of target information transmission is ensured, and the controller can normally determine the processing strategy. And even if the implementation mode of the network equipment is not considered, the network equipment is not reconfigured, and the controller can also directly utilize the standard interface to receive the target information, namely, the white-box of the network equipment in the special sub-network is realized.

Optionally, the network device in the 5G private network may further generate a second data packet, and this second data packet may be directly sent to the controller by the forwarding component via the internet, so as to monitor the operation state of the entire cloud network by the controller.

The above process can also be understood in conjunction with fig. 4.

The determination process of the processing policy of the data packet has been described in the above embodiments from the perspective of the entire SDN network. On this basis, it can also be described from the perspective of the controller. Fig. 5 is a flowchart of a network management method according to an embodiment of the present invention, that is, the network management method according to the embodiment of the present invention may be executed by a controller in an SDN network according to the foregoing embodiments. As shown in fig. 5, the method may include the steps of:

s101, target information contained in a data packet in the SDN is obtained, and the data packet is transmitted in a user plane of the SDN.

S102, determining a processing strategy of the data packet according to the target information, wherein the processing strategy and the data packet correspond to target services provided by the SDN network.

And S103, sending a processing strategy on a control plane of the SDN network, so that network equipment in the SDN network processes the data packet according to the processing strategy.

The controller firstly obtains target information contained in a data packet in the SDN network, and the data packet can be transmitted in a user plane of the SDN network. The controller may then determine a processing policy based on the destination information in the data packet. Finally, the controller may send a processing policy at a control plane of the SDN network to process, by a network device in the SDN network, a data packet generated in the SDN network according to the processing policy determined by the controller. The processing strategy and the data packet are both provided for the target service of the application SDN network.

It should be noted that the data packet mentioned in this embodiment is the first data packet mentioned in the related embodiment, that is, the data packet may be transmitted between network devices in the SDN network. For the content and the generation process of the target service, the network device and the data packet, reference may be made to the relevant description in the embodiment shown in fig. 1, which is not described herein again. In addition, the content that is not described in detail in this embodiment may also refer to the related description in the embodiment shown in fig. 1, and is not described again here.

Optionally, the SDN network may also generate a data packet directly transmitted to the controller, i.e. the second data packet mentioned in the above related embodiment. This second data packet may be transmitted by means of a forwarding component deployed in a dedicated sub-network. The controller may monitor the operational state of the entire SDN network using this second data packet. For the process of monitoring the operation state of the SDN network by the controller, reference may be made to the relevant description in the foregoing embodiments, and details are not described here again.

Optionally, the controller may also be provided with a first standard interface and a second standard interface. The first standard interface is used for receiving target information, and the second standard interface is used for receiving a data packet which is directly sent to the controller and used for monitoring the network operation state. The specific functions and the achieved benefits of the two standard interfaces can be referred to in the embodiments shown in fig. 2 and fig. 3, and are not described herein again.

Alternatively, the SDN network in which the controller is deployed may specifically include a public sub-network and a private sub-network. The public sub-network may specifically be the internet, and the controller may use public cloud resources provided by the public sub-network to implement the determination of the processing policy of the data packet by means of the internet. At this time, the SDN network in which the controller is deployed may be embodied as a cloud network. In the cloud network, optionally, the private sub-network may specifically be a 5G private network, and the network device for processing the data packet may specifically be a functional network element in the 5GC and/or an access device in the RAN, such as a 5G base station (the next Generation Node B, abbreviated as gNB), and the like.

In the embodiments shown in fig. 1 and fig. 5, it has been described that the controller may determine the processing policy according to the target information, where the target information may specifically include attribute information of the data packet, such as a source address in a header of the data packet, a destination address, a forwarding priority of the data packet, and the like. Optionally, the destination information may also include useful data in the data packet. The controller may determine the processing strategy applicable to different services and different situations according to different target information. It should be noted that the data packets mentioned in the following cases are all the first data packets in the above embodiments.

The data packet may be user traffic or control signaling, and optionally, when the destination information includes a source address and a destination address in the data packet, if the source address and the destination address in the data packet belong to the same private subnetwork, which indicates that a receiver and a sender of the data packet are located in the same local area network, the processing policy determined by the controller may include: and directly forwarding the data packet at a data link layer according to the destination address. If the source address and the destination address in the first packet belong to different private subnets, the processing policy determined by the controller may include: and forwarding the first data packet according to the destination address in the network layer.

The above process can also be seen in fig. 6 a.

In this embodiment, the controller may determine the forwarding policy of the data packet according to the source address and the destination address of the data packet. The strategy can improve the forwarding efficiency of the data packet, so the strategy is suitable for the service with strict requirements on the forwarding time delay of the data packet. In addition, for the contents that are not described in detail in this embodiment and the technical effects that can be achieved, reference may also be made to the relevant description in the foregoing embodiments, and details are not described herein again.

The data packet may be user traffic or control signaling, and optionally, the target information extracted by the parsing component may include a forwarding priority of the data packet. The controller may further count respective numbers of packets with different forwarding priorities generated in the SDN network within a preset time period, and readjust the forwarding priorities of the packets according to the counted numbers.

The above process can also be seen in fig. 6 b.

In this embodiment, the controller may readjust the forwarding priority of the data packet according to the number of data packets with different forwarding priorities, so that the network device may preferentially forward the data packet corresponding to the high-frequency service, so as to preferentially ensure that the high-frequency service can be normally provided. This processing strategy is particularly well suited for services that are used more frequently. In addition, the contents that are not described in detail in this embodiment and the technical effects that can be achieved in this embodiment may also refer to the related description in the above embodiments, and are not described herein again.

When the network device is embodied as a hardware device, the data packet may also be a measurement report generated by the network device in the form of hardware, and the policy report may reflect the communication quality of the target network device. Optionally, the target information extracted by the parsing component may include an index parameter in the measurement report.

If the index parameter in the measurement report indicates that the communication quality of the target network device does not meet the preset requirement, the processing policy determined by the controller may include forwarding the data packet in the SDN network to an alternative network device having the same function as the target network device. Based on the processing policy, after the candidate network device obtains the processing policy, the data packet processed by the target network device can be forwarded to the candidate network device, and processed by the candidate network device. The processing strategy is actually a scheduling strategy of the data packet, that is, the data packet is scheduled from the network device with poor communication quality to the alternative network device with normal communication quality.

The above process can also be seen in fig. 6 c.

In this embodiment, the controller may actually implement detection of communication quality of network devices in the SDN network by using the measurement report, and adjust the processing policy in time according to the detection result, so that the data packet can be normally forwarded to the network device with better communication quality and processed, thereby ensuring that the SDN network can normally provide various services. In addition, the contents that are not described in detail in this embodiment and the technical effects that can be achieved in this embodiment can also be referred to the related description in the above embodiments, and are not described again here

In practice, various services provided by the SDN network in which the controller provided by the embodiment shown in fig. 5 is deployed may be implemented by using common resources in a common sub-network. And the controller may effect the determination of the processing policy of the data packet by means of the public cloud resources provided by the common sub-network. The SDN network provided by the above embodiments may be embodied as a cloud network. In the cloud network, the private sub-network may be a 5G private network. The network device in the cloud network may specifically be a functional network element included in a 5GC in a 5G private network and/or an access device in a RAN.

Fig. 7 is a flowchart of another network management method according to an embodiment of the present invention, that is, the network management method according to the embodiment of the present invention may be executed by a controller in a cloud network. As shown in fig. 7, the method may include the steps of:

s201, target information contained in a data packet in the cloud network is obtained, and the data packet is transmitted in a user plane of the cloud network.

S202, determining a processing strategy of the data packet according to the target information, wherein the processing strategy and the data packet correspond to a target service provided by the cloud network.

And S203, sending a processing strategy on a control plane of the cloud network, so that network equipment in the cloud network processes the data packet according to the processing strategy, wherein the network equipment comprises a functional network element contained in a 5G core network in the cloud network and/or access equipment contained in a 5G access network.

The specific implementation manner of each step in this embodiment may refer to the related description in the embodiment shown in fig. 5, and is not described herein again. And the data packet mentioned in this embodiment is the first data packet in the above-mentioned related embodiment.

In addition, in this embodiment, the specific working process and the achievable technical effect of the controller can be referred to the related description in the embodiments shown in fig. 5 to 6c, and are not described herein again.

The embodiments shown in fig. 5 to 6c have described the work flow of the controller. Fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of a controller according to an embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 8, the controller may include: a first standard interface and a policy determination component. The controller may be deployed in a common sub-network comprised by the SDN network as shown in fig. 1-4.

The policy determination component may obtain target information included in a first data packet in the SDN network using the first standard interface. Wherein the first data packet is transmitted between different network devices in the SDN network by means of a user plane of the SDN network. Then, the policy determination component may determine a processing policy of the first data packet according to the target information, the processing policy and the first data packet corresponding to a target service provided by the cloud network. Finally, the policy determination component may send a processing policy at a control plane of the SDN network to process, by the network device, the first data packet in accordance with the processing policy.

Optionally, on the basis of the above, the controller may further include: a second standard interface and a monitoring component. The monitoring component may obtain a second data packet in the SDN network according to the second standard interface, and monitor an operating state of the SDN network according to the second data packet. Wherein the second data packet may be transmitted directly to the controller by means of a user plane of the SDN network.

In addition, the details that are not described in detail in this embodiment and the technical effects that can be achieved can be referred to the description in the related embodiments, and are not described herein again.

In the above embodiments, the determination process of the processing policy has been described from the perspective of the whole SDN network and the controller in the SDN network, and on this basis, the determination process may also be described from the perspective of the parsing component. Fig. 9 is a flowchart of another network management method according to an embodiment of the present invention, that is, the network management method according to the embodiment of the present invention may be executed by a parsing component in an SDN network according to the foregoing related embodiment. As shown in fig. 9, the method may include the steps of:

s301, analyzing target information contained in a data packet in the SDN, wherein the data packet is transmitted in a user plane of the SDN.

S302, sending the target information to a controller in the SDN network, so that the controller in the SDN network determines a processing strategy of the data packet according to the target information, wherein the processing strategy and the data packet correspond to a target service provided by the SDN network.

The parsing component may obtain a data packet in the SDN network and parse target information from the data packet. As can be seen from the above description, the data packet may be generated by a terminal device or a network device in the SDN network, and further, the parsing component may also serve as a proxy of a device capable of generating the data packet, and send target information in the data packet to a controller in the SDN network, so that the controller determines a processing policy according to the target information. Wherein the data packet containing the target information and the processing policy both correspond to a target service provided by the SDN network.

In addition, in this embodiment, the packet that needs to be parsed by the parsing component is the first packet mentioned in the foregoing embodiments. In addition, the content that is not described in detail in this embodiment may also refer to the related description in the above embodiments, and is not described herein again.

In this embodiment, an analysis component in the SDN network may obtain a data packet corresponding to a target service, analyze target information from the data packet, and send the target information to the controller. By utilizing the analysis capability of the analysis component, all data in the first data packet is not required to be sent to the controller, but the target information required by the determined processing strategy is transmitted to the controller, so that the data transmission pressure between the analysis component and the controller is reduced, and the transmission efficiency is improved. Further, the controller may determine a processing policy of the data packet according to the target information, that is, the controller controls a processing process of the data packet in the SDN network, and the controller is capable of determining different processing policies suitable for different services, and the enrichment of the processing policies reversely enables the SDN network to add different services. In addition, the contents that are not described in detail in this embodiment and the technical effects that can be achieved may also refer to the related description in the related embodiments, and are not described herein again.

In practice, the SDN network may specifically include a public sub-network and a private sub-network, optionally. The controllers are deployed in a common subnet and the network devices and the parsing components are deployed in a dedicated subnet. And the parsing component further has a standard interface for sending the target information to the common sub-network using the standard interface. Due to the stability of the public sub-network, the target information can be ensured to be stably transmitted to the controller in time, so that the controller can smoothly realize the determination of the processing strategy.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 9, a specific working process of the parsing component has been described, fig. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of the parsing component provided in the embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 10, the component may be deployed in an SDN network shown in fig. 1 to fig. 4. The assembly may include: a parsing subcomponent and a forwarding subcomponent.

The analysis subassembly can analyze target information contained in a data packet in the SDN, and the data packet is transmitted in a user plane of the SDN. The forwarding subcomponent may send the target information to a controller in the SDN network to determine, by the controller in the SDN network, a processing policy of the network device on the data packet according to the target information, the processing policy and the data packet corresponding to a target service provided by the SDN network.

Optionally, the SDN network is a cloud network comprising a public sub-network and a private sub-network, and the parsing component is deployed in the private sub-network.

Standard interfaces are also included for the parsing components deployed in the private sub-network. The forwarding sub-assembly may send the target information to the common sub-network via the standard interface such that the target information is stably transmitted in the common sub-network for receipt by the controller.

In addition, the content that is not described in detail in this embodiment and the technical effect that can be achieved may also refer to the related description in the embodiment shown in fig. 9, and are not described again here.

In addition, an embodiment of the present invention provides a computer storage medium for storing computer software instructions for the electronic device, which includes a program for executing the network management method shown in fig. 5 to 7.

In addition, an embodiment of the present invention provides a computer storage medium for storing computer software instructions for the electronic device, which includes a program for executing the network management method shown in fig. 9.

Finally, it should be noted that: the above examples are only intended to illustrate the technical solution of the present invention, but not to limit it; although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that: the technical solutions described in the foregoing embodiments may still be modified, or some technical features may be equivalently replaced; and such modifications or substitutions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the corresponding technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention.

Claims

1. A network management method is applied to a controller in a Software Defined Network (SDN) network, and comprises the following steps:

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the SDN network is a cloud network comprising a public sub-network and a private sub-network;

the controller is deployed in the public sub-network and the network device is deployed in the private sub-network.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

creating a standard interface of the controller;

the acquiring target information included in a data packet in the SDN network includes:

receiving the destination information transmitted in the common sub-network using the standard interface.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the destination information comprises a source address and a destination address of the packet;

the determining the processing strategy of the data packet according to the target information comprises:

if the destination address and the source address belong to the same private sub-network, determining the processing policy comprises forwarding the data packet at a data link layer according to the destination address.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the destination information comprises a forwarding priority of the packet;

adjusting forwarding priorities of data packets according to respective numbers of the data packets with different forwarding priorities in the SDN network within a preset time period;

and determining the adjusted forwarding priority as the processing strategy.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the data packet comprises a measurement report corresponding to a target network device in the SDN network, and wherein the target information comprises an indicator parameter in the measurement report;

if the index parameter indicates that the communication quality of the target network device does not meet a preset requirement, determining that the processing strategy comprises forwarding a data packet in the SDN network to an alternative network device having the same function as the target network device.

7. A network management method is applied to a controller in a cloud network based on a Software Defined Network (SDN), and comprises the following steps:

and sending the processing strategy on a control plane of the cloud network so that network equipment in the cloud network processes the data packet according to the processing strategy, wherein the network equipment comprises a function network element contained in a 5G core network in the cloud network and/or access equipment contained in a 5G access network.

8. A controller deployed in a software defined network, SDN, network, comprising: a first standard interface and a policy determination component;

the policy determination component is configured to obtain, by using the first standard interface, target information included in a first data packet in the SDN network, where the first data packet is transmitted between different network devices in the SDN network via a user plane of the SDN network; determining a processing policy of the first data packet according to the target information, wherein the processing policy and the first data packet correspond to a target service provided by the SDN network;

9. The controller of claim 8, further comprising: a second standard interface and a monitoring component;

the monitoring component is configured to obtain a second data packet in the SDN network according to the second standard interface, where the second data packet is transmitted to the controller via a user plane of the SDN network; and monitoring the operation state of the SDN network according to the second data packet.

10. A network management method is applied to a parsing component in a Software Defined Network (SDN) network, and comprises the following steps:

analyzing target information contained in a data packet in the SDN network, wherein the data packet is transmitted in a user plane of the SDN network; sending the target information to a controller in the SDN network to determine, by the controller in the SDN network, a processing policy of the data packet according to the target information, the processing policy and the data packet corresponding to a target service provided by the SDN network.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the SDN network is a cloud network comprising a public sub-network and a private sub-network; the controller is deployed in the public sub-network, and the network device part and the parsing component are deployed in the private sub-network;

the sending the target information to a controller in the SDN network comprises:

sending the target information to the public sub-network by means of a standard interface of the parsing component.

12. A software defined network, SDN, network, comprising: the system comprises a public sub-network and a private sub-network, wherein a controller is deployed in the public sub-network, and a network device is deployed in the private sub-network;

13. The network of claim 12, further comprising: a parsing component deployed in the private sub-network, the controller comprising: a first standard interface;

the analysis component is used for analyzing the target information contained in the first data packet; sending said target information to said controller via said common sub-network;

the controller is configured to receive the target information transmitted in the common sub-network using the first standard interface.

14. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium having stored thereon executable code, which when executed by a processor of an electronic device, causes the processor to perform the network management method of any one of claims 1~7 or the processor to perform the network management method of any one of claims 10 to 11.