CN115842734B

CN115842734B - Network management method, controller and SDN network

Info

Publication number: CN115842734B
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: 2024-03-29
Anticipated expiration: 2043-01-30
Also published as: CN115842734A

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention provides a network management method, a controller and an SDN network, wherein the method comprises the following steps: the controller in the SDN network can firstly acquire the target information in the data packet corresponding to the target service provided by the controller, determine the processing strategy of the data packet according to the target information, and finally send the processing strategy in the control plane of the SDN network so that the network equipment can process the data packet according to the processing strategy. 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-mentioned process is to realize 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 can correspond to different services provided by the SDN network, and the controller can determine processing strategies applicable to the different services by utilizing 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

A Software Defined Network (SDN) is a new Network innovation architecture that can separate the control plane from the user plane, thus making control of the Network more flexible. An SDN network built based on an SDN architecture may include controllers (i.e., SDN controllers) as well as network devices. The network device is used for processing the data packet according to the processing strategy issued by the SDN controller, so that the SDN network 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 of service and the quality of service that can be provided by the SDN network. Therefore, how to get an appropriate processing policy for an SDN controller is a urgent issue to be resolved.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of this, the 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, 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 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;

and sending the processing strategy at a control plane of the SDN network so as to process the data packet according to the processing strategy by network equipment in the SDN network.

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 in 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 target services provided by the cloud network;

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

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

the policy determining component is configured to obtain, 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 by means of a user plane of the SDN network;

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

and sending the processing strategy at a control plane of the SDN network so as to process the first data packet according to the processing strategy by the network equipment.

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

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

and 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.

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 the public sub-network is deployed in a controller, and the private sub-network is deployed with network equipment;

the controller is configured to obtain 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 by means of a user plane of the SDN network;

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

In a sixth aspect, embodiments of the present invention provide 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 at least implement a network management method according to any of the first, second or fourth aspects.

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

Based on the above, the controller in the SDN network may first obtain the target information in the data packet, and determine the processing policy of the data packet according to the target information, and finally, send the processing policy in the 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 correspond to the 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 opening of the user plane to the controller is realized. Further, the controller can determine the processing strategy based on the target information, which is also equivalent to enabling the controller to participate in the processing process of the data packet, and enabling the controller to participate in the management process of the SDN network. And the accuracy of the processing strategy can also be improved by means of 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 applicable to different services by utilizing the target information obtained after the user plane is opened, so that the enrichment of the processing strategies can reversely enable the SDN network to be capable of adding different services.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions of the prior art, the following description will briefly explain the drawings used in the embodiments or the description of the prior art, and it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are some embodiments of the present invention, and other drawings can be obtained according to these drawings without inventive effort for a person skilled in the art.

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 still 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 determining a processing strategy according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6b is a flowchart providing another determination processing strategy according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6c is a flowchart providing yet another determination of processing strategies in accordance with 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 yet another network management method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

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

Detailed Description

For the purpose of making the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present invention more apparent, the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present invention, and it is apparent that the described embodiments are some embodiments of the present invention, but not all embodiments of the present invention. All other embodiments, which can be made by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments of the invention without making any inventive effort, are intended to be within the scope of the 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 this application and the appended claims, the singular forms "a," "an," and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, the "plurality" generally includes at least two, but does not exclude the case of at least one.

It should be understood that the term "and/or" as used herein is merely one relationship describing the association of the associated objects, meaning that there may be three relationships, e.g., a and/or B, may represent: a exists alone, A and B exist together, and B exists alone. In addition, the character "/" herein generally indicates that the front and rear associated objects are 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 an identification", depending on the context. Similarly, the phrase "if determined" or "if identified (stated condition or event)" may be interpreted as "when determined" or "in response to a determination" or "when identified (stated condition or event)" or "in response to an identification (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 product 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 product or system. Without further limitation, an element defined by the phrase "comprising one … …" does not exclude the presence of other like elements in a commodity or system comprising such elements.

Some embodiments of the invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the case where there is no conflict between the embodiments, the following embodiments and features in the embodiments may be combined with each other. In addition, the sequence of steps in the method embodiments described below is only an example and is not strictly limited.

Fig. 1 is an SDN network provided in an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 1, the network may include a public subnetwork as well as a private subnetwork deployed at the edge of the network.

An SDN controller is deployed in the public sub-network, and for brevity of description, the SDN controller is simply referred to as a controller in this embodiment and each embodiment below. Alternatively, the public sub-network may specifically be the Internet (Internet).

Wherein, the special sub-network is provided with network equipment which enables the network to have communication function. It should be noted that, the network device in the private sub-network may be a hardware device, such as a switch, a router, a gateway, etc., or may be a virtualized network function module (Virtualized Network Function, abbreviated as VNF) deployed in a network function virtualization infrastructure (Virtualized Network Function Infrastructure, abbreviated as NFVI). Alternatively, the private subnetwork may in particular be a communication network dedicated for use by an administrative district, an industrial park or an institution. The private subnetworks are typically deployed across the network edge of the SDN network.

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

the network device of the network in the dedicated sub-network may obtain the first data packet in the SDN network. The first data packet may be generated when the SDN network provides the target service, that is, the first data packet corresponds to the target service. Further, the controller deployed in the public sub-network may acquire the target information in the first data packet by means of the public sub-network, and determine the 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 a processing policy to process the first data packet by the network device in accordance with the processing policy. Alternatively, the processing policy may specifically include a forwarding policy or a scheduling policy for the first data packet. And because the SDN network has a characteristic that a control plane and a user plane are separated, a processing policy may be issued on the control plane of the SDN network, and the first data packet may be transmitted on the user plane of the SDN network, and 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, for example, a video on demand service, a live video service, an autopilot service, a control service of an intelligent mechanical arm on an industrial pipeline, and the like. Wherein, the live video may be a sports event, a telemedicine video, a remote teaching video, and the like.

Wherein, alternatively, the first data packet may be generated by a device deployed in the private sub-network, and the first data packet may also be considered as user traffic generated during the use of the target service by the user. But the terminal device is not shown in fig. 1.

Optionally, the device for generating the first data packet may be a user terminal used by a user, or may be a server corresponding to the target service. The user terminal may be mobile terminal devices such as a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a notebook computer, etc. provided with a live broadcast or on-demand application program, or may be vehicle-mounted terminal devices, etc. for receiving the above-mentioned target service. Alternatively, the terminal device that generates the first data packet may also be a server. The server can store live video or video on demand, can store various state data of the vehicle collected and reported by the vehicle-mounted terminal equipment, and the server also has the capability of determining control instructions according to the various state data, wherein the control instructions are 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 also need to access the SDN network by means of a network device, and optionally, the first data packet may also be generated by a network device in the private sub-network. The packet may also be considered to be control signaling generated to implement and maintain device network access.

Optionally, the destination information required to determine the processing policy may include attribute information of the data packet, such as a source address, a destination address in a header of the data packet, a forwarding priority of the data packet, and so on. 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, and the specific determination process may be described in the following embodiments.

In the working process of the SDN, the user plane of the SDN is opened to the controller, so that the controller can acquire the target information contained in the data packet transmitted by the user plane, and the controller can also 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 applicable to different services. Therefore, the SDN network may also add corresponding services 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 realize the arrangement of services, i.e. enrich the service content that can be provided by the SDN network.

In this embodiment, after generating a first data packet corresponding to a target service 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. And finally, sending the processing strategy at the control plane of the SDN network so that the network equipment processes the data packet according to the processing strategy, namely, the control of the controller on the data packet processing process in the SDN network is realized.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 1, if the controller can obtain the target information in the first data packet, in order to achieve the obtaining 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 private 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 the parsing result. As can be seen from the description in 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. Meanwhile, the controller may be configured with a first standard interface to thereby receive the target information transmitted in the public sub-network. Alternatively, the first standard interface is a standardized communication interface open to the outside, and may include an ABIS interface, for example.

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

In the above process, on one hand, the parsing capability of the parsing component is utilized, all data in the first data packet is not required to be sent to the controller, but target information required for determining the processing strategy is transmitted to the controller, so that the data transmission pressure between the parsing 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, the controller may directly receive the target information by using the standard interface without reconfiguring the network device even though the implementation of the network device is not considered, that is, the white-box of the network device in the private sub-network is realized.

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

In the embodiments shown in fig. 1 and fig. 2, the controller may determine the corresponding processing policy according to the target information after obtaining the target information, and as known from the description in the above embodiments, different target information may be used to determine the processing policy applicable to different services or different situations, which will be described below respectively.

Alternatively, the first data packet may be user traffic or control signaling, and the destination information extracted by the parsing component may include a source address and a destination address of the first data packet. Wherein, the source address and the destination address are both contained in the header of the data packet, which can be regarded as attribute information of the data packet. In this case, in one case, if the source address and the destination address in the first data packet belong to the same private sub-network, which indicates that the receiving party and the sending party of the first data packet are located in the same lan, the processing policy determined by the controller may include: and forwarding the first data packet according to the destination address directly at the data link layer. This processing policy is actually a forwarding policy for the data packet. Compared with the forwarding of the data packet at the network layer, the forwarding of the data packet at 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 suitable for 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 the intelligent mechanical arm.

In another case, if the source address and the destination address in the first data packet belong to different private sub-networks, the processing policy determined by the controller may include: and forwarding the first data packet according to the destination address at the network layer. Such a processing strategy may be applicable to services that do not require strict delay in forwarding of data packets, such as the live services mentioned above, etc.

Optionally, the first data packet may be user traffic or control signaling, where the target information extracted by the parsing component may include a forwarding priority of the data packet, where the 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 the first data packets with different forwarding priorities generated in the SDN network within a preset period of time, and readjust the forwarding priorities of the first data packets according to the counted numbers. This processing policy is actually a forwarding policy for the data packet.

For example, the statistics of the original forwarding priority of the first data packet by the controller device may include a level a to a level D, where the level a is the highest priority, and so on, and the level D is the lowest priority. Then, if the controller counts that the number of the first data packets corresponding to each of the class a to the class D increases in sequence in the preset time period, the controller can adjust the class D to be the highest forwarding priority according to the number of the data packets corresponding to different forwarding priorities, and so on, and adjust the class a to be 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 with different forwarding priorities may correspond to different services, and accept the foregoing example, where the number of the first data packets with the lowest level, i.e., the level D, is the largest, which indicates that the service corresponding to the first data packet with the level D is frequently used by the user in the preset period of time, and the probability that the service is subsequently used by the user continuously is greater, so that the forwarding priority of the first data packet corresponding to the service may be increased, and compared with other first data packets corresponding to the service that is not frequently used, the network device may preferentially forward the first data packet corresponding to the service that is frequently used, so as to preferentially ensure that the service that is frequently used can be normally provided. Such a processing strategy is particularly suitable 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 the target network device in the form of hardware, where each index parameter in the measurement report may reflect the communication quality of the target network device. Optionally, the measurement report may include index parameters such as reference signal received power (Reference Signal Receiving Power, RSRP for short), strength indication of received signal (Received Signal Strength Indicator, RSSI for short), reference signal received quality (Reference Signal Received Quality, RSPQ for short), signal-to-interference plus noise ratio (Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio, SINR for short), and the like of the target network device. The channel quality indicator (Channel Quality Indicator, CQI for short) value can be calculated by comprehensively utilizing the index parameters, 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 reach the preset threshold, in order to ensure that the data packet can be normally transmitted between the network devices and ensure 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. The target network device may be any network device in the SDN network. And after the alternative network device obtains the processing policy, the data packets processed by the target network device can be forwarded to the alternative network device, and the alternative network device processes the data packets. It can be seen that such a processing policy is actually a scheduling policy of the data packet, i.e. the data packet is scheduled by 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 may be forwarded to the network device with better communication quality and processed, so as to ensure that the SDN network may provide various services normally. The scheduling policy determined according to the measurement report may be applied to virtually any service provided by the SDN network.

Optionally, in practice, different services have different requirements on the delay of packet processing, for example, video on demand service, video live broadcast service have lower requirements on the delay, i.e. 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 and lower time delay. Different CQI values can be set for different services, for example, a larger CQI value can be set for a service with higher time delay requirement, so that network equipment with better communication quality can process data packets in time, the processing efficiency of the data packets is ensured, and otherwise, smaller CQI values can be set.

In the above embodiments, the processing policy determined by the controller is applicable to the first data packet generated in the SDN network and transmitted in the user plane. In addition, optionally, the SDN network may generate a second data packet, and this second data packet 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 may also be understood by comparison: 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, where the first data packet may be user traffic generated by the terminal device or control signaling generated by the 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 running state of the network device itself and/or the entire SDN network. The second data packet may include network management data, specifically may include monitoring information and configuration information of the network device, may also include monitoring information and configuration information of the entire SDN network, and so on.

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

The forwarding component may be considered as a proxy for the network device and may obtain and forward this second data packet to the controller in the common sub-network. Alternatively, the forwarding component may forward the second data packet to the controller using a standard interface that is itself configured. The controller may receive a second data packet transmitted in the public 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 an operation state of the SDN network by using a self-configured monitoring component.

Optionally, similar to the first standard interface, the second standard interface is also a standardized interface, and the specific content may be referred to the description of the first standard interface in the above embodiment, which is not repeated herein.

In this embodiment, by means of the forwarding component controller, a second data packet reflecting the running state of the network device and/or the SDN network can be obtained, and the controller can use the second data packet to monitor network faults, so as to ensure high availability of the whole SDN network. In addition, the details and technical effects that can be achieved in this embodiment are also referred to the related descriptions in the above embodiments, and are not described herein.

In addition, the embodiment of the invention can also provide another SDN network, that is, on the basis of the network shown in fig. 1, a forwarding component is further deployed in the private sub-network, and the controller further includes a second standard interface. At this time, the processes of the forwarding component and the second standard interface, which are the same as those described in the embodiment shown in fig. 3, are not repeated here.

In the SDN network provided in each embodiment, the public sub-network may specifically be the internet, and the various services mentioned in each embodiment may also be implemented by using public resources in the public sub-network. And the controller can use public cloud resources provided by the public sub-network to realize the determination of the processing strategy of the data packet by means of the Internet. At this time, the SDN network provided by the foregoing embodiments may be embodied as a cloud network.

In the cloud network, the private subnetwork may 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 further 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 devices mentioned in the foregoing embodiments may specifically be functional Network elements in the 5GC and/or access devices in the RAN, such as a 5G base station (the next Generation Node B, abbreviated as gNB), and so on. And 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 function network element and the user plane function network contained therein are not described in detail herein.

The following illustrates a specific working procedure of the SDN network provided by each embodiment. Because the controller can implement determination of the processing policy by means of cloud services provided by the internet and the private subnetwork can be in turn a 5G private network in particular, the SDN network is in fact a 5G cloud network. The network device in this 5G cloud network may be a functional network element contained in the 5GC and/or a gNB in the RAN, etc. The 5G cloud network can be particularly deployed in an industrial park to provide control services for intelligent mechanical arms on a production line in the park for the industrial 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 in the user plane can be generated in the 5G cloud network, and the first data packet can be user traffic generated by a server, namely, a data packet containing a control instruction generated by the server in the process of providing the intelligent mechanical arm control service. The first data packet may be forwarded to the gNB by a user plane function (User Plane Function, abbreviated as UPF) network element in 5GC, and then forwarded to the ue by the gNB. The first data packet may also be 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 (Access and Mobility Management Function, AMF for short) network element and a session management function (Session Management function, SMF for short) network element in 5 GC.

The first data packet may be acquired by an parsing component deployed in the 5G private network and target information may be extracted therefrom. 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 relatively 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 from which the parsing component extracts may include the source address and 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 source address and the destination address, forwarding the data packet at the data link layer according to the destination address in the data packet. Compared with the data forwarding at the network layer, the data packet forwarding efficiency can be improved by using the processing strategy, so that the terminal equipment can be ensured to be accessed in time by using the processing strategy, and meanwhile, the control instruction of the intelligent mechanical arm can be ensured to be forwarded in time, so that the real-time control of the mechanical arm is realized.

In practice, the 5G cloud network is required to add services with higher requirements for data packet transmission delay, i.e. smaller delay, such as an autopilot service, while providing control services for the intelligent mechanical arm. At this time, the user plane is opened to the controller, so that the controller has the capability of determining the processing strategy capable of implementing efficient forwarding of the data packet, which makes it possible to add an autopilot service to the 5G cloud network. The controller can obtain abundant information in the data packet by means of the open user plane, so that different processing strategies applicable to different services can be determined, and the new service of the 5G cloud network is easier.

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

Optionally, after the autopilot service is successfully added to the cloud network, the first data packet in the cloud network may be user traffic generated by the autopilot service or user traffic generated by the control service. For this first packet, the destination information from which the parsing component extracts may include the forwarding priority of the packet. And the original 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 the number of the first data packets corresponding to the control service through statistics of the first data packets, which indicates that the use frequency of the control service is greatly higher than that of the automatic driving service, so that the controller can readjust the processing strategy according to the forwarding priority analyzed by the analysis component, wherein the processing strategy is as follows: 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 network device can be enabled to process the first data packet corresponding to the control service preferentially through adjustment, so that the service quality of the control service is guaranteed.

In the above process, the target information can be sent to the controller by means of the high-stability internet, so that the success rate of the target information transmission is ensured, and the controller can normally determine the processing strategy. And even though the implementation mode of the network equipment is not considered, the network equipment is not reconfigured, the controller can also directly receive the target information by using the standard interface, 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, where the second data packet may be directly sent to the controller by the forwarding component via the internet, so that the controller monitors the operation status of the entire cloud network.

The above procedure can also be understood in connection with fig. 4.

The above embodiments have described the determination process of the processing policy of the data packet from the perspective of the entire SDN network. On this basis, it can also be described from the viewpoint 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 each embodiment. As shown in fig. 5, the method may include the steps of:

S101, acquiring target information contained in a data packet in an SDN network, and transmitting the data packet in a user plane of the SDN network.

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

S103, sending a processing strategy at a control plane of the SDN network to process the data packet according to the processing strategy by network equipment in the SDN network.

The controller firstly acquires 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. Wherein, the processing strategy and the data packet are used for providing the target service for the application SDN network.

It should be noted that, the data packet mentioned in this embodiment is the first data packet mentioned in the above related embodiment, that is, the data packet may be transmitted between network devices in the SDN network. And for the content and the generation process of the target service, the network device, and the data packet, reference may be made to the related description in the embodiment shown in fig. 1, which is not described herein. In addition, the details of the embodiment that are not described in detail in this embodiment may be referred to the related description in the embodiment shown in fig. 1, which is not described herein.

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 embodiments. This second data packet may be transmitted by means of a forwarding component deployed in the private sub-network. The controller may monitor the operational status of the entire SDN network using the second data packet. The process of monitoring the operation state of the SDN network by the controller may be referred to the related description in the above embodiments, which is not repeated here.

Optionally, the controller may be further 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 data packets which are directly sent to the controller and used for monitoring the network operation state. The specific actions and advantages achieved by the two standard interfaces can be seen from the relevant description in the embodiments shown in fig. 2 and 3, and will not be described in detail here.

Alternatively, the SDN network in which the controller is deployed may specifically include public subnetworks and private subnetworks. The public sub-network can be the internet, and the controller can use public cloud resources provided by the public sub-network to determine the processing strategy 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 be a 5G private network, and the network device for processing the data packet may 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 so on.

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

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

The above procedure can also be as shown 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 that the strategy is suitable for services with strict requirements on the forwarding delay of the data packet. In addition, the details and technical effects that can be achieved in this embodiment are also referred to the related descriptions in the above embodiments, and are not repeated here.

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

The above procedure can also be as shown in fig. 6 b.

In this embodiment, the controller can readjust the forwarding priority of the data packet according to the number of data packets with different forwarding priorities, so that the network device can forward the data packet corresponding to the high-frequency service preferentially, so as to ensure that the high-frequency service can be normally provided. Such a processing strategy is particularly suitable for services that are used more frequently. In addition, the details and technical effects that can be achieved in this embodiment are also referred to the related descriptions in the above embodiments, and are not repeated here.

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 this hardware form, and the policy report may reflect the communication quality of the target network device. Alternatively, the target information extracted by the parsing component may include index parameters 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, when the alternative network device obtains the processing policy, the data packets processed by the target network device may be forwarded to the alternative network device, and processed by the alternative network device. The processing policy is actually a scheduling policy of the data packet, that is, the data packet is scheduled to an alternative network device with normal communication quality by a network device with poor communication quality.

The above procedure can also be as shown in fig. 6 c.

In this embodiment, the controller may actually detect the communication quality of the network device in the SDN network by using the measurement report, and timely adjust the processing policy according to the detection result, so that the data packet may be normally forwarded to the network device with better communication quality and processed, so as to ensure that the SDN network may normally provide various services. In addition, the details of the embodiment which are not described in detail and the technical effects which can be achieved can be seen from the related descriptions in the above embodiment, and will not be repeated here

In practice, various services provided by an SDN network with a controller provided by the embodiment shown in fig. 5 may be implemented using public resources in a public subnetwork. And the controller can determine the processing strategy of the data packet by means of public cloud resources provided by the public sub-network. At this time, the SDN network provided by the foregoing embodiments may be embodied as a cloud network. In the cloud network, the private subnetwork may alternatively be a 5G private network in particular. The network device in the cloud network may specifically be a functional network element included in a 5GC in the 5G private network and/or an access device in the 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, acquiring target information contained in a data packet in a cloud network, and transmitting the data packet 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 target services provided by the cloud network.

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

The specific implementation manner of each step in this embodiment may be referred to the related description in the embodiment shown in fig. 5, which is not repeated here. The data packet mentioned in this embodiment is the first data packet in the above related embodiment.

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

The embodiments shown in fig. 5-6 c above have described the workflow of the controller. Fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of a controller according to an embodiment of the present invention, 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 public subnetwork comprised by an SDN network as shown in fig. 1-4.

The policy determining component may obtain, using the first standard interface, target information included in the 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. The policy determination component may then determine a processing policy of the first data packet based on 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 the processing policy at a control plane of the SDN network to process the first data packet according to the processing policy by the network device.

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 operation state of the SDN network according to the second data packet. The second data packet may be directly transmitted to the controller by means of a user plane of the SDN network.

In addition, the details of the present embodiment, which are not described in detail, and the technical effects that can be achieved can be referred to the descriptions in the above related embodiments, and are not described herein again.

The above embodiments have described the determination process of the processing policy from the perspective of the whole SDN network and the controllers in the SDN network, and on this basis, the description may also be performed from the perspective of the parsing component. Fig. 9 is a flowchart of still 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 the parsing component in the SDN network according to the related embodiment. As shown in fig. 9, the method may include the steps of:

s301, analyzing target information contained in the data packet in the SDN, and transmitting the data packet in a user plane of the SDN.

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

The parsing component may obtain a data packet in the SDN network and parse the target information from the data packet. As can be seen from the above description, the data packet may be generated by the terminal device or a network device in the SDN network, and further, the parsing component may also act as a proxy for a device capable of generating the data packet, and send the 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 correspond to the target service provided by the SDN network.

In this embodiment, the data packet that needs to be parsed by the parsing component is the first data packet mentioned in each embodiment. In addition, the details of the present embodiment that are not described in detail in the present embodiment may be referred to the related descriptions in the above embodiments, which are not described herein.

In this embodiment, the parsing component in the SDN network may obtain a data packet corresponding to the target service, parse the target information from the data packet, and send the target information to the controller. By utilizing the resolving capability of the resolving assembly, all data in the first data packet are not required to be sent to the controller, but target information required for determining the processing strategy is transmitted to the controller, so that the data transmission pressure between the resolving assembly and the controller is reduced, and the transmission efficiency is improved. Further, the controller can determine the processing strategy of the data packet according to the target information, that is, the controller can control the processing process of the data packet in the SDN network, and the controller can determine different processing strategies applicable to different services, and the enrichment of the processing strategies can reversely enable the SDN network to be newly added with different services. In addition, the details and technical effects that can be achieved in this embodiment are also referred to the related descriptions in the related embodiments, and are not described herein.

In practice, the SDN network may optionally include in particular public and private subnetworks. The controller is deployed in a public sub-network, and the network device and the parsing component are deployed in a private sub-network. And the parsing component also has a standard interface for transmitting the target information to the public sub-network using the standard interface. Due to the stability of the public sub-network, the target information can be ensured to be transmitted to the controller in time and stably, so that the controller can successfully realize the determination of the processing strategy.

While the embodiment shown in fig. 9 has described a specific working process of the parsing assembly, fig. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of the parsing assembly according to the embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 10, the assembly may be deployed in an SDN network as shown in fig. 1 to 4. The assembly may include: parsing sub-components and forwarding sub-components.

The parsing sub-component may parse target information included in a data packet in the SDN network, where the data packet is transmitted in a user plane of the SDN network. The forwarding sub-component 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 including a public sub-network and a private sub-network, and the parsing component is deployed in the private sub-network.

A standard interface is also included for the parsing component deployed in the private sub-network. The forwarding sub-assembly may send the target information to the public sub-network via the standard interface such that the target information is stably transmitted in the public sub-network for receipt by the controller.

In addition, the details and the technical effects that can be achieved in this embodiment are also referred to the related description in the embodiment shown in fig. 9, and are not described herein.

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 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 embodiments are only for illustrating the technical solution of the present invention, and are not limiting; although the 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 scheme described in the foregoing embodiments can be modified or some technical features thereof can be replaced by equivalents; such modifications and substitutions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention.

Claims

1. The network management method is characterized by being applied to a controller in a software defined network SDN, wherein the SDN is expressed as a 5G cloud network, and the controller is deployed in a public sub-network of the 5G cloud network and comprises the following steps:

acquiring target information contained in a data packet in the SDN, wherein the data packet is generated in a 5G special sub-network of the SDN, is transmitted in a user plane of the SDN, and is sent to network equipment in the SDN before the controller acquires the target information;

and sending the processing strategy at a control plane of the SDN network so that the network equipment processes the data packet according to the processing strategy, wherein the network equipment is deployed in the 5G special sub-network.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

creating a standard interface of the controller;

obtaining target information contained in a data packet in an SDN network comprises the following steps:

and receiving the target information transmitted in the public sub-network by using the standard interface.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the destination information comprises a source address and a destination address of the data packet;

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

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

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

according to the respective quantity of the data packets with different forwarding priorities in the SDN within a preset time period, the forwarding priority of the data packets is adjusted;

and determining the adjusted forwarding priority as the processing strategy.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the data packet comprises a measurement report corresponding to a target network device in the SDN network, and 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 the preset requirement, determining the processing strategy comprises forwarding the data packet in the SDN network to an alternative network device with the same function as the target network device.

6. The network management method is characterized by being applied to a controller in a 5G cloud network based on a software defined network SDN, wherein the controller is deployed in a public sub-network of the 5G cloud network and comprises the following steps:

acquiring target information contained in a data packet in the 5G cloud network, wherein the data packet is generated in a 5G special sub-network of the 5G cloud network, is transmitted in a user plane of the 5G cloud network, and is sent to network equipment in the 5G cloud network before the controller acquires the target information;

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 5G cloud network;

and sending the processing strategy at a control plane of the 5G cloud network so as to process the data packet according to the processing strategy by the network equipment, wherein the network equipment is deployed in a 5G special sub-network of the 5G cloud network and comprises functional network elements contained in a 5G core network and/or access equipment contained in a 5G access network in the 5G cloud network.

7. A controller deployed in a software defined network, SDN, the SDN network representing a 5G cloud network, the controller deployed in a common subnetwork of the 5G cloud network, comprising: a first standard interface and a policy determination component;

the policy determining component is configured to obtain, using the first standard interface, target information included in a first data packet in the SDN network, where the first data packet is generated in a 5G dedicated sub-of the SDN network, and by means of a user plane of the SDN network, the data packet is transmitted between different network devices in the SDN network, and the data packet is sent to a network device in the SDN network before the controller obtains the target information; determining a processing strategy of the first data packet according to the target information, wherein the processing strategy and the first data packet correspond to the target service provided by the SDN;

and sending the processing strategy on a control plane of the SDN network so that the network equipment processes the first data packet according to the processing strategy, wherein the network equipment is deployed in the 5G special sub-network.

8. The controller of claim 7, wherein the controller further comprises: 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 by means of a user plane of the SDN network; and monitoring the operation state of the SDN according to the second data packet.

9. The network management method is characterized by being applied to an analysis component in a Software Defined Network (SDN), wherein the SDN is expressed as a 5G cloud network, and the analysis component is deployed in a special sub-network of the 5G cloud network and comprises the following steps:

analyzing target information contained in a data packet in the SDN, wherein the data packet is generated in a 5G special sub-network of the SDN, is transmitted in a user plane of the SDN, and is sent to network equipment in the SDN before a controller acquires the target information; and sending the target information to a controller in the SDN network, wherein the controller is deployed in a public sub-network of the 5G cloud network, so that the controller in the SDN network determines a processing strategy of the data packet according to the target information, and the processing strategy and the data packet correspond to the target service provided by the SDN network.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the SDN network is a cloud network comprising public subnetworks and private subnetworks; the controller is deployed in the public sub-network, and the network equipment part and the analysis component are deployed in the private sub-network;

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

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

11. A software defined network, SDN, network, characterized in that the SDN network appears as a 5G cloud network comprising: a public sub-network and a 5G private sub-network, wherein the public sub-network is deployed in a controller, and the 5G private sub-network is deployed with network equipment;

the controller is configured to obtain target information included in a first data packet in the SDN network, where the first data packet is generated in the 5G private sub-network, and is transmitted between different network devices in the SDN network by means of a user plane of the SDN network, and the first data packet is sent to a network device in the SDN network before the controller obtains the target information;

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

12. The network of claim 11, wherein the network further comprises: a parsing component deployed in the 5G 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; transmitting the target information to the controller by means of the public sub-network;

the controller is configured to receive, using the first standard interface, the target information transmitted over the public sub-network.

13. 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 of claims 1-6 or the processor to perform the network management method of any of claims 9-10.