Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L67/00—Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications
  • H04L67/01—Protocols
  • H04L67/06—Protocols specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L47/00—Traffic control in data switching networks
  • H04L47/70—Admission control; Resource allocation
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L45/00—Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks
  • H04L45/02—Topology update or discovery
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L67/00—Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications
  • H04L67/01—Protocols
  • H04L67/10—Protocols in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L67/00—Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications
  • H04L67/2866—Architectures; Arrangements
  • H04L67/289—Intermediate processing functionally located close to the data consumer application, e.g. in same machine, in same home or in same sub-network
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L67/00—Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications
  • H04L67/50—Network services
  • H04L67/51—Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services

Definitions

• the invention relates to the general field of telecommunications.
• It relates more particularly to the delivery (i.e. distribution) of digital content such as video files, audio files, digital television streams, etc., in a telecommunications network.
• IP Internet Protocol
• material resources is meant, for example, storage spaces and physical content servers deployed in the network.
• Such architectures are, for example, content delivery network (CDN) architectures, described in TS 182.019 "Telecommunications and Internet Converged Services and Protocols for Advanced Networking (TISPAN): Content Delivery Network (CDN)”. Architecture ", v3.1.1 June 2011, published by ETSI.
• mirrors eg content servers
• This architecture makes it possible to transparently and effectively distribute the contents hosted by the original servers to the users by defining a routing mechanism allowing a user to be served by the mirror node of the nearest network geographically.
• CDN network architectures are also targeted by this effort.
• content delivery can be done at term not only from CDN network hardware architectures as deployed today, but also from cloud-like infrastructures.
• CDaaS Content Delivery as a Service
• the CDN service is intended to evolve towards a service called CDaaS or “Content Delivery as a Service” which will allow not only the delivery of content, but also the increase the capabilities offered today by CDN infrastructures by relying on cloud resources made available to users almost in real time.
• the invention responds in particular to this need by proposing a hybrid architecture of delivery (ie distribution) of digital contents taking advantage of, on the one hand, infrastructure of delivery networks of hierarchical contents already deployed (infrastructures of the CDN type for example), which rely on specific physical resources (eg on physical servers and / or storage space deployed at the edge of the network and close to the user who requested the content), and on the other hand, virtualization of functions delivery of content through "cloud" infrastructures, which provide their customers with dematerialized resources (such as virtual content servers) in real time.
• This architecture proposed by the invention allows the two aforementioned infrastructures to coexist and provide a response adapted in real time to the needs of operators of telecommunications networks.
• the proposed architecture relies advantageously on several entities interacting with each other, and more specifically on a management device of a digital content delivery service and on a device orchestration device for the delivery of these contents. .
• the invention therefore relates to a resource orchestration device comprising:
• a reception module originating from a management device for a digital content delivery service:
• a resource allocation request for the delivery of at least one digital content and o at least one characteristic representative of a level of service attributed to a provider of said at least one digital content for the delivery of content;
• a verification module capable of verifying whether resources enabling delivery of said at least one digital content in accordance with said at least one service level characteristic are available from a set of determined resources comprising physical resources already deployed from a network physical delivery of digital content and virtual resources already instantiated for the content provider;
• An allocation module activated if the verification module detects that the available resources are not sufficient, able to require the allocation of new physical resources in the physical network for delivery of digital contents and / or to instantiate new resources virtual delivery of said at least one content.
• At least one characteristic representative of a level of service attributed to a provider of said at least one digital content for the delivery of content A verification step during which it is verified whether resources allowing delivery of said at least one digital content in accordance with said at least one service level characteristic are available from a set of determined resources comprising physical resources already deployed; a physical delivery network for digital content and virtual resources already instantiated for the content provider; and
• a step of allocating new physical resources in the physical network for delivering digital contents and / or instantiating new virtual resources for the delivery of said at least one content If the available resources are insufficient, a step of allocating new physical resources in the physical network for delivering digital contents and / or instantiating new virtual resources for the delivery of said at least one content.
• the invention also relates to a management device of a digital content delivery service comprising:
• a module for sending said at least one service level characteristic to a resource orchestration device comprising physical resources of at least one physical network for delivering content and virtual resources ;
• a sending module activated on receipt of a request in connection with a delivery of at least one said digital content offered by the content provider, able to send to the device orchestration a resource allocation request for the delivery of said at least one content in accordance with the service level.
• the invention also relates to a management method of a digital content delivery service comprising:
• the orchestration device and the management device thus organize (and facilitate) the cooperation between one (or more) physical delivery network (s) such as CDN networks which do not conventionally call on virtual resources but only physical resources, and one (or more) computer system (s) making available to a digital content provider a set of virtual resources for the delivery of its contents.
• the combined action of these two devices makes it possible to manage resources offered by heterogeneous network infrastructures for the delivery of digital content to users, namely on the one hand physical resources such as content servers deployed on the edge of the network. and on the other hand virtual resources such as a virtual content delivery function implemented on virtual machines and reproducing a virtual content server.
• the management device manages the actual deployment of the content delivery service by ensuring in particular that the delivery of digital content is in accordance with an agreed level of service or previously allocated to the provider of such content.
• This level of service is established taking into account various factors, such as an operator policy (typically that of the operator of the cloud computing system), a service level agreement agreed with the content provider (or SLA for Service). Level Agreement) translating the technical requirements of the latter for the delivery of its content (eg in terms of bandwidth, quality of service, latency, load, depending on the type of client terminals or digital content envisaged, etc.). ), etc.
• This level of service can evolve possibly over time and require a reallocation of resources for the delivery of contents of the content provider.
• the orchestration device which is responsible for the allocation of physical and / or virtual resources for the delivery of content.
• the orchestration device thus allocates on the fly, in response to a request from a user or the service provider, resources for the delivery of content in accordance with the requirements defined by the level of service transmitted by the device. management.
• the orchestration device may, for example, privilege the allocation of physical resources deployed in the physical physical content delivery network, or the reservation of virtual resources (possibly new ones) with one or more cloud computing systems, or allocate both physical and virtual resources suitable for delivering content.
• No limitation is attached to the type of resources allocated for content distribution: it can be content servers as well as storage space, computing power, and so on.
• the allocation of resources is advantageously carried out in real time by the orchestration device according to existing and available physical and / or virtual resources and while leaving the possibility of reserving new virtual resources with the cloud infrastructure. For the content provider if the resources already made available to it are insufficient. The action of the orchestration device thus makes it possible to exploit the virtualization potential of the content delivery resources offered by the cloud infrastructure almost in real time.
• the orchestration device may also, in certain contexts, decide to deploy new physical resources in the physical physical delivery network and request the allocation of these new resources to the physical physical delivery network. Although this option is more complex to implement and results in longer response times, it may be relevant for longer-term management of physical delivery network resources.
• the orchestration device can also be taken into account by the orchestration device during the allocation of resources, and in particular the geographical location of a user device (eg terminal of the user at the origin of the request ) and the availability of resources near this location to ensure a fast and reliable content delivery service.
• the allocation module of the orchestration device is able to assign new instantiated virtual resources for the delivery of said at least one content to the physical digital content delivery network, this orchestration device comprising in in addition to an information module to inform a device for processing access requests to digital content of this network of this allocation.
• This processing device is for example a controller of the physical content delivery network.
• the physical content delivery network that relies conventionally on physical resources can integrate, thanks to the invention, virtual resources instantiated by the orchestration device for the delivery of content. from the service provider. New resources are allocated on demand for the delivery of these contents and attached to the physical content delivery network which can take them into account among its available resources, and thus route the requests of the user terminals or the terminals themselves to these resources. Although attached to the physical content delivery network, these virtual resources nevertheless remain preferentially managed by the orchestration device.
• the orchestration device attaches to the computer system that conventionally offers virtual resources physical resources of a physical physical content delivery network.
• the invention advantageously allows an "overflow" of resources enabling the delivery of content from the physical content delivery network or the cloud computing system.
• the information module of the orchestration device is also able to send the processing device at least one update information of a topology of the physical resources deployed in the physical delivery network of the device. content and virtual resources allocated to said physical network content delivery, and / or updating a routing table based on this topology.
• This embodiment allows on-the-fly updating of the routing rules applied by the processing device to the access requests it receives, and thus facilitates and speeds up the processing of future access requests addressed to the processing device. , taking into account the physical and virtual resources already deployed for the delivery of content.
• the orchestration device comprises:
• a module activated when new virtual resources are instantiated for the delivery of digital content, capable of supplying to said virtual resources an identifier of a device for processing a request for access to the digital content transmitted by the terminal; that these virtual resources register with the processing device; and
• a module for warning the processing device of an upcoming recording of these virtual resources with this processing device is provided.
• the processing device may be, in a particular embodiment, a controller of the physical physical content delivery network.
• the content delivery service provided by the invention is set implemented in the perimeter of the physical content delivery network.
• the controller then plays the role of portal entry of the access request to the hybrid architecture proposed by the invention.
• the use of a device for processing third party access requests advantageously allows not to overload them.
• the processing device can advantageously be configured to address the processing requests to the content distribution service management device only if it detects that it is not possible for it to satisfy this request within the physical network of the content distribution service. content delivery.
• the access request is sent directly to the management device.
• the access request is addressed to a cloud computing system making available to the content provider the virtual resources orchestrated by the orchestration device.
• triggers for the allocation (or reallocation) of resources by the orchestration device can be envisaged. These triggers are detected preferentially by the management device of the content delivery service. They are manifested by the receipt of a request by the management device of the content delivery service, in connection with the delivery of at least one digital content. This request is for example:
• the sending module of the management device is able to send to the orchestration device information data relating to a digital content required by a user device and / or to the provider of this content and / or the user device, these information data having been extracted from a request for access to the digital content transmitted by the user device.
• This information data is for example a domain name to identify the content provider, an address such as a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) to identify the content required by the user device, a user agent to identify the type of user device that wants to access the content, or an IP address designating the user device and making it possible to locate it.
• URL Uniform Resource Locator
• a user agent to identify the type of user device that wants to access the content
• IP address designating the user device and making it possible to locate it.
• the orchestration device can advantageously take account of this information data for the allocation of resources.
• the invention also provides a device for processing requests for access to digital contents, this processing device comprising:
• a module for receiving at least one piece of information enabling the processing device to identify physical resources of a physical network for delivering allocated digital contents and / or instantiated virtual resources for delivery of the content;
• a module for redirecting the access request or the user device to the resources identified for the delivery of the content is
• the invention also provides a method for processing requests for access to digital content by a device for processing access requests belonging to a physical digital content delivery network, this processing method comprising:
• the information received by the resource orchestration device processing device can directly identify the resources allocated by the orchestration device to the physical content delivery network for delivering content offered by the content provider, or alternatively concern the forthcoming registration of these resources with the treatment device.
• the physical content delivery network thus benefits from new virtual resources allocated by the orchestration device for the delivery of digital content. In being aware of these resources, he can take them into account for the routing of the access requests he receives from different user devices. The resources of the physical content delivery network are thus virtually increased.
• the communication module is capable of receiving from the orchestration device information for updating a topology of physical resources deployed in the physical network for delivering content and virtual resources. assigned by the orchestration device to the physical content delivery network, and / or update information of a routing table maintained by the processing device and based on this topology.
• This resource topology indicates for example a way in which resources (eg content servers) are organized and prioritized within the physical content delivery network, one or more groupings of these resources in a geographical area, technical characteristics, geographical and / or related to the services supported by these resources (eg capacity of servers, type of content distributed by them or user devices to which they can deliver content), etc.
• resources eg content servers
• groupings of these resources eg capacity of servers, type of content distributed by them or user devices to which they can deliver content
• This update of the topology of the resources of the routing table facilitates the processing of subsequent access requests addressed to the processing device.
• the treatment device comprises:
• a verification module activated upon receipt of an access request from a user device to a said digital content, of the availability of resources allocated to the physical content delivery network for the delivery of this content to the user device, among physical resources already deployed in the physical content delivery network and / or virtual resources allocated by the orchestration device to the physical content delivery network;
• a sending module activated if the available resources of the physical content delivery network are insufficient, able to send to a management device of a digital content delivery service according to the invention, a request for allocation of resources for delivering the content to the user device, this request comprising information data extracted from the access request of the user device and relating to the content and / or to a provider of this content and / or to the user device.
• the processing device only requests the management device, and possibly the allocation of virtual resources, if it determines that the hardware resources that it manages for the delivery of contents are insufficient to satisfy the request. of the user.
• the processing device acts as an intermediary between the user device and the management device of the content delivery service. It serves as an access portal to the hybrid content delivery service offered by the invention, and thus avoids direct access of users to the management device and the orchestration device. Given the volume 1 important requests for access to digital content likely to be transmitted in a telecommunications network, this embodiment advantageously allows to limit the burden of management and orchestration devices, and keep them operational.
• this embodiment provides an interface to the management service that is transparent to the user device.
• the processing device is a controller of the physical physical delivery network
• the user device continues to conventionally address the physical content delivery network to access a content, which loads itself. to solicit itself the management device to determine which resources to route the request of the user so that it can actually access the required digital content.
• the different steps of the orchestration method and / or the management method and / or the processing method are determined by instructions of computer programs.
• a computer program on an information or recording medium this program being capable of being implemented in an orchestration device or more generally in a computer, this program comprising instructions adapted to the implementation of performing the steps of an orchestration method as described above;
• a computer program on an information or recording medium this program being capable of being implemented in a management device or more generally in a computer, this program comprising instructions adapted to the implementation steps of a management method as described above;
• a computer program on an information or recording medium this program being capable of being implemented in a processing device or more generally in a computer, this program including instructions adapted to the implementation steps of a method of treatment as described above.
• Each of these programs can use any programming language, and be in the form of source code, object code, or intermediate code between source code and object code, such as in a partially compiled form, or in any form what other form is desirable.
• the invention also relates to a computer-readable information medium, comprising instructions of a computer program as mentioned above.
• the information carrier may be any entity or device capable of storing the program.
• the medium may comprise storage means, such as a ROM, for example a CD ROM or a microelectronic circuit ROM, or a magnetic recording medium, for example a floppy disk or a disk. hard.
• the information medium can be a transmissible medium such as an electrical or optical signal, which can be conveyed via an electrical or optical cable, by radio or by other means.
• the program according to the invention can be downloaded in particular on an Internet type network.
• the information carrier may be an integrated circuit in which the program is incorporated, the circuit being adapted to execute or to be used in the execution of the method in question.
• the invention is directed to a digital content distribution system comprising:
• At least one physical digital content delivery network comprising physical resources
• At least one computer system capable of providing virtual content providers with virtual resources for the delivery of these contents to user devices
• a management device for a digital content delivery service according to the invention.
• a resource orchestration device able to allocate resources for the distribution of at least one of said content among the physical resources of the physical content delivery network and the virtual resources made available to the computer system .
• system further comprises a processing device according to the invention.
• This system has the same advantages as the management device, the orchestration device and the treatment device mentioned above.
• the orchestration method, the orchestration device, the management method, the management device, the processing method, the processing device, the system, the Computer programs and recording media according to the invention present in combination all or some of the aforementioned features.
• FIG. 1 shows, in its environment, a digital content delivery system according to the invention in a particular embodiment
• FIG. 2 illustrates the hardware architecture of a computing device implementing an orchestration device according to the invention.
• FIG. 3 illustrates the exchanges between the different entities of the delivery system of FIG. 1 and the main steps of the orchestration method according to the invention, in a particular embodiment. 1
• FIG. 1 represents, in its environment, a system 1 offering a digital content delivery service C according to the invention, in a particular embodiment.
• digital content C that can be distributed or delivered by the system 1. It may be for example audio, video, files, photographs, etc., offered by one or more content providers PROV.
• the invention proposes a hybrid digital content delivery architecture for the system 1 which relies both on physical resources deployed in one or more physical network (s) 2 of hierarchical content delivery. (s), and on virtual resources, that is to say dematerialized, administered and made available by one or more computer systems.
• s physical network
• virtual resources that is to say dematerialized, administered and made available by one or more computer systems.
• a single physical content delivery network 2 as well as a single cloud computing system 3.
• the physical content delivery network 2 is a CDN type network.
• the physical content delivery network 2 may be any type of infrastructure that has delivery servers such as, for example, a "mirroring" infrastructure, P4P combining network (x) CDN and peer-to-peer communications ( or “peer-to-peer”), or network of caches.
• the content delivery network 2 is in particular a so-called “physical” network, as opposed to a so-called “virtual” network, insofar as this network 2 initially comprises only hardware or physical resources, such as servers, and not virtual resources.
• original servers 4 on which the digital contents C are hosted, as well as hardware nodes 5 (content servers here), distributed geographically at the edge of the network, at which the contents C are replicated, and from which these contents are delivered to users who have requested them on their terminals.
• content servers here
• These servers 4 and 5 constitute material or physical resources within the meaning of the invention. No limitation is attached to the number of original servers 4 or to the number of "mirrors" content servers 5 deployed in the network 2. These numbers vary, in a manner known per se, according to the choice of implementation of the server. network operator.
• the routing (routing) of the access requests to the contents C within the network CDN 2 is conventionally performed by a controller 6 of the CDN network (or CDNC for "CDN Controller" in English).
• the latter is able to route an access request sent by a user U via a user device such as for example a terminal, to the server 5 of the CDN 2 network closest geographically to this terminal.
• This server 5 is identified by means of a routing table 7 maintained by the controller 6, and reflecting the topology of the CDN 2 network (that is to say the hierarchy of content servers of the CDN network and the others). resources of this network, their technical, geographical or service characteristics (type of devices 1 users likely to be served by these servers), etc.), as well as the referral rules to be applied to the access requests received by the network CDN 2.
• These referral rules can be based in particular on a system Domain name server (DNS) resolving domain names to Internet addresses (URLs) identifying the appropriate servers 5 according to the geographical location of the terminals.
• DNS system Domain name server
• the controller 6 is further a processing device according to the invention. It is more specifically a software entity, ie an application or a computer program, which runs on a computer device or a computer. The distinguishing characteristics of such a device with respect to a known CDN controller will appear later in the description.
• the cloud computing system 3 is based, in the example described here, on a Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) type architecture as defined by the ETSI. It implements one or more virtual telecom functions (or VNFs for "Virtual Network Function"), including a VCDN function for delivery of digital content.
• NFV Network Functions Virtualization
• the virtual functions implemented by the cloud computing system 3 can be deployed on one or more virtual machines.
• the NFV architecture is described in detail in the document GS NFV 002, v1.1.1 (October
• the physical resources 8 include computing resources (eg servers), storage resources and network resources (eg switches, wired or wireless links, routers, etc.).
• the functional blocks defining the NFV architecture include the resource and network layers:
• Virtual machines 9 (and in particular here virtual content servers), instantiated by the cloud computing system 3 according to the needs of its customers for the implementation of virtual telecom functions VNF, as well as a hypervisor 10.
• the virtual machines 9 and the hypervisor 10 contribute to a virtualization layer which decouples the virtual functions VNF from the hardware resources 8;
• a management module 11 (or EMS for "Element Management System” in English) of virtual telecom functions VNF;
• a management module 12 (or "VNF Manager") of the life cycle of the VNF functions (ie instantiation, update, adaptation, termination, etc., of the VND functions).
• VNF Manager of the life cycle of the VNF functions (ie instantiation, update, adaptation, termination, etc., of the VND functions).
• the orchestration device 13 In addition to the classical functions of a known orchestration device described in ETSI's GS NFV-MAN 001 entitled Network Function Virtualization (NFV) - Management and Orchestration, vO.2.1 (January 2014), the orchestration device 13 here participates in the deployment of the service S offered by the system 1 by orchestrating the allocation of physical resources of the network CDN 2 and / or virtual resources of the cloud computing system 3 to deliver a content C required to a user U on its terminal (user device within the meaning of the invention).
• the service S offered by the system 1 by orchestrating the allocation of physical resources of the network CDN 2 and / or virtual resources of the cloud computing system 3 to deliver a content C required to a user U on its terminal (user device within the meaning of the invention).
• the event triggering the allocation of resources by the orchestration device 13 within the system 1 is however not limited to the processing of a request for access of a user to a specific content C. Indeed, the orchestration device 13 can also orchestrate the allocation or reallocation of physical and / or virtual resources within the system 1 in response to a request from the content provider PROV for the delivery of its contents in a general way or certain only of its contents. This request is for example a bit rate, an available bandwidth, or more generally a quality of service that the provider wants to obtain when delivering its content, etc.
• the orchestration device 13 is a software entity that executes on a computing device or computer 14.
• FIG. 2 schematically illustrates the hardware architecture of such a computing device 14. It comprises a processor 14A, a read-only memory 14B, a random access memory 14C, a non-volatile memory 14D and 14E communication means, able in particular to communicate with the controller 6 and with a device 15 according to the invention for managing the content delivery service S offered by the system 1.
• the read-only memory 14B of the computing device 14 constitutes a recording medium in accordance with the invention, readable by the processor 14A and on which is recorded a computer program according to the invention comprising instructions for executing the steps of FIG. an orchestration method according to the invention, the steps of which are illustrated later with reference to FIG. 3.
• This computer program equivalently defines functional modules of the orchestration device 13, and in particular a communication module 13A with the management device 15, a module 13B for verifying the availability of resources for the delivery of digital content among hardware resources of the CDN 2 network and / or virtual resources made available by the cloud computing system 3; 13C resource allocation and, in the embodiment described here, a 13D information module able to inform the cont Router 6 and possibly the device 15 for managing the hardware and / or software resources allocated by the orchestration device.
• the modules 13A and 13D rely in particular on the communication means 14E of the computing device 14. The functions of the modules 13A to 13D are detailed further with reference to FIG.
• the content delivery service S offered by the system 1 is implemented in the perimeter of the network CDN 2.
• a user U wishing to access a content C issues a request.
• access REQ using a terminal 16 by connecting for example to a portal 17 for access to the service S.
• This portal 17 is configured to redirect the access request REQ from the user U to the controller 6 of the CDN network 2.
• the management device 15 comprises two main functional units, namely:
• a first service clause management unit 18 which acts as a front office. or S service access portal for PROV content providers.
• This unit 18 manages and stores in a database 19 the various service clauses agreed upon and / or allocated to PROV suppliers for the distribution of their content C.
• These service clauses can be linked in particular to the service offer S subscribed by each PROV content provider to the S service provider (eg premium offer).
• Such clauses are grouped conventionally in documents called SLA (for "Service Level Agreement"). They are translated by the unit 18 in the form of technical specifications or SLS (for "Service Level Specification"), reflecting the level (or the quality) of service attributed to the content provider considered.
• the SLS technical specifications thus designate the criteria, in other words the technical characteristics that the content distribution service S offered by the system 1 undertakes to respect when delivering contents proposed by the content provider to guarantee the level of service. assigned to the content provider, such as maximum allowable latency, minimum bandwidth, maximum number of users, target device types, etc.
• These SLS specifications are stored in the database 19 for each PROV content provider having subscribed to the service S, in association with the corresponding SLAs;
• This second unit 20 is able to communicate here on the one hand with the controller 6 of the CDN 2 network, and on the other hand with the orchestration device 13, to organize the delivery of content offered by the content provider PROV as per example the delivery of content C required by the user U in a request REQ.
• This organization includes the solicitation of the orchestration device 13 not only for the processing of punctual access requests to digital contents C issued by user devices such as the terminal 16 (via resource allocation requests for the delivery of these C content specific to 1 user devices having requested them), but also, as mentioned above, for the processing of requests from the content provider PROV, for example to adapt the technical characteristics governing the delivery of its contents.
• These two types of requests constitute requests in connection with the delivery of content (or at least one content) within the meaning of the invention.
• the deployment unit 20 comprises modules 20A, 20B and 20C (implemented for example in the form of software modules), configured respectively for:
• the controller module 20A 6 When it refers to the delivery in the general sense of contents Provided by the supplier of contents PROV, it can contain information relating to all of these contents such as the type of these contents, the user devices that may require the delivery of these contents, etc.
• modules 20A, 20B and 20C The functions of the modules 20A, 20B and 20C will appear in more detail later in the description, with reference to FIG.
• the management device 15 is here a software entity that executes on a computing device or on a computer such as the computing device 14.
• the read-only memory of the computing device on which the controller 6 is running constitutes a recording medium in accordance with the invention, readable by the processor of the computing device and on which is recorded a computer program according to the invention comprising instructions for carrying out the steps of a treatment method according to the invention.
• This computer program equivalently defines functional modules of the controller 6, and in particular a module 6A for communication with the management device 15 and with the orchestration device 13, a module 6B for verifying the availability of resources. allocated to the physical content delivery network CDN 2 for the delivery of a content C required in an access request REQ by a user device such as the terminal 16, and a routing module 6C of the access request REQ or of the user device 16 based on information received from the orchestration device and the routing rules stored in the database 7.
• the functions of these modules 6A to 6C are detailed further with reference to FIG.
• the read-only memory of the computing device on which the management device 15 operates constitutes a recording medium in accordance with the invention, readable by the processor of the computing device and on which a compliant computer program is recorded.
• the invention comprising instructions for carrying out the steps of a management method according to the invention.
• This computer program equivalently defines the functional modules of the management device 15 mentioned above, namely the first management unit 18, the second service deployment unit 20 and its associated modules 20A, 20B and 20C. The functions of these different units and modules are detailed more now with reference to FIG.
• the orchestration of resources within the computer system 1 according to the invention can be triggered by other types of requests than a request for access of a user to a content, for example a request made by the provider of PROV content intended to modify certain technical characteristics relating to the quality or level of service considered for the delivery of its contents.
• the terminal 16 of the user U issues a request REQ for access to a content C on the portal 17 of the service S.
• the request REQ contains, in its header, a domain name identifying the provider content C, a URL identifying the content C, as well as the IP address of the terminal 16 (which gives an indication of its geographical location) and a user agent (to identify the operating system and the type of the terminal 16) (step E10).
• the terminal 16 is redirected here by the gate 17 to the controller 6 of the network CDN 2
• the terminal 16 of the user U sends the REQ request to the controller 6 so that it assigns it a content server 5 available to deliver the content C required (step E30).
• the controller 6 of the network CDN 2 checks the availability of physical resources within the network CDN 2 to deliver the content C to the terminal 16 (step E40). Specifically, it verifies here with the help of its verification module 6B, the availability of a content server 5 on which the content C is replicated, from the topology of the network CDN 2 and routing rules reported in the routing table stored in the base 7. The location of the terminal 16 can be deduced by the controller 6 from the IP address contained in the header of the REQ request and be used when selecting a content server 5 This verification is based on mechanisms known to those skilled in the art not described in detail here.
• the request REQ (or the terminal 16) is switched by the routing module 6C 6 to the controller 5 On receiving this request, the server 5 delivers to the terminal 16 the required content C of which it holds a replica.
• the controller 6 determines that there are no physical resources available within the network CDN 2 (for example near the terminal 16) or if, in general, they are in insufficient quantity to deliver the C content to the terminal 16, it notifies through its communication module 6A the service management device 15 S and more specifically its service S deployment unit 20, and sends a request REQ 'resource allocation for delivery of the content C to the terminal 16 (step E50).
• the controller 6 knows the entity to be solicited (in this case the management device 15) to obtain the allocation of resources for delivery of content C to terminal 16.
• the unit 20 Upon receipt of the request REQ 'by the module 20A of the deployment unit 20 of the management device 15, the unit 20, via its module 20B, interrogates the service condition management unit 18 to obtain the SLS technical characteristics representative of the level of service enjoyed by the provider PROV of the content C (step E60).
• the provider PROV is identified by the unit 20 from the domain name present in the request REQ 'received from the controller 6.
• the service clause management unit 18 interrogates the database 19 (step E70) and transmits to the deployment unit 20 the SLA service offer and the SLS technical characteristics representative of the level of service attributed to the content provider.
• step E80 As an illustration, it is assumed here that the provider of PROV content has subscribed to a premium offer guaranteeing a high bandwidth when delivering content and a large storage capacity.
• the transmission of the SLA offer and of the SLS technical characteristics from the unit 18 to the unit 20 can be performed in a manner that is decorrelated from the receipt of the request REQ ', for example following the negotiation of the offer SLA between the system operator 1 and the content provider PROV.
• the module 20C of the deployment unit 20 of the management device 15 sends the orchestration device 13 a request REQ "for allocating resources among the physical resources made available by the network CDN 2 and / or the virtual resources offered by the cloud computing system 3, for the delivery of the content C to the terminal 16 (step E90).
• This request includes here the SLS technical characteristics and the SLA service offer so that the orchestration device 13 allocates resources for the delivery of the content C in accordance therewith.
• the deployment unit 20 requests the orchestration device 13 by means of the request REQ "to reserve the capacity requested by the service provider. PROV contents for content delivery C.
• the request REQ " also contains the information data extracted from the access request REQ and provided by the controller 6 to the deployment unit 20.
• the orchestration device 13 On receipt of the resource allocation request REQ "(via its communication module 13A), the orchestration device 13 verifies the availability of resources adapted for delivery of the digital content C to the terminal 16 in accordance with the technical characteristics of the device. level of service transmitted to it for the content provider PROV (step 100)
• Availability means that the resources exist in a given geographical area (ie the physical resources are deployed in the CDN 2 network and the virtual resources instantiated for the region in question), and are not used, the verification carried out by the orchestration device 13 is here a verification with respect to the volume of resources available and to the region considered (in other words here to the region corresponding to the geographical location terminal 16).
• This availability is checked by the verification module 13B among a set of resources consisting on the one hand, of the physical resources already deployed in the network CDN 2, and secondly, virtual resources made available to the content provider.
• PROV by the cloud computing system 3 ie already instantiated. It is assumed for this purpose that the orchestration device 13 has an up-to-date overview of the current physical resources available within the CDN 2 network and the current virtual resources made available to the content provider PROV by the computer system. in cloud 3, as well as the current use of these resources.
• the checking of the availability of the resources can be carried out by interrogating the controller 6.
• the controller 6 is configured as in the embodiment described here to send an allocation request of resources to the management device 15 only if the physical resources necessary for the delivery of the content C to the terminal 16 are not available
• the module 13B can deduce from the actual reception of the request REQ "an unavailability of physical resources in the network CDN 2.
• the orchestration device 13 located in the cloud computing system 3 it has access in known manner to the information on the availability of resources instantiated for the content provider PROV.
• the orchestration device 13 detects that hardware resources are available in the CDN 2 network or that virtual resources are available in the cloud computing system 3 so as to allow such delivery of the content C to the mobile terminal 2, these Resources are allocated to the delivery of Content C.
• the orchestration device 13 If the orchestration device 13 detects that the resources are non-existent or more generally insufficient to ensure the delivery of the content C to the terminal 16 while respecting the technical characteristics specified by the management device 15, the orchestration device 13 allocates new resources for the delivery of the content C. These may be physical resources intended to be deployed in the CDN 2 network, and / or new virtual resources in the cloud computing system 3 (step El 10). The choice to assign physical or virtual resources or both may depend on various criteria such as, in particular, an operator policy, the geographical location of the terminal 16, and so on.
• the orchestration device 13 decides to allocate physical resources in the network CDN 2, it must send for this purpose a request for allocation of these resources to the controller 6 of the network CDN 2 for ensure that such an allocation is possible and trigger it if necessary.
• the controller 6 is then able to accept immediately or to postpone for a predetermined period, the processing of the allocation request from the orchestration device 13 (including including the time of session switching).
• the controller 6 also takes into account the request of the orchestration device to update the topology of its resources and informs the orchestration device 13.
• the orchestration device 13 decides to allocate new virtual resources in the cloud computing system 3 for the delivery of the content C offered by the provider PROV. 1
• the orchestration device 13 requests the management module 12 of the life cycle of the VNF (VNF manager) functions.
• VNF virtualized content delivery function
• This new function is here a VCS content server function. It also specifies the origin server to contact if the content C is not available in the cloud computing system 3. It may be an origin server 4 of the network CDN 2 or a server originator of PROV content provider.
• the orchestration device 13 also requires a virtualized infrastructure management module (or VIM for Virtualized Infrastructure Manager), not shown in Figure 1, the allocation of hardware resources within the cloud computing system 3 to support this virtualized function. It specifies for this purpose in particular the memory and storage capacities to use.
• VIM Virtualized Infrastructure Manager
• the management module VIM then informs the orchestration device 13 of the allocation of the required hardware resources.
• the virtual content server function required by the orchestration device 13 is now instantiated and functioning, and the orchestration device 13 is informed via the life cycle management module 12 of the VNF functions. implemented in the cloud computing system 3 (step E130).
• the allocation module 13C of the orchestration device 13 allocates the new virtual resources thus instantiated to the network CDN 2, in other words, although virtual, these resources are now intended to be taken into account among the resources of the CDN 2 network to deliver content to its users, in the same way as the physical resources already deployed in the CDN 2 network.
• the orchestration device 13 upon receipt of the confirmation of the instantiation and operation of the new virtual resources, the orchestration device 13, through its information module 13D, informs the management device 15 of the availability, where appropriate, of new physical and / or virtual resources for the delivery of the digital content (step E140). These new resources can be used to process future access requests.
• the orchestration device 13 still through here its information module 13D, informs the controller 6 of the virtual resources (new or existing) that have been assigned to it for the delivery of the content C to the terminal 16 for allow redirection of the REQ request or the terminal 16 by the routing module 6C of the controller 6 to these resources (step E150).
• the orchestration device 13 further pushes to the controller 6 a new topology of the physical content servers deployed in the CDN 2 network and virtual content servers instantiated by the computer system. cloud 3 that are now attributed to him.
• This topology includes the new instantiated VCS virtual content server function. It indicates the location of the virtualized VCS function in the content server hierarchy considered by the controller 6 for the redirection of access requests to the contents C, and its technical characteristics (eg capacity), geographical and service (eg type of content delivered from this server, type of user devices served, etc.).
• This topology can advantageously be used by the controller 6 for processing future requests.
• the routing table used by the controller 6 is also updated by the orchestration device 13 from the new topology to take account of the instantiation of the new virtual content server, and transmitted to the controller 6.
• the updated topology and routing table are stored in the database
• the orchestration device 13 provides the controller with information that enables the controller 6 itself (for example by its routing module 6C) to update the topology of the resources allocated to it (physical and virtual as well). now), and the routing table from this new topology.
• the virtual resources allocated by the orchestration device 13 to the CDN 2 network although still managed by the orchestration device 13, form an integral part of the resources of the CDN 2 network for the processing of the requests. access to content received by it.
• the controller 6 when the controller 6 receives a request for access to a user's content and verifies the availability of the resources allocated to it, it takes into account these new resources to process and route the request to a resource adapted for the purpose. delivery of the required content to the user.
• the orchestration device 13 verifies the availability of resources during the step E100, it takes into account the new resources instantiated and made available by the computer system 3, which are allocated to the network CDN 2.
• the routing module 6C of the controller 6 redirects the REQ request or the terminal 16 to the VCS virtual content server that has just been instantiated (step E160).
• the terminal 16 queries the virtual content server VCS to obtain the content C
• the content C is delivered to the terminal 16 (step E180).
• the virtual content server VCS when new virtual resources such as a virtual content server VCS, are instantiated by the orchestration device during the step El 10 and assigned to the network CDN 2, the virtual content server VCS registers itself with the controller 6 from an identifier provided by the orchestration device 13. Furthermore, the orchestration device notifies the controller 6 of the next VCS virtual content server record. To achieve this registration, and in order to avoid limiting the intervention of the orchestration device 13, a token or a key can be created beforehand at the request of the controller 6, for example by means of the TTL protocol (Time To Live), then provided to the orchestration device 13. This token is then presented when the VCS virtual content server registers with the controller 6.
• TTL protocol Time To Live
• the orchestration of the resources by the orchestration device 13 results in the creation and the instantiation of virtual resources in the computer system 3 which are then attributed to the network CDN 2 for the processing of the queries. access to content addressed to it via the portal 17.
• the resources of the CDN2 network have been increased in real time to meet the demand of the user U. It is possible to envisage a similar operation for the computer system 3, that is to say an extension of the virtual resources made available to the content provider PROV with physical resources of the network CDN 2 to process a request addressed to the computer system 3.

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