JP2016225877A - Service providing system, service providing method, and service providing program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To suppress inquiry on user information for each SF and skip processes to be overlapped between SFs.SOLUTION: A CL device 20 imparts transfer information T for specifying an SF device 10 of a transfer destination of a packet corresponding to a user and a transfer order to a packet of the user which transmits to an SFF device 30 and imparts instruction information which includes the SF device 10 and service content to be provided by the SF device 10 in the transfer information T. The SFF device 30 transfers the packet of the user to the SF device 10, referring to the transfer information T. The SF device 10 provides network service referring to the instruction information, and imparts result information including a processing result to the transfer information T.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a service providing system, a service providing method, and a service providing program.

  Conventionally, a technique called NFV (Network Functions Virtualization) has been proposed in which a network service function implemented in dedicated hardware such as a router or gateway is virtually implemented on a general-purpose server.

  In NFV, a technique called service chaining that transfers packets in an appropriate order to an appropriate SF is required in order to make it possible for a user to flexibly combine virtualized network service functions (SF). It becomes.

  In service chaining, based on the user's contract status, a series of processing order consisting of SF type and order called service chain for the user's flow, that is, packet group, is determined and identified by the service chain ID. A classifier (CL: Classifier) assigns a tag for identifying a service chain for each user flow. A service function forwarder (SFF: Service Function Forwarder) on the network that has received the packet refers to the tag and forwards it to the SF, so that the user's packet is forwarded to the appropriate SF in an appropriate order (Non-Patent Document). 1 and 2).

  In NFV, the service content provided by each SF is set manually for each user, or acquired through a controller that integrally manages a service function forwarder (SFF). (Refer nonpatent literature 3).

“The world's first demonstration of the interoperability of six companies in the new IETF system for service chaining”, [online], 2015.02, [Search April 15, 2015], Internet <URL: http://www.ntt .co.jp / news2015 / 1502 / 150212a.html> “Service Function Chaining (SFC) Architecture”, [online], 2015.03, [Search April 28, 2015], Internet <URL: https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-ietf-sfc-architecture /? include_text = 1> “ETSI GS NFV 002 V1.1.1 (2013-10)”, [online], 2013.10, [Search April 28, 2015], Internet <URL: http://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_gs/ nfv / 001_099 / 002 / 01.01.01_60 / gs_nfv002v010101p.pdf>

  However, when providing different network service functions for each user, an inquiry for user information is generated for each SF via the controller, which increases the amount of inquiry processing and causes a communication delay. Further, even if the network service function is provided for the same flow, the processing results are not shared between the SFs, and thus the processing in each SF may be duplicated.

  This invention is made | formed in view of the above, Comprising: It aims at suppressing the inquiry of the user information for every SF, and omitting the process which overlaps between SF.

  In order to solve the above-described problems and achieve the object, a service providing system according to the present invention is a service providing system including a service function device that provides a network service, a service function forwarder device, and a classifier device. The classifier device includes a transfer information assigning unit for assigning to the user function packet to be transmitted to the service function forwarder device, transfer information designating a transfer destination service function device of the packet corresponding to the user and a transfer order; An instruction information adding unit that adds instruction information including the service function device and service content provided by the service function device to the transfer information; and the service function forwarder device refers to the transfer information. A transfer unit configured to transfer the user packet to the service function device, wherein the service function device provides a network service with reference to the instruction information, and provides result information including a processing result to the transfer information. An information providing unit is provided.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to suppress the inquiry of user information for each SF, and to omit the process overlapping between SFs.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a schematic configuration of a service providing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a data configuration of the user database according to the present embodiment. FIG. 3 is a schematic view illustrating the configuration of the classifier device of this embodiment. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a data configuration of instruction information according to the present embodiment. FIG. 5 is a schematic view illustrating the configuration of the service function device according to this embodiment. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a data configuration of result information according to the present embodiment. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a data configuration of notification information according to the present embodiment. FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the outline of the embodiment. FIG. 9 is a sequence diagram illustrating a service providing process procedure according to the present embodiment. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a computer that executes a service providing program.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In addition, this invention is not limited by this embodiment. Moreover, in description of drawing, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected and shown to the same part.

[Service provision system configuration]
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a service providing system according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, a service providing system 1 includes a service function (SF) device 10, a classifier (CL) device 20, a service function forwarder (SFF) device 30, a user database (DB) 40, and a user terminal 50 are communicably connected to each other.

  The SF device 10 provides a network service function. The CL device 20 assigns transfer information T for designating one or more SF devices 10 to which a packet corresponding to the user is transferred and the transfer order to the packet transmitted from the user terminal 50 used by the user, so that the SFF To device 30. The SFF device 30 is a network device having an NP (Network Processor) and / or a CPU (Central Processing Unit), and has a transfer unit that refers to the transfer information T and transfers a user packet to the SF device 10. As a result, services are provided in an appropriate order with an appropriate SF for different flows (f1, f2) for each user.

  In this service providing system, the CL device 20 gives instruction information including service contents provided by each SF device 10 to the transfer information T. Further, the SF device 10 provides a network service with reference to the instruction information of the received packet, and adds result information including the processing result to the transfer information T. The transfer information T and the instruction information are stored in the user DB 40.

[User database configuration]
The user DB 40 is realized by a semiconductor memory device such as a RAM (Random Access Memory) or a flash memory (Flash Memory) of a general-purpose computer such as a workstation or a personal computer, or a storage device such as a hard disk or an optical disk. Configured to be possible. This user DB 40 may be built in or directly connected to the CL device 20.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of data stored in the user DB 40. As shown in FIG. 2, the data in the user DB 40 includes a user identifier, a service chain ID, and metadata (Metadata). The user identifier means information for identifying a user who uses the user terminal 50, and “1” is illustrated in FIG. The service chain ID means information for identifying a service chain consisting of the type and order of the SF device 10, and SCID ₁ is illustrated in FIG.

  The metadata is information indicating the service content provided by each SF device 10 of the service chain specified by the service chain ID. Instruction information for service provision processing, which will be described later, is configured in the same way as metadata.

  Specifically, the metadata includes a Meta type, a target SF / CL, a target parameter, and contents. In the Meta type, either “instruction” or “result” is set. In the example of FIG. 2, “instruction” is set. In the service providing process described later, the result information indicating the processing result in each SF device 10 is configured in the same manner as the metadata, and “result” is set as the Meta type.

  The target SF / CL means information for identifying the SF device 10 or the CL device 20 to be instructed or processed. FIG. 2 illustrates FW. In the service providing process described later, the notification information for instructing the CL apparatus 20 to change the instruction information (metadata) from the SF apparatus 10 is configured in the same manner as the metadata, and information for identifying the CL apparatus 20 Is set.

  The target parameter and the content are information for specifying the content of the instruction and the processing result, and FIG. 2 illustrates the execution of the “filtering rule” specified by the “rule ID”. In the service providing process to be described later, when it is necessary to add the processing result to the transfer information T in order to notify the subsequent SF apparatus 10 in the service chain, “necessary” is set in the content and it is necessary to notify If not, “unnecessary” is set in the content.

[Classifier configuration]
FIG. 3 is a schematic view illustrating the configuration of the CL apparatus 20. The CL device 20 is realized by a general-purpose computer such as a personal computer, and an arithmetic processing unit such as a CPU executes a processing program stored in a memory, thereby, as illustrated in FIG. It functions as an information adding unit 22 and an instruction information changing unit 23.

  The transfer information adding unit 21 receives, from the user terminal 50 used by the user, the transfer information T that specifies one or more SF devices 10 to which the packet corresponding to the user is transferred and the transfer order, and transmits the transfer information T to the SFF device 30. To be added to the packet. Specifically, the transfer information adding unit 21 first refers to the user DB 40 using the user identification information included in the flow, acquires the service chain ID as the transfer information T, and transmits the user packet to the SFF device 30. To grant.

  The instruction information giving unit 22 gives instruction information including service contents provided by each SF device 10 to the transfer information T. Specifically, the instruction information adding unit 22 refers to the user DB 40 using the user identification information as key information, extracts metadata as instruction information, and adds it to the transfer information T. As illustrated in FIG. 4, the instruction information has the same configuration as the metadata illustrated in FIG.

  As will be described later, when receiving the omission notification packet to which the notification information including the omission condition is added from the SF device 10, the instruction information changing unit 23 refers to the omission condition included in the notification information and transfers subsequent packets. The instruction information added to the information T is changed.

[Service function device configuration]
The SF device 10 is a network node that is implemented by one or more programs that provide a network service function being executed by a server device. For example, network service functions such as a firewall (FW) and parental control (PC) are exemplified.

  FIG. 5 is a schematic view illustrating the configuration of the SF device 10. As shown in FIG. 5, the SF device 10 includes a service providing unit 11, a result information adding unit 12, and an omission notification unit 13.

  The service providing unit 11 provides a network service with reference to the instruction information of the received packet. Specifically, the service providing unit 11 refers to the instruction information of the received packet and specifies and provides the service content from the target parameter and content of the data whose target device is the target SF / CL. For example, the FW refers to the instruction information illustrated in FIG. 4 and performs filtering specified by the rule ID and URL analysis.

  The result information giving unit 12 gives result information including the processing result of service provision to the transfer information T. Thereafter, the result information adding unit 12 transfers the user packet to the subsequent SF device 10. For example, in the FW, in the instruction information illustrated in FIG. 4, the content of “Addition of Metadata of URL Analysis Result” is “Necessary”, so that the result information of the result of URL analysis is added to the transfer information T. .

  FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating result information. As illustrated in FIG. 6, the result information is configured in the same manner as the above-described metadata, and includes a Meta type, a target SF / CL, a target parameter, and contents. In the result information, “Result” is set as the Meta type. In addition, a specific processing result is described in the content. The result information illustrated in FIG. 6 describes the hash value or the first byte and the byte length of the URL analysis result in SF1.

  The omission notification unit 13 generates notification information including an omission condition that can be omitted when processing in the subsequently transferred SF device 10 can be omitted for a subsequent user packet. Information is transmitted to the CL device. Specifically, when a subsequent SF device 10 can share a processing result in a certain SF device 10, there may be a case where a service providing process in some subsequent SF devices 10 can be omitted for a subsequent packet. is there. In that case, the omission notification unit 13 adds notification information for notifying the CL device 20 of the service that can be omitted and the SF device 10 that provides the service to the omission notification packet, and transmits it to the CL device 20.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating notification information. As illustrated in FIG. 7, the notification information is configured in the same manner as the metadata described above, and includes a Meta type, a target SF / CL, a target parameter, and contents. In the notification information, “instruction” is set for the Meta type, and information for identifying the CL device 20 is set for the target SF / CL. According to the notification information illustrated in FIG. 7, it is notified that all service provision instruction information for the FW can be omitted and that the PC can be omitted from the service chain.

  In the CL device 20 that has received the notification information, the instruction information changing unit 23 rewrites the instruction information based on the notification information. For example, based on the notification information in FIG. 7, the instruction information changing unit 23 omits all the service provision instruction information for the FW, and changes the service chain and the service chain ID.

[Example]
Next, an embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 8 illustrates FW and PC as the SF device 20. In the CL device 20, the transfer information adding unit 21 identifies the user from the 5-tuple of the user packet, and extracts the service chain ID as the transfer information T with reference to the user DB 40. Also, the instruction information adding unit 22 extracts metadata corresponding to this service chain ID in the user DB 40 as instruction information and adds it to the transfer information T.

  In FW, the service providing unit 11 determines a filtering rule according to instruction information instructing determination of a filtering rule ID, URL analysis, and result information of a URL analysis processing result, performs URL analysis, and performs filtering. I do. Then, the result information adding unit 12 adds the URL analysis result to the transfer information T as result information.

  In the PC, the service providing unit 11 determines a filtering rule according to instruction information instructing determination of a filtering rule ID, URL analysis, and assignment of result information of the URL analysis processing result, and filtering by referring to the result information I do. Further, the result information adding unit 12 adds the URL analysis result to the transfer information T as result information.

  Next, the omission notification unit 13 refers to the filtering process result, and generates notification information including an omission condition for subsequent packets, that is, that the FW process can be omitted and the PC can be omitted from the service chain. And added to the omission notification packet to be transmitted to the CL device 20.

  In the CL device 20 that has received the omission notification packet, the instruction information changing unit 23 refers to the omission conditions included in the notification information and performs omission determination that materializes the change to the instruction information. In the present embodiment, the instruction information changing unit 23 omits all the service provision instruction information for the FW, and changes the service chain and the service chain ID.

[Service provision processing]
Next, a service providing process procedure in the service providing system 1 will be described with reference to the sequence diagram of FIG. First, in the CL device 20, the transfer information adding unit 21 identifies the user of the user packet (step S1), extracts the service chain ID as the transfer information T with reference to the user DB 40, and the SF of the distribution destination of the user packet The device 20 is determined (step S2).

  Also, the instruction information adding unit 22 extracts metadata corresponding to this service chain ID in the user DB 40 as instruction information including service contents in each SF device, and assigns the metadata to the transfer information T (step S3). The packet is transferred to the distribution destination SF device 10 via the SFF device 30 (step S4).

  In the SF device 10, the service providing unit 11 determines the service content according to the instruction information (step S5) and provides the network service (step S6).

  In addition, when it is necessary to add the processing result to the transfer information T in the instruction information, the result information adding unit 12 generates result information including the processing result and adds the result information to the transfer information T (step S7), The data is transferred to the subsequent SF device 10 (step S8).

  When the subsequent user packet does not need to be processed in the subsequent SF device 10, the omission notification unit 13 generates notification information including an omission condition, adds the information to the omission notification packet, and transfers it (steps S9 to S9). S10).

  In the CL device 20 that has received the omission notification packet, the instruction information changing unit 23 refers to the omission conditions included in the notification information and rewrites the instruction information (step S11). Thereby, the process in the SF apparatus 10 with respect to a subsequent user packet can be changed.

  As described above, in the service providing apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment, the CL apparatus 20 gives instruction information including the service content provided by each SF apparatus 10 to the transfer information T. Further, the SF device 10 provides a network service with reference to the instruction information of the received packet, and adds result information including the processing result to the transfer information T. Thereby, the inquiry of the user information for every SF apparatus 20 can be suppressed, and the process which overlaps between SF apparatuses 10 can be abbreviate | omitted.

  Also, each SF device 10 generates notification information including an abbreviated condition that can be omitted when processing in the subsequently transferred SF device 10 can be omitted for subsequent user packets, It is added to the omission notification packet and transferred. The CL device 20 that has received the omission notification packet refers to the omission conditions included in the notification information and changes the instruction information. Thereby, the process in the SF apparatus 20 with respect to a user packet can be further omitted.

[Other Embodiments]
[program]
It is also possible to create a program in which processing executed by each device constituting the service providing system 1 according to the above embodiment is described in a language that can be executed by a computer. In this case, the same effect as the above-described embodiment can be obtained by the computer executing the program. Furthermore, the program similar to the above-described embodiment may be realized by recording the program on a computer-readable recording medium, and reading and executing the program recorded on the recording medium. Hereinafter, an example of a computer that executes a service providing program that realizes the same function as the service providing system 1 will be described.

  As shown in FIG. 10, a computer 1000 that executes a service providing program includes, for example, a memory 1010, a CPU 1020, a hard disk drive interface 1030, a disk drive interface 1040, a serial port interface 1050, a video adapter 1060, and a network. Interface 1070. These units are connected by a bus 1080.

  The memory 1010 includes a ROM (Read Only Memory) 1011 and a RAM 1012. The ROM 1011 stores a boot program such as BIOS (Basic Input Output System). The hard disk drive interface 1030 is connected to the hard disk drive 1031. The disk drive interface 1040 is connected to the disk drive 1041. For example, a removable storage medium such as a magnetic disk or an optical disk is inserted into the disk drive 1041. For example, a mouse 1051 and a keyboard 1052 are connected to the serial port interface 1050. For example, a display 1061 is connected to the video adapter 1060.

  Here, as shown in FIG. 10, the hard disk drive 1031 stores, for example, an OS 1091, an application program 1092, a program module 1093, and program data 1094. Each table described in the above embodiment is stored in the hard disk drive 1031 or the memory 1010, for example.

  Further, the service providing program is stored in the hard disk drive 1031 as a program module 1093 in which a command executed by the computer 1000 is described, for example. Specifically, a program module describing each process executed by the service providing system 1 described in the above embodiment is stored in the hard disk drive 1031.

  Further, data used for information processing by the service providing program is stored in the hard disk drive 1031 as the program data 1094, for example. Then, the CPU 1020 reads the program module 1093 and the program data 1094 stored in the hard disk drive 1031 to the RAM 1012 as necessary, and executes the above-described procedures.

  The program module 1093 and the program data 1094 related to the service providing program are not limited to being stored in the hard disk drive 1031. For example, the program module 1093 and the program data 1094 are stored in a removable storage medium and read by the CPU 1020 via the disk drive 1041 or the like. May be issued. Alternatively, the program module 1093 and the program data 1094 related to the log determination program are stored in another computer connected via a network such as a LAN (Local Area Network) or a WAN (Wide Area Network), and are transmitted via the network interface 1070. May be read by the CPU 1020.

  As mentioned above, although embodiment which applied the invention made | formed by this inventor was described, this invention is not limited with the description and drawing which make a part of indication of this invention by this embodiment. That is, other embodiments, examples, operational techniques, and the like made by those skilled in the art based on this embodiment are all included in the scope of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Service provision system 10 Service function (SF) apparatus 11 Service provision part 12 Result information provision part 13 Omission notification part 20 Classifier (CL) apparatus 21 Transfer information provision part 22 Instruction information provision part 23 Instruction information change part 30 Service function forwarder ( SFF) device 40 user database (DB)
50 User terminal T Transfer information

Claims (4)

A service providing system having a service function device that provides a network service, a service function forwarder device, and a classifier device,
The classifier device includes a transfer information assigning unit that assigns transfer information that specifies a transfer destination service function device and a transfer order of a packet corresponding to a user to the user packet transmitted to the service function forwarder device;
An instruction information giving unit for giving instruction information including the service function device and service content provided by the service function device to the transfer information;
The service function forwarder device includes a transfer unit that transfers the user packet to the service function device with reference to the transfer information,
The service function device includes a result information adding unit that provides a network service with reference to the instruction information and adds result information including a processing result to the transfer information.
A service providing system characterized by that. The service function device generates notification information including an abbreviated condition that can be omitted when processing in the service function device transferred subsequently can be omitted for a subsequent user packet, and the notification An omission notification unit for transmitting information to the classifier device;
The classifier device further includes an instruction information change unit that changes the instruction information with reference to an abbreviated condition included in the received notification information.
The service providing system according to claim 1. A service providing method executed in a service providing system having a service function device that provides a network service, a service function forwarder device, and a classifier device,
In the classifier device, a transfer information assigning step for assigning to the user function packet to be transmitted to the service function forwarder device, transfer information specifying the transfer destination service function device of the packet corresponding to the user and the transfer order; An instruction information giving step for giving instruction information including the service function device and service contents provided by the service function device to the transfer information;
In the service function forwarder device, a transfer step of referring to the transfer information and transferring the user packet to the service function device;
In the service function device, providing a network service with reference to the instruction information, a result information giving step for giving result information including a processing result to the transfer information;
A service providing method characterized by including: In the classifier device, a transfer information adding step for assigning to the user function packet to be transmitted to the service function forwarder device, transfer information for designating the transfer destination service function device and the transfer order of the packet corresponding to the user, and the transfer information An instruction information giving step for giving instruction information including the service function device and service content provided by the service function device;
In the service function forwarder device, a transfer step of transferring the user packet to the service function device with reference to the transfer information;
In the service function device, providing a network service with reference to the instruction information, a result information giving step for giving result information including a processing result to the transfer information;
Service providing program for causing computer to execute

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