KR101978596B1 - cloud node for network services of virtual customer premises equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

Virtualized Virtualization A vCPE cloud node that provides Virtual Customer Premises Equipment (vCPE) services, which maintains an external orchestrator and control channels, and includes at least one virtual network function that configures the cloud platform and vCPE services An agent that performs management of a Virutalized Network Function (VNF); The cloud platform including a Virtualized Infrastructure Manager (VIM) that provides virtualization and networking of hardware resources; And a vCPE cloud node including a VNF manager controlling lifecycle management and backup / recovery for the at least one VNF.

Description

Background of the Invention Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a cloud node for a virtualization subscriber home network service,

The present invention relates to a virtual customer premises equipment (vCPE) network service, and more particularly, to a configuration of various cloud nodes for a vCPE network service.

A customer premises equipment (CPE) is a device installed in a subscriber's home to directly connect a subscriber's terminal and a network of a communication carrier. A telecommunication company installs a rental service for a user for a predetermined fee, You can purchase and install it yourself. The form may be a hub, a router, a home gateway, or the like, and may take the form of a modem device such as a cable modem, an ADSL modem, or the like.

In other words, the CPE is a device that is located in a customer's premises and provides a connection with a communication channel of a communication provider. Generally, a CPE is a router, a firewall, a NAT (Network Address Translation) And so on. In other words, the CPE receives traffic originating from the customer side and provides the Internet connection through the communication channel, or acts as a firewall for traffic coming from the Internet.

For example, in the case where the subscriber premises device takes the form of a router, a DHCP server role for assigning a private IP address to a subscriber terminal, a DHCP client role for assigning a public IP address from a network of a communication carrier, (Network Address Translation) function that converts between IP address and public IP address; and 4) application level gateway (ALG) that converts the private IP address included in the application into a public IP address. .

As described above, since the subscriber premises equipment performs various complicated functions, periodic replacement and upgrading operations are required to improve functions and provide new services.

Therefore, in the provision of reliable Internet service by the communication service provider, the voice quality of customer (VoC) is continuously generated. In addition, even if there is no subscriber terminal connected to the subscriber's premises, the subscriber premises device is required to constantly receive the public IP address, so resource waste of the IP address may occur.

Meanwhile, in order to solve the above-described problem, a virtual CPE (i.e., vCPE) that virtualizes and provides CPE network services is being applied. Among the various methods of providing vCPE services, the use of a single cloud node in the customer premises is the easiest application because the number of customers affected by the failure is minimized. In this method, a cloud node is configured for only one customer, and a virtual CPE device is configured in the cloud node to provide a service, thereby providing the customer with the best transmission delay and exclusive use of resources.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an NFV-based vCPE cloud node for providing a virtual CPE service.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a local process-based vCPE cloud node for providing a virtual CPE service.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an NFV-based vCPE cloud node capable of simultaneously providing different types of vCPE services for different customers.

According to one aspect of the present invention, a vCPE cloud node is a vCPE cloud node that provides a virtual customer premises equipment (vCPE) service. The vCPE cloud node includes an orchestrator An agent that maintains a control channel and manages at least one virtualized network function (VNF) constituting a cloud platform and a vCPE service; The cloud platform including a Virtualized Infrastructure Manager (VIM) that provides virtualization and networking of hardware resources; And a VNF manager for controlling lifecycle management and backup / recovery for the at least one VNF.

The vCPE cloud node may further include a monitoring agent for monitoring the hardware of the vCPE cloud node and the components.

The vCPE cloud node may selectively connect the host of the at least one VNF or the vCPE cloud node to the external network using a single line without a separate management line.

At this time, a fixed IP address is not directly assigned to a physical WAN (Wide Area Network) interface of the vCPE cloud node, a static IP address is assigned to a host WAN bridge interface connected to the physical WAN interface, The same fixed IP address can be allocated to the virtual WAN interface of at least one VNF constituting the service.

At this time, the virtual WAN interface and the physical WAN interface may have the same MAC (Medium Access Control) address.

A virtual management interface configured with a bridge interface may be configured on the vCPE cloud node so that at least one VNF constituting the vCPE service can communicate with a host area of the vCPE cloud node.

When the recovery of the vCPE cloud node is requested, the orchestrator connects the host WAN bridge interface of the vCPE cloud node to the external network via the agent, and when the at least one VNF is initialized according to the progress of the recovery, The virtual WAN interface of at least one VNF may be connected to the external network.

When the creation of the vCPE service is requested on the vCPE cloud node, the virtual WAN interface of the at least one VNF may be connected to the external network if the at least one VNF is initialized according to creation of the vCPE service.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a vCPE cloud node, which is a vCPE cloud node for providing a virtual customer premises equipment (vCPE) service. The vCPE cloud node includes an external orchestrator an agent that maintains a control channel with an orchestrator and performs management of at least one network function (NF) configured as a local process constituting a vCPE service; And a network function manager for controlling management and backup / recovery of the at least one network function.

The vCPE cloud node may further include a monitoring agent for monitoring the hardware of the vCPE cloud node and the components.

The network function manager may configure the at least one network function as a host local process of the vCPE cloud node without virtualization.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a vCPE cloud node including a vCPE cloud node providing vCPE (virtual customer premises equipment) A client-specific agent that maintains an external orchestrator and control channel and manages at least one virutalized network function (VNF) that constitutes a cloud platform and a customer-specific vCPE service. A virtualized HOST (vHOST) for each customer including a customer-specific VNF manager controlling lifecycle management and backup / recovery for the at least one VNF constituting the customer-specific vCPE service; An agent that maintains an external orchestrator and a control channel, manages the cloud platform and the virtualized vHOST for each customer, and operates on the host of the vCPE cloud node; And the cloud platform including a Virtualized Infrastructure Manager (VIM) that provides virtualization and networking of hardware resources, running on the host of the vCPE cloud node.

The vCPE cloud node may further comprise a monitoring agent performing monitoring of the hardware and the components of the vCPE cloud node and operating on a host of the vCPE cloud node.

The vCPE cloud node may monitor the hardware and the components of the vCPE cloud node, and may further include a monitoring agent operating on the virtualized vHOST for each customer.

The vCPE cloud node may further include an Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI).

When the vCPE cloud node is connected to the external network using one IP address, the host of the at least one VNF or the vCPE cloud node may be selectively connected to the external network.

When the vCPE cloud node is connected to an external network using one IP address, the VNF for gateway use may play a role of a connection with an external network.

When the vCPE cloud node is connected to an external network using one IP address, a public IP address is not directly allocated to a physical WAN (Wide Area Network) interface of the vCPE cloud node, A fixed IP address may be assigned to a host WAN bridge interface connected to an interface or a same static IP address may be allocated to a virtual WAN interface of at least one VNF constituting the vCPE service.

At this time, the virtual WAN interface and the physical WAN interface may have the same Medium Access Control (MAC) address.

A virtual management interface configured with a bridge interface may be configured on the vCPE cloud node so that at least one VNF constituting the vCPE service can communicate with a host area of the vCPE cloud node.

Using the vCPE cloud nodes according to the embodiments of the present invention, a basic type, small size, and large vCPE cloud node suitable for the size of the client company and the type of the required network service can be configured.

In the case of using vCPE cloud nodes according to the embodiments of the present invention, redundancy through a plurality of circuits is supported, so that even if a failure occurs in a certain line, the service can be provided through an active line.

In the case of small vCPE cloud furnaces, performance degradation due to virtualization is eliminated, while maximizing the functions supported by the operating system to provide services, thereby providing the core network functions and network control functions that customers need.

1 is a conceptual diagram for explaining a network service virtualization concept of a subscriber premise equipment (CPE).
2 is a conceptual diagram of a vCPE cloud node according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a conceptual diagram of a vCPE cloud node according to another embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a conceptual diagram of a vCPE cloud node according to another embodiment of the present invention.
5 is a conceptual diagram showing a configuration of a vCPE cloud node control system for controlling a vCPE cloud node.
6 is a flowchart illustrating a backup procedure of a vCPE cloud node by the vCPE cloud node control system.
FIGS. 7 to 9 are flowcharts for explaining a vCPE cloud node recovery procedure by the vCPE cloud node control system.
FIG. 10 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an internal configuration of a vCPE cloud node before a vCPE service configuration, and FIG. 11 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an internal configuration of a vCPE cloud node after a vCPE service configuration.
FIG. 12 is a flowchart for explaining a procedure for creating a vCPE service on a vCPE cloud node, FIG. 13 is a flowchart for explaining a procedure for deleting a vCPE service on a vCPE cloud node, and FIG. < RTI ID = 0.0 > vCPE < / RTI >

While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way of example in the drawings and will herein be described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the invention is not intended to be limited to the particular embodiments, but includes all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention. Like reference numerals are used for like elements in describing each drawing.

The terms first, second, A, B, etc. may be used to describe various elements, but the elements should not be limited by the terms. The terms are used only for the purpose of distinguishing one component from another. For example, without departing from the scope of the present invention, the first component may be referred to as a second component, and similarly, the second component may also be referred to as a first component. And / or < / RTI > includes any combination of a plurality of related listed items or any of a plurality of related listed items.

It is to be understood that when an element is referred to as being "connected" or "connected" to another element, it may be directly connected or connected to the other element, . On the other hand, when an element is referred to as being "directly connected" or "directly connected" to another element, it should be understood that there are no other elements in between.

The terminology used in this application is used only to describe a specific embodiment and is not intended to limit the invention. The singular expressions include plural expressions unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. In the present application, the terms "comprises" or "having" and the like are used to specify that there is a feature, a number, a step, an operation, an element, a component or a combination thereof described in the specification, But do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, or combinations thereof.

Unless defined otherwise, all terms used herein, including technical or scientific terms, have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. Terms such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries are to be interpreted as having a meaning consistent with the contextual meaning of the related art and are to be interpreted as either ideal or overly formal in the sense of the present application Do not.

1 is a conceptual diagram for explaining a network service virtualization concept of a subscriber premise equipment (CPE).

1, a customer premises equipment (CPE) is an in-house device directly connected to a network of a communication provider, and may be provided by a communication service provider or may be configured by a subscriber. For example, the CPE 110 may be a variety of terminals such as a wireless router, a home gateway, and a femto cell.

That is, CPE is a device that is located in a customer (subscriber) home and provides connection with a communication channel of a communication company. Generally, a CPE is a router, a firewall, a Network Address Translation (NAT), a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol Can be performed. In other words, the CPE receives traffic originating from the customer side and provides the Internet connection through the communication channel, or acts as a firewall for traffic coming from the Internet.

The virtual CPE (vCPE) according to embodiments of the present invention to be described later performs network services of the CPE, rather than performing network services in the in-house CPE device, through the NFV cloud.

That is, the virtualized CPE (vCPE) is a set of virtualized servers of the network services of the CPE, and may be composed of vNAT 111, vDHCP 112, vVPN 113, vFW 114, and the like.

For example, if the network service element of the conventional CPE 110 is configured as NAT, DHCP, BRAS, firewall, etc., then these network service elements may be referred to as virtualized service functions vNAT 111, vDHCP v112, vVPN 113, vFW 114 -.

First, the vNAT 111 converts a private IP address and a port into a public IP address and a port to enable communication between the private IP network and the public IP network. In this way, the user internal network can be protected from the external network constituted by the public IP network by configuring it as a private IP network.

The vDHCP 112 performs a role of assigning a private IP address to the lower-level terminals or network devices connected to the CPE. A specific terminal can be assigned a public IP address through a DHCP server of the communication company without being assigned a private IP address through the DHCP function of the CPE.

The vFW 114 functions as a firewall function to block and control aggressive traffic and harmful traffic from the external network. The vVPN 113 performs a function of configuring a virtual private network with an external host through a public network, which is an external network.

Finally, in the case of CPE virtualization, the CPE 110 is configured to have only a few basic network functions, such as L2 switching. The controller 120 performs a function of setting and managing a corresponding policy according to which network function of a vCPE is used by a specific user. The CPE 110 also communicates with the vCPE services of the NFV cloud through a transport network.

In addition to the existing cloud infrastructure configuration, the vCPE cloud for CPE service provisioning is configured to have a direct network connection with the customer as well as the carrier to receive customer traffic.

The vCPE cloud node according to the present invention may be configured to be relatively small in size and may have various node configurations, unlike the conventional IT cloud. For example, it may consist of a single computer node and be located in the subscriber premises.

Hereinafter, among the configurations of the vCPE cloud described above, various configurations of cloud nodes located at the client company are described. The vCPE cloud nodes located in the customer company according to the embodiments proposed by the present invention can be selected according to the size and type of the client company in which the corresponding cloud node is installed and can be selected as basic type, .

2 is a conceptual diagram of a vCPE cloud node according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The vCPE cloud node 200 illustrated in FIG. 2 may correspond to the basic type of the vCPE cloud node proposed in the present invention.

2, the vCPE cloud node 200 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention may be configured as a general-purpose x86 server, and may include a central processing unit (CPU) supporting virtualization, It operates on the basis of a general-purpose operating system 250 and has various input / output interfaces.

For example, it is possible to connect with various external input / output devices through a plurality of USB (Universal Serial Bus) ports 201, and various graphics including a RGB 202, an HDMI 203 and a DVI 204 Output interface. Also, it is possible to mount the serial interface 205 and easily check the system operation status through a serial interface without connecting a separate display device.

The power unit of the vCPE cloud node 200 is basically composed of a single power input device, but it is configurable through a plurality of power input devices depending on the service type. For example, the vCPE cloud node may include only the main power supply unit 208, or may further include at least one auxiliary power supply unit 209 for stable operation.

In addition, it supports various storage spaces, and can support a solid-state drive (SSD), a hard disk drive (HDD), and a storage space of SF (Serial Flash) In general, HDDs provide the largest storage, followed by SSD and SF memory storage space. When using SF memory, the core contents are loaded in SF memory so that data loss does not occur even if system disk failure occurs. Depending on the service type of the node, the configuration including the type and number of storage space can be variously configured including a RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) configuration. For example, in the simplest case, it is possible to configure only HDD without SSD, and it can be configured with only SSD or SF memory.

In particular, a plurality of network interfaces (e.g., WAN1 to WAN3; 261 to 263, LAN1 to LAN3, 264 to 266) Network interfaces can be distinguished according to service configuration (eg LAN or WAN). In this case, it is possible to support line duplication for WAN (Wide Area Network) interfaces. That is, even if a failure occurs in one line, the service can be performed through another line. Supports redundancy through multiple lines to detect any failure in some lines and to provide services through enabled lines. In addition, a bypass segment configuration is supported between network interfaces. By configuring the bypass function to be activated when a node fails, the traffic is immediately transmitted between the interfaces constituted by the bypass segment without going through the system. In particular, it is possible to support a plurality of bypass segments and to maintain the line service by using the line when the line is activated even if the service through the redundancy of the line due to node failure is impossible.

Meanwhile, the vCPE cloud node for the vCPE service according to an embodiment of the present invention can be configured with the following functional components and can perform corresponding functions.

An agent 220 maintains a control channel with an orchestrator of a vCPE cloud node control system to be described later and includes a cloud platform 230 and a virtualized network function (VNF) (271 to 273).

2) Cloud platform 230: An open source based NFV cloud platform such as OpenStack can be applied as a virtualization management platform of the vCPE cloud 200. The cloud platform 230 may provide virtualization and networking of hardware resources. Meanwhile, the cloud platform 230 may include a virtualized Infra Manager (VIM) or may be referred to as a VIM.

3) VNF manager 270: Controls lifecycle management and backup / restore procedures of the VNFs 271-273.

4) Monitoring agent 240: It is responsible for monitoring internal components (HW, SW, VIM, VNF) of the vCPE cloud 200.

3 is a conceptual diagram of a vCPE cloud node according to another embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 3, the reference numerals and explanations for the overlapping components between the vCPE cloud nodes of FIG. 2 are omitted.

The vCPE cloud node 300 illustrated in FIG. 3 may correspond to the small vCPE cloud node proposed in the present invention. Such a small vCPE cloud node can be configured to provide, for example, a function as a line termination device of a small enterprise customer or an individual customer, and a basic function related to security at a low cost in a fixed form. For this purpose, the cloud platform 230 is removed from the basic vCPE cloud node 200 illustrated in FIG. 2, and the network function can be performed by a local process of the host instead. That is, the vCPE cloud node 300 according to another embodiment of FIG. 3 corresponds to a cloud node that is not based on the NFV. Through this, performance degradation due to virtualization is eliminated, and the core network function and the network control function that the customer needs can be provided simultaneously by providing the service utilizing the functions supported by the operating system.

For this purpose, a network function (NF) manager 370 may be included in place of the VNF manager 270 of the basic vCPE cloud to manage local processes serving as network functions. Other components - agents, monitoring agents, and the like - can operate in the same manner as in the basic vCPE cloud node 200.

The advantage of this type of vCPE cloud node 300 is that it provides a fixed network function, so that the network management function provided by the network function is directly available. That is, since the network environment before the network function is configured and the network environment after the configuration are the same, service management and data can be provided using one IP even if the network connection management function does not operate.

4 is a conceptual diagram of a vCPE cloud node according to another embodiment of the present invention.

The vCPE cloud node illustrated in FIG. 4 may correspond to the large vCPE cloud node proposed in the present invention. Such large vCPE cloud nodes are available, for example, to provide network services for medium to large corporate customers or building customers. The characteristics of medium and large enterprise customers and building customers are that they are capable of providing various functions, high performance and different types of network services at the same time. The network configuration is usually made by a customer using a leased line, but it should be possible to use a small number of IP addresses or a single IP.

To this end, it is possible to increase the number of concurrent customers and increase the number of VNFs that can be supported by using higher-performance hardware than the basic type device. In addition, it supports IPMI (Intelligent Platform Management Interface) 401, so that it can be accessed even when a failure occurs, rebooting, and hardware problems can be identified and solved.

4, in the case of the vCPE cloud node 400, a customer-specific agent (for example, 411) for managing at least one VNF (for example, 415 to 417) A per-customer VNF manager 412 controlling lifecycle management and backup / recovery procedures of at least one VNF (e.g., 415 through 417) that constitute may be on a virtualized HOST (vHOST) for each customer. At this time, the customer-specific agent can maintain the control channel with an external orchestrator like the agent 220 of the basic vCPE cloud node illustrated in FIG.

Also, on the host of the vCPE cloud node 400, there is provided an agent 430 that maintains an external orchestrator and control channel and manages the cloud platform and the virtualized vHOST for each customer, and provides virtualization and networking of hardware resources There may be a cloud platform 420 that includes a VIM.

That is, the difference between the basic vCPE cloud node 200 illustrated in FIG. 2 and the large vCPE cloud node 400 illustrated in FIG. 4 is that the agent () and the VNF manager () And the like.

In addition, a local routing function 460 may be added to the host platform for various network environment configurations. The local routing function serves as a network gateway for managing the IP pool (eg, subnet) provided through the leased line. This function is basically configured using the kernel networking function of the host, and the agent 430 can be configured using the NF manager 450. [

To support even one IP sharing among all customers, VNF for gateway is supported, and it plays a representative role of connection with external network. The network line configuration at this time is similar to the basic type, so that the line is connected to the host before the network service configuration, and the line is connected to the VNF for the gateway purpose after the network service configuration.

In addition, each customer can assign their IPs to different numbers. In the case of sharing one line and only using IP differently, the network connection management function provides a different line connection before and after the network service configuration only in the situation of configuring the network service of the first customer.

5 is a conceptual diagram showing a configuration of a vCPE cloud node control system for controlling a vCPE cloud node.

Referring to FIG. 5, a vCPE cloud node (e.g., 200) for a vCPE service according to embodiments of the present invention may be managed through an external vCPE cloud node control system 500. The vCPE cloud node control system 500 provides monitoring functions for the vCPE cloud node 200 and functions such as service creation / inquiry / modification / deletion. The vCPE cloud node control system 500 may include an orchestrator 510, a backup server 520, and a monitoring server 530. At this time, the orchestrator 510, the backup server 520, and the monitoring server 530 may be connected to each other through a network device (router or the like) 540 and may also be connected to the vCPE cloud node 200.

First, the orchestrator 510 may include a fulfillment part 511 and a monitoring part 512. In the following description, the execution unit 511 of the orchestrator 510 may be referred to as 'Orch-F', and the monitoring unit 512 of the orchestrator 510 may be abbreviated as 'Orch-M'.

The vCPE cloud node 200 may configure the control channel with the orchestrator 510 before the service configuration, manage the status information of the vCPE cloud node 200, and install / configure / delete necessary services. In addition, the vCPE cloud node (e.g., monitoring agent 240 of the vCPE cloud node) provides monitoring for the operation of the internal system. The monitoring results of monitoring the main items of the internal system are collected in the monitoring server 530. The orchestrator 510 determines whether the service has failed based on the collected monitoring results and informs the administrator thereof .

The orchestrator 510 provides a connection to a manager via a web UI hosted by the web server 550 and provides information through a web page hosted by the web server 550, Input can be received.

In the following, various embodiments described below illustrate management operations through interworking between the vCPE cloud node control system 500 and the vCPE cloud node 200 described above.

6 to 9 illustrate a procedure for backing up and restoring the basic environment and the cloud environment setting in the vCPE cloud node through the vCPE cloud node control system 500. FIG. Next, FIGS. 10 to 14 illustrate a procedure for creating / deleting / checking the vCPE service on the vCPE cloud node through the vCPE cloud node control system 500.

vCPE cloud  Node backup and recovery procedures

6 is a flowchart illustrating a backup procedure of a vCPE cloud node by the vCPE cloud node control system.

Referring to FIG. 6, the backup of the vCPE cloud node may be performed by the manager 600 calling the backup API of the orchestrator 510. For example, the administrator can instruct the orchestrator 510 to backup the target vCPE cloud node through the Web UI hosted on the Web server 550. [ Meanwhile, the manager 600 may instruct the backup through the booting agent present in the target vCPE cloud node.

The orchestrator 510 can provide the above-described backup API in the form of a REST (Representative State Transfer) API. The manager 600 notifies the agent 220 of the backup vCPE cloud node to the orchestrator 510 through the backup API (S610). At this time, the orchestrator 510 may respond to the manager 600 that the call of the backup API is normally received (S611).

The backup of the backup vCPE cloud node may be performed by an agent 220 residing on the target vCPE cloud node. The backup function of the agent 220 backs up the basic environment of the vCPE cloud node and the configuration of the cloud environment so that the device can be initialized in the event of a failure and then the device can be quickly restored to its original state.

That is, when the backup API is called, the agent 220 generates a backup file for the target vCPE cloud node according to the backup request (S630) of the orchestrator 510, stores the backup file in the internal storage space, To the struter 510 and store it in the central backup store through the backup server 520 described above.

In response to the backup request (S630) of the orchestrator 510, the agent 220 may provide a response to the orchestrator 510 (S631), and the response may include the generated backup file and / (S631). ≪ / RTI >

In addition, the orchestrator 510 may notify the manager 600 of the progress status information of the backup progress procedure periodically or non-periodically until the backup procedure of the agent 220 is completed (S620 , S621). When the backup procedure is completed, the progress status information S may include a notification that the backup has been completed (S641).

FIGS. 7 to 9 are flowcharts for explaining a vCPE cloud node recovery procedure by the vCPE cloud node control system.

The restoration procedure for the vCPE cloud node restores the basic environment and the cloud environment setting stored in the vCPE cloud node 200 stored through the above-described backup procedure, and initializes the equipment in the event of a failure, and then quickly restores the equipment to an existing state Lt; / RTI >

Referring to FIG. 7, the recovery procedure of the target vCPE cloud node may be started by calling the get backup API of the orchestrator 510 at the request of the manager 600 (S710). For example, like the backup API, the orchestrator 510 can provide a backup acquisition API and a recovery API to be described later in the form of a REST API. At this time, the orchestrator 510 may respond to the manager 600 that the backup secure API call is normally received (S711).

The backup secure API may be a procedure for checking whether a backup file of the target vCPE cloud node 200 stored in the central backup storage exists through the orchestrator 510 and the backup server 520. [ In this case, the orchestrator 510 can provide a list of a plurality of backup files stored in the central backup storage through the backup server 520, and the manager 600 selects a backup file of the target vCPE cloud node among the backup files , It can instruct the orchestrator 510 through the recovery API call to perform recovery of the vCPE cloud node corresponding to the selected backup file (S720).

At this time, if the backup file of the target vCPE cloud node is not found in the local repository of the vCPE cloud node, the corresponding file is retrieved from the central backup repository through the backup server 520, and the backup file does not exist in the central backup repository If it does, it returns an error message.

An important part in performing recovery operations is network connection management. The external network connection (WAN connection) of the cloud node is generally configured without a separate management line, and the virtual machine (that is, the VNFs) performs a gateway to the connection with the outside. This causes the virtual machine to shut down or fail to connect to the outside world.

Therefore, it is necessary to connect the Internet line to the host in advance before starting the recovery operation, to establish the connection with the outside through the host, and to connect the line to the virtual machine again when the recovery operation is completed. Especially, in case of recovery operation of the network service, not the recovery operation of the VNF during the recovery operation, the network service is deleted and the connection to the external network becomes impossible immediately, so that the management becomes impossible. Therefore, the management of the vCPE cloud node can be continued even in the backup / recovery operation by performing proper network management function.

For example, the orchestrator 510 may request the monitoring unit (Orch-M) 512 of the orchestrator to stop the network service record (NSR) (S740). The orchestrator 519 may also request the VNF manager 270 of the target vCPE cloud node 200 to terminate the VNFs and the VNF manager 270 may request the agent of the target vCPE cloud node 200 220 in step S742 to notify that the VNFs are all terminated, and to directly connect the external network connection to a host other than the virtual machines (i.e., the VNF). In addition, the orchestrator 510 may request the VNF manager 270 of the target vCPE cloud node 200 to delete the stack (S743). Next, the orchestrator 510 may request the Orch-M 512 to stop monitoring the target vCPE cloud to be restored (S750).

The network management in the recovery procedure can not be performed by the agent 220 alone of the target vCPE cloud node. This is because, when the recovery operation is performed by the agent alone, if a failure occurs during the generation of the VNF, there is no way to handle it. Therefore, in the embodiment of the present invention, the VNF manager 270 and the agent 220 interact with each other to add a procedure for confirming the failure when a failure occurs, thereby configuring the failed line as a host again.

8, the orchestrator 510 may request the agent 220 of the target vCPE cloud node to restore the vCPE cloud node 200 (S810), and the agent 220 may send a response to the request (S811). The agent 220 can recover the basic environment of the vCPE cloud node 200 and the cloud environment configuration stored through the backup procedure described above.

During the restoration process, the agent 220 may periodically or non-periodically make a progression to the orchestrator 510 in accordance with the request of the orchestrator 510 (S820) or periodically until the restoration procedure is completed (S821). If the recovery procedure is completed, the archer 510 can be notified as a progress status report that the recovery procedure is completed (S831).

If it is notified that the recovery procedure has been completed from the agent, the orchestrator 510 may request the orchestrator-monitoring unit (Orch-M) 511 to restart the monitoring of the target vCPE cloud node 200 (S840) .

9, the orchestrator 510 may request the VNF manager 270 to generate the stack (S901) and initialize the VNFs (S902) in the reverse order of the preceding procedures (S741 to S743) , The VNF manager 270 may request the agent 220 of the target vCPE cloud node to move the network connection to the virtual machine (i.e., VNF) created in the host (S903). The orchestrator 510 may instruct the VNF manager 270 to resume the initialized VNF (S904) and the VNF manager 270 may notify the agent 220 that the VNF has been restored / resumed (S905).

The orchestrator 510 may request the Orch-M 512 to resume the network service record (NSR) (S906).

Finally, the orchestrator 510 may notify the manager 600 as a progress status report that all recovery procedures have been completed (S910, S911).

vCPE cloud  On the node vCPE  Device configuration procedure

Meanwhile, the vCPE cloud node control system 500 may configure-create / delete / check the vCPE service on the target vCPE cloud node (e.g., 200). First, before explaining specific configuration procedures, the internal configuration of a vCPE cloud node before / after generation of a vCPE service is described.

FIG. 10 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an internal configuration of a vCPE cloud node before a vCPE service configuration, and FIG. 11 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an internal configuration of a vCPE cloud node after a vCPE service configuration.

The vCPE cloud node can be equipped with various network functions and can provide various functions depending on the network functions such as firewall, IPS, and web firewall. FIG. 11 illustrates a situation in which a Unified Threat Management (UTM) service is virtualized and provided as a VNF 1050.

10, when a vCPE cloud node is allocated a fixed IP address directly to the physical WAN interface 1001 when an IP address for external connection (i.e., a public IP address) is allocated, , The WAN bridge interface 1002 for a host may be configured to receive an IP for external connection after the physical WAN interface 1001 is connected to the WAN bridge interface 1002 for the host.

In the vCPE service configuration, the virtual WAN interface 1003 is generated with the same MAC address as the physical WAN interface 1001, so that the same IP address is allocated before the vCPE service configuration and after the vCPE service configuration, thereby providing ease of service management can do.

First, the vCPE cloud node is configured with a management virtual network 1010 in which a host area of the vCPE cloud node can communicate with the vCPE service so that control of the host area of the vCPE cloud node can be continued even after the vCPE service is configured. Within the vCPE cloud node, the management virtual network is implemented as one bridge interface, and the virtual management interfaces created in the vCPE service configuration can be connected to this bridge interface. After that, the bridge interface directly communicates with the virtual management interface of the vCPE service with a static IP address, so that the processes inside the cloud node monitor the state of the vCPE service even when there is no Internet connection through this virtual network, It is possible to carry out.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart for explaining a procedure for creating a vCPE service on a vCPE cloud node, FIG. 13 is a flowchart for explaining a procedure for deleting a vCPE service on a vCPE cloud node, and FIG. < RTI ID = 0.0 > vCPE < / RTI >

Referring to FIG. 12, the VNF manager 270 and the agent 220 operate in the vCPE cloud node. The Orch_F 511 requests the cloud platform 230 to generate a VNF 271 in step S1210 and the cloud platform 230 in response to the VNF 271 in step S1211, The generation result may be reported to the Orch_F 511 (S1212).

Next, the Orch_F 511 may request the VNFM 270 to initialize the generated VNF 271 (S1220). In response, the VNFM 270 may perform initialization of the generated VNF 271 (S1221).

When the virtual CPE service is configured, the VNFM 270 may request the agent 220 to transfer the physical WAN interface from the WAN bridge interface for the host to the bridge interface for the WAN virtual network (WAN switching) (S1230) 220) can notify the processing result to the VNFM 270 (S1231).

At this time, the routing table in the vCPE cloud node is changed to set the IP address of the management virtual interface of the virtual CPE device as the default gateway, so that the virtual CPE device can be connected to the Internet through the virtual CPE device. The DNAT rule is added to the virtual CPE device in order to continue the connection with the process inside the cloud node outside the cloud node, such as the orchestrator 510 of the control system (S1240).

Finally, the VNFM 270 may notify Orch_F that the initialization of the VNF and the setting of the WAN IP address have been completed (S1250). The Orch_F 511 requests the Orch_M 512 to start monitoring for the network service, and the Orch_M 512 can start monitoring the network service in response to the monitoring start request for the network service (S 1260) .

13, the Orch_F 511 requests the Orch_M 512 to terminate the network service monitoring in step S1310. In response, the Orch_M 512 terminates the network service monitoring in step S1311. The Orch_F 511 can be notified (S1312).

Next, the Orch_F 511 may request the cloud platform 230 to prepare for termination of the VNF (S1320). 12, when the virtual CPE service is deleted, the agent 220 changes the physical WAN interface from the bridge interface for the WAN virtual network to the host for the host according to the WAN switching request (S1230) of the VNFM 270 The WAN bridge interface, and notify the result to the VNFM 270 (S1331). After confirming that the Internet connection is normal from the agent, the VNFM may notify the Orch_F 511 that the preparation for termination of the VNF is completed (S1340).

14, the agent 220 periodically collects networking information (S1410), checks the operation of the virtual CPE device and the external connection through the virtual CPE device (S1420), and transmits the physical WAN interface If a failure occurs in the NIC itself (NIC status down), an error is recorded in the log (S1430), and it is determined whether or not the predetermined criterion (e.g., the number of times of error repetition or error duration) is met (S1440) (S1441), and collecting networking information again (S1410) after waiting a predetermined time (S1450).

On the other hand, when the physical WAN interface itself is not faulty, the virtual CPE device is attempted to be pinged (S1460). If it is determined that the virtual CPE device has finally failed (S1461), the physical WAN interface (I.e., the state illustrated in FIG. 10) by switching to the WAN bridge interface for the host (S1470), so that control over the cloud node from the outside can be maintained.

The methods according to the present invention can be implemented in the form of program instructions that can be executed through various computer means and recorded on a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium may include program instructions, data files, data structures, and the like, alone or in combination. The program instructions recorded on the computer readable medium may be those specially designed and constructed for the present invention or may be available to those skilled in the computer software.

Examples of computer-readable media include hardware devices that are specially configured to store and execute program instructions, such as ROM, RAM, flash memory, and the like. Examples of program instructions may include machine language code such as those produced by a compiler, as well as high-level language code that may be executed by a computer using an interpreter or the like. The hardware devices described above may be configured to operate with at least one software module to perform the operations of the present invention, and vice versa.

Furthermore, the above-mentioned method or apparatus may be implemented by combining all or a part of the structure or function, or may be implemented separately.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention as defined by the following claims It can be understood that

200, 300, 400: vCPE cloud node
201 to 205: Input / output interface, 206: HDD / SDD storage space
207: SF memory, 208, 209: power supply unit
220: Agent, 230: Cloud platform
240: Monitoring agent 250: Operating system
261 to 263: WAN interface, 264 to 266: LAN interface
271 ~ 272: Virtual Network Function (VNF)
270: VNF Manager
370: Network Function (NF) Manager
401: IPMI
411: agent by customer, 412: VNF manager by customer
413: Customer-specific monitoring agent
415 to 417: Customer-specific virtualization network function (VNF)
500: vCPE cloud node control system
510: Orchestrator
511: Orchestrator execution section (Orch_F)
512: Orchestrator monitoring section (Orch_M)
520: backup server, 530: monitoring server
550: Web server

Claims (20)

A vCPE cloud node device for providing Virtual Virtual Premises Equipment (vCPE) services, comprising: at least one processor; and a memory in which at least one software component executed by the at least one processor is stored, The at least one software component comprising:
An agent that maintains an external orchestrator and a control channel, and manages at least one virtualized network function (VNF) constituting a cloud platform and a vCPE service;
The cloud platform including a Virtualized Infrastructure Manager (VIM) that provides virtualization and networking of hardware resources; And
And a VNF manager for controlling lifecycle management and backup / recovery for said at least one VNF.
The vCPE cloud node device. The method according to claim 1,
Further comprising a monitoring agent performing monitoring of the hardware of the vCPE cloud node and the at least one software component,
The vCPE cloud node device. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the vCPE cloud node device connects a host of the at least one VNF or the vCPE cloud node selectively to an external network using a single line without a separate management line,
The vCPE cloud node device. The method of claim 3,
A public IP address is not directly assigned to a physical WAN (Wide Area Network) interface of the vCPE cloud node device, a static IP address is allocated to a host WAN bridge interface connected to the physical WAN interface, So that the same fixed IP address is assigned to the virtual WAN interface of the at least one VNF.
The vCPE cloud node device. The method of claim 4,
Wherein the virtual WAN interface and the physical WAN interface have the same Medium Access Control (MAC) address,
The vCPE cloud node device. The method of claim 3,
Wherein a virtual management interface configured by a bridge interface is configured such that at least one VNF constituting the vCPE service and a host area of the vCPE cloud node device can communicate with each other,
The vCPE cloud node device. The method of claim 4,
When the recovery of the vCPE cloud node device is requested, the orchestrator connects the host WAN bridge interface of the vCPE cloud node to the external network via the agent, and when the at least one VNF is initialized Connecting the virtual WAN interface of the at least one VNF to an external network,
The vCPE cloud node device. The method of claim 4,
Wherein when the creation of the vCPE service is requested on the vCPE cloud node device, the virtual WAN interface of the at least one VNF is connected to the external network if the at least one VNF is initialized according to creation of the vCPE service,
The vCPE cloud node device. A vCPE cloud node device for providing Virtual Virtual Premises Equipment (vCPE) services, comprising: at least one processor; and a memory in which at least one software component executed by the at least one processor is stored, The at least one software component comprising:
An agent that manages at least one network function (NF: Network Function) configured as an external orchestrator and a local process that maintains a control channel and constitutes a vCPE service; And
And a network function manager for controlling management and backup / recovery of the at least one network function.
The vCPE cloud node device. The method of claim 9,
Further comprising a monitoring agent performing monitoring of the hardware of the vCPE cloud node device and the at least one software component,
The vCPE cloud node device. The method of claim 9,
Wherein the network function manager configures the at least one network function as a host local process of the vCPE cloud node without virtualization,
The vCPE cloud node device. A vCPE cloud node device providing different types of Virtual Virtual Premises Equipment (vCPE) services for each customer, the vCPE cloud node device comprising at least one processor and at least one software component executed by the at least one processor Wherein the at least one software component comprises:
A client-specific agent that maintains an external orchestrator and control channel and manages at least one virutalized network function (VNF) constituting a cloud platform and a customer-specific vCPE service; and A virtualized HOST (vHOST) for each customer including a customer-specific VNF manager for controlling lifecycle management and backup / recovery for the at least one VNF constituting the customer-specific vCPE service;
An agent that maintains an external orchestrator and a control channel, manages the cloud platform and the virtualized vHOST for each customer, and operates on the host of the vCPE cloud node; And
A Virtualized Infrastructure Manager (VIM) that provides virtualization and networking of hardware resources, said Virtual Platform Infrastructure Manager (VIM) operating on a host of said vCPE cloud node,
The vCPE cloud node device. The method of claim 12,
Further comprising a monitoring agent performing monitoring on the hardware of the vCPE cloud node device and the at least one software component, the monitoring agent operating on a host of the vCPE cloud node,
The vCPE cloud node device. The method of claim 12,
Further comprising a monitoring agent performing monitoring on the hardware of the vCPE cloud node device and the at least one software component and operating on a virtualized vHOST for each customer,
The vCPE cloud node device. The method of claim 12,
Wherein the vCPE cloud node device further comprises an Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI)
The vCPE cloud node device. The method of claim 12,
Connecting the host of the at least one VNF or the vCPE cloud node to an external network when the vCPE cloud node device is connected to an external network using one IP address,
The vCPE cloud node device. 18. The method of claim 16,
When the vCPE cloud node device is connected to the external network by using one IP address, the VNF for gateway use plays a role of a connection with the external network,
The vCPE cloud node device. 18. The method of claim 16,
When the vCPE cloud node device is connected to an external network using one IP address, a public IP address is not directly assigned to a physical WAN (Wide Area Network) interface of the vCPE cloud node device, Wherein a fixed IP address is assigned to a host WAN bridge interface connected to a physical WAN interface or a same static IP address is allocated to a virtual WAN interface of at least one VNF constituting the vCPE service,
The vCPE cloud node device. 19. The method of claim 18,
Wherein the virtual WAN interface and the physical WAN interface have the same Medium Access Control (MAC) address,
The vCPE cloud node device. 18. The method of claim 16,
Wherein a virtual management interface configured by a bridge interface is configured such that at least one VNF constituting the vCPE service and a host area of the vCPE cloud node device can communicate with each other,
The vCPE cloud node device.

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