KR20180091308A - Method and apparatus for verifying nfv scaling - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed are a method and an apparatus for verifying NFV scaling. The method for verifying NFV scaling comprises: analyzing a scaling operation required according to a use state of a resource and acquiring information of VNF which is a scaling operation target; determining resource placement applicable to the scaling operation; virtually allocating according to the resource allocation; determining whether the virtually allocated resource exceeds a capacity of a currently available resource, to perform verification of the resource allocation; and transmitting the verification result.

Description

[0001] METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR VERIFYING NFV SCALING [0002]

The following description relates to a verification method and apparatus for NFV scaling and more particularly to a method and apparatus for pre-verifying that a corresponding scaling operation is applicable to currently available network resources prior to performing a requested scaling operation .

Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) technology has been introduced as a technology to support network openness and virtualization to build future-oriented network and service infrastructure. It realizes a single network service by virtually instantiating, combining, and executing the required network function according to traffic. This enables network services to be configured in a timely manner by virtualizing network functions and actively controlling them according to the situation.

The present invention provides information useful for designing a scaling policy or establishing a security plan for a network resource by a network service provider and a network administrator by verifying in advance a failure situation of a scaling operation that can occur due to a shortage of network resources and a detailed reason thereof .

The present invention can effectively perform manual and automatic scaling operations by additionally providing guide information on which position should be set as a target resource for scaling in a state where network resources are sufficiently secured.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a method for verifying NFV scaling, comprising: analyzing a scaling operation required according to a use state of a resource and acquiring information of a VNF (Virtual Network Function) to be a target of the scaling operation; Determining a resource allocation applicable to the scaling operation; Virtually allocating resources according to the resource allocation; Performing a verification of the resource placement by determining whether the virtually allocated resource exceeds a capacity of a currently available resource; And transmitting the verified result.

The verification method according to an exemplary embodiment may further include recording a situation where the verification has failed and a cause of the failure if the verification fails.

The verification method according to an exemplary embodiment may further include determining whether verification has been completed for all resource allocations applicable to the scaling operation.

The verification method according to an exemplary embodiment may further include determining the efficiency of the resource allocation when the verification of all the resource deployments is completed.

A verification result according to an embodiment may include a verification failure situation, a cause of a failure, and efficiency for resource placement that has been verified.

According to an embodiment, the NFV platform and the network manager can grasp the possibility of error and the problem of the scaling operation in advance, so that the scaling policy design and the network resource acquisition plan can be established more securely.

According to an embodiment, since a network operator can acquire information on a possible resource allocation and its efficiency in scaling for a set network service in advance, it is possible to preliminarily verify the total amount of the network required for the performance of the designated network service and its efficiency can do.

According to an embodiment, since verification can be performed before the automatic scaling of the NFV platform is performed, it is possible to effectively avoid unnecessary resource allocation or switching and error of a network service in service.

1 is a diagram illustrating an NFV reference functional structure according to one embodiment.
2 is a diagram illustrating a verification method for NFV scaling according to an embodiment.
3 is a diagram illustrating a verification apparatus for NFV scaling according to an embodiment.

Specific structural or functional descriptions of embodiments are set forth for illustration purposes only and may be embodied with various changes and modifications. Accordingly, the embodiments are not intended to be limited to the specific forms disclosed, and the scope of the disclosure includes changes, equivalents, or alternatives included in the technical idea.

The terms first or second, etc. may be used to describe various elements, but such terms should be interpreted solely for the purpose of distinguishing one element from another. For example, 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.

It is to be understood that when an element is referred to as being "connected" to another element, it may be directly connected or connected to the other element, although other elements may be present in between.

The singular expressions include plural expressions unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. In this specification, the terms "comprises ", or" having ", and the like, are used to specify one or more of the described features, numbers, steps, operations, elements, But do not preclude the presence or addition of steps, operations, elements, parts, or combinations thereof.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms used herein, including technical or scientific terms, have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. Terms such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries are to be interpreted as having a meaning consistent with the meaning of the context in the relevant art and, unless explicitly defined herein, are to be interpreted as ideal or overly formal Do not.

The embodiments described below can be used to perform verification on NFV scaling. Embodiments may be implemented in various forms of computing devices and / or systems, such as servers that make up a network. Hereinafter, embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Like reference symbols in the drawings denote like elements.

1 is a diagram illustrating an NFV reference functional structure according to one embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 1, a network functional virtualization (NFV) reference functional structure according to an exemplary embodiment includes a virtualized network function (VNF) 110, an NFVI infrastructure 120, and an NFV management and orchestration. MANO) 130 may be included.

NFV is a technology that virtualizes network functions (NF) to enable software control and management by separating various functions in the network equipment used by communication service providers. In other words, the NFV separates the role of network equipment into large capacity servers, mass storage devices, and large capacity switches located in the data center, and automatically installs and / or controls network functions that can be installed and / Operation, control, and management. NFV reduces capital expenditure and operating expenses due to the reduction of network equipment cost and power loss, new network service shortens time required for market input and increases investment cost, facilitates flexible service evolution and scale management , Open virtual appliances and pure software participation market, and increase opportunities for new innovative service development.

The NFV is based on the reference functional structure as shown in FIG. 1 and includes a virtualized network function (VNF) 110, an NFVI infrastructure 120, and an NFV management and orchestration 130 ). Hereinafter, for convenience of explanation, the NFV management and orchestration can be referred to as MANO.

The VNF 110 may represent a software module block that provides real network functionality and is managed with virtualized resources. In addition, an element management system (EMS) can perform FCAPS (Fault, Configuration, Accounting, Performance, Security) functions for each of the VNFs 110.

The NFVI 120 may represent a network resource block that provides virtualization of a plurality of separate physical hardware supporting the computing, storage, and networking of the VNF 110 into one infrastructure. The NFVI 120 may comprise hardware, virtual resources and virtualization functions to support processing, storage and networking between the VNFs 110.

The MANO 130 may represent a module block that collectively manages, manages, controls, etc. the VNF 110 and the NFVI 120. The MANO 130 may include a Virtualized Infrastructure Manager, one or more VNF Managers (VNF Managers), and an Orchestrator.

Here, the Virtualized Infrastructure Manager can manage and control NFVI resources (e.g., computing, storage, and network). The VNF manager can perform the lifecycle management functions of the VNFs. Orchestrator can perform overall network orchestration and management functions in a multi-NFVI environment.

Service, VNF and Infrastructure Description can define an information model of all the components (eg, service, VNF, NFVI, forwarding graph, etc.) defined in the NFV. And, OSS / BSS can perform OSS (Operation Support System) / BSS (Business Support System) function of the communication carrier.

Thus, in order to provide a series of network services based on the NFV reference functional structure shown in FIG. 1, the following operations need to be performed. That is, a network service descriptor that defines and lists one or more VNFs constituting the corresponding network service, defines resource allocation / management requirements and operation details for installing and executing such VNFs, To the MANO block via the OSS / BSS.

When an instantiation request for the corresponding network service occurs, the NFV platform (particularly, the Orchestrator of the MANO 130) transmits the VNFs defined in the network service description to the appropriate location of the NFVI according to the given requirements and operation details The service can be configured to handle incoming traffic by placing and connecting. The NFV platform (especially the Orchestrator of MANO (130)) continuously monitors and controls the network to ensure compliance with specified requirements and policies even during dynamic service status change, such as service performance, network resource status, . ≪ / RTI >

In particular, when monitoring such resource situations, such as increasing or decreasing throughput compared to a given resource, is detected, the NFV platform provides the number of computing and networking resources responsible for service processing through scaling operations By increasing or decreasing, the efficiency of resource use can be maximized.

2 is a diagram illustrating a verification method for NFV scaling according to an embodiment.

According to one embodiment, a verification apparatus for NFV scaling may perform a scaling operation prior to the automatic scaling of the NFV platform or the manual scaling through the OSS / BSS when a request for scaling is detected according to the resource use state in the NFV It can be verified in advance that it is applicable to the currently available network resources. Then, the verification apparatus can derive an evaluation result on how efficient each resource allocation situation is according to a given policy.

NS and VNF scaling can be performed in the NFV in order to maintain the quality of service and increase the efficiency of resource utilization by changing the resource allocation amount without stopping NS (Network Service) and VNF (Virtualized Network Function).

Basically, the scaling behavior in NFV can be distinguished by NS scaling and VNF scaling as follows.

NS scaling according to one embodiment is an operation of scaling NS, and the OSS can request NS scaling with NFVO (NFV Orchestrator). Specifically, when NS scaling is requested, a VNF instance belonging to the corresponding NS is added or deleted, the deployment flavor of the corresponding NS is changed, and scaling can be performed on the VNF instance belonging to the corresponding NS.

VNF scaling according to one embodiment is an operation scaling VNF, wherein the NFVO can request an operation to the VNFM. Specifically, when VNF scaling is requested, scaling in or scaling out by a specified step is performed based on the current scaling aspect and scale level of the corresponding VNF, The VNF is changed to the instantiation level designated, and the VNF is changed to the scaling side and the scale level designated.

The present invention can perform the following operations to perform the above-described scaling operation. Specifically, it analyzes a scaling verification request parameter, derives a target VNF instance to be added or deleted, and verifies a VNF, a virtual deployment unit (VDU), and a virtual link (VL) An operation to determine whether the scaling operation is possible in the current network situation, and if possible, to derive its efficiency along with the required resource placement may be performed.

The flowchart shown in FIG. 2 shows a procedure for performing verification after notifying a verification request and notifying the verification result.

Referring to FIG. 2, a verification method for NFV scaling performed by a processor of a verification apparatus according to one embodiment is shown.

At step 201, the verification device may receive a verification request for scaling from the OSS / BSS and MANO.

In step 203, the verification device analyzes the scaling operation and obtains information of the VNF. For example, the verification device can analyze the scaling behavior required depending on the usage state of the resource. Then, the verification apparatus can acquire the information of the VNF to be subjected to the scaling operation.

At step 205, the verification device may obtain network service information, including the VNF, via the OSS / BSS interface. In addition, the verification apparatus can acquire network resource information through the OSS / BSS interface.

In step 207, the verification device determines the resource placement applicable to the scaling operation. For example, the verification device may derive all applicable combinations when deploying the required VNFs to the physical / virtual resources of the network.

In step 209, the verification apparatus virtually allocates resources according to the resource allocation. For example, the verification device may virtually allocate the requested resources according to the form of the derived resource placement.

In step 211, the verification device performs verification of the resource placement by determining whether the virtually allocated resource exceeds the capacity of the currently available resource. The verification apparatus can determine whether the virtually allocated request resource is applicable to the currently available resource.

If the verification fails, then in step 213 the verification device may record the verification failure situation and cause. Here, if the verification fails, it may mean that the virtually allocated resource exceeds the capacity of the currently available resource, or the case where the virtually allocated requested resource is not applicable to the currently available resource. The verification device can match the failed resource placement and cause of failure and store it in memory.

If the verification is successful, then in step 215, the verification device may determine whether verification has been completed for all resource deployments. The verification device may determine whether verification has been performed for all resource allocations determined in step 207. [

If the verification has not been completed for all resource deployments, then at step 217 the verification device may select the next resource deployment. The verification device may select a resource placement that has not yet been validated. Step 209, step 211, step 213, and step 215 may then be performed on the selected resource placement.

If verification of all resource placements is complete, then in step 219 the verification device may determine the efficiency of the resource placement. For example, the verification device may determine the efficiency of resource placement in the case of successful verification.

In step 221, the verification device transmits the verification result. For example, the verification result may include a verification failure situation, the cause of the failure, and the efficiency of the successful resource placement. The verification device may send the verification results to the OSS / BSS and MANO that requested verification.

3 is a diagram illustrating a verification apparatus for NFV scaling according to an embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 3, a verification apparatus 300 according to one embodiment includes a memory 310 and a processor 320. The memory 310 and the processor 320 may communicate with each other via a bus 330.

Memory 310 may include instructions readable by a computer. The processor 320 may perform the aforementioned operations as the instructions stored in the memory 310 are executed in the processor 320. [ Memory 310 may be volatile memory or non-volatile memory.

The processor 320 may execute instructions or programs, or may control the verification device 300. The verification device 300 may be implemented as part of various computing devices. In addition, the verification apparatus 300 can process the above-described operations.

The processor 320 analyzes the required scaling operation according to the use state of the resource, acquires information of a VNF (Virtual Network Function) to be a scaling operation, determines a resource allocation applicable to the scaling operation, And performs a verification of the resource allocation by transmitting the verification result to the base station by judging whether the virtually allocated resource exceeds the capacity of the currently available resource.

The components described above with reference to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 are applied to the respective components shown in FIG. 3 as they are, and a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

The embodiments described above may be implemented in hardware components, software components, and / or a combination of hardware components and software components. For example, the devices, methods, and components described in the embodiments may be implemented within a computer system, such as, for example, a processor, a controller, an arithmetic logic unit (ALU), a digital signal processor, such as an array, a programmable logic unit (PLU), a microprocessor, or any other device capable of executing and responding to instructions. The processing device may execute an operating system (OS) and one or more software applications running on the operating system. The processing device may also access, store, manipulate, process, and generate data in response to execution of the software. For ease of understanding, the processing apparatus may be described as being used singly, but those skilled in the art will recognize that the processing apparatus may have a plurality of processing elements and / As shown in FIG. For example, the processing unit may comprise a plurality of processors or one processor and one controller. Other processing configurations are also possible, such as a parallel processor.

The software may include a computer program, code, instructions, or a combination of one or more of the foregoing, and may be configured to configure the processing device to operate as desired or to process it collectively or collectively Device can be commanded. The software and / or data may be in the form of any type of machine, component, physical device, virtual equipment, computer storage media, or device , Or may be permanently or temporarily embodied in a transmitted signal wave. The software may be distributed over a networked computer system and stored or executed in a distributed manner. The software and data may be stored on one or more computer readable recording media.

The method according to an embodiment may be implemented in the form of a program command that can be executed through various computer means and recorded in 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 to be recorded on the medium may be those specially designed and configured for the embodiments or may be available to those skilled in the art of computer software. Examples of computer-readable media include magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks and magnetic tape; optical media such as CD-ROMs and DVDs; magnetic media such as floppy disks; Magneto-optical media, and hardware devices specifically configured to store and execute program instructions such as ROM, RAM, flash memory, and the like. Examples of program instructions include machine language code such as those produced by a compiler, as well as high-level language code that can be executed by a computer using an interpreter or the like. The hardware devices described above may be configured to operate as one or more software modules to perform the operations of the embodiments, and vice versa.

The components described in the embodiments may be implemented by a programmable logic device such as one or more DSP (Digital Signal Processor), a processor, a controller, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), and a field programmable gate array Logic Element, other electronic devices, and combinations thereof. ≪ RTI ID = 0.0 > At least some of the functions or processes described in the embodiments may be implemented by software, and the software may be recorded in a recording medium. The components, functions and processes described in the embodiments may be implemented by a combination of hardware and software.

Although the embodiments have been described with reference to the drawings, various technical modifications and variations may be applied to those skilled in the art. For example, it is to be understood that the techniques described may be performed in a different order than the described methods, and / or that components of the described systems, structures, devices, circuits, Lt; / RTI > or equivalents, even if it is replaced or replaced.

Claims (1)

Analyzing a scaling operation required according to a use state of a resource, and acquiring information of a VNF (Virtual Network Function) to be subjected to the scaling operation;
Determining a resource allocation applicable to the scaling operation;
Virtually allocating resources according to the resource allocation;
Performing a verification on the resource placement by determining whether the virtually allocated resource exceeds a capacity of a currently available resource; And
Transmitting the verified result
/ RTI > for a NFV scaling.

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