KR20200059474A - System and method for virtualized customer premise service - Google Patents

Abstract

A virtualized customer premise service provision method according to an embodiment of the present invention is to provide a virtualized customer premise service in an edge cloud including a customer premise agent, an edge orchestrator, and an end-to-end orchestrator interworking with the customer premise agent and the edge orchestrator. The method includes: a step in which the end-to-end orchestrator requests service instance generation or allocation to at least one among the customer premise agent and the edge orchestrator in accordance with a function package related to a service requested to be executed by a subscriber; a step in which the edge orchestrator executes an edge function driver and generates a relevant function server in accordance with the request of the end-to-end orchestrator; and a step in which the customer premise agent executes a subscriber function driver and generates a relevant function client in accordance with the request of the end-to-end orchestrator.

Description

Virtualization in-house service provision system and method {SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR VIRTUALIZED CUSTOMER PREMISE SERVICE}

The present invention relates to a virtualized in-house service providing system and a virtualized in-house service providing method, and more particularly, to a virtualized in-house service providing system using a subscriber in-house resource and a cloud resource and a virtualized in-house service providing method.

A subscriber premise equipment (CPE) is a premise apparatus directly connected to a network of a telecommunications provider, and may be provided by a telecommunications provider or self-installed by a user. In other words, CPE is a device that is located in the customer's (subscriber) premises and provides a connection with a communication channel of a telecommunications company. In general, a router, FW (Firewall), NAT (Network Address Translation), or DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) Can perform a function. In other words, CPE receives traffic from the customer side and provides it with an Internet connection through a carrier channel, or provides a firewall for traffic coming from the Internet.

In the case of the existing subscriber premise service that is installed in the subscriber's place of residence and provides fixed service, it is common to operate in a fixed form within the subscriber premise device.

On the other hand, virtual (virtual) CPE (that is, vCPE) does not perform the network service in the in-house CPE device, but means to provide the virtualized CPE network services based on NFV. In order to dynamically provide various types of subscriber premise services according to the needs of subscribers on the virtualization infrastructure, not only the subscriber premise devices but also the service configuration in the cloud must be made dynamically. In addition, it is necessary to dynamically connect the subscriber's premises configuration information and the cloud's configuration information.

An object of the present invention for solving the above problems is to provide an end-to-end orchestrator connecting an in-home agent and an edge orchestrator.

Another object of the present invention for solving the above problems is to provide a virtualized in-house service providing system including an in-house agent, an edge orchestrator, and an end-to-end orchestrator.

Another object of the present invention for solving the above problems is to provide a method for providing a virtual in-house service using a virtual in-house service providing system.

The end-to-end orchestrator according to an embodiment of the present invention for achieving the above object is a premise agent constituting an edge cloud node and an end-to-end orchestrator interworking with the edge orchestrator. A function package storage for storing a package related to at least one function for realizing an end service; And an end-to-end orchestrator driver executed according to a function package associated with a service requested to be executed among the function packages stored in the function package repository.

The function package may include one or more of a function image, a function descriptor, and a function driver used to create a virtual function instance.

The function descriptor may include basic information about the function and information about variables required to execute the function.

The end-to-end orchestrator can manage the lifecycle of the function using the function package.

The life cycle of the function may include at least one of creation, initial configuration, monitoring, and deletion of the function instance.

The function instance may be generated or assigned by at least one of the in-house agent and the edge orchestrator.

The end-to-end orchestrator driver may transfer a message between a subscriber function driver performed by the in-house agent and an edge function driver performed by the edge orchestrator.

A system for providing a virtual in-house service according to another embodiment of the present invention for achieving the above object, for at least one virtual network function (VNF: Virutalized Network Function) constituting a cloud platform and a Virtual Customer Premises Equipment (vCPE) service Premise agent performing management (Premise Agent); An edge orchestrator that manages the lifecycle for VNFs in the edge cloud; And an end-to-end orchestrator requesting the creation or assignment of a service instance to at least one of the in-house agent and the edge orchestrator according to a function package associated with a service requested to be executed from a subscriber.

The end-to-end orchestrator executes the end-to-end orchestrator driver to transmit a control message between the subscriber function driver performed by the in-house agent and the edge function driver performed by the edge orchestrator, and the subscriber function driver and the edge function driver The results of the can be combined.

Further, the control message may be function server access information associated with at least one function for a service requested by a subscriber.

A method for providing a virtualized in-house service according to an embodiment of the present invention for achieving the other object is an in-house agent (Premise Agent), an edge orchestrator, and an end-to-end orchestrator interworking with the in-house agent and the edge orchestrator ( End-to-End Orchestrator), a method for providing a virtualized premises service in an edge cloud, wherein the end-to-end orchestrator, at least one of the premises agent and the edge orchestrator according to a function package associated with a service requested to be executed from a subscriber Requesting creation or allocation of a service instance as one; An edge orchestrator, at the request of the end-to-end orchestrator, executing an edge function driver and generating a related function server; And in the home agent, at the request of the end-to-end orchestrator, executing a subscriber function driver and generating a related function client.

In the virtualization in-house service providing method, the end-to-end orchestrator transmits a control message between the subscriber function driver and the edge function driver using the end-to-end orchestrator driver, and performs execution results of the subscriber function driver and the edge function driver. It may further comprise the step of combining.

The control message may be function server access information associated with at least one function for a service requested by a subscriber.

The function package may include one or more of a function image, a function descriptor, and a function driver used to create a virtual function instance.

The function descriptor may include basic information about the function and information about variables required to execute the function.

According to the embodiments of the present invention as described above, by configuring not only the subscriber premises device but also the service configuration in the cloud dynamically, it is possible to dynamically connect the subscriber premises configuration information and the cloud configuration information.

Accordingly, it is possible to provide a more efficient virtualized in-house service.

1 is a conceptual diagram of a vCPE system to which the present invention is applied.
2 is a configuration diagram of a vCPE cloud node according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is an operation flowchart of a method for configuring a virtual subscriber premises service according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a conceptual diagram of communication between a client and a server according to an embodiment of the present invention.
5 is a block diagram of a function instance according to an embodiment of the present invention.
6 is a block diagram of an end-to-end orchestrator according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The present invention can be applied to various changes and can have various embodiments, and specific embodiments will be illustrated in the drawings and described in detail in the detailed description. However, this is not intended to limit the present invention to specific embodiments, and should be understood to include all modifications, equivalents, and substitutes included in the spirit and scope of the present invention. In describing each drawing, similar reference numerals are used for similar components.

The terms first, second, A, B, etc. can be used to describe various components, but the components should not be limited by the terms. The terms are used only for the purpose of distinguishing one component from other components. For example, the first component may be referred to as a second component without departing from the scope of the present invention, and similarly, the second component may be referred to as a first component. The term "and / or" includes a combination of a plurality of related described items or any one of a plurality of related described items.

When an element is said to be "connected" or "connected" to another component, it is understood that other components may be directly connected to or connected to the other component, but there may be other components in between. It should be. On the other hand, when a component is said to be "directly connected" or "directly connected" to another component, it should be understood that no other component exists in the middle.

The terms used in the present application are only used to describe specific embodiments, and are not intended to limit the present invention. Singular expressions include plural expressions unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. In this application, terms such as “include” or “have” are intended to indicate that a feature, number, step, operation, component, part, or combination thereof described in the specification exists, one or more other features. It should be understood that the existence or addition possibilities of fields or numbers, steps, operations, components, parts or combinations thereof are not excluded in advance.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms used herein, including technical or scientific terms, have the same meaning as commonly understood by a person skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains. Terms such as those defined in a commonly used dictionary should be interpreted as having meanings consistent with meanings in the context of related technologies, and should not be interpreted as ideal or excessively formal meanings unless explicitly defined in the present application. Does not.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a conceptual diagram of a vCPE system to which the present invention is applied.

vCPE (Virtual CPE; Virtual Customer Premise Enterprise) is one of the network virtualization technologies, and virtualizes the functions of each network equipment to mount only software on the X86 server so that the server processes the existing network functions in software (Virtualized Network Function; VNF) It means to do. Existing devices, that is, a physical network device (Physical N / W Function) are virtual devices, for example, a virtual router, a virtual WAN accelerator, and a virtual firewall (firewall). In addition, VNF may mean that a network function is implemented on a virtual machine.

To implement vCPE, the NFV orchestrator in the carrier network creates and manages VNFs. In the case of a vCPE-implemented network, when a corporate customer requests firewall service, the VNF orchestrator injects the VNF software into the corresponding customer-related configuration of the servers in the network, rather than visited by carrier operators and installing firewall equipment.

Meanwhile, a structure in which a user is connected to a communication infrastructure includes edges, access, cores, and data centers from the edge of the network. Here, the edge is any kind of device used by the user. In the case of a network, Wi-Fi equipment, firewalls, security equipment, etc. installed in the corporate users' companies are classified as CPE (Customer Premise Equipment). The vCPE model may include a centralized vCPE model and a distributed vCPE model.

In the centralized vCPE model structure, for example, vCPE (NVFs) in a central office and each company are connected through an SDN network, and the SDN network uses a white box and open source. That is, not only the SDN switching fabric to be introduced to the central office, but also the access network to the physical CPE in the enterprise can be constructed as a white box. Here, the white box may be a device including various general network components, and an operation method may be disclosed and used and controlled according to a user's purpose.

One of the issues raised when making vCPE a reality is its location. The vCPE can be located within the enterprise (in the case of a decentralized model), can be located at the edge PoP in the carrier network, or can be deployed centrally (in the case of a centralized model) in the central office.

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

The vCPE cloud node according to an aspect of the present invention is a vCPE cloud node that provides a virtualized subscriber premises device (vCPE) service.

Referring to FIG. 2, the vCPE cloud node 200 according to an aspect of the present invention is located in a subscriber's home and maintains an external end-to-end orchestrator (E2E-O) and control channel do. The vCPE cloud node may perform a function for providing a vCPE service only in the vCPE cloud node, but with the help of an edge orchestrator (300), a function provided in the edge environment can be provided as needed.

The vCPE cloud node 200 performs management for at least one virtualized network function (VNF) constituting a cloud platform and a vCPE service, and includes the PnP-Box agent 210 in the embodiment of FIG. 2. PnP box 200 is implemented.

The PnP-Box agent 210 may include functions such as backup / storage, provisioning agent, configuration management, package management, and boot agent.

Meanwhile, the PnP box 200 may include a Zabbix agent, a PnP box client UI, a firewall application (FW applicaiton), a DHCP application, a VPN application, etc. in addition to the PnP-Box agent 210. The PnP box 200 may also include various service related containers such as a home PC container and a home camera container.

In addition, the PnP box 200 is equipped with a plurality of network interfaces (eg, LAN1 to LAN2; WAN1; LAN-WiFi, WAN-LTE), so that a service is possible without a separate switch.

On the other hand, the edge orchestrator 300 is responsible for the lifecycle management of VNFs in the edge cloud. The edge orchestrator 300 may include tenant management (Tenant Mgmt.), VNF life cycle management (VNF LC Mgmt.), Backup / storage, and VIM (Virtualized Infrastructure Manager) management. Additionally, it may include a Zabbix Sender, including a home camera, home PC service, VPN server, and the like.

The end-to-end orchestrator 100 is an E2E control device or system that connects an in-home device and an edge, and includes a service package storage 150 that stores services corresponding to end services, that is, various function packages, and service portals and packages. Management, service life cycle management, PnP-Box inventory management, E2E service monitoring, E2E service failure management, PnP-Box management, edge service management, etc.

3 is an operation flowchart of a method for configuring a virtual subscriber premises service according to an embodiment of the present invention.

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

The problem can be solved by introducing an end-to-end orchestrator that connects the Premise and Edge devices. The end-to-end orchestrator is provided with a service package corresponding to the end service. At this time, the service package includes a file to be installed in the subscriber's premises terminal (or device), a file to be installed in the edge orchestrator, a list of tasks to be performed by the end-to-end orchestrator, and a driver to perform the same.

Referring to FIG. 3, when the end-to-end orchestrator 100 receives a service execution request (S310), it provides VNF control system information to the edge orchestrator 300 and registers it (S320). The edge cloud 300 performs a connection test with the VNF control system using the VNF control system driver (S331), and collects all available resource information (for example, a VM (Virtual Machine) list, etc.) from the VNF control system ( S332), requests the generation of a VNF server to the VNF control system (S333). The VNF control system receiving the request generates a VNF server (S334).

On the other hand, the VNF E2E driver of the end-to-end orchestrator 100 requests a service instance allocation to the edge orchestrator 300 (S340), and performs VNF user authentication for the VNF control system (S350). Thereafter, the end-to-end orchestrator 100 requests service instance creation to the in-house agent 210 (S360). At this time, the service instance creation request may include available VNF server information. The in-house agent 210 receiving this may execute the container using the VNF container driver (S361), and the VNF container may access the VNF server (S362).

4 is a conceptual diagram of communication between a client and a server according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In the present invention, actual communication is performed between a function client and a function server to exchange data. Referring to FIG. 4, a function client is located on the subscriber terminal side, and a function server is located within the edge.

 A driver suitable for the operation of the corresponding function is performed on the subscriber terminal side and the cloud side, respectively. That is, the subscriber function driver 211 is executed on the subscriber terminal side, and the edge function driver 311 is executed on the edge. The combination of the result of the execution of the drivers 211 and 311 performed at each end and the necessary message transmission between them are performed by the driver 111 of the end-to-end orchestrator.

The lifecycle of a function includes instance creation, initial configuration, monitoring, and deletion. The end-to-end orchestrator (E2E-Orchestrator) 100 manages the function lifecycle using a function package. The end-to-end orchestrator 100 may also be provided with function control system information.

Referring to FIG. 4, generation and state management of a function server executed in an edge cloud stage is performed by a function control system. In addition, the function server connection information at this time may be transmitted to the function client through the edge function driver 311, the end-to-end orchestrator driver 111 and the subscriber function driver 211.

The function package may include a function image, a function descriptor, and a function driver. A function image is an image file that can create a virtual function instance. A function descriptor is a file that contains basic information about a function (eg, manufacturer, description, version information, distribution date, etc.) and information about variables required to execute a function, creates a function instance, and creates its lifecycle. Used for management. The function driver is the result of implementing the lifecycle management and control interface for the instance provided by the function. The end-to-end orchestrator can manage the lifecycle of the function instance running on the premise and the edge through the function driver.

5 is a block diagram of a function instance according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The function instance according to an embodiment of the present invention may be configured in various shapes across the edge and the premises. Depending on the characteristics of the function, an instance may be created only in one of the edge or in-home devices, the edge and in-home devices may be configured in a 1: 1 pair, and one edge instance is connected to multiple in-home device instances. It may be configured. For example, a firewall instance is configured at one of the home devices and the edge. As another example, the VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure) server instance is configured at the edge, and the VDI client instance is executed in the home device.

When a customer requests to create a function instance, the existing function instance of the edge was manually constructed in advance and then operated in the form of inputting the necessary information into the control system. For example, in the case of VDI service, even in the case of cloud-based virtualization, a VDI server was pre-built, and connection information of the VDI server was previously registered in a control system such as an E2E-orchestra and used. It is defined in the function package, and the remaining necessary operations are performed in the control system.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 5, according to the integrated service control system of the present invention, the function instance of the edge is not manually constructed in advance, and the function instance is generated and used from the function package in a necessary situation. That is, the end-to-end orchestrator 100 distributes the function through the PnP box agent and controls the in-house device to configure the non-virtualization function and the virtualization function to execute the function instance. The end-to-end orchestrator 100 also controls the edge to configure service for each tenant through the edge orchestrator when there is a request for customer service within the edge. That is, the edge is configured to configure a virtualization function and a non-virtualization function for executing the function instance.

6 is a block diagram of an end-to-end orchestrator according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The end-to-end orchestrator 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a processor 110, a memory 120 storing at least one command executed through the processor and a result of performing the command, and a function package storage 150. It can contain.

Here, the processor 310 may be a central processing unit (CPU) that supports virtualization. The end-to-end orchestrator 100 may also operate based on a general-purpose operating system that supports virtualization, and may have various input / output interfaces.

The function package storage 150 may store packages related to at least one function that realizes an end service.

Here, the at least one instruction may include an instruction to cause the processor to execute an end-to-end orchestrator driver according to a function package associated with a service requested to be executed among function packages stored in the function package repository.

The function package may include one or more of a function image, a function descriptor, and a function driver used to create a virtual function instance.

The function descriptor may include basic information about the function and information about variables required to execute the function.

The end-to-end orchestrator can manage the lifecycle of the function using the function package.

The life cycle of the function may include at least one of creation, initial configuration, monitoring, and deletion of the function instance.

The function instance may be generated or assigned by at least one of the in-house agent and the edge orchestrator.

The end-to-end orchestrator driver may transfer a message between a subscriber function driver performed by the in-house agent and an edge function driver performed by the edge orchestrator.

The operation of the method according to an embodiment of the present invention can be implemented as a computer-readable program or code on a computer-readable recording medium. The computer-readable recording medium includes all kinds of recording devices in which data readable by a computer system is stored. In addition, the computer-readable recording medium may be distributed over network-connected computer systems to store and execute computer-readable programs or codes in a distributed manner.

In addition, the computer-readable recording medium may include a hardware device specially configured to store and execute program instructions, such as a ROM, a RAM, and a flash memory. Program instructions may include high-level language code that can be executed by a computer using an interpreter, etc., as well as machine code such as that produced by a compiler.

While some aspects of the invention have been described in the context of an apparatus, it may also represent a description according to a corresponding method, where a block or apparatus corresponds to a method step or a feature of a method step. Similarly, aspects described in the context of a method may also be represented by features of corresponding blocks or items or corresponding devices. Some or all of the method steps may be performed by (or using) a hardware device, such as, for example, a microprocessor, programmable computer, or electronic circuit. In some embodiments, one or more of the most important method steps may be performed by such an apparatus.

In embodiments, a programmable logic device (eg, field programmable gate array) may be used to perform some or all of the functionality of the methods described herein. In embodiments, the field programmable gate array may work with a microprocessor to perform one of the methods described herein. In general, the methods are preferably performed by some hardware device.

Although it has been described with reference to preferred embodiments of the present invention, those skilled in the art may variously modify and change the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as set forth in the claims below. You will understand that you can.

100: end-to-end orchestrator 210: home agent
300: edge orchestra 110: processor
120: memory 150: function package storage

Claims (20)

As an end-to-end orchestrator interworking with the premise agent and edge orchestrator constituting the edge cloud node,
A function package store for storing packages related to at least one function realizing an end service; And
And an end-to-end orchestrator driver executed according to a function package associated with a service requested to be executed among function packages stored in the function package repository. The method according to claim 1,
The function package includes one or more of a function image, a function descriptor and a function driver used to create a virtual function instance, an end-to-end orchestrator. The method according to claim 1,
The function descriptor includes end-to-end orchestrator including basic information about a function and information about variables required for function execution. The method according to claim 1,
The end-to-end orchestrator manages the lifecycle of the function using the function package, and the end-to-end orchestrator. The method according to claim 4,
The life cycle of the function,
An end-to-end orchestrator comprising at least one of the following: creation, initial configuration, monitoring, and deletion of a function instance. The method according to claim 5,
The function instance,
End-to-end orchestrator, created or assigned by at least one of the in-house agent and the edge orchestrator. The method according to claim 1,
The end-to-end orchestrator driver,
An end-to-end orchestrator that transmits a message between a subscriber function driver performed by the in-house agent and an edge function driver performed by the edge orchestrator. A premise agent that performs management for at least one virtualized network function (VNF) constituting a cloud platform and virtual customer premises equipment (vCPE) service;
Edge Orchestrator, which manages the lifecycle for VNFs in the edge cloud; And
And an end-to-end orchestrator requesting the creation or allocation of a service instance to at least one of the in-house agent and the edge orchestrator according to a function package associated with a service requested to be executed from a subscriber. The method according to claim 8,
The function package,
A system for providing a virtualized in-house service, including one or more of a function image, a function descriptor, and a function driver used to create a virtual function instance. The method according to claim 9,
The function descriptor includes basic information about a function and information about variables required for function execution, a virtualized in-house service providing system. The method according to claim 8,
The end-to-end orchestrator manages the lifecycle of a function using the function package, a virtual in-house service providing system. The method according to claim 11,
The life cycle of the function includes a state of at least one of creation, initial configuration, monitoring, and deletion of a function instance, and a virtual in-house service providing system. The method according to claim 12,
The function instance,
A virtual in-house service providing system that is created or allocated by at least one of the in-house agent and the edge orchestrator. The method according to claim 8,
The end-to-end orchestrator executes the end-to-end orchestrator driver to transmit a control message between the subscriber function driver performed by the in-house agent and the edge function driver performed by the edge orchestrator, and the subscriber function driver and the edge function driver A virtual in-house service providing system that combines the results of the performance. The method according to claim 14,
The control message is a function server connection information associated with at least one function for a service requested by a subscriber, a virtualized in-house service providing system. Providing virtualized premise service in the edge cloud including a premise agent, an edge orchestrator, and an end-to-end orchestrator interworking with the premise agent and the edge orchestrator As a way to do,
Requesting creation or allocation of a service instance by at least one of the in-house agent and the edge orchestrator according to a function package associated with a service requested to be executed from a subscriber by an end-to-end orchestrator;
An edge orchestrator, at the request of the end-to-end orchestrator, executing an edge function driver and generating a related function server; And
And an in-house agent executing a subscriber function driver and generating a related function client according to the request of the end-to-end orchestrator. The method according to claim 16,
The end-to-end orchestrator,
The method further comprising transmitting a control message between the subscriber function driver and the edge function driver using the end-to-end orchestration driver, and combining the results of the subscriber function driver and the edge function driver. The method according to claim 17,
The control message is a function server connection information associated with at least one function for a service requested by a subscriber, a method for providing a virtualized premises service. The method according to claim 16,
The function package,
A method of providing a virtualized in-house service, comprising at least one of a function image, a function descriptor, and a function driver used to create a virtual function instance. The method according to claim 19,
The function descriptor includes basic information on a function and information on variables required for function execution, a method for providing a virtualized in-house service.

Images