TWI655851B - Traffic arrangement sysytem, traffic arrangement method and virtual gateway server - Google Patents

Abstract

A dynamic traffic distribution system and method for accessing network home gateway device virtualization is based on network function virtualization technology. The traffic distribution system includes a home gateway built on the user side and a virtual gateway server and a network management server located in the backbone network. The virtual gateway server can process the traffic of the network service handled by the home gateway, and then combine the network management server to monitor the virtual gateway server in real time, and adjust the traffic distribution rules of the home gateway based on the monitoring data. To adjust the traffic passing through the virtual gateway server. In this way, the server hardware resources can be fully utilized to improve network performance, service quality, and number of users, thereby saving the cost of purchasing capital expenditure, the cost of operating the industry, and improving the development goals of new functions.

Description

Traffic distribution system, traffic distribution method and virtual gateway server

The present invention relates to a home gateway (HGW), and more particularly to a traffic distribution system, a traffic distribution method, and a virtual gateway server for virtualizing a home gateway.

With the rapid development of technology, modern people's lives are almost never separated from electronic devices such as smart phones, tablets, notebooks, and personal computers. Through the networking function of electronic devices, people can browse web pages, stream music or movies, upload files and other network behaviors on these electronic devices. Since the cost of mobile Internet access is higher than that of fiber or broadband Internet access, some users will choose to connect their electronic devices to the Internet via a home gateway (or residential gateway) at home. (Internet) to access network services. However, existing home gateways are often more complex, and as the number of connected devices increases and the demand for network services increases, the functionality of these home gateways can be overwhelmed. If the upgrade of all users' home gateways is too costly, it will be a heavy burden for the operators.

In view of the above, the present invention provides a traffic distribution system, a traffic distribution method, and a virtual gateway server, which share the network function of the home gateway device, thereby sharing the traffic handled by the home gateway device. Can dynamically adjust the amount of traffic.

The traffic distribution system of the present invention includes a home gateway and a virtual gateway server. Home gateways provide access to network services. The virtual gateway server is in a backbone network. The home gateway is connected to the virtual gateway server in the backbone network. The virtual gateway server is based on Network Function Virtualization (NFV) technology to proxy the network service handled by the home gateway, and the virtual gateway server and the home gateway dynamically adjust their respective processing. The service of the network service.

The traffic distribution method of the present invention comprises the following steps. Provide a virtual gateway server on the backbone network. The network service handled by the home gateway is activated by the virtual gateway server based on the network function virtualization technology. Dynamically adjust the services of the network services handled by the virtual gateway server and the home gateway.

The virtual gateway server of the present invention is in a backbone network and includes a network interface and a processing unit. The network interface sends and receives data. The processing unit is coupled to the network interface, and the network function virtualization technology is used to proxy the network service handled by the home gateway device, and dynamically adjusts the service of the network service handled by the virtual gateway server and the home gateway device. .

Based on the above, the embodiment of the present invention can dynamically allocate traffic of multiple network services to balance the amount of traffic processed by the virtual gateway server and the home gateway, and fully utilize server resources to improve network performance and service. Quality and number of users.

The above described features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description.

1 is a system architecture diagram of a traffic distribution system 1 for multiple network services, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The traffic distribution system 1 includes a home gateway 10, a virtual gateway server 11, a network management server 12, an access network device 13, and one or more user service devices 15.

2 is a block diagram showing the components of a home gateway 10 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The home gateway 10 includes a storage unit 21, a local area network (LAN) end network interface 24, a wide area network (WAN) end network interface 25, and a processing unit 26.

The storage unit 21 can be any type of fixed or removable random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), flash memory or the like or a combination of the above components, and is used for recording. The multi-service traffic distribution module 211, the network management protocol module 212, the network function module 213 and other software programs, traffic distribution rules, Internet addresses and other related information and files.

The LAN-side network interface 24 can be a network interface unit that supports communication technologies such as WiFi, Bluetooth, and Ethernet. The WAN end network interface 25 can be a network interface unit that supports communication technologies such as digital subscriber line (DSL) copper and passive optical network (PON) fiber.

The processing unit 26 is connected to the storage unit 21, the local area network (LAN) network interface 24, and the wide area network (WAN) network interface 25, and may be a central processing unit (CPU) or other programmable Use or special purpose microprocessor (Microprocessor), digital signal processor (DSP), programmable controller, special application integrated circuit (ASIC) or other similar components or a combination of the above components. In the embodiment of the present invention, the processing unit 26 is configured to perform all operations of the home gateway 10, and can access and execute the modules recorded in the storage unit 21. The home gateway 10 is used to provide access and traffic offloading of web services such as web browsing, network video playback and file access provided by the Internet 16, video/voice service network 17, and the like. basic skills.

3 is a block diagram showing the components of the virtual gateway server 11 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The virtual gateway server 11 includes a storage unit 31, a network interface 35, and a processing unit 36. For example, the storage unit 31 can be used to record the performance module of the performance and quality monitoring module 312, the virtualization technology module 313, the private internet address, and the operational efficiency. , quality quantitative values and other related information. The description of the network interface 35 can be referred to the description of the WAN end network interface 25. The implementation of the processing unit 36 can be referred to the description of the processing unit 26 and used to perform all operations of the virtual gateway server 11, and the modules recorded in the storage unit 31 can be accessed and executed. In this embodiment, the virtualization technology module 313 is based on a virtualization technology (NFV) (eg, a virtual machine monitor (Hypervisor VM), a Docker container, etc.) for each virtual gateway (vG). Function 32 (processing the multi-network service of each user and having the functions of the Internet, voice and video services of the original home gateway 10 (including, for example, a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server, a domain) Name Server (DNS), Network Forwarding (NAT), Routing (Routing), DHCP User, Intercom Initiation Protocol Application Layer Gateway (SIP ALG), Internet Group Management Protocol Snooping (IGMP snooping) and Proxy (proxy) and other functions)) configuration includes hardware resources 34 and network resources such as CPU processing power, memory capacity, network interface and bandwidth, thereby accessing the Internet 16 and the video/voice service network 17 Multiple network services to achieve Network Function Virtualization (NFV).

The network management server 12 is in the backbone network 14 and/or the aggregation network and is used to monitor and manage the home gateway 10 and the virtual gateway server 11, the detailed operation of which is to be described later. The access network device 13 can be configured as a digital subscriber line access multiplexer (DSLAM), an optical line terminal (OLT), etc. placed on a telecommunication machine or an outdoor transfer box. And between the access network and the aggregation/backbone network 14. The user service device 15 can be a computer/mobile phone (Internet service device), a Set-Top-Box (STB) (video service device), an Internet Telephone Adapter (ITA) (voice service). Equipment, intelligent air conditioners/refrigerators (Internet of Things service equipment) and other electronic devices with networking functions.

Because the home gateways in the existing access network architecture need to provide intelligent functions such as traffic offloading and quality assurance, it is a big burden for equipment procurement cost, maintenance cost and new function innovation development. In order to solve the aforementioned problems, Network Function Virtualization (NFV) technology was born. Based on the NFV technology, the software functions of the original backbone network 14, the aggregation network, and the access network (for example, the home gateway 10) can be removed and placed in the high-capacity server in the cloud terminal of the backbone network 14 (For example, virtual gateway server 11), the original network device retains both the existing hardware interface and basic traffic processing capabilities. In terms of home gateway device virtualization (vHGW) technology, virtualization technologies are respectively built into user gateways and virtual gateway servers in the cloud room with user gateway functions. However, rushing to distribute the services of the user's multiple network services through the virtual gateway server, the network performance and quality of service (QoS) time delay may affect the quality. In view of this, the present invention proposes a dynamic traffic distribution method for the virtualization technology of the network home gateway device, and the operation steps thereof will be described in detail below.

In order to facilitate the understanding of the operation flow of the embodiment of the present invention, the traffic distribution method of the embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below. FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing a method for distributing traffic according to an embodiment of the invention. Referring to FIG. 4, the method of this embodiment is applicable to each device in the traffic distribution system 1 of FIG. Hereinafter, the method described in the embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to various components and modules of the home gateway 10 and the virtual gateway server 11. The various processes of the method can be adjusted accordingly according to the implementation situation, and are not limited thereto.

The user service device 15 accesses the Internet service provided by the Internet gateway 16 through the home gateway 10, such as web browsing, network video playback and file access, and/or access to the video/voice service network 17 The home gateway 10 performs a traffic processing job (step S40), such as an IPTV video service and a network telephone voice service.

The multi-service traffic distribution module 211 of the home gateway 10 dynamically develops a traffic assignment rule according to the service demand of the LAN-side network interface 24 (step S41). This traffic distribution rule includes at least but not limited to service agreements, Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) / User Data Element Protocol (UDP) protocols, TCP/UDP nicknames, source/destination IP addresses, source/destination media access control. (MAC) address and other traffic field information. For example, a combination of a specific service agreement and a nickname to the virtual gateway server 11, a combination of a specific destination IP address and a nickname, and the like in the home gateway 10 can be used as a setting for the traffic distribution rule, and the application is viewed. It is adjusted by the needs of the embodiments of the present invention.

When the service of the user service device 15 passes through the user gateway 10, the multi-service service distribution module 211 starts a judgment mechanism, and determines whether the service of the network service passes through the virtual gateway according to the established traffic assignment rule. The server 11 processes (step S42). To be processed by the virtual gateway server 11, the network function module 213 performs traffic offloading and transmits to the WAN end network interface 25, and distributes the network service traffic to the virtual gateway server 11 (step S43). ). On the other hand, if not processed by the virtual gateway server 11, the user service device 15 is connected to the backbone network 14 via the home gateway 10, and directly accesses the Internet 16 and the video/voice service network through the backbone network 14. The road 17 (step S44), that is, the traffic does not pass (slightly) the virtual gateway server 11 and processes the traffic of the network service through the home gateway 10.

If the network service transaction requires virtual gateway server 11 processing, processing unit 36 determines at least one of the assigned vG functions 32 to proxy the network service handled by home gateway 10 in accordance with the type of traffic. Specifically, the user service device 15 can be connected to the virtual gateway server 11 via the home gateway 10 via the DHCP mode to obtain a dynamic private IP address (ie, the processing unit 36 of the virtual gateway server 11 executes The vG function 32 assigns a private IP address to the home gateway 10 and the user service device 15 , and the vG function 32 performs NAT function conversion, and the virtualization technology module 313 configures the hardware resource 34 based on the network function virtualization technology. The allocation of network resources to access multiple network services provided by the Internet 16 and the video/voice service network 17 and the like. At this time, the virtual gateway server 11 may process the traffic of one or more of the home gateways 10, and in order to prevent the virtual gateway server 11 from being unloaded and affecting the performance and service quality, the performance and quality monitoring module 312 The performance and service quality status (eg, CPU performance usage percentage, network interface bandwidth usage percentage, service latency (latency) and critical threshold warnings) are reported to the network management server 12 via the network interface 35. The operational efficiency and service quality of the virtual gateway server 11 are monitored in real time (step S45).

Then, the network management server 12 determines whether the operation performance and the service quality of the virtual gateway server 11 reach the threshold warning range (for example, the percentage of the processor performance usage, the percentage of the network interface bandwidth usage, etc., whether the monitoring information exceeds the upper limit of the threshold or Below the lower limit of the threshold (step S46). If the threshold warning range is reached, the network management protocol module 212 of the network management server 12 and the home gateway 10 is based on a network management protocol (eg, OpenFlow, TR-069, Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) or network). A route configuration tool (NETCONFIG, etc.) is used to adjust the traffic distribution rules or other parameters and configurations to change the amount of traffic handled by the virtual gateway server 11. For example, when too much (eg, exceeding the threshold alert range) traffic is processed via the virtual gateway server 11, the traffic distribution rules may increase the rules processed via the home gateway 10 or reduce the shunt to the virtual gateway server 11. Rules to reduce the amount of traffic handled by the virtual gateway server 11.

If the operating efficiency and service quality of the virtual gateway server 11 have not reached the threshold warning range, the network management server 12 determines whether the virtual gateway server 11 is continuously monitored (step S47). If the monitoring is continued, the process returns to step S45, and in the case of continuously monitoring and timely adjusting the traffic distribution rules, the services of the network services processed by the virtual gateway server 11 and the home gateway 10 can be dynamically adjusted.

In summary, the technical solution proposed by the embodiment of the present invention, in combination with the real-time dynamic setting and monitoring mechanism of the network management server 12, can appropriately adjust the traffic of the network service allocated and processed by the virtual gateway server 11, and Has the following characteristics and effects:

The embodiment of the present invention is an application for accessing a network home gateway device virtualization technology, and distinguishes between a user gateway 10 of a user terminal and a virtual gateway server 11 of a cloud terminal, and the target is to replace the existing device. Access to the network's home gateway equipment, saving the cost of purchasing capital expenditure (CAPEX) for home gateway equipment, cost of operating expenses (OPEX) and providing innovative development of new functions. In addition, when it is necessary to add or update an upper layer network function (for example, adding IPv6 function, etc.), it can be implemented on the vG function 32 without replacing all the home gateway devices 10.

The embodiment of the present invention utilizes the multi-service traffic distribution module 211 of the user-side home gateway 10 and the performance and quality monitoring module 312 of the virtual gateway server 11, and then combines the network management server 12 to dynamically adjust and adjust the mechanism. The multi-service service distributed through the virtual gateway server 11 is dynamically adjusted to improve the network performance and service quality of the virtual gateway server 11 and the number of users.

The main function of the network dynamics setting and monitoring mechanism of the network management server 12 of the embodiment of the present invention is to monitor the network performance and service quality status of the virtual gateway server 11 in real time, and when the monitoring data has reached the critical value warning range, the network can be transmitted through the network. The management protocol (OpenFlow, TR-069, SNMP or NETCONFIG, etc.) dynamically changes the multi-service traffic distribution rules of the home gateway 10, and moderately adjusts the multiple networks such as the Internet, video, and voice distributed through the virtual gateway server 11. The service of the road service makes full use of the virtual gateway server 11 equipment resources.

Although the present invention has been disclosed in the above embodiments, it is not intended to limit the present invention, and any one of ordinary skill in the art can make some changes and refinements without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. The scope of the invention is defined by the scope of the appended claims.

1: Traffic distribution system 10: Home gateway 11: Virtual gateway server 12: Network management server 13: Access network device 14: Backbone network 15: User service device 16: Internet 17: Video/ Voice service network 21, 31: storage unit 211: multi-service service distribution module 212: network management agreement module 213: network function module 24: LAN-side network interface 25: WAN-side network interface 26, 36: Processing unit 312: performance and quality monitoring module 313: virtualization technology module 32: vG function 34: hardware resources 35: network interface S40 ~ S47: steps

1 is a system architecture diagram illustrating a traffic distribution system for multiple network services in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 2 is a block diagram showing the components of a home gateway according to an embodiment of the invention. 3 is a block diagram showing the components of a virtual gateway server in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating a method for distributing traffic according to an embodiment of the invention.

Claims (10)

A traffic distribution system comprising: a home gateway providing access to at least one network service; and a virtual gateway server in a backbone network, the home gateway Connecting to a virtual gateway server in the backbone network, and the virtual gateway server is based on a network function virtualization technology to proxy network services handled by the home gateway, the virtual gateway server and the virtual gateway server Home gateways and dynamically adjust the services of the network services they handle. The traffic distribution system of claim 1, wherein the home gateway determines whether the traffic of the at least one network service is processed by the virtual gateway server according to a traffic distribution rule; The virtual gateway server processes, the home gateway distributes the traffic of the at least one network service to the virtual gateway server; if not processed by the virtual gateway server, the home gateway The service of the at least one network service is handled by itself. The traffic distribution system according to claim 2, further comprising: a network management server, in the backbone network, the network management server monitors the operation performance and service quality of the virtual gateway server, and determines the Whether the operating efficiency and service quality of the virtual gateway server reach a threshold warning range, if the threshold warning range is reached, the traffic distribution rule is adjusted to change the amount of traffic processed by the virtual gateway server. The traffic distribution system of claim 2, wherein the traffic distribution rule comprises at least one of a service agreement, a nickname, an internet address, and a media access control address. The traffic distribution system of claim 1, further comprising: a user service device connected to the virtual gateway server via the home gateway to obtain a private internet address for storing Take at least one network service. A method for distributing traffic includes: providing a virtual gateway server in a backbone network; and proxying, by the virtual gateway server, a network service processed by a gateway based on a network function virtualization technology; And dynamically adjusting the services of the network services handled by the virtual gateway server and the home gateway. The method for distributing traffic according to claim 6, wherein the step of dynamically adjusting the traffic of the network service processed by the virtual gateway server and the home gateway comprises: according to a traffic distribution rule Determining whether the at least one network service traffic is processed by the virtual gateway server; to process the virtual gateway server, assigning the at least one network service traffic to the virtual gateway server And processing the at least one network service by the home gateway if not processed by the virtual gateway server. The method for distributing traffic according to claim 7, wherein the step of dynamically adjusting the traffic of the network service handled by the virtual gateway server and the home gateway comprises: monitoring the virtual gateway servo The operational efficiency and service quality of the device; determining whether the operational efficiency and service quality of the virtual gateway server reach a critical value warning range; and if the threshold warning range is reached, adjusting the traffic distribution rule to change the virtual The amount of traffic handled by the gateway server. The method for distributing traffic according to claim 6, wherein after the step of proxying the network service processed by the home gateway by the virtual gateway server based on the network function virtualization technology, the method further comprises: Assign at least one private internet address. A virtual gateway server is in a backbone network, the virtual gateway server includes: a network interface for transmitting and receiving data; and a processing unit coupled to the network interface, and the processing unit is virtualized based on the network function The technology represents a network service handled by the gateway device and dynamically adjusts the services of the network services handled by the virtual gateway server and the home gateway device.