WO2015074198A1

WO2015074198A1 - Flow table processing method and apparatus

Info

Publication number: WO2015074198A1
Application number: PCT/CN2013/087505
Authority: WO
Inventors: 周伟
Original assignee: 华为技术有限公司
Priority date: 2013-11-20
Filing date: 2013-11-20
Publication date: 2015-05-28
Also published as: CN104871497A; CN104871497B

Abstract

Disclosed are a flow table processing method and apparatus. The flow table processing method and apparatus are applied in an architecture comprising a forwarding plane and at least two control planes. The flow table processing method comprises: a forwarding plane receiving at least two flow tables from the at least two control planes; and the forwarding plane associating the at least two flow tables linked by a same packet data network, so that packets linked by the same packet data network are sequentially processed and then sent according to a preset flow table use sequence and the at least two flow tables. The flow table processing method and apparatus in the present invention can effectively avoid a flow table control conflict of a same forwarding table by multiple control planes, so that the multiple control planes control the same forwarding plane.

Description

Flow table processing method and device

Technical field

The present invention relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a flow table processing method and apparatus. Background technique

An Evolved Packet System (EPS), such as a System Architecture Evolution (SAE) network, is divided into an access network and a core network. The access network is an evolved Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) for implementing all functions related to evolved network radio. The key logical network elements of the core network include a Mobility Management Entity (MME), a Serving Gateway (SGW), and a Packet Data Network Gateway (PGW).

In the prior art, if a Software Defined Network (SDN) architecture is introduced into the SAE network, the control logic and the forwarding function of the gateway can be decoupled to obtain a network system that controls the forwarding decoupling architecture. After decoupling, the control plane of the gateway can determine the processing rule of the data packet related to the user equipment (User Equipment, UE), and send the rule to the forwarding plane through an interface between the control plane and the forwarding plane, such as an OpenFlow interface. The forwarding plane can process the data packet of the UE according to the rule.

However, in the SAE network, the nodes that implement the gateway function include the SGW and the PGW. After the gateway is decoupled, there may be two roles on the control plane or the forwarding plane. In an actual network deployment, the control plane and/or the forwarding plane can be deployed separately or in combination. When the forwarding plane is a unified deployment and the control plane is a separate deployment, multiple controls may face the same forwarding plane control, so that the forwarding plane cannot determine which flow table should be processed according to which control plane, that is, An error occurred in the control policy, which affects the normal forwarding function of the gateway. Description of the specification

technical problem

In view of this, the technical problem to be solved by the present invention is how to enable multiple control planes to achieve correct control of the same forwarding plane in the case where the forwarding plane is a unified deployment and the control plane is a separate deployment.

solution

In order to solve the above problems, in a first aspect, the present invention provides a flow table processing method, which is applied to an architecture including a forwarding plane and at least two control planes, including: the forwarding plane from the at least two control planes Receiving at least two flow tables; the forwarding plane associates the at least two flow tables corresponding to the same packet data network link, so that the messages corresponding to the same packet data network link are sequentially used according to a predetermined flow table order Processing is performed according to the at least two flow tables and then sent out.

With reference to the first aspect, in a first possible implementation, before the forwarding plane receives the at least two flow tables from the at least two control planes, the method further includes: the forwarding plane acquiring the control planes The network element type is determined by the forwarding plane based on the obtained network element type and the packet forwarding direction, where the packet forwarding direction includes uplink and downlink.

With reference to the first aspect or the first possible implementation manner, in a second possible implementation manner, the forwarding plane associates the at least two flow tables corresponding to the same packet data network link, including: Each upstream control table received by the control plane, the forwarding plane constructs an upstream table corresponding to the same packet data network link according to the tunnel endpoint identifier tunnel endpoint identifier of the received upstream table Level upstream table, such that uplink messages corresponding to the same packet data network link are processed according to the at least two flow tables in the first order, and then sent out; or, for the downlink received from each control plane a flow table, the forwarding plane constructs a downstream table corresponding to the same packet data network link as a multi-level downstream table according to the tunnel end identifier of the received downstream table, so that the corresponding packet data network is corresponding to the same The linked downlink message is sent in the second order according to the at least two flow tables, wherein the first sequence and the Description

The second order is reversed to each other.

With reference to the first aspect or the first possible implementation manner, in a third possible implementation, the forwarding plane associates the at least two flow tables corresponding to the same packet data network link, including: An upstream table received by each control plane, the forwarding plane sorting the upstream table corresponding to the same packet data network link in a third order according to the tunnel endpoint identifier of the received upstream table, and dividing The output port of the other upstream table except the last upstream table is set as the logical port of the forwarding plane, and the input port of the other upstream table except the first upstream table is set as the logical port. So that the uplink packets corresponding to the same packet data network link are processed according to the at least two flow tables in the third order, and then sent out; or, for the downlink table received from each of the control planes The forwarding plane sorts the downstream table corresponding to the same packet data network link in the fourth order according to the tunnel endpoint identifier of the received downstream table. Setting an output port of the other downstream table except the last downstream table as the logical port, and setting an input port of the other downstream table except the first downstream table as the logical port So that the downlink packets corresponding to the same packet data network link are processed according to the at least two flow tables in the fourth sequence, and then the third sequence and the fourth sequence are mutually Reverse order.

With reference to the first aspect or the first possible implementation manner, in a fourth possible implementation, the forwarding plane associates the at least two flow tables corresponding to the same packet data network link, including: An upstream table received by each control plane, the forwarding plane merging the upstream table corresponding to the same packet data network link into an upstream table according to the tunnel endpoint identifier of the received upstream table, And causing the uplink packet corresponding to the same packet data network link to be processed according to the fused upstream flow table; or, for the downstream flow table received from each control plane, the forwarding plane is received according to the received The tunnel endpoint identifier of the downstream flow table, the downstream table corresponding to the same packet data network link is merged into one downstream flow table, so that the downlink packet corresponding to the same packet data network link is according to the merged downstream table. Send after processing Description

Go out.

With the fourth possible implementation of the first aspect, in a fifth possible implementation, after the merging the upstream table corresponding to the same packet data network link into an upstream table, the method further includes: The forwarding plane retains an upstream table received from each of the control planes; and the forwarding plane updates the fused upstream table according to an operation on the received upstream table.

With the fourth or fifth possible implementation of the first aspect, in the sixth possible implementation, after the downstream table corresponding to the same packet data network link is merged into one downstream table, The method further includes: the forwarding plane retains a downstream flow table received from each of the control planes; and the forwarding plane updates the merged downstream flow table according to an operation on the received downstream flow table.

With reference to the first aspect or the foregoing possible implementation manner, in a seventh possible implementation manner, the at least two control planes include a serving gateway control plane and a packet data network gateway control plane.

In order to solve the above problems, in a second aspect, the present invention provides a flow table processing apparatus, which is applied to a control forwarding decoupling architecture including a forwarding plane and at least two control planes, including: a receiving unit, configured to: The forwarding plane receives at least two flow tables from the at least two control planes; an association unit, coupled to the receiving unit, configured to cause the forwarding plane to correspond to the at least two flow tables of the same packet data network link Correspondingly, the packets corresponding to the same packet data network link are processed and then sent according to the at least two flow tables according to a predetermined flow table usage order.

With reference to the second aspect, in a first possible implementation, the acquiring unit is configured to enable the forwarding plane to obtain a network element type of each of the control planes, and determine a unit that is connected to the acquiring unit and the associated unit And determining, by using the obtained network element type and the packet forwarding direction, the flow table usage order, where the packet forwarding direction includes uplink and downlink.

With reference to the second aspect or the first possible implementation manner, in a second possible implementation manner, the association unit is configured to: enable the forwarding plane for an upstream table received from each of the control planes According to the tunnel endpoint identifier tunnel endpoint identifier of the received upstream table, it will correspond to Description

The upstream table of the same packet data network link is configured as a multi-level upstream table, so that the uplink packets corresponding to the same packet data network link are processed according to the at least two flow tables in the first order and then sent out; Or, for the downstream flow table received from each of the control planes, causing the forwarding plane to construct a downstream flow table corresponding to the same packet data network link according to the tunnel endpoint identifier of the received downstream flow table. a multi-stage downstream flow table, so that the downlink packets corresponding to the same packet data network link are sequentially sent according to the at least two flow tables in a second order, where the first sequence and the second sequence are mutually In reverse order.

With reference to the second aspect or the first possible implementation manner, in a third possible implementation manner, the association unit is configured to: enable the forwarding plane for an upstream table received from each of the control planes And according to the tunnel end identifier of the received upstream table, the upstream table corresponding to the same packet data network link is sorted in the third order, and the output ports of the other upstream tables except the last upstream table are set. a logical port of the forwarding plane, and setting an input port of the other upstream table except the first upstream table as the logical port, so that the uplink packet corresponding to the same packet data network link is The third sequence is processed according to the at least two flow tables and then sent out; or, for the downstream flow table received from each of the control planes, the forwarding plane is configured according to the tunnel of the received downstream table. Endpoint identifier, sorting the downstream table corresponding to the same packet data network link in the fourth order, and other downstream tables except the last downstream table Setting an output port as the logical port, and setting an input port of the other downstream table except the first downstream table as the logical port, so that the downlink message corresponding to the same packet data network link is The fourth sequence is sequentially processed according to the at least two flow tables, and the third sequence and the fourth sequence are reversed to each other.

With reference to the second aspect or the first possible implementation manner, in a fourth possible implementation manner, the association unit is configured to: enable the forwarding plane for an upstream table received from each of the control planes And merging the upstream table corresponding to the same packet data network link into an upstream table according to the tunnel end identifier of the received upstream table, so that the same packet data network chain is corresponding Description

The uplink packet is processed and sent according to the fused upstream table; or, for the downstream table received from each control plane, the forwarding plane is configured according to the tunnel of the received downstream table. The endpoint identifier is configured to merge the downstream table corresponding to the same packet data network link into a downstream flow table, so that the downlink packet corresponding to the same packet data network link is processed according to the merged downstream table and then sent out.

With reference to the fourth possible implementation of the second aspect, in a fifth possible implementation, the association unit is further configured to: enable the forwarding plane to retain an upstream table received from each of the control planes And causing the forwarding plane to update the fused upstream table according to the operation on the received upstream table.

With reference to the fourth or fifth possible implementation of the second aspect, in a sixth possible implementation, the associating unit is further configured to: receive the forwarding plane reservation from each of the control planes a downstream flow table; causing the forwarding plane to update the fused downstream table according to an operation on the received downstream table.

With reference to the second aspect or the foregoing possible implementation manner, in a seventh possible implementation manner, the at least two control planes include a serving gateway control plane and a packet data network gateway control plane.

Beneficial effect

Correlating a plurality of flow tables corresponding to the same packet data network link received from the plurality of control planes through the forwarding plane to implement fusion of the flow table sent by the different control network elements on the forwarding plane, the flow table according to the present invention The processing method and device can effectively avoid the error of the control strategy of the forwarding plane, thereby realizing the control of multiple controls facing the same forwarding plane.

Further features and aspects of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments. DRAWINGS

The drawings contained in the specification and which form part of the specification are shown together with the description. Description

The exemplary embodiments, features, and aspects of the invention are intended to explain the principles of the invention.

1a is a flow chart showing a first-class table processing method according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention;

Figure 1b is a flow chart showing another flow table processing method according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention;

2 is a flow chart showing a first-class table processing method according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention;

Figure 3 is a flow chart showing a first-class table processing method according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention;

4 is a flow chart showing a first-class table processing method according to Embodiment 4 of the present invention;

Figure 5a is a block diagram showing a state-of-the-art table processing apparatus of Embodiment 5 of the present invention;

Figure 5b is a block diagram showing another flow table processing apparatus of Embodiment 5 of the present invention;

Fig. 6 is a block diagram showing a state-of-the-art table processing apparatus of Embodiment 6 of the present invention. Concrete implementation

Various exemplary embodiments, features, and aspects of the invention are described in detail below with reference to the drawings. The same reference numerals in the drawings denote the same or similar elements. The various aspects of the embodiments are shown in the drawings, and the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale unless otherwise indicated.

The word "exemplary" is used exclusively herein to mean "serving as an example, embodiment, or illustrative." Any embodiment described herein as "exemplary" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous.

Further, in order to better illustrate the invention, numerous specific details are set forth in the Detailed Description. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the invention may be practiced without some specific details. In other instances, well-known methods, means, components, and circuits are not described in detail to facilitate the invention.

The following takes OpenFlow (Open Flow, hereinafter referred to as OF) as an example. For the case of using SDN to implement the control forwarding decoupling architecture, the following is explained in detail.

The OF Protocol is the most typical and most widely used protocol in the Software Defined Network (SDN), which realizes the separation of the control plane and the forwarding plane. The OF switch (Switch) is connected to an external controller (Controller) via a secure channel. Instruction manual

And communicate with the controller through the OF protocol (OF Protocol). The controller queries and manages the flow table.

An OF switch includes one or more flow tables and a set of tables. The flow table stores the most core information to implement functions such as lookup, forwarding, statistics, and filtering. The flow table contains matching fields, counters, and instruction sets. The matching field includes an input interface, a data packet header, and metadata (meta data) determined by the previous flow table, and is used to match the data packet, such as an input port according to the input data packet, an IPv4 destination address, an Ethernet source address, and the like. Make a match.

After receiving the input data packet, the OF switch starts matching from the first flow table. If the packet does not match the entry in the flow table, the packet is either discarded or forwarded to the controller for processing. If the entry is matched, the instruction in the entry is executed, for example, indicating that the packet jumps to the next flow table or modify the action set related to the data packet, and the action set can be accumulated between the flow tables. If the instruction in the matching entry no longer jumps to the next flow table, the match ends and the action in the action set is executed. The action is divided into required actions (such as forwarding packets to the specified port, encapsulating packets, decapsulating packets, or dropping packets) and optional actions (such as setting the queue identifier of the packet, specifying the packet output to the port). Which queue, set or modify the value of different header fields, etc.).

The following is an example of a System Architecture Evolution (SAE) network. For a case where a gateway has multiple control planes in a network system, the following is explained in detail.

In an Evolved Packet System (EPS), such as a System Architecture Evolution (SAE) network, the SGW is a user plane functional entity that performs packet data routing and forwarding and acts as a 3GPP system. A data anchor terminates the E-TURAN interface and is also the anchor of local mobility management in the E-TURAN handover scenario under certain geographic areas. The PGW is a gateway that connects to the external data network and is a user plane anchor between the 3GPP access network and the GPP access network. The UE can access the external PDN by connecting to the PGW and creating an external Packet Data Network (PDN) link, where the external PDN can be an Internet, a virtual private network, an IP multimedia service network, or a wireless provided by the operator. Application protocol network. In the actual network deployment, you can control the control plane and / Instruction manual

Or the forwarding plane is deployed separately or in combination.

As described in the background section, in the network system for controlling the forwarding decoupling architecture, in the prior art, when the forwarding plane is a unified deployment and the control plane is a separate deployment, multiple controls may face the same forwarding plane. Control, which causes an error in the control policy and affects the normal forwarding function of the gateway. In order to solve the above technical problem, the inventors of the present invention have innovatively proposed a flow table processing method for associating a plurality of flow tables corresponding to the same PDN link received from a plurality of control planes through a forwarding plane, thereby realizing a plurality of Controls the control of the same forwarding plane.

In the following embodiments, in a possible implementation manner, at least two control planes of the gateway are separately deployed as an SGW control plane (SGW-Control Plane, SGW-C) and a PGW control plane (PGW-Control Plane, PGW). -C); deploying at least two forwarding planes of the gateway together, called Mobile Forwarding Plane (MF), where MF includes SGW-User Plane (SGW-U) and PGW forwarding plane (PGW-User Plane, PGW-U).

Example 1

Fig. 1a is a flow chart showing a first-class table processing method according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. la, the flow table processing method is applied to a control forwarding decoupling architecture including a forwarding plane and multiple control planes, and the following steps are mainly included:

30-40. The MF receives at least two flow tables from the SGW-C and the PGW-C.

For example, for the SGW and the PGW corresponding to the same PDN link, the MF receives the flow tables of the PDN links managed by the SGW-C and the PGW-C respectively. The flow table sent by the SGW-C includes an SGW upstream flow table and an SGW downstream flow table, and the SGW upstream flow table corresponds to a general tunnel protocol (GTP) decapsulation and encapsulation processing action, and the SGW downstream flow table is Corresponds to the processing actions of GTP encapsulation and GTP decapsulation. The flow table delivered by the PGW-C also includes a PGW upstream flow table and a PGW downstream flow table. The PGW upstream flow table corresponds to a GTP decapsulation processing operation, and the PGW downstream flow table corresponds to a GTP encapsulation processing operation. Therefore, the MF can receive the above two types of flow tables from the SGW-C and the PGW-C. For example: MF from SGW-C and PGW-C Instruction manual

The SGW upstream flow table and the PGW upstream flow table are respectively received, or the MF receives the SGW downstream flow table and the PGW downstream flow table from the SGW-C and the PGW-C, respectively.

50. The MF associates the at least two flow tables corresponding to the same PDN link.

For example, the MF is based on the tunnel endpoint identifier of the flow table (Tunnel Endpoint Identity,

TEID) value to determine whether the flow table belongs to the same PDN link. If multiple flow tables have the same TEID value, they belong to the same PDN link. The MF may associate a flow table corresponding to the same PDN link, and perform corresponding processing actions according to the associated flow table. The MF can be associated in a variety of forms to associate flow tables corresponding to the same PDN link. For example: MF can merge multiple flow tables corresponding to the same PDN link into one multi-level flow table; or combine multiple flow tables in the form of logical ports; or directly set this fusion to the flow table level. After the association, the uplink packet corresponding to the PDN link is processed according to the SGW upstream flow table and the PGW upstream flow table, and then the GTP decapsulation, GTP encapsulation, and GTP decapsulation processing operations are sequentially performed, and then sent out; corresponding to the PDN. The linked downlink packet is processed according to the SGW downstream flow table and the PGW downstream flow table in sequence, and then the GTP encapsulation, GTP decapsulation, and GTP encapsulation processing operations are sequentially performed and then sent out.

In this way, a plurality of flow tables corresponding to the same PDN link received from the multiple control planes are associated by the forwarding plane to implement fusion of the flow table under different control network elements on the forwarding plane, according to the above embodiment of the present invention. The flow table processing method can effectively avoid the error of the control strategy of the forwarding plane, thereby realizing the control of multiple controls facing the same forwarding plane.

Figure 1b shows a flow chart of another flow table processing method according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

In a possible implementation manner, as shown in FIG. 1b, before step 30, the method further includes:

10. The MF obtains the network element types of the SGW-C and the PGW-C.

For example, the MF receives configuration information from the SGW-C and the PGW-C. If the MF does not set the network element type, the MF sets the network element type of the current MF SGW-U or the network element type of the PGW-U according to the configuration information, that is, the MF SGW gateway function or the PGW gateway function is enabled. And return the set configuration response to SGW-C and PGW-C. Only SGW with MF enabled at the same time Instruction manual

After the gateway function and the PGW gateway function, the MF can be used for message forwarding, so that the MF can associate flow tables corresponding to the same PDN link.

The MF determines the flow table usage order based on the obtained network element type and the packet forwarding direction, where the packet forwarding direction includes uplink and downlink.

For example, after the MF-enabled SGW gateway function or the PGW gateway function is enabled, for the SGW upstream flow table and the PGW upstream flow table respectively received by the MF from the SGW-C and the PGW-C, the MF corresponds to the TEID value of the flow table. The SGW upstream flow table of the same PDN link is associated with the PGW upstream flow table, and determines that the usage order of the upstream flow table is the first SGW and the PGW, so that the uplink packet corresponding to the PDN link is sequentially according to the SGW upstream flow table and The PGW upstream flow table performs processing to sequentially perform GTP decapsulation, GTP encapsulation, and GTP decapsulation processing operations, and then sends them out. For the SGW downstream flow table and the PGW downstream flow table respectively received by the MF from the SGW-C and the PGW-C, the MF associates the SGW downstream flow table and the PGW downstream flow table corresponding to the same PDN link according to the TEID value of the flow table. And determining that the downlink flow table is used in the first PGW and the SGW, so that the downlink packet corresponding to the PDN link is processed according to the SGW downstream table and the PGW downstream flow table in sequence, thereby sequentially performing GTP encapsulation, GTP decapsulation, and The processing of the GTP encapsulation is sent out.

In this way, the network element type of each control plane is obtained by the forwarding plane, and the association order of the flow table is determined according to the foregoing, and the flow table processing method according to the foregoing embodiment of the present invention can control multiple times on the forwarding plane. After receiving a plurality of flow tables, the plurality of flow tables corresponding to the same PDN link are associated according to the determined use order of the flow table, thereby effectively avoiding an error in the control strategy of the forwarding surface, thereby implementing multiple controls facing the same Control of the forwarding surface.

Example 2

Fig. 2 is a flow chart showing a first-class table processing method according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. The same components in Fig. 2 as those in Figs. 1 to 11 have the same functions, and a detailed description of these components will be omitted for the sake of brevity.

As shown in FIG. 2, the main difference between the method shown in FIG. 2 and the method shown in FIG. 1 to FIG. 11 is: Instruction manual

The forwarding plane constructs a plurality of flow tables corresponding to the same PDN link as a multi-level flow table.

In other words, the specific process of the flow table processing method in this embodiment is as follows:

21. The SGW-C sends a message "Set SGW-C Configuration" to the MF to set the current SGW-U network element type as the serving gateway.

22. If the current SGW-U is not type set, the MF returns a message "Set SGW-C configuration succeeded" to the SGW-C in response to the setting being successful.

23. The PGW-C sends a message "Set PGW-C Configuration" to the MF to set the current PGW-U network element type to the data gateway.

24. If the current PGW-U is not type set, the MF returns a message "Set PGW-C configuration succeeded" to the PGW-C in response to the setting being successful.

For example, if the MF receives the configuration message of "Set SGW-C Configuration" from the SGW-C, and the MF does not set the network element type of the current SGW-U, that is, the SGW gateway function of the MF is not enabled, the MF sets the current SGW- The network element type of U is SGW-U, so that the SGW gateway function of MF is enabled, and the configuration response of "Setting SGW-C configuration succeeded" is returned to SGW-C. If the MF receives the configuration message of "Set PGW-C Configuration" from the PGW-C, and the MF does not set the network element type of the current PGW-U, that is, the PGW gateway function of the MF is not enabled, the MF sets the network element of the current PGW-U. The type is PGW-U, which enables the PGW gateway function of MF and returns the configuration response of "Set PGW-C configuration succeeded" to PGW-C.

30-40. The MF receives at least two flow tables from the SGW-C and the PGW-C.

25. If the SGW-U and the PGW-U of the MF receive the flow table delivered by the SGW-C and the PGW-C respectively, the MF is associated with the flow table corresponding to the same PDN link in the form of a multi-level flow table.

For example, for the SGW upstream flow table and the PGW upstream flow table respectively received by the MF from the S GW-C and the PG W-C, the MF will correspond to the SGW upstream flow table and the PGW of the same PDN link according to the TEID value of the flow table. The upstream table is associated, and the first sequence is determined to be the first SGW and then the PGW, so that the plurality of upstream tables corresponding to the PDN link are constructed as one multi-level upstream table. For from Description

The SGW downstream flow table and the PGW downstream flow table respectively received by the SGW-C and the PGW-C, and the MF associates the SGW downstream flow table and the PGW downstream flow table corresponding to the same PDN link according to the TEID value of the flow table, and determines the first The second sequence is the first PGW and then the SGW, so that the plurality of downstream tables corresponding to the PDN link are constructed as one multi-level downstream table.

26. After the MF associates the flow tables corresponding to the same PDN link, subsequent data transmission is performed. For example, for the uplink packet corresponding to the PDN link, the MF sequentially passes the SGW upstream flow table and the PGW upstream flow table in the first order according to the associated multi-level upstream flow table, so as to execute sequentially. GTP decapsulation, GTP encapsulation, and GTP decapsulation processing are sent out. For the downlink packet corresponding to the PDN link, the MF sequentially passes the SGW downstream flow table and the PGW downstream flow table according to the associated multi-level downstream flow table, thereby sequentially performing GTP encapsulation and GTP. Decapsulation, GTP encapsulation processing is sent out.

In this way, a plurality of flow tables corresponding to the same PDN link are constructed as a multi-stage flow table by the forwarding plane, and the flow table processing method according to the above embodiment of the present invention can enable the multi-level flow to be performed on the message corresponding to the same PDN link. The processing action of the table, so that multiple controls face the same forwarding plane control to complete the transmission of the message.

Example 3

Fig. 3 is a flow chart showing a method of processing a top-level table according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention. The components in Fig. 3 having the same reference numerals as those in Figs. 1 to 2 have the same functions, and a detailed description of these components will be omitted for the sake of brevity.

As shown in FIG. 3, the main difference between the method shown in FIG. 3 and the method shown in FIG. 1 to FIG. 2 is that: the forwarding plane implements fusion by using a logical port in a plurality of flow tables corresponding to the same PDN link, that is, using logic. The port builds a multi-level flow table.

31. The SGW-C sends a message “Set SGW-C Configuration” to the MF to set the current SGW-U network element type as the serving gateway. Instruction manual

32. If the current SGW-U is not type set, the MF returns a message "Set SGW-C configuration succeeded" to the SGW-C in response to the setting being successful.

33. The PGW-C sends a message "Set PGW-C Configuration" to the MF to set the current PGW-U network element type as the data gateway.

34. If the current PGW-U is not type set, the MF returns a message "Set PGW-C configuration succeeded" to the PGW-C in response to the setting being successful.

30-40. The MF receives at least two flow tables from the SGW-C and the PGW-C.

35. If the SGW-U and the PGW-U of the MF receive the flow table delivered by the SGW-C and the PGW-C respectively, the MF is associated with the logical port in the flow table corresponding to the same PDN link.

For example, for the SGW upstream flow table received by the MF from the SGW-C, the MF sorts the upstream flow table corresponding to the same PDN link in the third order from the SGW to the PGW according to the TEID value of the flow table, that is, the SGW upstream flow table. The output port is set to the logical port corresponding to the PDN link in the MF, and the input port of the PGW upstream table is set as the logical port, thereby constructing the multi-level upstream table by using the logical port. For the PGW downstream flow table received by the MF from the PGW-C, the MF sorts the downstream flow table corresponding to the same PDN link in the fourth order from the PGW to the SGW according to the TEID value of the flow table, that is, sets the output port of the PGW downstream flow table. It is a logical port corresponding to the PDN link in the MF, and the input port of the SGW downstream table is set as the logical port, thereby constructing a multi-level downstream table by using the logical port.

36. After the MF associates the flow tables corresponding to the same PDN link, subsequent data transmission is performed. For example, the SGW uplink packet corresponding to the PDN link is internally forwarded through the logical port corresponding to the MF, and matched to the subsequent PGW upstream flow table, thereby sequentially performing GTP decapsulation, GTP encapsulation, and GTP decapsulation processing. Send it after the action. The PGW downlink packet corresponding to the PDN link is internally forwarded through the logical port corresponding to the MF, and matched to the subsequent SGW downstream flow table, so that the GTP encapsulation, GTP decapsulation, and GTP encapsulation processing operations are sequentially performed and then sent out. Instruction manual

In this way, the packets of the SGW upstream flow table or the PGW downstream flow table corresponding to the same PDN link are sent to the logical port of the forwarding plane itself through the forwarding plane, and the flow table processing method according to the above embodiment of the present invention can make corresponding to The uplink packet or the downlink packet of the same PDN link is forwarded through the internal port of the logical port, and then the processing action of the subsequent upstream table or the downstream flow table is performed, so that multiple control faces the same forwarding plane control to complete the packet transmission. .

Example 4

Fig. 4 is a flow chart showing a method of processing a top-level table according to Embodiment 4 of the present invention. The components in Fig. 4 having the same reference numerals as those in Figs. 1 to 3 have the same functions, and a detailed description of these components will be omitted for the sake of brevity.

As shown in FIG. 4, the main difference between the method shown in FIG. 4 and the methods shown in FIG. 1 to FIG. 3 is that a plurality of flow tables corresponding to the same PDN link are directly merged into one flow table.

The SGW-C sends a message "Set SGW-C Configuration" to the MF to set the current SGW-U network element type as the serving gateway.

42. If the current SGW-U is not type set, the MF returns a message "Set SGW-C configuration succeeded" to the SGW-C in response to the setting being successful.

43. The PGW-C sends a message “Set PGW-C Configuration” to the MF to set the current PGW-U network element type to the data gateway.

44. If the current PGW-U is not type set, the MF returns a message "Set PGW-C configuration succeeded" to the PGW-C in response to the setting being successful.

30-40. The MF receives at least two flow tables from the SGW-C and the PGW-C.

45. If the SGW-U and the PGW-U of the MF receive the flow table delivered by the SGW-C and the PGW-C respectively, the MF directly merges the multiple flow tables into one flow table for the flow table corresponding to the same PDN link. .

For example, for the SGW upstream flow table and the PGW upstream flow table respectively received by the MF from the SGW-C and the PGW-C, the MF will correspond to the SGW upstream flow table of the same PDN link according to the TEID value of the flow table. Description

The PGW upstream table is directly merged into an upstream table, and the fused upstream table can directly perform the GTP decapsulation processing of the PGW upstream table, thereby eliminating the GTP decapsulation and GTP encapsulation of the SGW upstream table. Processing action. For the SGW downstream table and the PGW downstream flow table respectively received from the SGW-C and the PGW-C, the MF directly merges the SGW downstream table and the PGW downstream flow table corresponding to the same PDN link into one according to the TEID value of the flow table. The downstream flow table can directly perform the processing operation of the GTP encapsulation of the PGW downstream flow table, thereby eliminating the GTP encapsulation and GTP decapsulation processing actions of the SGW downstream flow table.

In a possible implementation manner, after the flow table is merged, for the upstream flow table received from each of the control planes, the forwarding plane retains an upstream flow table received from each of the control planes; The fused upstream table is updated according to an operation on the received upstream table.

In a possible implementation manner, after the flow table is merged, for the downstream flow table received from each of the control planes, the forwarding plane retains a downstream flow table received from each of the control planes; The merged downstream table is updated according to the operation of the received downstream table.

Thus, after the flow table is merged, the original flow table record remains. If the flow table needs to be managed, for example, the flow table is modified or deleted, the forwarding plane may perform corresponding de-fusion processing on the merged flow table according to the original flow table information, and according to the received upstream flow. The operation of the table or the downstream table updates the fused upstream table or the downstream table.

46. After the MF merges the flow tables corresponding to the same PDN link, subsequent data transmission is performed. For example, for the uplink packet corresponding to the PDN link, the MF directly performs the GTP decapsulation processing operation of the PGW upstream flow table according to the merged upstream table, and then sends the uplink packet. For the downlink packet corresponding to the PDN link, the MF directly performs the GTP encapsulation processing operation of the PGW downstream flow table according to the merged downstream flow table, and then sends the downlink packet.

In this way, by directly merging the plurality of flow tables into one flow table corresponding to the same PDN link, according to the flow table processing method of the above embodiment of the present invention, the processing of the single flow table corresponding to the message corresponding to the same PDN link can be performed. Action, thereby implementing multiple controls to face the same forwarding surface control, to complete Description

The transmission of the message.

Example 5

Fig. 5a is a block diagram showing a state-of-the-art table processing apparatus of Embodiment 5 of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 5a, the flow table processing apparatus mainly includes a receiving unit 510 and an associating unit 520. The receiving unit 510 is configured to enable the forwarding plane to receive at least two flow tables from the at least two control planes. The association unit 520 is connected to the receiving unit 510, configured to enable the forwarding plane to associate the at least two flow tables corresponding to the same PDN link, so that the packets corresponding to the same PDN link are in accordance with a predetermined flow. The table usage order is sequentially processed according to the at least two flow tables and then sent out.

Fig. 5b is a block diagram showing another flow table processing apparatus of Embodiment 5 of the present invention. The same components as in Fig. 5a have the same functions, and a detailed description of these components will be omitted for the sake of brevity.

In a possible implementation manner, as shown in FIG. 5b, the flow table processing apparatus further includes an obtaining unit 530 and a determining unit 540. The obtaining unit 530 is configured to enable the forwarding plane to obtain a network element type of each of the control planes. The determining unit 540 is connected to the obtaining unit 530 and the associated unit 510, and configured to determine, by the forwarding plane, the flow table usage order, based on the acquired network element type and a packet forwarding direction, where The packet forwarding direction includes uplink and downlink.

The flow table processing device is used to implement the specific mechanism and beneficial effects of the flow table processing, and may refer to FIG. 1 to FIG. 11 and related descriptions.

In a possible implementation, the associating unit 520 is configured to: for the upstream table received from each of the control planes, the forwarding plane is caused to correspond to the TEID value of the received upstream table according to the The upstream table of the same PDN link is configured as a multi-stage upstream table, so that the uplink packets corresponding to the same PDN link are processed according to the at least two flow tables in the first order, and then sent out; a downstream table received by each control plane, so that the forwarding plane constructs a downstream table corresponding to the same PDN link as a multi-stage downstream table according to the TEID value of the received downstream table, so that The downlink packets corresponding to the same PDN link are sent in the second order according to the at least two flow tables, where the first sequence and the second sequence are sent. Description

The order is reversed.

In a possible implementation, the associating unit 520 is configured to: for the upstream table received from each of the control planes, the forwarding plane is caused to correspond to the TEID value of the received upstream table according to the The upstream table of the same PDN link is sorted in the third order, and the output port of the other upstream table except the last upstream table is set as the logical port of the forwarding plane, and the first upstream table is The input port of the other upstream table is set to be the logical port, so that the uplink message corresponding to the same PDN link is processed according to the at least two flow tables in the third order, and then sent out; or For the downstream flow table received from each of the control planes, the forwarding plane is arranged according to the TEID value of the received downstream flow table, and the downstream flow table corresponding to the same PDN link is sorted in the fourth order, except for the last An output port of a downstream table other than a downstream table is set as the logical port, and an input port of a downstream table other than the first downstream table is set to The logical port, so that the downlink packets corresponding to the same PDN link are processed according to the at least two flow tables in the fourth order, and then the third sequence and the fourth sequence are sent out. Mutual reverse order.

In a possible implementation, the associating unit 520 is configured to: for the upstream table received from each of the control planes, the forwarding plane is caused to correspond to the TEID value of the received upstream table according to the The upstream table of the same PDN link is merged into an upstream flow table, so that the uplink packets corresponding to the same PDN link are processed according to the merged upstream flow table, and are sent out; or, for receiving from the control planes The downstream flow table is configured to enable the forwarding plane to merge the downstream flow table corresponding to the same PDN link into one downstream flow table according to the TEID value of the received downstream flow table, so that the downlink packet corresponding to the same PDN link is configured. Processing is performed according to the merged downstream table and sent out.

In a possible implementation, the associating unit 520 is further configured to: enable the forwarding plane to retain an upstream table received from each of the control planes; and make the forwarding plane according to the received upstream table The operation updates the merged upstream table. Instruction manual

In a possible implementation manner, the associating unit 520 is further configured to: enable the forwarding plane to retain a downstream flow table received from each of the control planes; and cause the forwarding plane to follow the received downstream flow table The operation updates the merged downstream table.

In a possible implementation manner, the at least two control planes include a serving gateway control plane and a packet data network gateway control plane.

The flow table processing device is used to implement the specific mechanism and beneficial effects of the flow table processing. Reference may be made to FIG. 2 to FIG. 4 and related descriptions.

Example 6

Fig. 6 is a block diagram showing a state-of-the-art table processing apparatus of Embodiment 6 of the present invention. The flow table processing device 1100 may be a host server having a computing capability, a personal computer PC, or a portable portable computer or terminal. The specific embodiment of the present invention does not limit the specific implementation of the computing node.

The flow table processing apparatus 1100 includes a processor 110, a communication interface 1120, a memory 130, and a bus 1140. Among them, the processor 1110, the communication interface 1120, and the memory 1130 complete communication with each other through the bus 1140.

Communication interface 1120 is for communicating with network devices, such as virtual machine management centers, shared storage, and the like.

The processor 1110 is for executing a program. The processor 1110 may be a central processing unit CPU, or an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits configured to implement embodiments of the present invention.

The memory 1130 is used to store files. The memory 1130 may include a high speed RAM memory and may also include a non-volatile memory such as at least one disk memory. Memory 1130 can also be a memory array. The memory 1130 may also be partitioned, and the blocks may be combined into a virtual volume according to certain rules.

In a possible implementation manner, the above program may be a program code including a computer operation instruction, and is applied to an architecture including a forwarding plane and at least two control planes. This program can be used specifically Description

Having the forwarding plane: receiving at least two flow tables from the at least two control planes;

The at least two flow tables of the PDN link are associated, so that the messages corresponding to the same PDN link are processed and then sent according to the at least two flow tables in the order of use of the predetermined flow table.

In a possible implementation, the program may be further configured to: use the forwarding plane to: acquire a network of each control plane before the forwarding plane receives at least two flow tables from the at least two control planes The source type is determined based on the obtained network element type and the packet forwarding direction, where the packet forwarding direction includes uplink and downlink.

In a possible implementation, the procedure may be further configured to: the forwarding plane: for an upstream table received from each of the control planes, according to a TEID value of the received upstream table, corresponding to The upstream table of the same PDN link is configured as a multi-stage upstream table, so that the uplink packets corresponding to the same PDN link are processed according to the at least two flow tables in the first order, and then sent out; The downstream flow table received by each control plane, according to the TEID value of the received downstream flow table, constructs a downstream flow table corresponding to the same PDN link as a multi-level downstream flow table, so that corresponding to the same PDN link The downlink packets are sent in the second order according to the at least two flow tables, wherein the first sequence and the second sequence are reversed to each other.

In a possible implementation, the procedure may be further configured to: the forwarding plane: for an upstream table received from each of the control planes, according to a TEID value of the received upstream table, corresponding to The upstream table of the same PDN link is sorted in the third order, and the output port of the other upstream table except the last upstream table is set as the logical port of the forwarding plane, and the first upstream table is The input port of the other upstream table is set to be the logical port, so that the uplink message corresponding to the same PDN link is processed according to the at least two flow tables in the third order, and then sent out; or For the downstream flow table received from each of the control planes, according to the TEID value of the received downstream flow table, the downstream flow table corresponding to the same PDN link is sorted in the fourth order, and the last downstream flow table is excluded. The output port of the other downstream table is set to the logical port, and the input port of the other downstream table except the first downstream table is set as the Description

The logical port is configured to enable the downlink packets corresponding to the same PDN link to be processed according to the at least two flow tables in the fourth order, wherein the third sequence and the fourth sequence are mutually In reverse order.

In a possible implementation, the procedure may be further configured to: the forwarding plane: for an upstream table received from each of the control planes, according to a TEID value of the received upstream table, corresponding to The upstream table of the same PDN link is merged into an upstream flow table, so that the uplink packets corresponding to the same PDN link are processed according to the merged upstream flow table, and are sent out; or, for receiving from the control planes The downstream flow table, according to the TEID value of the received downstream flow table, merges the downstream flow table corresponding to the same PDN link into one downstream flow table, so that the downlink packets corresponding to the same PDN link are according to the merged The downstream flow table is processed and sent out.

In a possible implementation, the procedure may be further configured to: the forwarding plane: after the merging the upstream table corresponding to the same PDN link into one upstream table, retaining receiving from each of the control planes Upstream flow table to; update the merged upstream table according to the operation of the received upstream table.

In a possible implementation, the procedure may be further configured to: the forwarding plane: after the downstream table corresponding to the same PDN link is merged into one downstream table, retaining receiving from each of the control planes The downstream flow table to which the convergence is performed; the merged downstream flow table is updated according to the operation of the received downstream flow table.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the various exemplary units and algorithm steps in the embodiments described herein can be implemented in electronic hardware or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether these functions are implemented in hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the solution. A person skilled in the art can select different methods for implementing the described functions for a particular application, but such implementation should not be considered to be beyond the scope of the present invention. Instruction manual

If the function is implemented in the form of computer software and sold or used as a stand-alone product, it may be considered to some extent that all or part of the technical solution of the present invention (for example, a part contributing to the prior art) is It is embodied in the form of computer software products. The computer software product is typically stored in a computer readable non-volatile storage medium, including instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, server, or network device, etc.) to perform all of the methods of various embodiments of the present invention. Or part of the steps. The foregoing storage medium includes various media that can store program codes, such as a USB flash drive, a removable hard disk, a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disk.

The above is only the specific embodiment of the present invention, but the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art can easily think of changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the present invention. It should be covered by the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of the invention should be determined by the scope of the claims.

Claims

claims

1. A flow table processing method, applied to an architecture including one forwarding plane and at least two control planes, characterized in that it includes:

The forwarding plane receives at least two flow tables from the at least two control planes;

The forwarding plane associates the at least two flow tables corresponding to the same packet data network link, so that the messages corresponding to the same packet data network link are sequentially processed according to the at least two flows according to a predetermined flow table usage sequence. The table is processed and sent out.

2. The flow table processing method according to claim 1, characterized in that, before the forwarding plane receives at least two flow tables from the at least two control planes, it further includes:

The forwarding plane obtains the network element type of each control plane;

The forwarding plane determines the order in which the flow table is used based on the obtained network element type and packet forwarding direction, where the packet forwarding direction includes uplink and downlink.

3. The flow table processing method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the forwarding plane associates the at least two flow tables corresponding to the same packet data network link, including:

For the upstream flow table received from each of the control planes, the forwarding plane constructs the upstream flow table corresponding to the same packet data network link as a multi-level upstream flow table according to the tunnel endpoint identifier of the received upstream flow table. Flow tables, so that upstream messages corresponding to the same packet data network link are processed in the first order according to the at least two flow tables and then sent out; or,

For the downstream flow table received from each of the control planes, the forwarding plane constructs the downstream flow table corresponding to the same packet data network link as a multi-level downstream flow table according to the tunnel endpoint identifier of the received downstream flow table. flow tables, so that downlink messages corresponding to the same packet data network link are sent out in a second order according to the at least two flow tables,

Wherein, the first order and the second order are reverse orders of each other.

4. The flow table processing method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the forwarding plane associates the at least two flow tables corresponding to the same packet data network link, including:

For the upstream flow table received from each of the control planes, the forwarding plane Claims

TEID value of the upstream flow table, sort the upstream flow tables corresponding to the same packet data network link in the third order, and set the output ports of other upstream flow tables except the last upstream flow table to the logic of the forwarding plane port, and set the input ports of other upstream flow tables except the first upstream flow table as the logical port, so that the upstream packets corresponding to the same packet data network link are sequentially processed according to the third order. At least two of the above flow tables are processed and sent out; or,

For the downstream flow table received from each of the control planes, the forwarding plane sorts the downstream flow tables corresponding to the same packet data network link in a fourth order according to the tunnel endpoint identifier of the received downstream flow table, Set the output ports of other downstream flow tables except the last downstream flow table as the logical port, and set the input ports of other downstream flow tables except the first downstream flow table as the logical port, So that the downlink messages corresponding to the same packet data network link are processed according to the at least two flow tables in turn in the fourth order and then sent out, wherein the third order and the fourth order are mutually inverse orders. .

5. The flow table processing method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the forwarding plane associates the at least two flow tables corresponding to the same packet data network link, including:

For the upstream flow tables received from each of the control planes, the forwarding plane merges the upstream flow tables corresponding to the same packet data network link into one upstream flow table according to the tunnel endpoint identifier of the received upstream flow table. , so that the uplink messages corresponding to the same packet data network link are processed according to the integrated upstream flow table and then sent out; or,

For the downstream flow tables received from each of the control planes, the forwarding plane merges the downstream flow tables corresponding to the same packet data network link into one downstream flow table according to the tunnel endpoint identifier of the received downstream flow table. , so that the downlink messages corresponding to the same packet data network link are processed according to the merged downlink flow table and then sent out.

6. The flow table processing method according to claim 5, characterized in that, after the upstream flow tables corresponding to the same packet data network link are merged into one upstream flow table, it further includes: the forwarding plane retains from The upstream flow table received by each control plane; claims

The forwarding plane updates the merged upstream flow table according to the operation on the received upstream flow table.

7. The flow table processing method according to claim 5 or 6, characterized in that, after fusing the downstream flow tables corresponding to the same packet data network link into one downstream flow table, it further includes: the forwarding plane retain downstream flow tables received from each of said control planes;

The forwarding plane updates the merged downstream flow table according to the operation on the received downstream flow table.

8. The flow table processing method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the at least two control planes include a service gateway control plane and a packet data network gateway control plane.

9. A flow table processing device, applied to a control forwarding decoupling architecture including one forwarding plane and at least two control planes, characterized in that it includes:

A receiving unit, configured to cause the forwarding plane to receive at least two types of flow association units from the at least two control planes, connected to the receiving unit, configured to cause the forwarding plane to associate all flows corresponding to the same packet data network link. The at least two flow tables are associated, so that packets corresponding to the same packet data network link are processed according to the at least two flow tables in sequence according to a predetermined flow table usage sequence and then sent out.

10. The flow table processing device according to claim 9, further comprising: an acquisition unit, configured to cause the forwarding plane to acquire the network element type of each control plane; a determination unit, and the acquisition unit Connected to the association unit, the forwarding plane determines the order of use of the flow table based on the obtained network element type and packet forwarding direction, where the packet forwarding direction includes uplink and downlink.

11. The flow table processing device according to claim 9 or 10, characterized in that the association unit is configured to:

For the upstream flow table received from each of the control planes, the forwarding plane is configured to Claims

The tunnel endpoint identifier of the upstream flow table constructs the upstream flow table corresponding to the same packet data network link as a multi-level upstream flow table, so that the upstream packets corresponding to the same packet data network link are processed according to the first The sequence is processed according to the at least two flow tables and then sent out; or,

For the downstream flow table received from each of the control planes, the forwarding plane constructs a downstream flow table corresponding to the same packet data network link as a multi-level flow table according to the tunnel endpoint identifier of the received downstream flow table. Downstream flow tables, so that downstream messages corresponding to the same packet data network link are sent out in a second order according to the at least two flow tables,

Wherein, the first order and the second order are reverse orders of each other.

12. The flow table processing device according to claim 9 or 10, characterized in that the association unit is configured to:

For the upstream flow table received from each of the control planes, cause the forwarding plane to sort the upstream flow tables corresponding to the same packet data network link in a third order according to the tunnel endpoint identifier of the received upstream flow table. , set the output ports of other upstream flow tables except the last upstream flow table to the logical port of the forwarding plane, and set the input ports of other upstream flow tables except the first upstream flow table to all The logical port, so that the uplink messages corresponding to the same packet data network link are processed according to the at least two flow tables in the third order and then sent out; or, for the packets received from each of the control planes A downstream flow table such that the forwarding plane sorts the downstream flow tables corresponding to the same packet data network link in fourth order according to the received tunnel endpoint identifier of the downstream flow table, except for the last downstream flow table. The output ports of other downstream tables are set as the logical ports, and the input ports of other downstream tables except the first downstream table are set as the logical ports, so that they correspond to the same packet data network link The downlink packets are processed in sequence according to the at least two flow tables in the fourth order and then sent out, wherein the third order and the fourth order are in reverse order of each other.

13. The flow table processing device according to claim 9 or 10, characterized in that: the association Claims

The unit is configured as:

For the upstream flow tables received from each of the control planes, the forwarding plane merges the upstream flow tables corresponding to the same packet data network link into one upstream flow according to the tunnel endpoint identifier of the received upstream flow table. table, so that upstream messages corresponding to the same packet data network link are processed according to the merged upstream flow table and then sent out; or,

For the downstream flow tables received from each of the control planes, the forwarding plane merges the downstream flow tables corresponding to the same packet data network link into one downstream flow according to the tunnel endpoint identifier of the received downstream flow table. table, so that the downstream packets corresponding to the same packet data network link are processed according to the merged downstream flow table and then sent out.

14. The flow table processing device according to claim 9, characterized in that the correlation unit is further configured to:

causing the forwarding plane to retain the upstream flow table received from each of the control planes;

The forwarding plane is caused to update the merged upstream flow table according to the operation on the received upstream flow table.

15. The flow table processing device according to claim 13 or 14, characterized in that the association unit is further configured to:

causing the forwarding plane to retain the downstream flow table received from each of the control planes;

The forwarding plane is caused to update the merged downstream flow table according to the operation on the received downstream flow table.

16. The flow table processing device according to any one of claims 9 to 15, characterized in that the at least two control planes include a service gateway control plane and a packet data network gateway control plane.