WO2016107134A1

WO2016107134A1 - Service chain route management system and usage method therefor

Info

Publication number: WO2016107134A1
Application number: PCT/CN2015/083802
Authority: WO
Inventors: 宗在峰; 周晓云
Original assignee: 中兴通讯股份有限公司
Priority date: 2014-12-29
Filing date: 2015-07-10
Publication date: 2016-07-07
Also published as: CN105812257A; CN105812257B

Abstract

Disclosed are a service chain route management system and a usage method therefor. The system comprises a service chain route management function 10 configured to configure a service forwarding table and a service chain path table for a service forwarder, wherein the service chain path table comprises a service list through which the service forwarder passes to process a received user data packet, and the service forwarding table comprises a forwarding path for sending the service data packet to a service function for the service to be processed when the service forwarder determines each service to be processed according to the service chain path table; a service forwarder 20 configured to acquire each service to be processed according to the service chain path table, and send the user data packet to a service function providing the service to be processed according to the service forwarding table; and a service function 30 configured to conduct service processing on the user data packet. According to the technical solution provided in the present invention, the system can automatically generate a service forwarding table, so as to realize the automatic management of service route.

Description

Service link management system and its use method

Technical field

The present invention relates to the field of communications, and in particular to a service link management system and a method of using the same.

Background technique

In the operator's existing network, service servers (such as: Network Address Translation (NAT), Deep Packet Inspection (DPI), codec, compression) are connected in series on the transmission path, which makes the service chain tightly coupled with the transmission network. Modifying the service chain often requires modifying the transport network topology. This complex configuration makes it especially complicated to add or modify a business chain. Moreover, due to the limitation of the configuration, the operator in the current network usually only configures one or a few service chains, and the service data can flow through all the service servers in the configured service chain in a fixed order, even if the service data does not need It is processed by the service server, thereby increasing the load of the service server and also increasing the transmission delay of the data. In this architecture, the combination of service chains is inflexible, and the configuration of adding or modifying service servers is complicated, which is not conducive to the development of innovative services.

The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Business Function Chain (SFC) co-working group is discussing how to more flexibly support the business chain. 1 is a schematic diagram of a service chain architecture component defined in accordance with the IETF in the related art. As shown in Figure 1, the most basic goal of SFC is to decouple the service chain from the network topology. In the architecture defined by the IETF, a Service Classifier can classify and select a service chain path, and perform service chain encapsulation on the service data packet. The encapsulated service data packets are processed in sequence by multiple business servers in the service chain. Service chain encapsulation (referred to as SFC encapsulation) is not used for data transmission. Data transmission can rely on the outer packet header, which can decouple the service chain from the network topology. Adding a new service server only needs to increase the link between the service server and the service forwarder, thereby decoupling from other service servers (which is a star architecture) and also decoupling from the transmission network.

The business function may need some user-related information when processing user data packets, such as user identification, user access network status, user level and permissions. This information is referred to as user service configuration parameters. The business function can decide how to process the user data packet according to the user service configuration parameters. For example, when a user's access network is congested, the service function can determine whether to compress the user data packet by using a specific compression technology according to the information.

In the related art, the service link can be sent to the service forwarder by means of manual configuration. However, this method is not flexible enough, and network automation cannot be implemented.

Summary of the invention

The embodiment of the present invention provides a service link management system and a method for using the same, to at least solve the problem that the service link is sent to the service forwarder by manually configuring in the related art, and the network cannot be implemented. The problem of automation.

According to an aspect of an embodiment of the present invention, a service link management system is provided.

The service link management system according to the embodiment of the present invention includes: the service link is configured by the management function, and is configured to configure a service forwarding table and a service chain path table for the service forwarder, where the service chain path table includes the service forwarder for processing and receiving The service list that the user data packet passes through, and the service forwarding table includes a forwarding path that the service forwarder sends the service data packet to the service function that provides the service to be processed when determining each to-be-processed service according to the service chain path table. The service forwarder is configured to acquire each service to be processed according to the service chain path table, and send the user data packet to the service function for providing the service to be processed according to the service forwarding table; the service function is set to the user data packet. Conduct business processing.

Preferably, the system further includes: a gateway forwarding plane, configured to send a user data packet to the service forwarder, wherein the user data packet is classified according to the user service chain classification rule, and the service chain header is added to the user data packet, and the service is added. The chain header includes the business chain identifier.

Preferably, the above system further comprises: a gateway controller configured to configure the gateway forwarding plane.

Preferably, the system further includes: a user service chain policy management function, configured to manage a policy corresponding to the user service chain.

Preferably, the system further includes: a software-defined network SDN controller, configured to provide a south-facing interface for the gateway controller, the user service chain policy management function, and the service link to control the gateway forwarding plane and the service forwarder.

According to another aspect of an embodiment of the present invention, a method of using a service link by a management system is provided.

A method for using a service link by a management system according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: a service link receives a first information set from a service function by a management function, wherein the first information set includes at least one of: a capability of a service function The information, the load information of the service function, the service forwarder information of the service function connection; and/or the service link receives the second information set from the service forwarder by the management function, wherein the second information set includes at least one of the following Neighbor information and self-information, the neighbor information includes: other service forwarder information directly connected to the service forwarder; the service link is configured by the management function to configure the service forwarding table according to the first information set and/or the second information set as the service forwarder. .

Preferably, the service forwarder information of the service function connection is one of the following: Layer 2 link information of the connected service forwarder, an Internet Protocol IP address of the connected service forwarder, and a logical name of the connected service forwarder .

Preferably, the capability information includes: a service type supported by the service function, and a capacity of the service function.

Preferably, the other service forwarder information directly connected to the service forwarder is one of the following: Layer 2 link information of other service forwarders, Layer 3 IP address information of other service forwarders, and logical names of other service forwarders.

Preferably, the service link is configured by the management function to configure the service forwarding table according to the first information set and/or the second information set as the service forwarder. The service link is configured by the management function according to the first information set and/or the second information set. The service forwarder calculates a service forwarding table; the service link is sent by the management function to the service forwarder through the software-defined network SDN controller, where the service chain path table is a pre-configured form.

Preferably, after the service link is configured by the management function to configure the service forwarding table and the service chain path table for the service forwarder according to the first information set and/or the second information set, the method further includes: the service link receiving the service function report by the management function The load change event, wherein the load change event is triggered when the load of the service function changes exceeds the preset load threshold set by the management function of the service link; the service link is re-established by the management function according to the load change event The service forwarder configures the service forwarding table.

According to still another aspect of an embodiment of the present invention, a method of using a service link by a management system is provided.

The method for using the service link by the management system according to the embodiment of the present invention includes: the service forwarder receives the service forwarding table and the service chain path table from the management function of the service link, where the service chain path table includes the service forwarder Processing a service list that is received by the received user data packet, where the service forwarding table includes the service forwarder sending the service data packet to the service function providing the to-be-processed service when determining each to-be-processed service according to the service chain path table. Forwarding path; the service forwarder uses the service forwarding table and the service chain path table to route the obtained user data packets.

Preferably, the service forwarder uses the service forwarding table and the service chain path table to route the user data packet, including: the service forwarder sequentially obtains consecutively passed from the service chain path table according to the service chain identifier and the service pointer in the user data packet. The service name is obtained by querying the service forwarding table according to each service name to obtain the path information of the service function for providing the service; and sequentially using the path information corresponding to each service name to forward the user data packet.

According to the embodiment of the present invention, the service link is configured to configure a service forwarding table and a service chain path table for the service forwarder, where the service chain path table includes the service forwarder to process the received user data. a service list that the packet passes, the service forwarding table includes a forwarding path that the service forwarder sends the service data packet to the service function that provides the to-be-processed service when determining each to-be-processed service according to the service chain path table; And setting, according to the service chain path table, each service to be processed, and sending the user data packet to the service function for providing the service to be processed according to the service forwarding table; the service function is set to perform service processing on the user data packet, The invention solves the problem that the utility model adopts the manual configuration to send the service link from the service to the service transponder without flexibility and can not realize the network automation, and the system can automatically generate the service forwarding table to realize the automatic management of the service route. .

DRAWINGS

The drawings described herein are intended to provide a further understanding of the invention, and are intended to be a part of the invention. In the drawing:

1 is a schematic diagram of a service chain architecture component defined according to an IETF in the related art;

2 is a structural block diagram of a service link management system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

3 is a schematic structural diagram of a service link management system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

4 is a schematic diagram of a networking topology of a gateway forwarding plane, a service forwarder, and a service function according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

5 is a schematic diagram of a data packet when a gateway forwarding plane communicates with a service forwarder according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

6 is a flowchart of a method of using a service link by a management system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

7 is a flow chart of another method for using a service link by a management system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

8 is a flow chart of a service repeater registering to a service link by a management module in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

9 is a flow chart of information exchange between a service forwarder and a service link by a management module upon logout, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

10 is a flow diagram of information interaction between a service function and a service link by a management module in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

detailed description

The invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings in conjunction with the embodiments. It should be noted that the embodiments in the present application and the features in the embodiments may be combined with each other without conflict.

2 is a structural block diagram of a service link management system according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 2, the service link management system may include: a service link configured by the management function 10, configured to configure a service forwarding table and a service chain path table for the service forwarder, where the service chain path table includes a service forwarder To process the service list that the received user data packet passes, the service forwarding table includes a service forwarder that sends the service data packet to the service function that provides the to-be-processed service when determining each to-be-processed service according to the service chain path table. The service forwarding device 20 is configured to acquire each service to be processed according to the service chain path table, and send the user data packet to the service function for providing the service to be processed according to the service forwarding table; service function 30, setting For business processing of user data packets.

The use of manually configured methods to transmit service links to service forwarders in the related art lacks flexibility and cannot automate the network. The system shown in FIG. 2 can enable the service function and the service forwarder to automatically report the neighbor information and the capability information of the device, so that the system can automatically generate a service forwarding table to implement automatic management of the service route.

As a preferred embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a service link management system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 3, the gateway controller 40 is configured to configure a gateway forwarding plane, for example, to send user plane tunnel information and user service chain classification rules to the gateway forwarding plane. The user service chain policy management function 50 is configured to manage policies related to the user service chain, for example, configuring a user service chain classification rule for the service classifier, and configuring user service configuration parameters for the service function. The business chain policy management function manages the user-related business chain strategy. The service link is configured by the management function 10, which is configured to manage the service function, the connection between the service function and the service forwarder, and the load sharing between the multiple instances of the service function, and configure the service forwarding table and the service chain path table for the service forwarder. The gateway forwarding plane 60 is responsible for forwarding the user data packet, and classifying the user data packet according to the user service chain classification rule, and attaching a service chain header to the user data packet, which may include, but is not limited to, a service chain identifier. The service forwarder 20 is responsible for querying the service chain path table according to the service chain identifier in the user data packet, the current location of the user data packet in the service chain, and the like, obtaining the next pending service of the user data packet, and querying The service forwarding table obtains the forwarding path of the corresponding service function, and then sends the data packet to the service function. The service function 30 is responsible for performing service related processing on user data packets, such as codec, NAT, parental control, and the like. The user's business configuration parameters for the user may be used during the processing of the user data packet. The SDN controller is responsible for centralized and unified control of the underlying forwarding device, and provides an interface for the network capability to call to the upper layer service. Gateway controller, user service chain policy management function, service link management function It can be an application on the SDN controller 70. These applications can control the forwarding devices of the lower layer through the southbound interface provided by the SDN, including: the gateway forwarding plane and the service forwarder.

In the above architecture, the service classification can be performed on the gateway forwarding plane. Therefore, the user service chain policy management function can send the service classification rule to the gateway forwarding plane through the gateway controller. The gateway forwarding plane classifies the user data packets according to the service classification rule, and adds corresponding service chain identifiers and other parameters, for example, a user service configuration index. In a specific implementation process, the user service chain policy management function can be implemented by enhancing the Policy and Charging Rule Function (PCRF) in the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) network. The interface between the user service chain policy management function and the gateway controller can be implemented by extending the Gx interface, and adding content related to the service classification rule on the original Gx interface. The gateway controller and the gateway forwarding plane can be interfaced through the SDN controller.

The foregoing service classification rules may include, but are not limited to, a user service chain flow description, a service chain identifier, and other optional items, for example, a user service configuration index. The gateway forwarding plane can match the received user data packet with the user service chain flow description in the service classification rule; if the matching is successful, the service data identifier, the service pointer, and other optional information are added to the user data packet, where The service chain identifier is used to identify a logical service chain that is not related to the user. The service pointer is the location where the user data packet is located in the current service chain, that is, the current service.

To support the delivery of user service configuration parameters through the control channel, the user service chain policy management function interfaces with the service function to send user service configuration parameters to the service function through the interface. The interface between the user service chain policy management function and the service function can be implemented by extending the Sd interface or extending the Rx interface.

The user service configuration parameters sent by the user service chain policy management function to the service function may include, but are not limited to, the following parameters:

(1) Service configuration parameters: The parameters required by the service function to process the service data packets of the user service chain, such as user identification, wireless congestion status, and user level.

(2) Business chain identification: used to identify the logical business chain.

Optionally, the user service configuration parameter index is used to quickly query the service configuration parameter, and the user service configuration parameter index can quickly find the corresponding user service configuration parameter, and can modify or delete the service.

Optionally, the user service configuration parameter may further include: a user service chain flow description, where the user service chain flow description is used to describe a service data flow feature of the service chain of the user, where the at least the user may include: the user's Internet Protocol (IP) address. Adding the user service chain flow description in the user service configuration parameter can effectively prevent the service classifier from appending the service configuration parameter index in the user data packet. When the packet length of the user data packet is short, the packet transmission efficiency is reduced by adding a new field; and when the user data packet is long, the packet fragmentation is caused by adding a new field. Therefore, in order to add a field to the user data packet as little as possible, a user service chain flow description is added to the user service configuration parameter, and the service function matches the received user data packet with the user service chain flow description, and the matching succeeds. The service configuration parameter corresponding to the user service chain flow description is a service configuration parameter corresponding to the user data packet, and the service function uses the user service configuration parameter to process the user data packet. If the service data packet of the user matches the description of the multiple user service chain flows, the corresponding service configuration data is selected according to the longest matching principle, and the service data packet of the user is processed by using the service configuration parameter.

As another preferred embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a networking topology of a gateway forwarding plane, a service forwarder, and a service function according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 4, the gateway forwarding plane is configured with a default service forwarder, and the gateway forwarding plane sends the user data packet that has been classified and added with the service chain header to the default service forwarder. The gateway forwarding plane and the service forwarder can be directly connected through a Layer 2 link or through an IP tunnel. The forwarding path of the default service forwarder is configured on the gateway forwarding plane. When the two are connected through a Layer 2 link, the forwarding path is a Layer 2 tunnel. When the two are connected through a Layer 3 link, the forwarding path is Layer 3. tunnel.

As still another preferred embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a data packet when a gateway forwarding plane communicates with a service repeater according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 5, a service chain header (or added in a user data packet) is added before the original user data packet, and the service chain header may include: a service chain identifier, a service pointer, and other optional information. The gateway forwarding plane encapsulates the user data packet with the added service chain header into the Layer 2 tunnel or the Layer 3 tunnel according to the forwarding path of the configured service forwarder. The destination address of the Layer 2/Layer 3 tunnel (Layer 2 or Layer 3) ) is the address of the service forwarder.

As shown in Figure 4 above, a service forwarder can be connected to one or more service functions that can support the same or different service types. There may be one or more service forwarders in the network, and the service forwarders may be directly connected through a Layer 2 link or through a Layer 3 tunnel. When the service forwarding device configured by the gateway forwarding plane is unreachable, the user data packet can be forwarded to the service forwarder connected to the service function through the Layer 2 or Layer 3 link between the service forwarders. The service forwarder sends the user data packet to the business function. In the above FIG. 4, if the user data packet sent from the gateway forwarding plane 1 needs to be processed by the service function 4, the service forwarder 1 needs to send the user data packet to the service forwarder 3 through the service repeater 2, and then the service The repeater 3 transmits the user data packet to the service function 4.

In a preferred embodiment, two tables are stored in the service forwarder: a service chain path table and a service forwarding table.

Table 1 shows the service chain path table. As shown in Table 1:

Table 1

The service chain path table is a relatively static table in which an ordered service combination in a logical service chain is stored, that is, an ordered list of services that all packets belonging to the logical service chain need to pass. The service forwarder searches for the service list that the user data packet passes according to the service chain identifier in the user data packet, and searches for the next service name to be processed according to the service pointer in the user data packet. Then, the service forwarder searches the service forwarding table according to the service name to obtain a forwarding path for sending the data packet to the service function that provides the service.

Table 2 shows the service forwarding table. As shown in table 2:

Table 2

The service forwarding table stores the forwarding path of the specific service, that is, the information of the service function corresponding to the specific service, that is, the Layer 2 or Layer 3 tunnel information from the service forwarder to the service function. When a service corresponds to multiple service function instances, the path table further stores a load factor for each service function, where the load factor indicates a packet processing capability of the service function instance. The service forwarder determines the proportion of the amount of tasks allocated to the service function based on the load factor. For example, in the above FIG. 4, the service 1 is served by two instances of the service function 11 and the service function 12, and the service function 11 and the service function 12 are both connected to the service forwarder 1. The service forwarding path information in the service path table of service 1 in service forwarder 1 is as follows:

Service 1, next hop: service function 11, load factor 0.4;

Service 1, next hop: service function 12, load factor 0.6;

When receiving the user data packet that needs to be processed by the service 1, the service forwarder 1 searches for the service forwarding path information of the service 1, and the service forwarder can select the service function 11 to serve the user data packet according to the load factor, and the service forwarder will The user data packet is forwarded to the service function 11 through the Layer 2 or Layer 3 tunnel.

When a specific service function needs to be forwarded by another service forwarder, the forwarding path information of the service stored in the service forwarding table is information of the next hop service forwarder. For example, in the above FIG. 4, the forwarding path information about the service 4 provided by the service function 4 stored in the service forwarder 1 is:

Service 4, next hop: service forwarder 2;

The forwarding path information of the service 4 stored in the service repeater 2 is:

Service 4, next hop: service forwarder 3;

The forwarding path information of the service 4 stored in the service forwarder 3 is:

Service 4, next hop: service function 4;

When the user data packet sent from the gateway forwarding plane 1 needs to be processed by the service 4, the service forwarder first encapsulates the user data packet in the second or third layer to the service repeater 2 according to the next hop information of the service 4. The tunnel is sent to the service forwarder 2; when the data packet arrives at the service forwarder 2, the service forwarder 2 searches for the next hop information of the service 4, and encapsulates the user data packet in the second or third layer to the service repeater 3. The tunnel is sent to the service forwarder 3; the service function 4 is directly connected to the service forwarder 3, and the service forwarder 3 encapsulates the data packet in the tunnel to the service function 4 and sends it to the service function 4.

6 is a flow diagram of a method of using a service link by a management system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 6, the method may include the following processing steps:

Step S602: The service link receives the first information set from the service function by the management function, where the first information set includes at least one of the following: the capability information of the service function, the load information of the service function, and the service forwarding of the service function connection. And the service link receives the second information set from the service forwarder, where the second information set includes at least one of the following: neighbor information, self information, and the neighbor information includes: forwarding with the service Other service forwarder information directly connected to the device;

Step S604: The service link is configured by the management function to configure a service forwarding table for the service forwarder according to the first information set and/or the second information set.

Preferably, the service forwarder information connected to the service function may be one of the following:

(1) Layer 2 link information of the connected service forwarder;

(2) the IP address of the connected service forwarder;

(3) The logical name of the connected service forwarder.

Preferably, the foregoing capability information may include: a service type supported by the service function, and a capacity of the service function.

Preferably, the other service forwarder information directly connected to the service forwarder may be one of the following:

(1) Layer 2 link information of other service forwarders;

(2) Layer 3 IP address information of other service forwarders;

(3) The logical name of other service forwarders.

Preferably, in step S604, the service link is configured by the management function to configure the service forwarding table as the service forwarder according to the first information set and/or the second information set, and may include the following operations:

Step S1: The service link calculates, by the management function, a service forwarding table according to the first information set and/or the second information set as a service forwarder;

Step S2: The service link is sent by the management function to the service forwarder through the software-defined network SDN controller, where the service chain path table is a pre-configured form.

Preferably, after the service link configures the service forwarding table and the service chain path table for the service forwarder according to the first information set and/or the second information set, the service link may further include the following steps:

Step S3: The service link receives, by the management function, a load change event reported by the service function, where the load change event is triggered when the load change of the service function exceeds a preset load threshold set by the management function of the service link. ;

Step S4: The service link is configured by the management function to reconfigure the service forwarding table for the service forwarder according to the load change event.

7 is a flow chart of another method of using a service link by a management system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 7, the method may include the following processing steps:

Step S702: The service forwarder receives the service forwarding table and the service chain path table from the management function of the service link, where the service chain path table includes a service list that the service forwarder passes to process the received user data packet, and the service The forwarding table includes a forwarding path that the service forwarder sends the service data packet to the service function that provides the service to be processed when determining each to-be-processed service according to the service chain path table;

Step S704: The service forwarder uses the service forwarding table and the service chain path table to route the obtained user data packet.

Preferably, in step S704, the service forwarder routing the user data packet by using the service forwarding table and the service chain path table may include the following operations:

Step S5: The service forwarder sequentially obtains multiple consecutive service names from the service chain path table according to the service chain identifier and the service pointer in the user data packet, and queries the service forwarding table according to each service name to obtain the service function of providing the service. Path information;

Step S6: The user data packet is forwarded by using the path information corresponding to each service name in sequence.

8 is a flow diagram of a service repeater registration to a service link by a management module in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. As shown in Figure 8, after the power-on device is powered on, the service link is registered by the management module, which may include the following processing steps:

Step S802: The service forwarder sends a registration request message to the service link by the management module, where the registration request message carries the identity information of the service forwarder.

Step S804: The service forwarder and the service link perform two-way identity authentication between the management modules.

Step S806: The service forwarder sends the neighbor information to the service link by the management module, where the neighbor information may include, but is not limited to, information about a service function connected to the service forwarder, and other service forwarding connected to the service forwarder. Information.

Step S808: The service link saves the neighbor information received from the service forwarder by the management module, and uses the neighbor information, the neighbor information received from other service forwarders, and the service forwarder information and service function received from the service function. The information recalculates the business forwarding table.

Step S810: The service link sends a service chain path table and a service forwarding table to the service forwarder by the management module. The service forwarder stores the service chain path table and the service forwarding table.

Step S812: After the service path table is changed, the service link sends a message update service forwarding table to the other service forwarders in the management domain by the management module. If the service chain path table also changes, the service link is simultaneously controlled by the management module. The service chain path table is also sent to these service forwarders. The service forwarder stores the service forwarding table and the service chain path table.

9 is a flow diagram of information exchange between a service forwarder and a service link by a management module upon logout, in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. As shown in Figure 9, a service forwarder wants to take its own business for a specific reason. In the service chain, the service forwarder sends a logout request to the service link by the management module, where the logout request carries the neighbor service forwarder information of the service forwarder. If a service function is connected to the service function, the service forwarder can also send the connected service function information to the service link by the management module. The process can include the following processing steps:

Step S902: The service forwarder wants to delete itself from the service chain, and the service forwarder sends a logout request to the service link by the management module, where the logout message carries the neighbor service forwarder information and the connected service function information.

Step S904: The service link is recalculated by the management module after receiving the logout request message.

Step S906: The service link is sent by the management module to the other service forwarders in the service chain to send a new service forwarding path.

10 is a flow diagram of information interaction between a service function and a service link by a management module in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 10, the service function first initiates a registration request message to the service link by the management module. In the registration request message, the service function reports its own capability and load and the service forwarder information to which the service function is connected. When the business function load changes, the business function also reports the change to the service link by the management module. The service link can be calculated by the management module based on the information. The process can include the following processing steps:

Step S1002: The service function sends a registration request message to the service link by the management module, where the service function sends its identity information, capability information, load information, and information of the connected service forwarder to the service request message. The service link is managed by the module. The capability information indicates the type of service supported by the service function, that is, the service name; the load information indicates the packet processing capability of the service function instance.

Step S1004: The service link is authenticated by the management module for the identity of the service function.

Step S1006: After the authentication succeeds, the service link saves the identity information, the capability information, the load information, and the information of the connected service forwarder of the service function by the management module, and the service link is received by the management module by using the foregoing information and other service functions. The information obtained and the information received from the service forwarder recalculate the service forwarding table.

Step S1008: The service link sends a registration confirmation message to the service function by the management module, where the registration confirmation message carries a load report threshold, which is used to indicate the timing of the service function reporting the load change. For example, when the load exceeds the reporting threshold, the reporting service function is busy; when the load is lower than the reporting threshold, the reporting service function is available.

Step S1010: The service link sends a message update service forwarding table to the service forwarder by the management module.

Step S1012: The service function load changes exceed the above reported threshold.

Step S1014: When the service function load changes to reach the reporting threshold set by the management module, the service function reports a load change event, for example, the service function is busy or the service function is idle (current load value).

Step S1016: The service link is recalculated by the management module after receiving the service function load change event.

Step S1018: The service link sends a message update service forwarding table to the service forwarder by the management module.

The neighbor information that is sent by the service forwarder to the service link by the management module may include, but is not limited to, the information of the adjacent service forwarder and the information of the connected service function, where the information of the connected service forwarder is the adjacent service forwarder. The Layer 2 address or IP address, the information of the connected service function is the Layer 2 address or IP address of the connected service function, and the Layer 2 address may be a Media Access Control (MAC) address or other Layer 2 protocol related address.

Taking the above FIG. 4 as an example, the neighbor information reported by the service repeater 1 to the service link by the management module is as follows:

(1) Service Transponder 2, the Layer 2 address of Service Forwarder 2;

(2) Service function 11, the layer 2 address of service function 11;

(3) Service function 12, the layer 2 address of service function 12.

The neighbor information reported by the service repeater 3 to the service link by the management module is as follows:

(1) Service Transponder 1, the Layer 2 address of Service Forwarder 1;

(2) Service Transponder 3, the Layer 2 address of Service Forwarder 2;

(3) Service function 2, the second layer address of service function 2;

(4) Service function 3, the second layer address of service function 3.

The neighbor information reported by the service repeater 4 to the service link by the management module is as follows:

(1) Service Transponder 2, the Layer 2 address of Service Forwarder 2;

(2) Service function 4, the second layer address of service function 4.

The information reported by each management function to the service link by the management module is as follows:

(1) The service function 11 supports the service 1, and the load is a, which is connected to the service repeater 1;

(2) Service function 12, supporting service 1, with load b, connected to service repeater 1;

(3) Service function 2, support service 2, load x, connected to service forwarder 2;

(4) Service function 3, support service 3, load x, connected to service forwarder 2;

(5) Service function 4, support service 4, load x, connected to service forwarder 3.

The service link is formed by the management module according to the information received from the service forwarders 1, 2, 3 and the service functions, as shown in Table 3:

table 3

Based on the neighbor service forwarder information received from the service repeaters 1, 2, and 3, the service link can calculate the topology of the service repeater interconnection by the management module.

The service link is calculated by the management module for each service forwarder according to the topology of the service repeater interconnection and the reachable path information, and is distributed to each service forwarder. For example, in the above FIG. 4, the service forwarding table calculated by the management module for the service forwarder 1 is shown in Table 4:

Table 4

业务1Business 1	负荷aLoad a	业务功能11二层地址Service function 11 Layer 2 address	MAC封装MAC package
业务1Business 1	负荷aLoad a	业务功能11二层地址Service function 11 Layer 2 address	MAC封装MAC package	业务1Business 1	负荷bLoad b	业务功能12二层地址Service function 12 Layer 2 address	MAC封装MAC package
业务2Business 2	负荷xLoad x	业务转发器2二层地址Service Forwarder 2 Layer 2 Address	MAC封装MAC package	业务1Business 1	负荷bLoad b	业务功能12二层地址Service function 12 Layer 2 address	MAC封装MAC package
业务2Business 2	负荷xLoad x	业务转发器2二层地址Service Forwarder 2 Layer 2 Address	MAC封装MAC package	业务3Business 3	负荷xLoad x	业务转发器2二层地址Service Forwarder 2 Layer 2 Address	MAC封装MAC package
业务4Business 4	负荷xLoad x	业务转发器2二层地址Service Forwarder 2 Layer 2 Address	MAC封装MAC package	业务3Business 3	负荷xLoad x	业务转发器2二层地址Service Forwarder 2 Layer 2 Address	MAC封装MAC package

The service forwarding table calculated by the management module for the service forwarder 2 is shown in Table 5:

table 5

业务1Business 1	负荷yLoad y	业务转发器1二层地址Service Forwarder 1 Layer 2 Address	MAC封装MAC package
业务1Business 1	负荷yLoad y	业务转发器1二层地址Service Forwarder 1 Layer 2 Address	MAC封装MAC package	业务2Business 2	负荷xLoad x	业务功能2二层地址Service function 2 Layer 2 address	MAC封装MAC package
业务3Business 3	负荷xLoad x	业务功能3二层地址Service function 3 layer 2 address	MAC封装MAC package	业务2Business 2	负荷xLoad x	业务功能2二层地址Service function 2 Layer 2 address	MAC封装MAC package
业务3Business 3	负荷xLoad x	业务功能3二层地址Service function 3 layer 2 address	MAC封装MAC package	业务4Business 4	负荷xLoad x	业务转发器3二层地址Service Forwarder 3 Layer 2 Address	MAC封装MAC package

The service forwarding table calculated by the management module for the service forwarder 3 is shown in Table 6:

Table 6

业务1Business 1	负荷yLoad y	业务转发器1二层地址Service Forwarder 1 Layer 2 Address	MAC封装MAC package
业务1Business 1	负荷yLoad y	业务转发器1二层地址Service Forwarder 1 Layer 2 Address	MAC封装MAC package	业务2Business 2	负荷xLoad x	业务转发器2二层地址Service Forwarder 2 Layer 2 Address	MAC封装MAC package
业务3Business 3	负荷xLoad x	业务转发器2二层地址Service Forwarder 2 Layer 2 Address	MAC封装MAC package	业务2Business 2	负荷xLoad x	业务转发器2二层地址Service Forwarder 2 Layer 2 Address	MAC封装MAC package
业务3Business 3	负荷xLoad x	业务转发器2二层地址Service Forwarder 2 Layer 2 Address	MAC封装MAC package	业务4Business 4	负荷xLoad x	业务功能4二层地址Service function 4 layer 2 address	MAC封装MAC package

The service link is sent by the management module to the service forwarding table of the service forwarder 2 and the service forwarder 3. The service 1 only contains a record pointing to the service forwarder 1, and the service link is managed by the management module according to the service 11 and the service. The load calculation of 12 is sent to the load of the service 1 in the service forwarding table of the service repeater 2 and the service forwarder 3.

When receiving the user data packet, the service forwarder first queries the service chain path table according to the service chain identifier and the service pointer in the user data packet, obtains the next service name to be processed, and then queries the service forwarding according to the service name. The table obtains the next hop encapsulation mode and destination address information, and uses the destination address information to encapsulate the user data packet in the above encapsulation manner and then send the packet to the next hop.

From the above description, it can be seen that the above embodiments achieve the following technical effects (it is required that the effects are achievable by some preferred embodiments): by using the technical solution provided by the embodiment of the present invention, The service function and the service forwarder automatically report the neighbor information and its own capability information, so that the system can automatically generate a service forwarding table to implement automatic management of service routing.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the various modules or steps of the present invention described above can be implemented by a general-purpose computing device that can be centralized on a single computing device or distributed across a network of multiple computing devices. Alternatively, they may be implemented by program code executable by the computing device such that they may be stored in the storage device by the computing device and, in some cases, may be different from the order herein. The steps shown or described are performed, or they are separately fabricated into individual integrated circuit modules, or a plurality of modules or steps thereof are fabricated as a single integrated circuit module. Thus, the invention is not limited to any specific combination of hardware and software.

The above description is only the preferred embodiment of the present invention, and is not intended to limit the present invention, and various modifications and changes can be made to the present invention. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements, etc. made within the spirit and scope of the present invention are intended to be included within the scope of the present invention.

Industrial applicability

As described above, the service link and the method for using the service link provided by the embodiment of the present invention have the following beneficial effects: the system can automatically generate a service forwarding table to implement automatic management of the service route.

Claims

A service link consists of a management system, including:

The service link is configured by the management function, and is configured to configure a service forwarding table and a service chain path table for the service forwarder, where the service chain path table includes a service list that the service forwarder passes to process the received user data packet. The service forwarding table includes a forwarding path that the service forwarder sends the service data packet to a service function that provides the service to be processed when determining each to-be-processed service according to the service chain path table;

The service forwarder is configured to acquire each service to be processed according to the service chain path table, and send the user data packet to a service function for providing the service to be processed according to the service forwarding table;

The service function is configured to perform service processing on the user data packet.
The system of claim 1 wherein said system further comprises:

a gateway forwarding plane, configured to send the user data packet to the service forwarder, where the user data packet is classified according to a user service chain classification rule, and a service chain header is added to the user data packet. The business chain header includes the business chain identifier.
The system of claim 2 wherein said system further comprises:

A gateway controller configured to configure the gateway forwarding plane.
The system of claim 3 wherein said system further comprises:

The user service chain policy management function is set to manage the policy corresponding to the user service chain.
The system of claim 4 wherein said system further comprises:

The software-defined network SDN controller is configured to control the gateway forwarding plane and the service forwarder for the gateway controller, the user service chain policy management function, and the service link by the management function to provide a southbound interface.
A method for using a service link management system according to any one of claims 1 to 5, comprising:

The service link receives, by the management function, a first set of information from the service function, where the first set of information includes at least one of: capability information of the service function, load information of the service function, the service Functionally connected service forwarder information; and/or, the service link is managed by The second information set can be received from the service forwarder, where the second information set includes at least one of the following: neighbor information, self information, and the neighbor information includes: other services directly connected to the service forwarder Transponder information;

The service link is configured by the management function to configure a service forwarding table for the service forwarder according to the first information set and/or the second information set.
The method according to claim 6, wherein the service transponder information of the service function connection is one of the following: Layer 2 link information of the connected service forwarder, and an Internet Protocol IP address of the connected service forwarder. The logical name of the connected service forwarder.
The method according to claim 6, wherein the capability information comprises: a service type supported by the service function, and a capacity of the service function.
The method according to claim 6, wherein the other service forwarder information directly connected to the service forwarder is one of the following: Layer 2 link information of another service forwarder, and three layers of the other service forwarder IP address information, logical name of the other service forwarder.
The method according to claim 6, wherein the configuring, by the management function, the service forwarding table for the service forwarder according to the first information set and/or the second information set by the management function comprises:

The service link is configured by the management function to calculate the service forwarding table for the service forwarder according to the first information set and/or the second information set;

The service link is sent by the management function to the service forwarder by using a software-defined network SDN controller, where the service chain path table is a pre-configured form.
The method according to any one of claims 6 to 10, wherein the service link is configured by the management function according to the first information set and/or the second information set as the service forwarder configuration After the service forwarding table and the service chain path table, the method further includes:

The service link receives, by the management function, a load change event reported by the service function, where the load change event is a change in the load of the service function that exceeds a preset set by the management function of the service link. Triggered in the case of a load threshold;

The service link is configured by the management function to reconfigure the service forwarding table for the service forwarder according to the load change event.
A method for using a service link management system according to any one of claims 1 to 5, comprising:

The service forwarder receives the service forwarding table and the service chain path table from the management function of the service link, where the service chain path table includes a service list that the service forwarder passes to process the received user data packet, The service forwarding table includes a forwarding path that the service forwarder sends the service data packet to a service function that provides the to-be-processed service when determining each to-be-processed service according to the service chain path table;

The service forwarder uses the service forwarding table and the service chain path table to route the obtained user data packet.
The method according to claim 12, wherein the routing of the user data packet by the service forwarder using the service forwarding table and the service chain path table comprises:

The service forwarder sequentially obtains a plurality of consecutive service names from the service chain path table according to the service chain identifier and the service pointer in the user data packet, and queries the service forwarding table according to each service name. Provide path information for the business function of the service;

The user data packet is forwarded by using path information corresponding to each service name in sequence.