WO2020199807A1

WO2020199807A1 - Method for supporting network slices, network management and control system, and storage medium

Info

Publication number: WO2020199807A1
Application number: PCT/CN2020/077003
Authority: WO
Inventors: 陈丽萍
Original assignee: 中兴通讯股份有限公司
Priority date: 2019-03-29
Filing date: 2020-02-27
Publication date: 2020-10-08
Also published as: CN111757390A

Abstract

Disclosed are a method for supporting network slices, a network management and control system, and a storage medium. The method for supporting network slices comprises: a network management and control system receives a request message used for indicating the creation of a user context, where the request message carries a constraint for a user context to be created; and the network management and control system creates the user context.

Description

Method for supporting network slicing, network management and control system and storage medium

This application claims the priority of a Chinese patent application filed with the Chinese Patent Office with an application number of 201910251373.9 on March 29, 2019. The entire content of this application is incorporated into this application by reference.

Technical field

The embodiments of the present application relate to the field of communication technologies, for example, to a method for supporting network slicing, a network management and control system, and a storage medium.

Background technique

The 5th Generation mobile communication system (5G), as the main direction of the development of the new generation of information and communication, will enable information to break through the limitations of time and space, provide an excellent interactive experience, and bring users immersive information feast. 5G will bring diversified application forms, and there are huge differences in the requirements of different services in terms of bandwidth, delay, reliability, security, and operating billing. The personalized requirements of multiple services are also a huge challenge for operators. Operators hope to build multiple dedicated, virtualized, and isolated logical networks on a physical network to meet the different network capabilities of different services. Requirements, the concept of network slicing came into being, and these mutually isolated logical networks are called network slicing. Correspondingly, operators hope that the transport network can support personalized bearers for different customers and different services on a single network.

Summary of the invention

This application provides a method, network management and control system, and storage medium for supporting network slicing, which can support customized services for different users and different businesses, and realize support for 5G network slicing.

An embodiment of the present application provides a method for supporting network slicing, including: a network management and control system receives a request message for instructing to create a user context, the request message carrying at least a constraint condition of the user context to be created; the network management and control system Create the user context.

An embodiment of the present application also provides a method for supporting network slicing, including: the application side sends a request message for instructing the creation of a user context to the network management and control system, and the request message carries at least the constraint condition of the user context to be created; The application side receives a first confirmation message sent by the network management and control system, where the first confirmation message carries the user context information created by the network management and control system.

An embodiment of the present application also provides a network management and control system, including: a receiving unit configured to receive a request message for instructing to create a user context, the request message carrying at least a constraint condition of the user context to be created; a control unit, configuration To create the user context.

The embodiment of the present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium that stores a computer program, and when the computer program is executed, the method for supporting network slicing provided above is implemented.

In the embodiment of the present application, the network management and control system creates the user context after receiving the request message for instructing the creation of the user context; wherein, the request message carries at least the constraint conditions of the user context to be created. The network management and control system can independently manage different users and different services of users by creating user contexts, so as to support 5G network slicing, so as to meet the individual needs of different users.

Description of the drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an application scenario of an exemplary embodiment of this application;

2 is a flowchart of a method for supporting network slicing provided by an embodiment of the application;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a process of creating a user context provided by an exemplary embodiment of this application;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a process of creating a user context provided by another exemplary embodiment of this application;

FIG. 5 is an application example diagram of the method for supporting network slicing provided by an embodiment of this application;

Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of a user context deletion process provided by an exemplary embodiment of this application;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a user context deletion process provided by another exemplary embodiment of this application;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a user context update process provided by an exemplary embodiment of this application;

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of a user context update process provided by another exemplary embodiment of this application;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of another method for supporting network slicing according to an embodiment of this application;

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of a network management and control system provided by an exemplary embodiment of this application;

Fig. 12 is a schematic diagram of an apparatus for supporting network slicing provided by an exemplary embodiment of this application.

detailed description

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

The steps shown in the flowchart of the drawings may be executed in a computer system such as a set of computer-executable instructions. And, although a logical sequence is shown in the flowchart, in some cases, the steps shown or described may be performed in a different order than here.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of an application scenario of an exemplary embodiment of this application. As shown in FIG. 1, the network management and control system 102 may include at least one of the following: a software-defined network (SDN, Software Defined Network) controller, an intelligent optical network (ASON, Automatically Switched Optical Network) system, a network element management system (EMS, Element Management System, Network Management System (NMS, Network Management System), Integrated Management and Control (MCC) system. The scope of management and control of the network management and control system 102 may include, but is not limited to, L0 to L2 layer transport network equipment, L2, L3 switches, and routing equipment.

The SDN controller is used for centralized control of the network to realize the decoupling of the control plane and the forwarding plane, making the physical network open and programmable, and supporting the innovation of various new network architectures and new services in the future; the ASON system is used for Distributed control of the transmission network, general control plane functions include network topology and resource unified management, network abstraction, path calculation, strategy management and other functions; EMS and NMS mainly complete the alarm management, configuration management, performance management, and calculation of the transmission network. Cost management and security management, as well as the management of control plane control functions. The integrated management and control system can include a series of management and control components, including the functions of the above-mentioned SDN controller, ASON system, EMS, and NMS. These functions can be implemented by different components; for example, the SDN controller Control plane components, including client context (Client Context), service context (Server Context), administrator context (Administrator Context or Administrative Context), etc. can all be introduced into the integrated management and control system.

In an exemplary embodiment, the functions of the network management and control system 102 may be implemented by a single device, or may be implemented by a device cluster. However, this application is not limited to this.

As shown in FIG. 1, the application side 100 may include one of the following: the application side of the network management and control system (for example, the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3rd Generation Partnership Project, 3GPP) management system), and the end user. However, this application is not limited to this.

Fig. 2 is a flowchart of a method for supporting network slicing provided by an embodiment of the application. As shown in Figure 2, the method for supporting network slicing provided in this embodiment may include the following steps:

S201. The network management and control system receives a request message for instructing to create a user context; wherein the request message at least carries a constraint condition of the user context to be created.

S202. The network management and control system creates a user context.

In this embodiment, the network management and control system can create user contexts on demand, so as to realize independent management of different users and different services of users, so as to support 5G network slicing.

In this embodiment, after receiving the request message for instructing the creation of the user context, the network management and control system can create the user context according to the constraint conditions of the user context carried in the request message.

In an exemplary embodiment, the constraint conditions may include at least: virtual network constraint conditions; accordingly, S202 may include: providing a management and control interface for network resources; according to the virtual network constraint conditions, allocating a virtual network formed based on available resources to User context. It should be noted that, in this embodiment, the process of creating a user context includes a process of establishing a component of the user context and a process of allocating resources to the user context; the resource allocation process is performed based on the constructed user context components. Wherein, the resource allocation process may include: providing a management and control interface for network resources on the constructed user context component; and according to virtual network constraints, allocating a virtual network formed based on available resources to the user context component.

In this exemplary embodiment, based on the user context created by the network management and control system, the user can establish a corresponding connection service on the provided network resources through the management and control interface to achieve support for 5G network slicing, thereby meeting the individual needs of different users .

In an exemplary embodiment, the method of this embodiment may further include: the network management and control system assigns an identifier to the user context. For example, before or after allocating resources to the user context, assign an identifier to the user context. Among them, the user context can be assigned a unique identifier in the network management and control system. In this way, it is convenient to distinguish each user context in the network management and control system.

In an exemplary embodiment, the constraint condition may further include: management and control interface information; wherein, providing a management and control interface for network resources may include: creating a management and control interface on the established user context according to the management and control interface information. However, this application is not limited to this. In other implementations, the constraint conditions may include: user level or user role; the network management and control system may provide a management and control interface corresponding to the user level or user role according to the user level or user role.

In an exemplary embodiment, the network management and control system may include: an administrator context; accordingly, according to virtual network constraints, allocating a virtual network formed based on available resources to the user context may include: when used to instruct to create a user context The request message instructs to create the initial user context. The administrator context abstracts the virtual network from the available resources according to the virtual network constraints, and assigns the virtual network to the user context. Among them, the network management and control system can create an administrator context at startup. It should be noted that the aforementioned initial user context refers to a user context that needs to be created through the administrator context of the network management and control system. In this exemplary embodiment, the network management and control system can support providing virtual network resources to different users on demand, so as to meet the individual needs of different users.

In this exemplary embodiment, the virtual network constraint conditions may include at least network topology constraints; accordingly, the administrator context abstracts the virtual network from available resources according to the virtual network constraint conditions, and assigns the virtual network to the user context. Including: the administrator context queries the available resources from the resource database; when there is a virtual network that meets the network topology constraints in the available resources, the administrator context directly assigns the virtual network to the user context; when there is no available resource that meets the network topology constraints Virtual network, for the nodes and links that can provide the required resources in the available resources, the corresponding resources are directly allocated to the virtual network built. When there is no link between the nodes in the available resources that meets the network topology constraints, the administrator The context triggers the establishment of connections between nodes, abstracts and aggregates the established connections to form a virtual link, and forms a virtual network with the virtual link and directly allocated resources, and allocates the virtual network to the user context. In other words, when there is a virtual network that meets the network topology constraints in the available resources, the virtual network is directly assigned to the created user context; when there is no virtual network that meets the network topology constraints in the available resources, the network topology constraints are met in the available resources Part of the resources are allocated to the virtual network, and another part of the resources meeting the network topology constraints is obtained by establishing connections and abstract aggregation to form a virtual link. Based on the two parts of the resources, the virtual network is formed, and the virtual network is allocated to the user context.

In this exemplary embodiment, the network management and control system may further include: Network Call Controller (NCC) and Connection Controller (CC, Connection Controller); accordingly, the administrator context triggers the establishment of connections between nodes, It may include: the administrator context sends a call request to the network call controller, the network call controller converts the call request into a connection request and sends the connection request to the connection controller, and then the connection controller establishes a corresponding connection according to the connection request; Or, the administrator context directly sends a connection request to the connection controller, and then the connection controller establishes a connection according to the connection request.

In an exemplary embodiment, the network management and control system may include: an existing user context; accordingly, according to virtual network constraints, assigning a virtual network formed based on available resources to the created user context may include: The request message instructing to create a user context instructs to create an embedded or recursive user context in the existing user context, then the existing user context is in the virtual network of the existing user context, and the virtual network constraint conditions will be met The resources are allocated to the embedded or recursive user context of the existing user context. In this exemplary embodiment, the network management and control system can support the provision of virtual network resources for different services of users on demand, so as to meet the individual needs of users. It should be noted that creating an embedded or recursive user context means creating a user context related to an existing user context. Depending on the actual application scenario, the existing user context can create an embedded user context or a recursive user context.

In an exemplary embodiment, the request message for instructing to create a user context may also carry an identifier of an existing user context, which is used to instruct to create an embedded or recursive user context in the existing user context.

In an exemplary embodiment, the request message for instructing to create a user context may also carry user namespace rules; accordingly, the method of this embodiment may further include: according to user namespace rules and local namespace rules, The constraints of the user context are converted from the user namespace to the local namespace. In this exemplary embodiment, the constraint condition of the user context may be converted according to the user namespace rule and the local namespace rule before the constraint condition of the user context is used.

In an exemplary embodiment, the above-mentioned user context information created by S202 may include at least: the identifier of the user context, the network resource corresponding to the user context, and the management and control interface of the network resource; wherein, the network resource may include at least one of the following One: Virtual network resources, physical network resources. Among them, the network resources corresponding to the user context can include virtual network resources, physical network resources, or virtual network resources and physical network resources formed through aggregation and abstraction during the creation of the user context; An interface for management and control of network resources, for example, establishing business connections for slices of a certain type of service.

In an exemplary embodiment, the above-mentioned user context information created by S202 may include: the identifier of the user context, the network resource corresponding to the user context, the management and control interface of the network resource, the user namespace rule, and the policy configured by the user. Among them, the user name space rules are used for components in the network management and control system to convert between the user name space and the local name space of the network management and control system; user configuration strategies can include, but are not limited to, protection and restoration strategies, user roles, and corresponding Permissions.

In an exemplary embodiment, after S202, the method of this embodiment may further include: the network management and control system sends a first confirmation message, where the first confirmation message carries the user context information created in S202. For example, the user context information carried in the first confirmation message may at least include: an identifier of the user context, a virtual network resource of the user context, and a management and control interface created on the user context.

In an exemplary embodiment, before the network management and control system sends the first confirmation message, the method of this embodiment may further include: the network management and control system sends the user context information created in S202 according to user namespace rules and local namespace rules Convert from local namespace to user namespace.

In an exemplary embodiment, after S202, the method of this embodiment may further include: the network management and control system receives a request message for instructing to update the user context, and the request message carries the identifier of the user context to be updated and the required information. Updated information; the network management and control system updates the corresponding user context according to the request message for instructing to update the user context; the network management and control system sends a second confirmation message, and the second confirmation message carries the updated user context information. For example, the updated user context information may include: the identifier of the user context, the virtual network resource of the updated user context, and the updated management and control interface.

In this exemplary embodiment, the network management and control system updates the user context according to the request message for instructing to update the user context, which may include: when a service exists on the virtual network of the user context to be updated, the service is migrated; The updated information updates the virtual network of the user context; restores the service to the updated virtual network.

In an exemplary embodiment, after S202, the method of this embodiment may further include: the network management and control system receives a request message for instructing to delete the user context, the request message carrying the identifier of the user context to be deleted; the network management and control system According to the request message for instructing to delete the user context, delete the corresponding user context; the network management and control system sends a third confirmation message, which is used to indicate that the corresponding user context has been deleted.

In this exemplary embodiment, the network management and control system deletes the corresponding user context according to the request message for instructing to delete the user context, which may include: when the user context to be deleted is the initially created user context, then the network management and control system The administrator context triggers the release of the virtual links contained in the virtual network of the user context, and updates the resource database; when the user context to be deleted is an embedded or recursive user context of an existing user context, the existing user context in the network management and control system Some user contexts delete embedded or recursive user context information and update the resource database.

The method for supporting network slicing provided in this embodiment can provide virtual network resources and management and control interfaces to different users and different services of users on demand through the life cycle management of user contexts, so that users can access the resources provided through the management and control interfaces. Establish corresponding service connections on the Internet to support 5G network slicing, so as to meet the individual needs of different users.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a process of creating a user context provided by an exemplary embodiment of this application. As shown in FIG. 3, this exemplary embodiment describes the process of creating a user context (Client Context) for a new user by the administrator context (Administrator Context) of the network management and control system. As shown in Fig. 3, this exemplary embodiment includes the following processes:

S301. After the network management and control system is initially started, an administrator context is established by default; the administrator has the highest management authority, and the administrator context can be visible to all resources in the management domain of the network management and control system.

S302. The administrator context of the network management and control system receives a request message sent from the application side for instructing to create a user context; the request message may carry a constraint condition of the user context to be created; wherein the constraint condition may include a virtual network constraint condition , User policies, management and control interface information, user namespace rules; virtual network constraints can include but are not limited to: network topology constraints, service types, isolation requirements, bandwidth capacity, service level parameters. However, this application is not limited to this.

S303. The administrator context of the network management and control system creates a user context according to the above request message.

In this exemplary embodiment, a unique identifier (Identifier, ID) within the scope of the network management and control system may be assigned to the user context before or after the resource is assigned to the user context.

The management and control interface can be created for the user in the user context according to the management and control interface information carried in the request message.

The administrator context of the network management and control system abstracts the virtual network based on the available resources based on the virtual network constraint conditions carried in the request message, and assigns the virtual network to the user context. In this exemplary embodiment, according to the constraints of the virtual network, the virtual network is abstractly formed on the basis of available resources, which may include the following process:

S304a. The administrator context queries available resources from a resource database (RDB, Resource Database).

Among them, when there is a virtual network that satisfies the network topology constraints in the available resources, the virtual network is directly assigned to the user context.

When there is no virtual network that satisfies the network topology constraints in the available resources, for the nodes and links that can provide the required resources in the available resources, the corresponding resources are directly allocated to the virtual network to be built. If the nodes do not meet the network topology When constraining the required link, the administrator context sends a call request to the Network Call Controller (NCC) (S304b in Figure 3); the network call controller converts the call request into a connection request and sends it to the connection A controller (CC, Connection Controller) requests to establish a corresponding connection (S304c in FIG. 3), the established connection can be used as a virtual link between nodes, and the connection controller can interact with the RDB to save connection information.

The administrator context abstracts and aggregates the established connections as needed to form a virtual link, and forms a virtual network together with the directly allocated resources, and allocates the virtual network to the user context.

Before the above process of establishing a virtual network, the administrator context can convert the network topology constraints from the user namespace to the local namespace according to the user namespace rules and the local namespace rules. Exemplarily, the administrator context can implement the conversion of network topology constraints from the user namespace to the local namespace through other components (for example, Directory Service or new components).

S305. The administrator context of the network management and control system sends a confirmation message (corresponding to the aforementioned first confirmation message) to the application side, and the confirmation message carries information about the newly created user context.

In this exemplary embodiment, the information of the newly created user context may include at least: the identifier of the user context, the network resources (including virtual network resources or physical network resources) that the user can use, information about the management and control interface provided for the user, User namespace rules, user configuration strategies.

The user name space rules can be configured according to the user name space rules carried in the request message in S302; the user configuration policy can be configured according to the user policy carried in the request message in S302; the user context identifier and the control interface provided for the user Information and network resources available to users can be obtained through S303.

The network resources that users can use can include the above-mentioned virtual network or physical network resources formed through aggregation and abstraction; the management and control interface provided for users refers to the interface that users can use to manage and control the available network resources, such as The slices of service types establish business connections; user namespace rules are used for components in the network management and control system to convert between the user namespace and the local namespace of the network management and control system; user configuration strategies include but are not limited to protection and recovery strategies, users Roles and corresponding permissions.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a process of creating a user context provided by another exemplary embodiment of this application. As shown in FIG. 4, this exemplary embodiment describes a process in which a user administrator of a network management and control system creates an embedded or recursive user context for a new service. As shown in Fig. 4, this exemplary embodiment includes the following processes:

S401. According to the process shown in FIG. 3, the administrator context of the network management and control system establishes the user context of the user, and configures the administrator information of the user.

S402: The user context of the network management and control system receives a request message sent by the application-side administrator for instructing the creation of the user context, and the request message may carry the identifier of the existing user context and the constraint conditions of the user context to be created; where The constraint conditions can include at least virtual network constraint conditions, user policies, and management and control interface information; virtual network constraint conditions can include, but are not limited to: network topology constraints, service types, isolation requirements, bandwidth capacity, and service level parameters.

S403. The user administrator context C0 creates an embedded or recursive user context C1 (or C2) component according to the above request message, and assigns the embedded or recursive user context C1 a unique identifier in the network management and control system; where , Can create a management and control interface for the user on the embedded or recursive user context C1 component according to the management and control interface information.

S404: Among the available resources of the allocated virtual network, the user context allocates corresponding resources to the embedded or recursive user context C1 component according to the virtual network constraint conditions, and saves the relevant resource information in the RDB.

S405: The user context of the network management and control system sends a confirmation message (corresponding to the above-mentioned first confirmation message) to the application side, and the confirmation message carries the information of the newly built embedded or recursive user context C1.

In this exemplary embodiment, the information of the newly created user context C1 may include at least: the identifier of the user context C1, the network resources (including virtual network resources) that the user can use, the information of the management and control interface provided for the user, and the user configuration Strategy.

FIG. 5 is a diagram of an application example for supporting network slicing provided by an embodiment of this application. This exemplary embodiment illustrates that in a scenario that supports 5G end-to-end (E2E, End-to-End) slicing, a 5G E2E slicing management system (for example, a 3GPP management system) is based on TAPI (Transport Application Programming Interface). ) Interact with the network management and control system to create user contexts for operators of 5G E2E slices.

As shown in FIG. 5, this exemplary embodiment includes the following process:

S501, the 5G E2E slice management system sends a request message for instructing the creation of a user context to the network management and control system through TAPI; the request message can be a new message for instructing the creation of a user context, or can be operated through an extended TAPI interface (for example, Use the virtual network service request message) to trigger the network management and control system to create a user context for the 5G E2E slice management system; the request message can carry user context constraints, for example, carry service access point information (corresponding to the aforementioned network topology constraints) , Management interface information, service level requirements, bandwidth capacity, etc.

In S502, the processing procedure of the network management and control system after receiving the request message can refer to S303 to S305 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, and therefore will not be repeated here.

S503, the 5G E2E slice management system sends a connection service request to the user context, and establishes an L2 or L3VPN (Virtual Private Network, virtual private network) on the virtual network provided by the user context to provide connection services for specific 5G network slice instances.

S504. The user context triggers the connection controller to establish a corresponding connection according to the connection service request, and configures the nodes and links included in the connection. The edge node that provides the connection needs to connect the 5G network slice instance and the virtual network. The mapping relationship is configured.

In this exemplary embodiment, after the network management system establishes the corresponding user context for the operator of 5G E2E slices, if the 5G operator wants to carry 5G E2E slices of different service types through different resources, the 5G operator’s The user context can create different embedded or recursive user contexts for 5G E2E slices of different service types according to the request. Based on the resources provided by the virtual network of the user context of the 5G operator, different embedded or Recursive user context allocation of resources. In this scenario, if TAPI is used, the request message sent by the 5G E2E slice management system received by the user context of the 5G operator is consistent with the description of S501 in this exemplary embodiment, and the user context of the 5G operator is The processing procedure after the request message is the same as the procedure from S403 to S405 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, and will not be repeated here.

Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of a user context deletion process provided by an exemplary embodiment of this application. As shown in Figure 6, this exemplary embodiment describes a process in which the administrator of the network management and control system deletes the user context. As shown in Fig. 6, this exemplary embodiment includes the following processes:

S601: The administrator context of the network management and control system receives a request message sent from the application side for instructing to delete the user context, and the request message carries an identification (ID) of the user context to be deleted.

S602. The administrator context of the network management and control system deletes the user context.

S602 may include the following steps:

S602a. The administrator context sends a call release to the network call controller (NCC) or a connection release request to the connection controller (CC), triggering the NCC, CC, and link resource management (LRM) components to be virtual The virtual link established by the network is released, including all connections that are abstractly aggregated.

S602b: The administrator context interacts with the RDB to delete information related to the user context, including deleting the information of the released link, and updating the status of other resources.

S602c. The administrator context deletes the user context.

S603. The administrator context of the network management and control system sends a feedback message (corresponding to the aforementioned third confirmation message) to the application side, where the feedback message is used to indicate to the application side that the user context has been deleted.

Fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of a user context deletion process provided by another exemplary embodiment of the application. As shown in FIG. 7, this exemplary embodiment describes a process in which the user administrator of the network management and control system deletes the user context. As shown in FIG. 7, this exemplary embodiment includes the following processes:

S701: The user context of the network management and control system receives a request message sent from the application side for instructing to delete the embedded user context, and the request message carries the ID of the embedded or recursive user context to be deleted.

S702. The user context deletes the embedded or recursive user context (for example, the user context C1).

S702 may include the following steps:

S702a: The user administrator context C0 interacts with the RDB to instruct to delete the information related to the embedded or recursive user context C1, and update the state of the occupied resources.

S702b. The user administrator context C0 deletes the embedded or recursive user context C1.

S703. The user context of the network management and control system feeds back a message (corresponding to the aforementioned third confirmation message) to the application side, which confirms that the embedded or recursive user context C1 has been deleted.

Fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of a user context update process provided by an exemplary embodiment of this application. As shown in FIG. 8, this exemplary embodiment describes a process in which the administrator of the network management and control system updates the user context. As shown in Fig. 8, this exemplary embodiment includes the following processes:

S801. The administrator context of the network management and control system receives a request message from the application side that instructs to update the user context. The request message carries the ID of the user context to be updated and the information that needs to be updated, such as network topology constraints, bandwidth capacity .

S802. The administrator context of the network management and control system updates user context information.

S802 may include the following steps:

S802a. The administrator context determines the node and link to update the resource according to the information that needs to be updated, and sends at least one of the call establishment and release request to the NCC, or sends at least one of the connection establishment and release request to the CC as required One item; before determining the node and link of the resource to be updated, according to the information that needs to be updated, the user administrator context may need to calculate the route through the routing controller (RC, Routing Controller) to further clarify the need to add or delete resource of.

S802b. The administrator context interacts with the RDB, updates the user context information, saves the newly established call or connection information, and allocates it to the virtual network in the user context, and updates the resource status for the released resources.

If there are services on the virtual network, the administrator context needs to migrate the services before S802a, and then restore the services to the updated virtual network after S802b.

S803. The administrator context of the network management and control system sends a confirmation message (corresponding to the aforementioned second confirmation message) to the application side, and the confirmation message carries updated user context information (including virtual network information).

Fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of a user context update process provided by another exemplary embodiment of the application. As shown in FIG. 9, this exemplary embodiment describes a process in which a user administrator of the network management and control system updates the user context. As shown in FIG. 9, this exemplary embodiment includes the following processes:

S901: The user context of the network management and control system receives a request message sent from the application side for instructing to update the embedded or recursive user context, and the request message carries the ID of the user context to be updated and the information that needs to be updated.

S902. The user context updates the embedded or recursive user context (for example, the user context C1); which may include: S902a, the user administrator context C0 interacts with the RDB to obtain resources available to the user, and adds New resources or delete unnecessary nodes and links, and save relevant information in RDB, associate the newly allocated resources to the virtual network of the embedded or recursive user context C1, or update the status of the released resources ; Before adding new resources or deleting unnecessary nodes and links, according to the information that needs to be updated, the user administrator context may need to calculate the route through the routing controller (RC) to determine the resources that need to be added or deleted .

S903. The user context feeds back a message (corresponding to the aforementioned second confirmation message) to the application side, which confirms that the embedded or recursive user context C1 has been updated, and carries the updated user context information.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of another method for supporting network slicing according to an embodiment of the application. As shown in FIG. 10, the method for supporting network slicing provided by this exemplary embodiment includes:

S1001. The application side sends a request message for instructing to create a user context to the network management and control system, where the request message at least carries a constraint condition of the user context to be created.

S1002. The application side receives a first confirmation message returned by the network management and control system, where the first confirmation message carries the user context information created by the network management and control system.

In an exemplary embodiment, the user context information created by the network management and control system may include at least: the identifier of the user context, the network resource corresponding to the user context, and the management and control interface of the network resource; wherein, the network resource may include at least one of the following One: Virtual network resources, physical network resources.

In an exemplary embodiment, the user context information created by the network management and control system may include: the identifier of the user context, the network resource corresponding to the user context, the management and control interface of the network resource, the user namespace rule, and the policy configured by the user. However, this application is not limited to this.

In an exemplary embodiment, after S1002, the method of this embodiment may further include: the application side sends a request message for instructing to update the user context to the network management and control system, the request message carrying the identifier of the user context to be updated and Information that needs to be updated; the application side receives a second confirmation message sent by the network management and control system, and the second confirmation message carries updated user context information.

In an exemplary embodiment, after S1002, the method of this embodiment may further include: the application side sends a request message for instructing to delete the user context to the network management and control system, the request message carrying an identifier of the user context to be deleted; The application side receives a third confirmation message sent by the network management and control system, where the third confirmation message is used to indicate to the application side that the user context to be deleted has been deleted.

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of a network management and control system provided by an embodiment of this application. As shown in FIG. 11, the network management and control system provided in this embodiment includes: a receiving unit 1101, configured to receive a request message for instructing to create a user context, and the request message carries at least constraints of the user context to be created; a control unit 1102 , Configured to create a user context.

In an exemplary embodiment, the restriction conditions may include at least: virtual network restriction conditions; the control unit 1102 may be configured to create user contexts in the following manner: provide a management and control interface for network resources; according to the virtual network restriction conditions, based on available resources The formed virtual network is assigned to the user context.

In an exemplary embodiment, the control unit 1102 may also be configured to assign an identifier to the user context.

In an exemplary embodiment, the control unit 1102 may include an administrator context; the control unit 1102 may be configured to allocate a virtual network formed based on available resources to the user context according to virtual network constraints in the following manner: when the request message indicates to create In the initial user context, the administrator context abstracts the available resources to form a virtual network based on the constraints of the virtual network, and assigns the virtual network to the user context.

In an exemplary embodiment, the control unit 1102 may include an existing user context; the control unit 1102 may be configured to allocate a virtual network formed based on available resources to the user context according to virtual network constraints in the following manner: when the request message Instruct to create an embedded or recursive user context in the existing user context, then the existing user context is in the virtual network of the existing user context, and resources that meet the constraints of the virtual network are allocated to the existing user context. The embedded or recursive user context of the user context.

In an exemplary embodiment, as shown in FIG. 11, the network management and control system may further include: a sending unit 1103 configured to send a first confirmation message, where the first confirmation message carries user context information created by the network management and control system.

In an exemplary embodiment, the user context information carried in the first confirmation message may include at least: an identifier of the user context, a network resource corresponding to the user context, and a management and control interface of the network resource; the network resource includes at least one of the following : Virtual network resources, physical network resources.

In an exemplary embodiment, the receiving unit 1101 may be further configured to receive a request message for instructing to update the user context, the request message carrying the identifier of the user context to be updated and the information to be updated; the control unit 1102 may also It is configured to update the user context according to a request message for instructing to update the user context; the sending unit 1103 may also be configured to send a second confirmation message, the second confirmation message carrying updated user context information.

In an exemplary embodiment, the receiving unit 1101 may be further configured to receive a request message for instructing to delete the user context, the request message carrying an identifier of the user context to be deleted; the control unit 1102 may also be configured to indicate The request message for deleting the user context is to delete the user context; the sending unit 1103 may also be configured to send a third confirmation message, which is used to indicate that the user context to be deleted has been deleted.

For the relevant description of the network management and control system of this embodiment, reference may be made to the description of the foregoing method embodiment, so it is not repeated here.

FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram of an apparatus for supporting network slicing provided by an embodiment of the application. As shown in FIG. 12, the apparatus for supporting network slicing provided in this embodiment can be set on the application side and includes: a receiving unit 1201 and a sending unit 1202; wherein, the sending unit 1202 is configured to send instructions to the network management and control system for creating user context The request message contains at least the constraint conditions of the user context to be created; the receiving unit 1201 is configured to receive the first confirmation message sent by the network management and control system, and the first confirmation message carries the user context information created by the network management and control system . For example, the user context information carried in the first confirmation message may at least include: an identifier of the user context, a virtual network resource of the user context, and a management and control interface created on the user context.

In an exemplary embodiment, the sending unit 1202 may be further configured to send a request message for instructing to update the user context to the network management and control system, the request message carrying the identifier of the user context to be updated and the information to be updated; the receiving unit 1201 may also be configured to receive a second confirmation message sent by the network management and control system, where the second confirmation message carries updated user context information.

In an exemplary embodiment, the sending unit 1202 may be further configured to send a request message for instructing to delete the user context to the network management and control system, the request message carrying the identifier of the user context to be deleted; the receiving unit 1201 may also be configured to receive A third confirmation message sent by the network management and control system, where the third confirmation message is used to indicate to the application side that the user context has been deleted.

In summary, the network management and control system can independently manage different users and different services of users according to their needs by managing user contexts, and dynamically allocate and manage network resources according to user needs, so as to meet different users or different services Individual needs.

In addition, an embodiment of the present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium that stores a computer program, and when the computer program is executed, the steps of the method for supporting network slicing are realized, such as the steps shown in FIG.

A person of ordinary skill in the art can understand that all or some of the steps, functional modules/units in the system, and apparatus in the methods disclosed above can be implemented as software, firmware, hardware, and appropriate combinations thereof. In hardware implementations, the division between functional modules/units mentioned in the above description does not necessarily correspond to the division of physical components; for example, one physical component may have multiple functions, or one function or step may consist of several physical components. The components are executed cooperatively. Some or all components may be implemented as software executed by a processor, such as a digital signal processor or a microprocessor, or as hardware, or as an integrated circuit, such as an application specific integrated circuit. Such software may be distributed on a computer-readable medium, and the computer-readable medium may include a computer storage medium (or non-transitory medium) and a communication medium (or transitory medium). As is well known to those of ordinary skill in the art, the term computer storage medium includes volatile and non-volatile memory implemented in any method or technology for storing information (such as computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data). Flexible, removable and non-removable media. Computer storage media include but are not limited to Random Access Memory (RAM), Read-Only Memory (ROM), Electrically Programmable Read-Only Memory, EEPROM, Flash memory or other storage technologies, compact Disk-ROM (CD-ROM), Digital Versatile Disc (DVD) or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tapes, disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, Or any other medium that can be used to store desired information and that can be accessed by a computer. In addition, as is well known to those of ordinary skill in the art, communication media usually include computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or transmissions such as carrier waves or other Mechanisms and the like modulate other data in the data signal, and can include any information delivery medium.

Claims

A method to support network slicing includes:

The network management and control system receives a request message for instructing to create a user context, where the request message carries a constraint condition of the user context to be created;

The network management and control system creates the user context.
The method according to claim 1, wherein the constraint conditions comprise: virtual network constraints;

The creation of the user context by the network management and control system includes:

The network management and control system provides a management and control interface for network resources;

The network management and control system allocates a virtual network formed based on available resources to the user context according to the virtual network constraint condition.
The method according to claim 2, wherein the constraint condition further comprises: management and control interface information;

The network management and control system provides a management and control interface for network resources, including:

The network management and control system creates a management and control interface on the user context according to the management and control interface information.
The method according to claim 2, wherein the network management and control system comprises: an administrator context;

The allocating a virtual network formed based on available resources to the user context according to the virtual network constraint condition includes:

In the case where the request message indicates to create an initial user context, the administrator context abstracts the available resources to form a virtual network according to the virtual network constraint conditions, and allocates the virtual network to the user context.
The method according to claim 4, wherein the virtual network constraint conditions include network topology constraints;

The administrator context abstracts the available resources to form a virtual network according to the virtual network constraint conditions, and allocates the virtual network to the user context, including:

The administrator context queries the available resources from the resource database;

In the case that there is a virtual network that satisfies the network topology constraints among the available resources, the administrator context directly allocates the virtual network to the user context;

In the case that there is no virtual network that satisfies the network topology constraints in the available resources, for the nodes and links that provide the required resources in the available resources, the corresponding resources are directly allocated to the virtual network to be built, and In the case that there are no links between nodes that meet the constraints of the network topology, the administrator context triggers the establishment of a connection between the nodes, abstractly aggregates the established connections to form a virtual link, and combines the virtual link The route and the directly allocated resources form a virtual network, and the virtual network is allocated to the user context.
The method according to claim 5, wherein the network management and control system further comprises: a network call controller and a connection controller;

The administrator context triggering the establishment of a connection between the nodes includes:

The administrator context sends a call request to the network call controller, and the network call controller converts the call request into a connection request and sends the connection request to the connection controller. The controller establishes a corresponding connection according to the connection request; or, the administrator context sends a connection request to the connection controller, and the connection controller establishes a corresponding connection according to the connection request.
The method according to claim 2, wherein the network management and control system comprises: existing user context;

The allocating a virtual network formed based on available resources to the user context according to the virtual network constraint condition includes:

In the case that the request message instructs to create an embedded or recursive user context in the existing user context, the existing user context will satisfy all requirements in the virtual network of the existing user context. The resources of the virtual network constraint conditions are allocated to the embedded or recursive user context of the existing user context.
The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

The network management and control system assigns an identifier to the user context.
The method according to claim 1, wherein the request message for instructing to create a user context also carries an identifier of an existing user context, and is used to instruct to create an embedded or recursive user context in the existing user context. User context.
The method according to claim 1, wherein the request message for instructing to create a user context also carries user namespace rules;

The method further includes: converting the constraint condition of the user context from the user name space to the local name space according to the user name space rule and the local name space rule.
The method according to claim 1, after the network management and control system creates the user context, further comprising:

The network management and control system sends a first confirmation message, where the first confirmation message carries the user context information created by the network management and control system.
The method according to claim 11, before the network management and control system sends the first confirmation message, further comprising:

The network management and control system converts the user context information created by the network management and control system from the local name space to the user name space according to the user name space rules and the local name space rules.
The method according to claim 1, 11 or 12, wherein the user context information created by the network management and control system includes: an identifier of the user context, a network resource corresponding to the user context, and management and control of the network resource interface;

The network resources include at least one of the following: virtual network resources and physical network resources.
The method according to claim 13, wherein the user context information created by the network management and control system further comprises: user namespace rules and user-configured policies.
The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

The network management and control system receives a request message for instructing to update the user context, where the request message carries an identifier of the user context to be updated and information to be updated;

The network management and control system updates the user context to be updated according to the request message for instructing to update the user context;

The network management and control system sends a second confirmation message, where the second confirmation message carries updated user context information.
The method according to claim 15, wherein the network management and control system updates the user context to be updated according to the request message for instructing to update the user context, comprising:

Migrating the service when there is a service on the virtual network of the user context to be updated;

Update the virtual network of the user context to be updated according to the required update information;

Restore the service to the updated virtual network.
The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

The network management and control system receives a request message for instructing to delete a user context, where the request message carries an identifier of the user context to be deleted;

The network management and control system deletes the user context to be deleted according to the request message for instructing to delete the user context;

The network management and control system sends a third confirmation message, where the third confirmation message is used to indicate that the user context to be deleted has been deleted.
The method according to claim 17, wherein the network management and control system deletes the user context to be deleted according to the request message for instructing to delete the user context, comprising:

In the case that the user context to be deleted is the initial user context, the administrator context in the network management and control system triggers the release of virtual links included in the virtual network of the user context to be deleted, and updates the resource database ；

In the case that the user context to be deleted is an embedded or recursive user context of an existing user context, the existing user context in the network management and control system deletes the embedded or recursive user context Information and update the resource database.
The method according to claim 1, wherein the network management and control system comprises at least one of the following: a software-defined network SDN controller, an intelligent optical network ASON system, a network element management system EMS, a network management system NMS, and an integrated management and control MCC system.
A method to support network slicing includes:

The application side sends a request message for instructing to create a user context to the network management and control system, where the request message carries the constraint condition of the user context to be created;

The application side receives a first confirmation message sent by the network management and control system, where the first confirmation message carries the user context information created by the network management and control system.
The method according to claim 20, wherein the information of the user context created by the network management and control system comprises: an identifier of the user context, a network resource corresponding to the user context, and a management and control interface of the network resource;

The network resources include at least one of the following: virtual network resources and physical network resources.
The method according to claim 21, wherein the user context information created by the network management and control system further comprises: user namespace rules and user-configured policies.
The method according to claim 20, further comprising:

Sending, by the application side, a request message for instructing to update the user context to the network management and control system, where the request message carries an identifier of the user context to be updated and information to be updated;

The application side receives a second confirmation message sent by the network management and control system, where the second confirmation message carries updated user context information.
The method according to claim 20, further comprising:

Sending, by the application side, a request message for instructing to delete the user context to the network management and control system, where the request message carries an identifier of the user context to be deleted;

The application side receives a third confirmation message sent by the network management and control system, where the third confirmation message is used to indicate that the user context to be deleted has been deleted.
A network management and control system, including:

A receiving unit, configured to receive a request message for instructing to create a user context, wherein the request message carries a constraint condition of the user context to be created;

The control unit is configured to create the user context.
The network management and control system according to claim 25, wherein the restriction conditions include at least: virtual network restriction conditions;

The control unit is configured to create the user context in the following manner: providing a management and control interface for network resources; according to the virtual network constraint condition, assign a virtual network formed based on available resources to the user context.
The network management and control system according to claim 25, wherein the control unit is further configured to assign an identifier to the user context.
The network management and control system according to claim 26, wherein the control unit includes an administrator context; the control unit is configured to allocate a virtual network formed based on available resources to the virtual network based on the virtual network constraint conditions in the following manner The user context:

In the case where the request message indicates to create an initial user context, the administrator context abstracts the available resources to form a virtual network according to the virtual network constraint conditions, and allocates the virtual network to the user context.
The network management and control system according to claim 26, wherein the control unit includes an existing user context; the control unit is configured to form a virtual network based on available resources according to the constraints of the virtual network in the following manner Assigned to the user context:

In the case that the request message instructs to create an embedded or recursive user context in the existing user context, the existing user context will satisfy all requirements in the virtual network of the existing user context. The resources of the virtual network constraint conditions are allocated to the embedded or recursive user context of the existing user context.
The network management and control system according to claim 25, wherein the network management and control system further comprises: a sending unit configured to send a first confirmation message, wherein the first confirmation message carries a user created by the network management and control system Contextual information.
The network management and control system according to claim 25 or 30, wherein the user context information created by the network management and control system includes: the identifier of the user context, the network resource corresponding to the user context, and the management and control of the network resource interface;

The network resources include at least one of the following: virtual network resources and physical network resources.
The network management and control system according to claim 30, wherein the receiving unit is further configured to receive a request message for instructing to update the user context, wherein the request message carries the identifier of the user context to be updated and the required update Information;

The control unit is further configured to update the user context to be updated according to the request message for instructing to update the user context;

The sending unit is further configured to send a second confirmation message, wherein the second confirmation message carries updated user context information.
The network management and control system according to claim 30 or 32, wherein the receiving unit is further configured to receive a request message for instructing to delete a user context, wherein the request message carries an identifier of the user context to be deleted;

The control unit is further configured to delete the user context to be deleted according to the request message for instructing to delete the user context;

The sending unit is further configured to send a third confirmation message, where the third confirmation message is used to indicate that the user context to be deleted has been deleted.
A computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program, which when executed, implements the method for supporting network slicing according to any one of claims 1 to 24.