CN109639460B

CN109639460B - NFV resource management method and device

Info

Publication number: CN109639460B
Application number: CN201811377841.9A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 韩振东; 王磊; 朱常波; 唐雄燕; 赫罡
Original assignee: China United Network Communications Group Co Ltd
Current assignee: China United Network Communications Group Co Ltd
Priority date: 2018-11-19
Filing date: 2018-11-19
Publication date: 2021-12-07
Anticipated expiration: 2038-11-19
Also published as: CN109639460A

Abstract

The application provides a method and a device for NFV resource management, relates to the technical field of communication, and can reduce scheduling of virtual resources in NFV resource management, so that time delay of system operation is reduced. The method comprises the following steps: the NFVO determines at least one virtual resource scheduling operation corresponding to the virtual VNF management operation; if the virtual resource scheduling operation is to create a virtual resource, the NFVO determines a target virtual resource matched with the virtual resource scheduling operation in the virtual resources in the buffer state; the NFVO activates the target virtual resource.

Description

NFV resource management method and device

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a method and an apparatus for NFV resource management.

Background

The core idea of Network Function Virtualization (NFV) is that a Network changes from a traditional software and hardware combined dedicated Network device as a lead actor to a software and hardware separated cloud communication Network, so as to accelerate service development and deployment speed and effectively reduce operation cost.

The NFV system is mainly composed of three parts: a plurality of Virtual Network Functions (VNFs), Network Function virtualization Infrastructure (NFV Infrastructure, NFVI), and NFV Management and Orchestration (MANOs). The MANO is composed of three parts, namely a Network Function Virtualization Orchestrator (NFVO), a Virtualized Network Function Manager (VNFM), and a Virtualized Infrastructure Manager (VIM). Regarding VNF resource management mode, the European communication standards institute (ETSI) proposes two Standard modes:

direct mode: the VNFM makes an operation (such as instantiation, capacity expansion, capacity reduction, termination, software upgrade, and the like of the VNF) request for managing the VNF to the NFVO, and the NFVO returns authorization according to the operation request and the overall resource condition. After being authorized by the NFVO, the VNFM directly performs virtual resource scheduling (e.g., allocation, modification, authorization, etc. of virtual resources) with the VIM. The VNFM feeds back the virtual resource change situation to the NFVO.

Indirect mode: the authorization phase is the same as the direct mode, and is different from the direct mode in that after the VNFM obtains authorization of the NFVO, the VNFM makes a virtual resource scheduling request related to the VNF to the NFVO according to an authorization result, and the NFVO decomposes the virtual resource scheduling request into one or more virtual resource scheduling operations according to a Virtualized Network Function Descriptor (VNFD) and interacts with the VIM to complete resource scheduling. The NFVO feeds back the virtual resource change to the VNFM.

In addition to the two standard modes of ETSI, there is currently a simplified indirection mode of VNF resource management: namely, on the basis of the direct mode, the NFVO serves as a proxy to forward the virtual resource scheduling request between the VNFM and the VIM. The method comprises the following specific steps:

simplified indirect mode: the NFVO configures a resource management agent for each VIM. The step of the authorization stage is the same as the direct mode, and is different from the direct mode in that in the virtual resource scheduling stage after successful authorization, the VNFM directly interacts with the resource management agent of the NFVO, and virtual resource scheduling is realized through the NFVO and the VIM. The VNFM feeds back the virtual resource change situation to the NFVO.

The disadvantages of the above three modes are: in the process of managing VNF resources, when virtual resource scheduling fails, virtual resources participating in virtual resource scheduling may be rolled back to return to an initial state before virtual resource scheduling. When the system tries to perform VNF management operation again, the virtual resource needs to be scheduled again, which causes unnecessary delay.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a method and a device for NFV resource management, which can avoid rescheduling of virtual resources when VNF management operation is executed in an NFV system, thereby reducing system time delay.

In order to achieve the purpose, the technical scheme is as follows:

in a first aspect, the present application provides a method for NFV resource management, which may include:

a network function virtualization orchestrator NFVO determines at least one virtual resource scheduling operation corresponding to a virtual network function VNF management operation; if the virtual resource scheduling operation is to create a virtual resource, the NFVO determines a target virtual resource matched with the virtual resource scheduling operation in the virtual resources in the buffer state; the NFVO activates the target virtual resource.

In a second aspect, the present application provides an apparatus comprising: the device comprises a determining module and a processing module. The device comprises a determining module, a scheduling module and a scheduling module, wherein the determining module is used for determining at least one virtual resource scheduling operation corresponding to a VNF management operation; the processing module is used for determining a target virtual resource matched with the virtual resource scheduling operation in the virtual resources in the buffer state if the virtual resource scheduling operation is to create the virtual resource; activating the target virtual resource.

In a third aspect, the present application provides an apparatus comprising: a processor, a transceiver, and a memory. Wherein the memory is used to store one or more programs. The one or more programs include computer executable instructions that, when executed by the apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform the method for NFV resource management as described in any of the first aspect and its various alternative implementations.

In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium, which stores instructions, and when the instructions are executed by a computer, the computer executes the method for NFV resource management according to the first aspect and any one of the various optional implementations thereof.

When the operation of creating the virtual resource is executed in the NFV system, the NFV resource management method provided by the present application may determine a target virtual resource matching the virtual resource scheduling operation from the virtual resources in the buffer state and activate the target virtual resource, so as to complete the operation of creating the virtual resource. By directly calling the target virtual resource in the cache state, a new virtual resource does not need to be created, and the virtual resource is prevented from being scheduled again, so that the time delay of VNF management operation is reduced.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of an NFV system provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a method for NFV resource management according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 is a first schematic structural diagram of an apparatus for NFV resource management according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of an NFV resource management apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The method and apparatus for NFV resource management provided by the embodiments of the present application are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The term "and/or" herein is merely an association describing an associated object, meaning that three relationships may exist, e.g., a and/or B, may mean: a exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone.

Furthermore, the terms "including" and "having," and any variations thereof, as referred to in the description of the present application, are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions. For example, a process, method, system, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of steps or elements is not limited to only those steps or elements but may alternatively include other steps or elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus.

It should be noted that in the embodiments of the present application, words such as "exemplary" or "for example" are used to indicate examples, illustrations or explanations. Any embodiment or design described herein as "exemplary" or "e.g.," is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments or designs. Rather, use of the word "exemplary" or "such as" is intended to present concepts related in a concrete fashion.

In the description of the present application, the meaning of "a plurality" means two or more unless otherwise specified.

The method for managing NFV resources provided in the embodiment of the present application may be applied to the NFV system shown in fig. 1, where the NFV system includes: OSS/BSS 101, VNF 102, NFVI 103, MANO 104.

The OSS/BSS 101 is an integrated information resource sharing support system for telecommunication operators, and is mainly composed of network management, system management, charging, business, accounting, customer service, and the like.

VNF 102 is a virtualized network function, i.e., a network function that does not run on physical hardware, but rather runs on a virtual machine by virtualization. For example, the routing function is virtualized, and the virtualized routing function means that a hardware router or a switch is not required to be arranged to realize the routing function, but a software program is run on a virtual machine to realize the routing function.

NFVI 103 includes hardware resources and a virtualization layer. The virtualization layer may abstract hardware resources and decouple the VNF 102 in order to provide virtualized resources to the VNF 102. The virtual resource layer includes virtual computing, virtual memory and virtual networks. Virtual computing and virtual storage may be provided to VNF 102 in the form of virtual machines, and/or other virtual containers.

MANOs 104 are used to perform monitoring and management of VNFs 102 and NFVIs 103. The MANO includes: NFVO 105, VNFM 106, VIM 107.

The NFVO 105 may implement a network service on the NFVI 103, may also execute a resource-related request from one or more VNFMs 106, send configuration information to the VNFM 106, and collect status information of the VNF 102. Additionally, NFVO 105 may communicate with VIM 107 to enable allocation and/or reservation of resources and exchange configuration and status information of virtualized hardware resources.

VNFM 106 may manage one or more VNFs 102. VNFM 106 may perform various management functions such as instantiating, updating, querying, scaling, and/or terminating VNF 102, etc.

The VIM 107 may perform functions of resource management, such as managing allocation of infrastructure resources (e.g., adding resources to virtual containers) and operational functions (e.g., collecting NFVI 103 fault information). The VNFM 106 and VIM 107 may communicate with each other for resource allocation and exchange configuration and status information of virtualized hardware resources.

An embodiment of the present application provides a method for NFV resource management, as shown in fig. 2, the method may include S201 to S203:

s201, the NFVO determines at least one virtual resource scheduling operation corresponding to the VNF management operation.

The VNF management operation includes instantiation, capacity expansion, capacity reduction, termination, update, and the like of the VNF. The virtual resources include virtual compute, virtual storage, virtual network in the NFVI virtualization layer.

The virtual resource scheduling operation is a scheduling operation performed on a virtual resource in order to complete an NFV resource management operation. The virtual resource scheduling operation is a more detailed, more basic operation than the VNF resource management operation, and is a scheduling operation with minimum granularity on virtual resources, which can be performed by the VIM in the NFV system shown in fig. 1. The virtual resource scheduling operation specifically includes operations of creating and deleting virtual computing resources, virtual storage resources, virtual network resources, and the like.

Optionally, in the NFV indirect mode, the step may specifically be: the VNFM sends VNF management operations to the NFVO. The NFVO receives VNF management operations sent by the VNFM, and then decomposes the VNF management operations into a plurality of virtual resource scheduling operations according to the VNFD.

The VNFD is a configuration template describing deployment and operation behaviors of the VNF. The VNFD describes a correspondence relationship between a VNF management operation and a virtual resource scheduling operation. Because one VNF management operation may require multiple virtual resource scheduling to be implemented, the VNF management operation needs to be refined into a more detailed and basic virtual resource scheduling operation according to the VNFD.

Optionally, in the NFV simplified indirect mode, the step may specifically be: and the NFVO receives at least one virtual resource scheduling operation corresponding to the VNF management operation sent by the VNFM. That is, the VNFM determines at least one virtual resource scheduling operation corresponding to the VNF management operation, and then sends the virtual resource scheduling operations to the NFVO. For example, when the NFVO receives a firewall creation VNF management operation sent by the VNFM, the VNFM determines that the virtual resource scheduling operation corresponding to the firewall creation operation is a virtual machine creation operation, a network interface allocation operation, and the like, and then the VNFM sends the virtual resource scheduling operation such as the virtual machine creation operation, the network interface allocation operation, and the like to the NFVO.

Optionally, in the NFV simplified indirection mode, a resource management agent is configured on the NFVO for each VIM in this embodiment. The resource management agent is used for forwarding communication information between the VNFM and the VIM, so that the VNFM can manage the VIM without passing through the NFVO main body. Meanwhile, in this embodiment, the resource management agent may also provide scheduling operation information of the VNFM management VIM to the NFVO main body.

S202, if the virtual resource scheduling operation is to create a virtual resource, the NFVO determines a target virtual resource matched with the virtual resource scheduling operation in the virtual resources in the buffer state.

Specifically, if the virtual resource scheduling operation is to create a virtual resource for the VNF, the NFVO searches, in the virtual resource in the buffer state, for a virtual resource of the same type and configuration as the virtual resource that the virtual resource scheduling operation needs to create, so that the found virtual resource is the target virtual resource.

For example, when the virtual resource scheduling operation is an operation that creates a 100MB virtual storage, the NFVO looks for whether there are 100MB virtual storage resources in a buffered state. If there is a 100MB virtual storage resource in a buffered state, the virtual storage resource is the target virtual resource. Similarly, if the virtual resource scheduling operation is an operation of creating a dual-core virtual computing core, the NFVO searches whether a dual-core virtual computing core in a buffer state exists. And if a dual-core virtual computing core in a buffer state exists, the dual-core virtual computing core is the target virtual resource. If the virtual resource scheduling operation is an operation of creating a 100M virtual network card, the NFVO looks for whether there is a 100M virtual network card in a buffered state. If a 100M virtual network card in a buffer state exists, the 100M virtual network card is the target virtual resource.

In the embodiment of the present application, the virtual resource in the buffer state mentioned above refers to a created virtual resource that needs to be deleted but is not deleted but is retained in the rollback operation. And executing a rollback operation after any VNF management operation fails, and if the rollback operation comprises an operation of deleting the virtual resources, the NFVO sets the virtual resources to be deleted to be in a buffer state.

Specifically, in this embodiment, the NFVO determines the identifier of the virtual resource that needs to be deleted in the operation of deleting the virtual resource. And the NFVO finds the virtual resources required to be deleted according to the identifications of the virtual resources, and sets a buffer state label for the virtual resources. Meanwhile, the NFVO does not issue the virtual resource scheduling operation to the VIM, that is, the VIM does not perform a deletion operation on the virtual resource for which the buffer status is set. In this way, the virtual resource that originally needs to be deleted is temporarily reserved by setting the buffer state, so that it can be utilized by the subsequent VNF management operation.

Optionally, the process of setting the virtual resource to be deleted to the buffer state by the NFVO may also be implemented by establishing a buffer state set and adding the identifier of the virtual resource to be deleted to the buffer state set.

S203, NFVO activates the target virtual resource.

Specifically, the activation process is as follows: the NFVO unmasks the buffer status of the target virtual resource so that the target virtual resource may be used in VNF management operations. By activating the target virtual resource, the operation of creating the virtual resource can be completed by directly using the target virtual resource without creating a new virtual resource.

It should be noted that in this embodiment, after the execution of S203 is completed, it indicates that the virtual resource scheduling operation is completed, and then the NFVO directly sends the feedback information of the virtual resource scheduling operation to the VNFM, but does not send the virtual resource scheduling operation to the VIM.

Optionally, after S201, if the NFVO cannot determine the target virtual resource matching the virtual resource scheduling operation in the virtual resources in the buffer state, the NFVO sends the virtual resource scheduling operation to the VIM. And after receiving the virtual resource scheduling operation, the VIM executes corresponding virtual resource scheduling according to the virtual resource scheduling operation. For example, if the virtual resource scheduling operation is to create 2GB virtual storage, and there is no 2GB virtual storage in the virtual resource in the buffer state, the NFVO sends the virtual resource scheduling operation to the VIM. The VIM will create a 2GB virtual storage according to the virtual resource schedule.

In addition, considering that if the virtual resources in the buffer state are not used for a long time, the system resources are wasted, the following steps are added to the above steps to solve the problem:

after the NFVO sets a buffer state for the virtual resource, the NFVO sets a timer for the virtual resource in the buffer state, and the timer is configured to roll back the virtual resource in the buffer state after a preset time elapses. After setting a timer for the virtual resource in the buffer state, the NFVO monitors the timer state of the virtual resource. If the preset time of the timer of a certain virtual resource has passed, the NFVO notifies the VIM to roll back the virtual resource to release the virtual resource.

Correspondingly, in step S203, after the NFVO determines, in the virtual resources in the buffer state, a target virtual resource that matches the virtual resource scheduling operation, the method further includes: and the NFVO deletes the timer corresponding to the target virtual resource.

Meanwhile, based on the above method, in S202, when the NFVO determines the target virtual resource matching the virtual resource scheduling operation in the virtual resources in the buffer state, if there are multiple virtual resources that can match the virtual resource scheduling operation, one virtual resource with the minimum timer remaining time may be selected as the target virtual resource according to the time of the timer corresponding to the virtual resource.

In the embodiment of the present application, according to the method example, a device for executing the NFV resource management method may be divided into functional modules or functional units, for example, each functional module or functional unit may be divided corresponding to each function, or two or more functions may be integrated into one processing module. The integrated module may be implemented in a form of hardware, or may be implemented in a form of a software functional module or a functional unit. The division of the modules or units in the embodiment of the present application is schematic, and is only a logic function division, and there may be another division manner in actual implementation.

Fig. 3 shows a schematic view of a possible configuration of the device according to the above-described embodiment. The device comprises a determining module 301 and a processing module 302.

The determining module 301 is configured to determine at least one virtual resource scheduling operation corresponding to a VNF management operation.

The processing module 302 is configured to determine, if the virtual resource scheduling operation is to create a virtual resource, a target virtual resource that is matched with the virtual resource scheduling operation in the virtual resources in the buffer state; activating the target virtual resource.

Optionally, the processing module 302 is specifically configured to determine a type and an attribute of a virtual resource to be created by the virtual resource scheduling operation; and determining a target virtual resource with the same type and attribute as the virtual resource to be created in the virtual resource in the buffer state according to the type and attribute of the virtual resource to be created.

Optionally, the processing module 302 is further configured to execute a rollback operation after any VNF management operation fails, and set the virtual resource to be deleted to a buffer state if the rollback operation includes an operation of deleting the virtual resource.

Optionally, the processing module 302 is further configured to set a timer for the virtual resource in the buffer state, where the timer is configured to roll back the virtual resource in the buffer state after a preset time elapses.

Optionally, the processing module 302 is further configured to delete the timer corresponding to the target virtual resource after determining the target virtual resource matching the virtual resource scheduling operation in the virtual resource in the buffer state.

When the NFV resource management apparatus provided in the present application performs an operation of creating a virtual resource in the NFV system, a target virtual resource that matches the virtual resource scheduling operation may be determined from the virtual resources in the buffer state and activated, so that the operation of creating the virtual resource may be completed. By directly calling the target virtual resource in the cache state, the new virtual resource does not need to be created, and the virtual resource is prevented from being scheduled again, so that the time delay of VNF management operation is reduced

Fig. 4 shows a schematic view of a further possible configuration of the device according to the above-described embodiment. The device includes: a processor 401 and a communication interface 402. The processor 401 is configured to control and manage the actions of the apparatus, for example, to perform the steps performed by the determination module 301, the processing module 302, and/or other processes for performing the techniques described herein. The communication interface 402 is used to support communication of the device with other network entities. The device may further comprise a memory 403 and a bus 404, the memory 403 being used for storing program codes and data of the device.

The processor 401 (or described as a controller), among other things, may implement or execute the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the disclosure herein. The processor or controller may be a central processing unit, general purpose processor, digital signal processor, application specific integrated circuit, field programmable gate array or other programmable logic device, transistor logic device, hardware component, or any combination thereof. Which may implement or perform the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the disclosure. The processor may also be a combination of computing functions, e.g., comprising one or more microprocessors, DSPs, and microprocessors, among others.

The communication interface 402 may be a transceiver circuit.

Memory 403 may include volatile memory, such as random access memory; the memory may also include non-volatile memory, such as read-only memory, flash memory, a hard disk, or a solid state disk; the memory may also comprise a combination of memories of the kind described above.

The bus 404 may be an Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA) bus or the like. The bus 404 may be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, and the like. For ease of illustration, only one thick line is shown in FIG. 4, but this does not indicate only one bus or one type of bus.

Through the above description of the embodiments, it is clear to those skilled in the art that, for convenience and simplicity of description, the foregoing division of the functional modules is merely used as an example, and in practical applications, the above function distribution may be completed by different functional modules according to needs, that is, the internal structure of the device may be divided into different functional modules to complete all or part of the above described functions. For the specific working processes of the system, the apparatus and the unit described above, reference may be made to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, and details are not described here again.

An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium, where instructions are stored in the computer-readable storage medium, and when the instructions are executed by a computer, the computer executes each step executed by the NFVO in the method flow shown in the foregoing method embodiment.

The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any combination thereof. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer readable storage medium would include the following: an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a Random Access Memory (RAM), a Read-Only Memory (ROM), an Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EPROM), a register, a hard disk, an optical fiber, a portable Compact Disc Read-Only Memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, any suitable combination of the above, or any other form of computer readable storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor such the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. Of course, the storage medium may also be integral to the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC). In embodiments of the present application, a computer readable storage medium may be any tangible medium that can contain, or store a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

The above description is only an embodiment of the present application, but the scope of the present application is not limited thereto, and any changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the present disclosure should be covered by the scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A method of NFV resource management, comprising:

performing a rollback operation after any VNF management operation fails;

if the rollback operation comprises an operation of deleting the virtual resources, the network function virtualization orchestrator NFVO sets the virtual resources to be deleted to a buffer state;

the NFVO determines at least one virtual resource scheduling operation corresponding to a Virtual Network Function (VNF) management operation;

if the virtual resource scheduling operation is to create a virtual resource, the NFVO determines a target virtual resource matched with the virtual resource scheduling operation in the virtual resources in the buffer state;

the NFVO activates the target virtual resource.

2. The method for NFV resource management according to claim 1, wherein the NFVO determining a target virtual resource matching the virtual resource scheduling operation among the virtual resources in the buffered state comprises:

the NFVO determines the type and the attribute of the virtual resource to be created by the virtual resource scheduling operation;

and the NFVO determines a target virtual resource with the same type and attribute as the virtual resource to be created in the virtual resource in the buffer state according to the type and attribute of the virtual resource to be created.

3. The method for NFV resource management according to any of claims 1-2, further comprising:

the NFVO sets a timer for the virtual resource in the buffer state, and the timer is used for rolling back the virtual resource in the buffer state after a preset time elapses.

4. The method for NFV resource management according to claim 3, after the NFVO determines a target virtual resource matching the virtual resource scheduling operation in the virtual resources in the buffered state, further comprising:

and the NFVO deletes the timer corresponding to the target virtual resource.

5. An apparatus for NFV resource management, comprising:

a determining module, configured to determine at least one virtual resource scheduling operation corresponding to a virtual network function VNF management operation;

the processing module is used for executing rollback operation after any VNF management operation fails, and if the rollback operation comprises an operation of deleting virtual resources, the processing module is further used for setting the virtual resources to be deleted to be in a buffer state;

the processing module is further configured to determine a target virtual resource matching the virtual resource scheduling operation in the virtual resources in the buffer state if the virtual resource scheduling operation is to create a virtual resource; activating the target virtual resource.

6. The apparatus for NFV resource management of claim 5,

the processing module is further configured to determine a type and an attribute of a virtual resource to be created by the virtual resource scheduling operation; and determining a target virtual resource with the same type and attribute as the virtual resource to be created in the virtual resource in the buffer state according to the type and attribute of the virtual resource to be created.

7. The apparatus for NFV resource management according to any of claims 5 to 6,

the processing module is further configured to set a timer for the virtual resource in the buffer state, where the timer is configured to roll back the virtual resource in the buffer state after a preset time elapses.

8. The apparatus for NFV resource management of claim 7,

the processing module is further configured to delete the timer corresponding to the target virtual resource after determining the target virtual resource matching the virtual resource scheduling operation in the virtual resource in the buffer state.

9. An apparatus for NFV resource management, the apparatus comprising: a processor and a memory; wherein the memory is used for storing one or more programs; the one or more programs include computer executable instructions that, when executed by the apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform the method of NFV resource management recited in any of claims 1 to 4 by a processor executing the computer executable instructions stored by the memory.

10. A computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform the method for NFV resource management of any of claims 1 to 4.

11. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that it stores a computer program which, when executed by a processor, implements the steps of the method of NFV resource management according to any of claims 1 to 4.