CN107005426B - Method and device for managing life cycle of virtual network function - Google Patents

Abstract

A life cycle management method of virtual network function and a device thereof are provided, wherein the method comprises the following steps: after determining that a Virtual Network Function Record (VNFR) corresponding to a VNF is created, if the VNFM determines that the state of the VNF is changed, a Virtual Network Function Manager (VNFM) sends a notification message for modifying the state of the VNF into a changed state to a network function virtualization instance storing the VNFR; or sending a notification message for modifying the state of the VNF into the changed state to the NFVO, so that the NFVO forwards the notification message to the network function virtualization instance storing the VNFR. The update control of the VNF state recorded in the VNFR (VNF Record) is completed, the process can efficiently complete the management of the VNF state, and an accurate basis can be provided for operations such as control based on the VNF state.

Description

A kind of life cycle management method and device of virtual network function

technical field

The present invention relates to the field of communication technologies, and in particular, to a life cycle management method and device of a virtual network function.

Background technique

NFV (Network Function Virtualization, Network Function Virtualization) white paper, announced the establishment of NFV ISG (Industry Standard Group, Industry Standard Group) in ETSI (European Telecommunication Standards Institute, European Telecommunications Standards Institute).

The purpose of establishing the NFV ISG is to define operators' needs for NFV and provide relevant technical reports. The so-called NFV hopes to realize some network functions in high-performance servers, switches and storage by learning from virtualization technology. This requires network functions to be implemented in software, running on general-purpose server hardware, and automatically performing instantiation, elastic scaling, and migration operations as needed. Such as firewalls, routers, CG-NAT (Carrier Grade NAT, carrier grade network address translation), etc., can be virtualized through NFV technology.

The white paper released by NFV states that the scenarios it pays attention to include: BNG (Broadband Network Gateway, broadband network gateway), CG-NAT, router, EPC (Evolved Packet Core, evolved packet core network), IMS (IPMultimedia Core Network Subsystem, IP Multimedia Subsystem), RAN (Radio Access Network, Radio Access Network), home network, etc.

In a nutshell, NFV has 3 key features:

1. Abstract the network function from the dedicated hardware and run it as a virtualized software on the general computing, storage, and network equipment platforms;

2. The software and hardware components are relatively independent and have modular characteristics;

3. Automated orchestration: Automatically manage and maintain network functions and devices according to policies.

At present, the life cycle management of VNF (Virtualized Network Function, virtual network function) is based on event-driven. Function Manager, virtual network function manager), EMS (Element Management System, network element management system) or VIM (Virtualized Infrastructure Manager, virtualized infrastructure manager) monitors VNF changes, VNF notifies MANO (Management and Orchestration, management and Orchestration) When its state changes, MANO (mainly VNFM) will trigger the life cycle management of VNF. MANO runs the corresponding script program or workflow (workflow) for processing according to the specific situation. Common operations in the processing process are: VNF instantiation (instantiate), VNF dynamic scaling (scale), VNF self-healing (heal), VNF software upgrade (upgrade), VNF software update (update), modify VNF configuration (configure), Query VNF status (query), delete VNF (terminate), etc.

In order to facilitate the management and presentation of the operation of VNF, the VNF lifecycle management state mechanism is designed in the document of the software architecture group.

There are several working groups in ETSI's NFV ISG, two of which are related to the state of VNF, but the definition of VNF state in standard documents is inconsistent, and the specific use process is not very clear, which leads to the failure of virtual network function. In the management process of the life cycle, the maintenance and use of the state is still in the stage of not being able to be put into application.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The embodiments of the present invention provide a life cycle management method and device for a virtual network function, which are used to specify the life cycle management.

One aspect of the embodiments of the present invention provides a life cycle management method for a virtual network function, including:

After the virtual network function manager VNFM determines that the virtual network function record VNFR corresponding to the VNF has been created, if the VNFM determines that the state of the VNF has changed, it sends the VNF to the network function virtualization instance that stores the VNFR. A notification message for modifying the state of the VNF to the state after the change; or, sending a notification message for modifying the state of the VNF to the state after the change to the NFVO, so that the NFVO forwards it to the network function virtualization instance storing the VNFR.

In combination with the implementation scheme of one aspect, in a first possible implementation manner, the method further includes:

After the state of the VNF is modified to the state after the change, the information about the state change of the VNF is sent to the management entity that subscribes to the state change information of the VNF.

With reference to the first possible implementation manner of one aspect, in a second possible implementation manner, before sending the information about the VNF status change to the management entity that subscribes to the VNF status change information, the method further includes:

obtaining, by the VNFM, subscription information from the network function virtualization instance, and determining a management entity that subscribes to the VNF state change information according to the subscription information;

Alternatively, the method further includes: the VNFM receives a reply message from the network function virtualization instance that the state of the VNF has been modified to a changed state, and then determines to subscribe to the VNF state according to the subscription information carried in the VNFM A management entity for change information.

With reference to one aspect, the first or second possible implementation manner of the aspect, in a third possible implementation manner, the method further includes:

After receiving the instantiated virtual network function VNF request, the VNFM sends an application resource request to the NFVO, so that the NFVO forwards the application resource request to the virtualized infrastructure manager VIM, and makes the NFVO control Create a virtual network function record VNFR corresponding to the VNF.

With reference to the third possible implementation manner of one aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner, the method further includes:

Receive the reply message returned by the VIM forwarded by the NFVO, and then determine that the VIM has allocated resources for the VNF according to the reply message, and then configure the VNF;

After configuring the VNF, send an instantiation complete message to the network element management system EMS, so that the EMS configures the VNF;

After it is determined that the EMS completes the configuration of the VNF, an instantiation operation complete message is sent to the NFVO.

With reference to the third possible implementation manner of one aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner, after the NFVO controls the creation of a virtual network function record VNFR corresponding to the VNF, the method further includes:

Pushing an inquiry message to the management entity for inquiring whether to subscribe to the VNF state change information;

Receive the reply information of whether to subscribe to the VNF state change information returned by the management entity, and send the information of whether the management entity subscribes to the VNF state change information to the NFVO, so that the NFVO control is stored in the VNFR ;

Or the method further includes: receiving information from a management entity on whether to subscribe to the VNF state change information; sending the information on whether the management entity subscribes to the VNF state change information to the NFVO, so that the NFVO controls Deposit into the VNFR.

With reference to the third possible implementation manner of one aspect, in a sixth possible implementation manner, the receiving the instantiated virtual network function VNF request includes:

An instantiated VNF request from the NFVO is received, or an instantiated VNF request from the EMS is received.

With reference to the third possible implementation manner of one aspect, in a seventh possible implementation manner, after the NFVO controls the creation of a virtual network function record VNFR corresponding to the VNF, the method further includes:

After receiving the lifecycle event request for the VNF, obtain the current state of the VNF from the network function virtualization instance storing the VNFR;

If it is determined that the operation requested by the life cycle event belongs to the operation permitted by the current state of the VNF, the operation requested by the life cycle event is executed; otherwise, the operation requested by the life cycle event is rejected.

With reference to the seventh possible implementation manner of one aspect, in the eighth possible implementation manner, the state of the VNF includes:

Empty, indicating that the infrastructure required by the VNF has not yet been fully established; instantiation is not configured, indicating that the infrastructure has been established, but the function program of the VNF has not been configured; the instantiation is configured, indicating that the VNF has been configured. The state of working; Delete, indicating that the VNF is being deleted; wherein, the instantiated configuration includes: Stop, indicating that the VNF is in an inactive/dormant state, and does not provide services; Active, indicating that the VNF is in an active state and can The status of providing normal services; Abnormal, indicating that the VNF is in a state of degraded or abnormal performance, and may not be able to provide normal services; and Maintenance, indicating that it is in a maintenance state and does not accept new services;

In the empty state, undo operations are allowed, and other operations are not allowed; in the instant unconfigured state, configuration operations and termination operations are allowed, and other operations are not allowed; in the stopped state, cancellation operations, stop operations, and Self-healing operations allow other operations; in the active state, cancel operations, start operations and self-healing operations are not allowed, but other operations are allowed; in the abnormal state, scaling operations, self-healing operations, configuration operations, and deletion operations are allowed, No other operations are allowed; in the maintenance state, cancellation and termination operations are allowed, and other operations are allowed; in the deletion state, no operations are allowed.

A second aspect of the embodiment of the present invention provides a life cycle management method for a virtual network function, including:

After receiving the resource application request from the VNFM, the network function virtualization orchestrator NFVO forwards the resource application request to the VIM virtualization infrastructure manager, and then receives the reply message returned by the VIM after allocating resources to the VNF, and sends the The reply message is forwarded to the VNFM; the virtual network function record VNFR creation request is sent to the network function virtualization instance;

The NFVO sends a virtual network function descriptor VNFD to the network function virtualization instance, where the VNFD includes parameter information of the information item in the VNFR;

After determining that the state of the VNF has changed, the NFVO sends a message indicating that the state of the VNF is modified to the state after the change to the network function virtualization instance.

Combining the implementation manners of the two aspects, in a first possible implementation manner, after determining that the VNF state changes, the NFVO sends an instruction to the network function virtualization instance to modify the state of the VNF to a state after the change. The message includes:

After receiving the reply message, the NFVO sends a notification message to the network function virtualization instance to indicate that the state of the VNF is modified to be an instantiated unconfigured state; and/or,

After receiving the completion of the instantiation operation from the VNFM, the NFVO sends a modification instruction indicating that the state of the VNF is modified to stop instantiation to the network function virtualization instance.

In combination with the implementation manners of the two aspects, in a second possible implementation manner, after sending the virtual network function record VNFR creation request to the network function virtualization instance, the method further includes:

The NFVO receives the information sent from the VNFM whether the management entity subscribes to the VNF state change information, or receives the information sent from the management entity whether the management entity subscribes to the VNF state change information; The information of subscribing to the VNF state change information is sent to the network function virtualization instance and stored in the VNFR.

In combination with the second aspect and the first or second possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a third possible implementation manner, the method further includes:

After receiving the notification message that the state of the VNF is modified to the state after the change, the NFVO forwards it to the network function virtualization instance;

After the state of the VNF is modified to the state after the change, the information about the state change of the VNF is sent to the management entity that subscribes to the state change information of the VNF.

In combination with the third possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner, before sending the information of the VNF state change to the management entity subscribing to the VNF state change information, the method further includes:

The NFVO obtains subscription information from the network function virtualization instance, and determines a management entity that subscribes to the VNF state change information according to the subscription information;

Or, the method further includes: the NFVO receives a reply message from the network function virtualization instance that the state of the VNF has been modified to a changed state, and then determines to subscribe to the VNF state according to the subscription information carried therein A management entity for change information.

A third aspect of the embodiment of the present invention also provides a life cycle management method for a virtual network function, including:

After receiving the virtual network function record VNFR creation request from NFVO, the network function virtualization instance creates a virtual network function record VNFR corresponding to the VNF;

Receive the virtual network function descriptor VNFD from the NFVO, and the VNFD contains parameter information of the information item in the VNFR; record the parameter information in the VNFD to the VNFR;

After receiving the notification message from the NFVO indicating to modify the state of the VNF, modify the state information in the VNFR corresponding to the VNF to the state indicated by the notification message.

Combining the three aspects of implementation, in a first possible implementation, after receiving a notification message from the NFVO indicating to modify the VNF state, modify the state information in the VNFR corresponding to the VNF The states indicated for notification messages include:

Receive a notification message from the NFVO indicating that the state of the VNF is modified to be an instantiated unconfigured state, and modify the state information in the VNFR corresponding to the VNF to be an instantiated unconfigured state;

And/or, receiving an instruction from the NFVO to modify the state of the VNF to a modification instruction indicating that the instantiation is stopped, and modifying the state information in the VNFR corresponding to the VNF to stop the instantiation.

In combination with the implementation manners of the three aspects, in a second possible implementation manner, after the virtual network function record VNFR corresponding to the VNF is created, the method further includes:

After receiving the information about whether the management entity subscribes to the VNF state change information from the NFVO, the network function virtualization instance stores the information about whether the management entity subscribes to the VNF state change information in the VNFR.

In combination with the three aspects, the first or second possible implementation manner of the three aspects, in a third possible implementation manner, the method further includes:

After receiving the notification message from the VNFM or forwarded by the VNFM through the NFVO to modify the state of the VNF to the state after the change, modify the state information in the VNFR corresponding to the VNF to the state after the change.

In combination with the third possible implementation manner of the three aspects, in the fourth possible implementation manner, the method further includes:

After receiving the query request from the VNFM or the NFVO, send the subscription information of the VNF to the device sending the query request; or, after modifying the state information in the VNFR corresponding to the VNF to the change After the status, send a reply message to the VNFM or the NFVO to notify that the VNF status has been modified, and the reply message carries the subscription information; the subscription information includes the subscription information of the VNF status change information about the managed entity.

A fourth aspect of the embodiment of the present invention provides a virtual network function manager, which is characterized by comprising:

The record confirmation unit is used to determine whether the virtual network function record VNFR corresponding to the VNF has been created;

a state determination unit 1102, configured to determine that the state of the VNF has changed;

The sending unit is configured to, after the record confirming unit determines that the virtual network function record VNFR corresponding to the VNF has been created, if the state determining unit 1102 determines that the state of the VNF has changed, send the virtual network function virtual record to the network function that stores the VNFR. The instance sends a notification message for modifying the state of the VNF to the state after the change; or, sends a notification message for modifying the state of the VNF to the state after the change to the NFVO, so that the NFVO forwards it to the network storing the VNFR Function virtualization instance.

In combination with the implementation scheme of the four aspects, in a first possible implementation manner, the sending unit is further configured to, after modifying the state of the VNF to a state after the change, subscribe to the management entity that subscribes to the state change information of the VNF Send the VNF state change information.

In combination with the first possible implementation manner of the four aspects, in the second possible implementation manner, the virtual network function manager further includes:

a subscription determination unit, configured to, before sending the information of the VNF state change to the management entity that subscribes to the VNF state change information, the VNFM obtains the subscription information from the network function virtualization instance, and determines the subscription according to the subscription information the management entity of the VNF state change information;

Or, the subscription determination unit is configured to receive a reply message from the network function virtualization instance that the state of the VNF has been modified to a changed state, and then determine to subscribe to the VNF state change according to the subscription information carried therein Information management entity.

In combination with the fourth aspect and the first or second possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a third possible implementation manner, the virtual network function manager further includes:

a receiving unit, configured to receive an instantiated virtual network function VNF request;

The sending unit is further configured to send an application resource request to the NFVO after the receiving unit receives the instantiated virtual network function VNF request, so that the NFVO forwards the application resource request to the virtualized infrastructure management server VIM, and cause the NFVO to control the creation of a virtual network function record VNFR corresponding to the VNF.

Combining the third possible implementation of the four aspects, in the fourth possible implementation

The receiving unit is further configured to receive a reply message that is forwarded by the NFVO and returned from the VIM; the virtual network function manager further includes:

a configuration unit, configured to determine that the VIM has allocated resources to the VNF according to the reply message, and then configure the VNF;

The sending unit is further configured to send an instantiation completion message to the network element management system EMS after the configuration unit completes the configuration of the VNF, so that the EMS configures the VNF; After the configuration is completed, an instantiation operation complete message is sent to the NFVO.

In combination with the third possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in the fifth possible implementation manner, the sending unit is further configured to, after the NFVO controls the creation of the virtual network function record VNFR corresponding to the VNF, to the management The entity pushes an inquiry message, which is used to inquire whether it is necessary to subscribe to the VNF state change information

The receiving unit is further configured to receive the reply information of whether to subscribe to the VNF state change information returned by the management entity;

The sending unit is further configured to send the information on whether the management entity subscribes to the VNF state change information to the NFVO, so that the NFVO control is stored in the VNFR;

or,

The sending unit is also used for the receiving unit, and is also used for receiving the information on whether to subscribe to the VNF state change information sent from the management entity;

The sending unit is further configured to send the information of whether the management entity subscribes to the VNF state change information to the NFVO, so that the NFVO control is stored in the VNFR.

With reference to the third possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a sixth possible implementation manner, the receiving unit, configured to receive the instantiated virtual network function VNF request includes: receiving the instantiated VNF request of the NFVO, or , receives an instantiated VNF request from the EMS.

Combining the third possible implementation of the four aspects, in the seventh possible implementation,

The receiving unit is further configured to receive a lifecycle event request for the VNF after the NFVO controls the creation of a virtual network function record VNFR corresponding to the VNF; the virtual network function manager further includes:

a state obtaining unit, configured to obtain the current state of the VNF from the network function virtualization instance storing the VNFR after the receiving unit receives the lifecycle event request for the VNF;

An execution control unit, configured to execute the operation requested by the life cycle event if it is determined that the operation requested by the life cycle event belongs to the operation permitted by the current state of the VNF; otherwise, reject the operation requested by the life cycle event.

In combination with the seventh possible implementation manner of the four aspects, in the eighth possible implementation manner, the state of the VNF includes:

Empty, indicating that the infrastructure required by the VNF has not yet been fully established; instantiation is not configured, indicating that the infrastructure has been established, but the function program of the VNF has not been configured; the instantiation is configured, indicating that the VNF has been configured. The state of working; Delete, indicating that the VNF is being deleted; wherein, the instantiated configuration includes: Stop, indicating that the VNF is in an inactive/dormant state, and does not provide services; Active, indicating that the VNF is in an active state and can The status of providing normal services; Abnormal, indicating that the VNF is in a state of degraded or abnormal performance, and may not be able to provide normal services; and Maintenance, indicating that it is in a maintenance state and does not accept new services;

In the empty state, undo operations are allowed, and other operations are not allowed; in the instant unconfigured state, configuration operations and termination operations are allowed, and other operations are not allowed; in the stopped state, cancellation operations, stop operations, and Self-healing operations allow other operations; in the active state, cancel operations, start operations and self-healing operations are not allowed, but other operations are allowed; in the abnormal state, scaling operations, self-healing operations, configuration operations, and deletion operations are allowed, No other operations are allowed; in the maintenance state, cancellation and termination operations are allowed, and other operations are allowed; in the deletion state, no operations are allowed.

A fifth aspect of the present invention provides a network function virtualization orchestrator, including:

a receiving unit, configured to receive an application resource request from the VNFM; after the sending unit forwards the application resource request to the VIM virtualization infrastructure manager, receiving a reply message returned by the VIM after allocating resources to the VNF;

a sending unit, configured to, after the receiving unit receives the resource application request from the VNFM, forward the resource application request to the VIM virtualization infrastructure manager; forward the reply message to the VNFM; send the request to the network function The virtualization instance sends a virtual network function record VNFR creation request; sends a virtual network function descriptor VNFD to the network function virtualization instance, where the VNFD contains parameter information of the information items in the VNFR; after determining the VNF state After the change, a message indicating to modify the state of the VNF to the state after the change is sent to the network function virtualization instance.

Combined with the implementation of the five aspects, in the first possible implementation,

The sending unit, configured to send a message indicating to modify the state of the VNF to a state after the change to the network function virtualization instance after determining that the state of the VNF has changed, includes:

After the receiving unit receives the reply message, send a notification message to the network function virtualization instance to indicate that the state of the VNF is modified to be an instantiated unconfigured state; and/or,

After the receiving unit receives the completion of the instantiation operation from the VNFM, it sends a modification instruction indicating that the state of the VNF is to be modified to stop instantiation to the network function virtualization instance.

Combined with the implementation of the five aspects, in the second possible implementation,

The receiving unit is further configured to, after the sending unit sends a virtual network function record VNFR creation request to the network function virtualization instance, receive from the VNFM the information on whether the management entity subscribes to the VNF state change information, or , receiving the information sent from the management entity whether the management entity subscribes to the VNF state change information;

The sending unit is further configured to send the information of whether the management entity subscribes to the VNF state change information to the network function virtualization instance and save it to the VNFR.

Combining the five aspects and the first or second possible implementation manners of the five aspects, in the third possible implementation manner,

The receiving unit is further configured to receive a notification message for modifying the state of the VNF to a changed state;

The sending unit is further configured to forward to the network function virtualization instance after the receiving unit receives the notification message that the state of the VNF is modified to the state after the change; after modifying the state of the VNF to After the changed state, the information about the VNF state change is sent to the management entity that subscribes to the VNF state change information.

With reference to the third possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, in the fourth possible implementation manner, the network function virtualization orchestrator further includes:

A subscription obtaining unit, configured to obtain the subscription information by the network function virtualization instance before the sending unit sends the information of the VNF state change to the management entity that subscribes to the VNF state change information, and determine the subscription according to the subscription information the management entity of the VNF state change information;

Or, receive a reply message from the network function virtualization instance that the state of the VNF has been modified to a changed state, and then determine the management entity that subscribes to the VNF state change information according to the subscription information carried therein.

A sixth aspect of the embodiment of the present invention further provides a network function virtualization instance, including:

a receiving unit, configured to receive a virtual network function record VNFR creation request from NFVO;

The creating unit is configured to create a virtual network function record VNFR corresponding to the VNF after the receiving unit receives the virtual network function record VNFR creation request from the NFVO;

The receiving unit is further configured to receive a virtual network function descriptor VNFD from the NFVO, where the VNFD includes parameter information of information items in the VNFR;

a recording unit, configured to record the parameter information in the VNFD to the VNFR;

The receiving unit is further configured to receive a notification message indicating to modify the VNF state from the NFVO;

The recording unit is further configured to modify the state information in the VNFR corresponding to the VNF to the state indicated by the notification message after the receiving unit receives the notification message from the NFVO indicating to modify the VNF state.

Combining the six implementations, in the first possible implementation,

The receiving unit, configured to receive a notification message from the NFVO indicating to modify the state of the VNF includes: receiving a notification message from the NFVO indicating that the state of the VNF is modified to be an instantiated unconfigured state; and/or , receiving an instruction from the NFVO to modify the state of the VNF to a modification instruction that instantiates stop;

The recording unit, for modifying the state information in the VNFR corresponding to the VNF to the state indicated by the notification message includes: modifying the state information in the VNFR corresponding to the VNF to an instantiated unconfigured state; modifying the VNF corresponding to The state information in the VNFR is for instantiation stopped.

Combined with the six aspects of implementation, in the second possible implementation,

The receiving unit is further configured to, after creating a virtual network function record VNFR corresponding to the VNF, receive information from the management entity of the NFVO whether to subscribe to the VNF state change information;

The recording unit is further configured to store the information on whether the management entity subscribes to the VNF state change information after the receiving unit receives the information on whether the management entity of the NFVO subscribes to the VNF state change information. into the VNFR.

Combining the six aspects, the first or second possible implementation manner of the six aspects, in the third possible implementation manner,

The receiving unit is also configured to receive a notification message from the VNFM or forwarded by the VNFM via the NFVO, to modify the state of the VNF to a changed state;

The recording unit is further configured to modify the state information in the VNFR corresponding to the VNF to the changed state after the receiving unit receives the notification message for changing the state of the VNF to the changed state.

Combining the third possible implementation of the six aspects, in the fourth possible implementation,

The receiving unit is further configured to receive a query request from the VNFM or the NFVO; the network function virtualization instance further includes:

A sending unit, configured to send the subscription information of the VNF to the device sending the query request after the receiving unit queries the request; or, after modifying the state information in the VNFR corresponding to the VNF to the changed state , send a reply message to the VNFM or the NFVO for notifying that the VNF state has been modified, and the reply message carries the subscription information; the subscription information includes the management of subscribing to the VNF state change information entity information.

It can be seen from the above technical solutions that the embodiment of the present invention has the following advantages: the update control of the state of the VNF recorded in the VNFR (VNFRecord, VNF record) is completed, the process can efficiently complete the management of the VNF state, and can be Provide accurate basis for operations such as control based on VNF state.

Description of drawings

In order to illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention more clearly, the following briefly introduces the accompanying drawings used in the description of the embodiments. Obviously, the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present invention. For those of ordinary skill in the art, other drawings can also be obtained from these drawings without any creative effort.

1 is a schematic diagram of a system structure according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a system structure according to an embodiment of the present invention;

3 is a schematic diagram of a state machine management process flow according to an embodiment of the present invention;

4A is a schematic flowchart of a method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

4B is a schematic flowchart of a method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

4C is a schematic flowchart of a method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

5A is a schematic flowchart of a method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

5B is a schematic flowchart of a method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

5C is a schematic flowchart of a method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

6 is a schematic flowchart of a method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

7 is a schematic flowchart of a method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

8 is a schematic flowchart of a method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

9 is a schematic flowchart of a method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

10 is a schematic flowchart of a method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

11 is a schematic structural diagram of a virtual network function manager according to an embodiment of the present invention;

12 is a schematic structural diagram of a virtual network function manager according to an embodiment of the present invention;

13 is a schematic structural diagram of a virtual network function manager according to an embodiment of the present invention;

14 is a schematic structural diagram of a virtual network function manager according to an embodiment of the present invention;

15 is a schematic structural diagram of a virtual network function manager according to an embodiment of the present invention;

16 is a schematic structural diagram of a network function virtualization orchestrator according to an embodiment of the present invention;

17 is a schematic structural diagram of a network function virtualization orchestrator according to an embodiment of the present invention;

18 is a schematic structural diagram of a network function virtualization instance according to an embodiment of the present invention;

19 is a schematic structural diagram of a network function virtualization instance according to an embodiment of the present invention;

20 is a schematic structural diagram of a virtual network function manager according to an embodiment of the present invention;

21 is a schematic structural diagram of a network function virtualization orchestrator according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 22 is a schematic structural diagram of an example of network function virtualization according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed ways

In order to make the objectives, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention clearer, the present invention will be further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, rather than all the embodiments. . Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art without creative efforts shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

Figure 1 shows the NFV end-to-end architecture, which mainly includes three parts:

1. VNF (Virtualized Network Function, virtual network function):

VNF refers to virtualized network functions, such as virtualized EPC (Evolved Packet Core, Evolved Packet Core) node (MME (Mobile Management Entity, Mobile Management Entity), SGW (Serving GateWay, Serving Gateway), PGW (Packet Data Network GateWay, packet data network gateway), etc.), corresponding to PNF (Physical Network Function, physical network function) in traditional networks. NFV expects similar VNFs and PNFs to have the same functions, performance and external interfaces. A VNF can be composed of multiple VNFCs (VNF Components, virtual network function components). Generally, a VNFC runs in a VM (Virtualized Machine, virtual machine). Therefore, in deployment, a VNF can include one or more VMs.

EMS (Element Management System, network element management system): perform traditional FCAPS (Fault management, Configuration management, Account management, Performance management, Security management, fault, configuration, billing, performance, security management) functions for the VNF.

2. NFVI (NFV Infrastructure, NFV infrastructure):

NFVI provides hardware and virtual resources for the entire system to run, consisting of hardware resources (including: computing, network, and storage), virtualization layer (virtualizing hardware resources into resource pools) and virtual resources (also including: computing, network, storage) three parts).

3. MANO (Management and Orchestration):

MANO is mainly composed of three entities:

VIM (Virtualized Infrastructure Manager): The management unit of NFVI, which includes hardware resource management and virtual resource management in function, and can be divided into cloud computing management (such as OpenStack cloud management system) and network in deployment. Management (such as SDN controller) two parts.

NFVO (NFV Orchestrator, NFV Orchestrator): Responsible for the life cycle management of NS (Network Service, network service, service units composed of multiple VNFs, such as EPC), and the resources of the entire NFV system (including hardware resources and software) resources) for orchestration and management.

VNFM (VNF Manager, VNF Manager): Responsible for life cycle management of VNFs.

The OSS/BSS (Operation Support System/Business Support System, Operation/Business Support System) shown in FIG. 1 refers to the OSS/BSS of the operator, which is not included in the NFV system components and belongs to a related external entity.

As shown in Figure 2, it is the detailed architecture of MANO, which is basically the same as in the previous section, but there are four new entities: NSCatalog (Network Service Catalog), VNF Catalog (directory), NFVInstances (instance), NFVI Resources (resources), they are functional modules in MANO that store NS, VNF information, software packages and running status, among which:

NS Catalog: Stores all loaded (on-board) NSD (NS Descriptor, NS descriptor) information.

VNF Catalog: Stores all loaded VNF Packages (packages, including VNFD (VNFDescriptor, VNF descriptor), virtual machine images, etc.).

NFV Instances: Stores the status information of all running NS, VNF and other instances, such as assigned network addresses, operation records, etc. Among them, VNFR (VNF Record, VNF record) includes the following information:

Table 1 VNFR information

NFVI Resources: Stores the status of all NFVI resources, including available/reserved/allocated NFVI resources.

An overview of the embodiments of the present invention is summarized as follows:

Aiming at the problem of inconsistent VNF states in standard documents, an embodiment of the present invention provides a new VNF state machine, as shown in FIG. 3 , for reference in the description of subsequent technical solutions.

The state of the VNF contains four states:

1. Null (empty) indicates that the infrastructure required by the VNF has not been fully established, such as the virtual machine is not established, the network is not connected, etc.;

2. Instantiated Not Configured (Instantiated Not Configured) indicates that the infrastructure has been established, but the functional program of the VNF has not been configured;

3. Instantiated Configured means that EMS/VNFM has configured the VNF function, and the VNF can work;

The Instantiated Configured state consists of four small states:

3.1. Inactive (stop) means that the VNF is in an inactive/dormant state and does not provide services;

3.2. Active means that the VNF is in an active state and can provide normal services;

3.3. Abnormal means that VNF performance degradation or abnormality is detected, and normal services may not be provided;

3.4. Maintenance means that it is in a maintenance state and does not accept new services.

4. Terminated (deleted) indicates that the VNF is being deleted.

In different states, the operations that VNF can perform are different. For example, in Maintenance state, VNF is performing upgrade or update. Therefore, it is not suitable for performing scaling operations and needs to reject scaling requests. The following status_constraints entry can be added to the VNFD (for all VNFs of the same type) or VNFR (for a specific running VNF) as a basis for NFVO/VNFM to judge the validity of the received lifecycle event request. This information can be added to the VNFD when the VNF package is generated, added to the VNFR during the instantiate process, or written to the VNFR when the state changes (the current state item can be omitted at this time, and only indicates the operation constraints in the current state), and can be based on the OSS Request a change.

Table 2 status_constraints entry

current state List of allowed actions Prohibited Action List Maintenance Cancel,... Scaling,... ... ... ...

The specific processing process of each state is as follows:

Null: After receiving the Instantiate (instantiation) request (possibly from OSS, VNFM or EMS), NFVO starts to maintain the VNF status, generates VNFR, fills in relevant parameters, and modifies the VNFR record status to Null; after that, collect other The management entity's subscription information for the VNF state change notification is written into the notification item of the VNFR. If the status_constraints table entry is defined in VNFR, it is also written into VNFR according to the parameters of instantiate (instance) or default settings. In the Null state, only the cancel (undo) operation is allowed by default, and other operations are prohibited.

Instantiated Not Configured: During the Instantiate process, after the VIM feedback infrastructure has been established, NFVO (or VNFM notifies NFVO, determined by the VIM feedback object) changes the state in VNFR to Instantiated Not Configured. After that, the EMS and VNFM configure the functions of the VNF. Or reset (Reset) in the Instantiated Configured state, enter Instantiated Not Configured for reconfiguration. In this state, only configure and terminate operations are allowed by default, and other operations are prohibited.

Inactive: During the Instantiate process, after both the EMS and VNFM receive a successful configure message, or when the VNF is in the Active state, receive a stop request, and feedback that the operation is successful, the VNFM notifies NFVO to modify the state in the VNFR to Instantiated Configured: Inactive or Inactive state. In this state, only cancel (cancel), stop (stop), heal (self-healing) and other operations are prohibited by default, and other operations are allowed.

Active: When the VNF is in the Inactive state, the VNFM/NFVO receives the start request and receives the message of successful startup, or in the Abnormal/Maintenance state, receives the successful operation such as heal/upgrade/update self-healing/upgrade/update. After the message, NFVO modifies the state in VNFR to Instantiated Configured: Active or Active state. In this state, only cancel, start, heal and other operations are prohibited by default, and other operations are allowed.

Maintenance: When the VNF is in the Inactive/Active state, it receives requests such as update/upgrade/rollback (update/upgrade/rollback), and after the verification is passed, the NFVO modifies the state in the VNFR to Instantiated Configured: Maintenance or Maintenance state. In this state, only cancel and terminate operations are allowed by default, and other operations are prohibited.

Abnormal: When the VNF is in the Inactive/Active/Maintenance state, the VNFM receives a fault, serious alarm, performance degradation notification from the VNF or VIM through active query or passive reporting, or when abnormal behavior of the VNF is found, it notifies NFVO to change the status in the VNFR Change to Instantiated Configured: Abnormal or Abnormal state, and execute the corresponding lifecycle event processing script in the VNFD. More specifically: Detect anomaly when the VNF is in the Maintenance state, notify NFVO to change the state in the VNFR to Abnormal, and detect anomaly when the VNF is in the Inactive/Active state (Detect anomaly) or meet policy constraints (meet). poticyconstraints) such as: the aforementioned notification of failure, serious alarm, performance degradation, or abnormal behavior of the VNF is found, and the NFVO is notified to change the state in the VNFR to Abnormal. In this state, scaling (scaling), healing (self-healing), configure (configuration), and terminate (deletion) operations are allowed by default, and other operations are prohibited.

Terminate: When the VNFM receives the terminate request and passes the verification, the VNFM notifies the NFVO to modify the status in the VNFR to Terminated, and execute the corresponding lifecycle event processing script. In this state, no operations are allowed by default.

The embodiments of the present invention are mainly applied in the NFV system environment (as shown in FIG. 1 ), and a possible deployment scenario is a cloud-based EPC constructed by using NFV technology, and the life cycle management of network elements such as virtual MME, PGW, and SGW is performed.

The network elements involved in the embodiment of the present invention include VNFM, VNF Catalog (where VNFD is stored), NFV Instance (where VNFR is stored), VNF, EMS, and NFVO in FIG. 2 (MANO system).

The VNFM is responsible for verifying and processing the life cycle event requests of the VNF, and is also responsible for collecting the performance and fault monitoring results of the VNF itself, EMS, and VIM on the VNF, so as to grasp the running status of the VNF.

VNFD or VNFR record status_constraints, which are used to judge the legitimacy of requests, and they also contain scripts for processing life cycle events, which are used to process requests.

In addition, the VNFR records the historical information of the running state and state change of the VNF.

The VNF is responsible for performing operations that process lifecycle events and monitoring and maintaining its own operational status.

EMS may trigger lifecycle events, report monitoring results, or subscribe to VNF state change notifications.

NFVO is responsible for managing VNFM, VNFD and VNFR, possibly modifying related settings (such as status_constraints), triggering and verifying lifecycle events, subscribing to VNF status change notifications, etc.

An embodiment of the present invention provides a life cycle management method for a virtual network function, as shown in FIG. 4A and FIG. 5A , wherein FIG. 4A is a schematic diagram of a system structure, and the method flow of this embodiment is on the VNFM side shown in FIG. 4A . implementation, including:

501A: After receiving the request for instantiating the virtual network function VNF, the virtual network function manager VNFM sends a request for resource application to the network function virtualization orchestrator NFVO, so that the above-mentioned NFVO forwards the above-mentioned resource application request to the virtualized infrastructure manager VIM , and make the above-mentioned NFVO control to create a virtual network function record VNFR corresponding to the above-mentioned VNF.

The VNFR has been created in the above embodiment, so it can be used to store the state of the VNF. Further, the embodiment of the present invention also provides the following specific process of instantiating the VNF, as follows:

502A: Receive the reply message returned by the VIM forwarded by the NFVO, then determine that the VIM has allocated resources for the VNF according to the reply message, and then configure the VNF;

503A: After completing the configuration of the VNF, send an instantiation completion message to the network element management system EMS, so that the EMS configures the VNF;

504A: After determining that the configuration of the VNF is completed by the EMS, send an instantiation operation completion message to the NFVO.

Further, in the above process shown in FIG. 4A , after the VNFR is created, the management entity may need to know the information of the VNF state change in real time. Subscription is required, another way is to actively subscribe by the management entity. The communication between the VNFM and the network function virtualization instance (NFVInstance) can be directly communicated if there is an interface. If there is no interface, it can be forwarded through NFVO. The details are as follows: After the above NFVO controls the creation of the virtual network function record VNFR corresponding to the above VNF, The above method also includes:

Push an inquiry message to the management entity to inquire whether to subscribe to the above VNF state change information;

Receive the reply information of whether the above-mentioned management entity subscribes to the above-mentioned VNF state change information, and send the information of whether the above-mentioned management entity subscribes to the above-mentioned VNF state change information to the above-mentioned NFVO, so that the above-mentioned NFVO control is stored in the above-mentioned VNFR;

Or the above-mentioned method further comprises: receiving the information of whether to subscribe to the above-mentioned VNF state change information sent from the management entity; sending the information of whether the above-mentioned management entity subscribes to the above-mentioned VNF state change information to the above-mentioned NFVO, so that the above-mentioned NFVO control is stored in the above-mentioned VNFR.

Optionally, this embodiment also gives an example of the source of the instantiated VNF request. It should be noted that if other devices have the need to create a VNF, it is also possible to initiate the instantiated VNF request. It should not be construed as a unique limitation to the embodiment of the present invention, and the details are as follows: the above-mentioned received instantiation of the virtual network function VNF request includes:

The above received instantiated virtual network function VNF request includes:

Receive the instantiated VNF request of the above NFVO,

or,

The instantiated VNF request from the above EMS is received. The instantiated VNF request of the NFVO may be initiated by the OSS and sent to the NFVO, and then forwarded by the NFVO to the VNFM.

Further, as shown in FIG. 4B , after the VNFR is created, the state of the VNF may change. The embodiment of the present invention also provides a solution for updating the information in the VNFR, as follows:

After the virtual network function manager VNFM determines that the virtual network function record VNFR corresponding to the VNF has been created, if the above-mentioned VNFM determines that the state of the above-mentioned VNF has changed, it sends to the network function virtualization instance storing the above-mentioned VNFR. Notification message of the changed state;

or,

A notification message is sent to the NFVO to modify the state of the VNF to the state after the change, so that the NFVO is forwarded to the network function virtualization instance that stores the VNFR.

This embodiment can run independently as long as the VNFR has been created, and does not depend on the specific process used for creating the VNFR mentioned in the previous embodiment.

In the embodiment of the present invention, after the state in the VNFR changes, the state information of the VNF needs to be sent to the management entity that has subscribed to the state change information of the VNF. The embodiment of the present invention provides the following solution: the above method further includes:

After the state of the above-mentioned VNF is modified to the state after the change, the information of the above-mentioned VNF state change is sent to the management entity that subscribes to the above-mentioned VNF state change information.

When sending the information of VNF state change, it is necessary to determine the management entity that subscribes to the above-mentioned VNF state change information. This information can be recorded in the VNFR. Therefore, there are two ways to obtain the information based on whether the VNFM has a communication interface with the network function virtualization instance. The details are as follows: Before sending the above-mentioned VNF state change information to the management entity subscribing to the above-mentioned VNF state change information, the above method further includes:

The above-mentioned VNFM obtains subscription information from the above-mentioned network function virtualization instance, and determines the management entity that subscribes to the above-mentioned VNF state change information according to the above-mentioned subscription information;

Or, the above-mentioned method further includes: the above-mentioned VNFM receives a reply message from the above-mentioned network function virtualization instance that the state of the above-mentioned VNF has been modified to the changed state, and then according to the subscription information carried therein, determining the management entity that subscribes to the above-mentioned VNF state change information .

Further, as described above in FIG. 4C , after the VNFR is created, the state of the VNF may change. The embodiment of the present invention also provides a control scheme after there is an operation instruction for the VNF, which is specifically as follows: the above method further includes: in the above After the NFVO controls the creation of the virtual network function record VNFR corresponding to the above VNF, the above method further includes:

After receiving the lifecycle event request for the above-mentioned VNF, obtain the current state of the above-mentioned VNF from the network function virtualization instance storing the above-mentioned VNFR;

If it is determined that the operation requested by the above life cycle event belongs to the operation permitted by the current state of the above VNF, the operation requested by the above life cycle event is executed; otherwise, the operation requested by the above life cycle event is rejected.

The embodiment of the present invention also provides the state division of the VNF and the control strategy of the operation command in each state. The control strategy of the operation command can be stored in the VNFR, and the VNFM obtains the state of the VNF and informs the VNFM, which can also be stored in the VNFM. The embodiment is not uniquely limited. The details are as follows: The status of the above VNF includes:

Empty, indicating that the infrastructure required by the VNF has not yet been fully established; instantiation is not configured, indicating that the infrastructure has been established, but the function program of the VNF has not been configured; the instantiation is configured, indicating that the VNF has been configured. The state of working; delete, indicating the state of the VNF being deleted; wherein, the above instantiation has been configured including: stop, indicating that the VNF is in an inactive/dormant state and does not provide services; active, indicating that the VNF is in an active state and can provide The status of normal services; Abnormal, which means that the VNF is in a state of degraded or abnormal performance and may not be able to provide normal services; and Maintenance, which means that it is in a maintenance state and does not accept new services;

In the above empty state, undo operations are allowed, and other operations are not allowed; in the above instantiated unconfigured state, configuration operations and termination operations are allowed, but other operations are not allowed; in the above stopped state, cancellation operations, stop operations, and self-healing operations are not allowed , other operations are allowed; in the above active state, cancel operation, start operation and self-healing operation are not allowed, and other operations are allowed; in the above abnormal state, scaling operation, self-healing operation, configuration operation and deletion operation are allowed, and other operations are not allowed; In the above maintenance state, cancel operation and termination operation are allowed, and other operations are allowed; in the above deletion state, no operation is allowed.

An embodiment of the present invention provides a life cycle management method for a virtual network function, as shown in FIG. 4A and FIG. 5B , wherein FIG. 4A is a schematic diagram of a system structure, and the method flow of this embodiment is on the NFVO side shown in FIG. 4A . implementation, including:

501B: After receiving the resource application request from the VNFM, the network function virtualization orchestrator NFVO forwards the above application resource request to the VIM virtualization infrastructure manager, and then receives the reply message returned by the above VIM after allocating resources to the VNF, and sends the The above reply message is forwarded to the above VNFM; the virtual network function record VNFR creation request is sent to the network function virtualization instance;

502B: The above-mentioned NFVO sends the virtual network function descriptor VNFD to the above-mentioned network function virtualization instance, and the above-mentioned VNFD includes the parameter information of the information items in the above-mentioned VNFR;

After step 502B, it may be as follows: after determining that the state of the VNF changes, the NFVO sends a message indicating that the state of the VNF is changed to the state after the change to the network function virtualization instance. However, the specific implementation process of "sending a message to the above-mentioned network function virtualization instance to instruct to modify the state of the above-mentioned VNF to the changed state" has different processes according to different application scenarios. Among them, the VNF instantiation process can be as follows :

503B: After the above-mentioned NFVO receives the above-mentioned reply message and determines that the above-mentioned VIM has allocated resources for the above-mentioned VNF, it sends a notification message to the above-mentioned network function virtualization instance to indicate that the state of the above-mentioned VNF is modified to be an instantiated unconfigured state;

504B: After receiving the completion of the instantiation operation from the VNFM, the above-mentioned NFVO sends a modification instruction to the above-mentioned network function virtualization instance to instruct to modify the state of the above-mentioned VNF to stop the instantiation.

The above steps 503B and 504B are both the process of modifying the state, so in theory, one or both can be executed.

Further, in the process shown in FIG. 4A above, after the VNFR is created, the management entity may need to know the information of the VNF state change in real time, and needs to save it to the VNFR in the network function virtualization instance. This embodiment provides a specific implementation. The specific solution is as follows: after the virtual network function record VNFR creation request is sent to the network function virtualization instance, the above method further includes:

The above-mentioned NFVO receives information from the above-mentioned VNFM whether the management entity subscribes to the above-mentioned VNF state change information, or receives the information sent from the management entity whether the management entity subscribes to the above-mentioned VNF state change information;

Send the information on whether the management entity subscribes to the VNF state change information to the network function virtualization instance and save it to the VNFR; the management entity includes at least one of the EMS, the NFVO, and the VIM.

Further, as shown in FIG. 4B , after the VNFR is created, the state of the VNF may change. The embodiment of the present invention also provides a solution for updating the information in the VNFR, as follows:

After receiving the notification message for modifying the state of the VNF to the state after the change, the above-mentioned NFVO forwards it to the above-mentioned network function virtualization instance;

After the state of the above-mentioned VNF is modified to the state after the change, the information of the above-mentioned VNF state change is sent to the management entity that subscribes to the above-mentioned VNF state change information.

In the embodiment of the present invention, after the state in the VNFR changes, the state information of the VNF needs to be sent to the management entity that subscribes to the state change information of the VNF. Different from the party sent by the VNFM in the previous embodiment, this embodiment uses NFVO to send, The solution provided by the embodiment of the present invention is as follows: before sending the above-mentioned VNF state change information to the management entity subscribing to the above-mentioned VNF state change information, the above-mentioned method further includes:

The above-mentioned NFVO obtains subscription information from the above-mentioned network function virtualization instance, and determines the management entity that subscribes to the above-mentioned VNF state change information according to the above-mentioned subscription information;

Or, the above method further includes: the above-mentioned NFVO receives a reply message from the above-mentioned network function virtualization instance that the state of the above-mentioned VNF has been modified to the changed state, and then determines the management entity that subscribes to the above-mentioned VNF state change information according to the subscription information carried therein. .

An embodiment of the present invention provides a life cycle management method for a virtual network function, as shown in FIG. 4A and FIG. 5C , wherein FIG. 4A is a schematic diagram of a system structure, and the method flow of this embodiment is in the virtual network function shown in FIG. 4A . Executed on one side of the instance, including:

501C: After receiving the virtual network function record VNFR creation request from NFVO, the network function virtualization instance creates a virtual network function record VNFR corresponding to the VNF;

502C: Receive the virtual network function descriptor VNFD from the above-mentioned NFVO, where the above-mentioned VNFD includes parameter information of the information items in the above-mentioned VNFR; record the parameter information in the above-mentioned VNFD to the above-mentioned VNFR;

After performing 502C, the method further includes: after receiving a notification message from the NFVO indicating to modify the state of the VNF, modifying the state information in the VNFR corresponding to the VNF to the state indicated by the notification message. In this embodiment, there may be many indications of NFVO, and there may be different indications according to different application processes. This embodiment provides a specific process in the VNF instantiation process as follows:

503C: Receive a notification message from the above-mentioned NFVO indicating that the state of the above-mentioned VNF is modified to be the instantiated unconfigured state, and modify the state information in the VNFR corresponding to the above-mentioned VNF to be the instantiated unconfigured state;

504C: Receive an instruction from the NFVO to modify the state of the VNF to a modification instruction indicating that the instantiation is stopped, and modify the state information in the VNFR corresponding to the VNF to stop the instantiation.

The above steps 503B and 504B are both the process of modifying the state, so in theory, one or both can be executed.

In the subsequent embodiments, when the state of the VNF changes, the information about the change of the state information of the VNF needs to be sent to the management entity, so it is necessary to save which management entities have subscribed to the state change information of the VNF, as follows: After the network function records the VNFR, the above method further includes:

After the above-mentioned network function virtualization instance receives the information on whether the management entity of the above-mentioned NFVO subscribes to the above-mentioned VNF state change information, the information of whether the above-mentioned management entity subscribes to the above-mentioned VNF state change information is stored in the above-mentioned VNFR; The above-mentioned management entity includes the above-mentioned EMS , at least one of the above NFVO and the above VIM.

The embodiment of the present invention also provides a specific implementation scheme for modifying the state information in the VNFR, and you can refer to the process shown in FIG. 4B, as follows: after receiving the information from the VNFM or from the VNFM forwarded by the NFVO, the state of the VNF is modified. After the notification message of the changed state, the state information in the VNFR corresponding to the above VNF is modified to the above changed state.

When the VNFM or NFVO needs to send the VNF status to the management entity, they need to know the subscription information, so as to determine which management entities have subscribed to the VNF status change information. In this embodiment, there may be two ways to notify, as follows: the above method further includes:

After receiving the query request from the above VNFM or the above NFVO, send the subscription information of the above VNF to the device sending the query request;

or,

After modifying the state information in the VNFR corresponding to the above VNF to the above changed state, send a reply message to the above VNFM or the above NFVO to notify that the above VNF state has been modified, and the above reply message carries the above subscription information; the above subscription The information includes the information of the management entity that subscribes to the above VNF state change information.

The embodiment of the present invention also provides five specific examples to describe the embodiment of the present invention in more detail, as follows:

Embodiment 1 is the process of creating and subscribing the VNF state, as shown in Figure 6, including the following steps:

601: After receiving the instantiated VNF request from the OSS, the NFVO verifies the validity of the instantiated VNF request, and if it is valid, sends the instantiated VNF request to the VNFM; it is used to trigger the instantiation of the VNF.

602: VNFM verifies the validity of the instantiated VNF request after receiving the above instantiated VNF request, and if it is legal, sends a resource request to NFVO;

603: After NFVO receives the above resource application request, on the one hand, NFVO forwards the resource application request to VIM, and on the other hand, NFVO sends a VNFR creation request to NFV Instance to notify NFV Instance to create a VNFR, and VNFR is used to record VNF runtime , which contains status information.

After creating the VNFR, the NFV Instance can return a confirmation message to NFVO to inform NFVO that the above VNFR has been created. After receiving the above resource application request, the VIM allocates resources to the VNF, and then sends a reply message for allocating resources to the NFVO. The reply message can carry information about the allocated resources, including: what resources are allocated and whether the allocation is successful.

When NFVO sends a VNFR creation request to NFV Instance or after NFVO creates VNFR, NFVO sends VNFD and other information to NFV Instance to fill in relevant information items of VNFR.

604: After the VIM allocates the resources, it sends a reply message to the NFVO. The NFVO learns that the resources have been allocated, and the NFVO sends a notification message to the NFV Instance to notify the NFV Instance to modify the state of the VNFR to instantiated notconfigured.

Depending on the strategy, status_constraints may be modified. In addition, status change operations need to be recorded in audit_log. The NFV Instance can reply to the modification confirmation message after the modification operation is completed.

605: After the NFVO sends the notification message to the NFV Instance, the NFVO forwards the reply message to the VNFM, notifying the VNFM that the resource allocation is completed, and the VNFM starts to configure the VNF.

606 : This step can be performed synchronously with steps 604 and 605 . VNFM can push messages to relevant management entities (such as EMS, NFVO, VIM, etc.), asking them whether to subscribe to the notification of VNF status changes; after receiving the reply of whether to subscribe, VNFM sends the information of whether the management entity subscribes to NFVO, and NFVO Send the above information on whether to subscribe to NFVInstance and write it into the above VNFR. After writing, the NFV Instance can reply with a confirmation modification message to inform NFVO that the VNFR has been modified.

607: Regardless of whether the EMS subscribes to the state change notification of the VNF, the VNFM sends an instantiation completion message to the EMS after completing the configuration of the VNF to notify the EMS to configure the VNF.

608: After the EMS configuration is completed, a reply message is sent to inform the VNFM that the configuration of the above VNF is completed.

609: The VNFM receives the above reply message and confirms that the EMS has been configured, and sends a state change notification to the relevant management entity subscribed to the VNF state change information according to the subscription situation, and reports back to the NFVO that the instantiation operation is complete.

If NFVO is also subscribed to state change notification, the two messages of instantiation complete and state change notification can be combined.

610: After receiving the instantiated operation completion message or the state change notification, the NFVO sends a request to modify the state information in the VNFR to the NFV Instance, which becomes instantiated: inactive. NFVO can also report back to OSS that the instantiation operation is complete.

611: After receiving the request to modify the status information in the VNFR, the NFV Instance verifies the validity of the request, modifies instantiated: inactive after passing the validity verification, and then returns a confirmation modification message to NFVO to notify that the status has been modified.

In this step, according to different policies and implementation methods, NFV Instance has three methods to fill in status_constraints, which are used for verification of life cycle event requests during VNF operation. First, when the VNFR is created, NFVO provides relevant information to the NFV Instance to fill in (may be included in the VNFD or provided as an independent parameter); second, after the instantiation is completed, NFVO provides the relevant information to the NFV Instance to fill in the VNFR; three After the VNF state changes, the VNFM notifies the NFVO, and the NFVO modifies the status_constraints in the VNFR (which can be combined with the request to modify the state). The first two methods can specify the list of permitted/prohibited operations in all states, or only the list of permitted/prohibited operations in the current state; the third method is applicable to specifying the list of permitted/prohibited operations in the current state.

The technical effect of the first embodiment:

This embodiment defines the process of creating and subscribing the VNF state. After this process, MANO can record the state of the VNF, push the notification of the change of the VNF state to the relevant management entity, and verify the request for the life cycle event according to the status_constraints to avoid A runtime error occurred.

This embodiment mainly improves the instantiation process of VNF, and clarifies the establishment and modification process of VNFR, the subscription process of VNF state change notification and the filling process of status_constraints. Among them, status_constraints is a newly added attribute, which specifies the permitted/prohibited operations in different states and is used for verification of life cycle event requests, which can be stored in VNFD or VNFR.

The second embodiment is the creation and subscription process of the VNF state, as shown in Figure 6, including the following steps:

701: The EMS sends an instantiated VNF request to the VNFM;

702: After receiving the instantiated VNF request, the VNFM verifies the validity of the request, and sends a resource application request to NFVO after the verification is passed;

703: NFVO detects resource availability;

When this step is performed, a resource reservation request may also be sent to the VIM, asking the VIM to reserve resources, and after receiving the resource reservation request, the VIM may reply with a confirmation message after reserving resources;

704: NFVO sends a request to create a VNFR to NFV Instance, and fills in the existing parameters. After receiving the request to create a VNFR and verifying the validity, NFV Instance returns a confirmation message to NFVO to inform that the VNFR has been created.

705: After confirming that the creation of the VNFR is completed and/or confirming that the VIM reserves resources, the NFVO sends a reply message to the VNFM, informing the VNFM that it can apply for resource allocation;

706: After receiving the reply message from NFVO, VNFM confirms that it can apply for resources. Then, send a request for resource allocation to VIM;

707: After receiving the request for resource allocation, the VIM verifies the validity of the request, allocates resources after the verification is passed, and sends a reply message to inform the VNFM that the resources have been allocated;

708: The VNFM receives the reply message and determines that the resource has been allocated, and initiates the configuration of the VNF.

709: The VIM in 707 performs verification to pass the resource allocation, and can send a subscription notification to VNFM and NFVO in the process of sending a reply message, which is used to request VNFM and NFVO to return the status information of VNF in time;

710: After the VNFM receives the subscription notification, it needs to write the subscription information to the VNFR, so it returns the subscription information to NFVO. After NFVO receives the subscription information, it sends the subscription information to the VNFR for modifying the VNFR stored in the NFV Instance. subscription information; NFV Instance returns confirmation of modification after modifying VNFR, which is used to inform NFVO that the modification has been completed.

In addition, if the subscription information stored in the NFV Instance is modified, NFVO needs to send the subscription information to the VNFM;

or,

The VNFM sends a request for obtaining subscription information to the NFVO, and then the NFVO sends a reply message to the VNFM to inform the current subscription information.

711: Regardless of whether the EMS subscribes to the state change notification of the VNF, the VNFM sends an instantiation completion message to the EMS after the configuration of the VNF is completed, so as to notify the EMS to configure the VNF.

712: After the EMS configuration is completed, a reply message is sent to inform the VNFM that the configuration has been completed.

713: The VNFM receives the above reply message and confirms that the EMS has been configured, and sends a state change notification to the relevant management entity subscribed to the VNF state change information according to the subscription situation, and reports back to the NFVO that the instantiation operation is complete.

If NFVO is also subscribed to notifications about state changes, the two messages of instantiation complete and state change notification can be combined

714: After receiving the instantiated message or the state change notification, the NFVO sends a request to modify the state information in the VNFR to the NFV Instance, which becomes instantiated: inactive. NFVO can also report to OSS that the instantiation operation is complete.

715: After receiving the request to modify the status information in the VNFR, the NFV Instance verifies the validity of the request, modifies instantiated: inactive after passing the validity verification, and then returns a confirmation modification message to NFVO to notify that the status has been modified.

For the above steps 711 to 715, reference may be made to Embodiment 1, and more specific descriptions will not be repeated here. Compared with the first embodiment, the present embodiment has two changes, which are as follows:

One is that the VNF instantiation is triggered by the EMS, which in turn causes the VNFR creation process to be different. In the first embodiment, the VNF instantiation is triggered by the OSS.

The second is: the subscription process of the VNF state change notification has changed. The VNFM in the first embodiment asks whether subscription is required, and the management entity (such as VIM) actively subscribes.

There are two ways to subscribe:

1) Send subscription information to VNFM, which is forwarded to NFVO by VNFM, and recorded in VNFR.

2) Send subscription information directly to NFVO, and NFVO notifies NFV Instance to record.

When the state changes, the VNFM needs to send a notification to the subscribed management entity, so the VNFM needs to know the subscription list. There are two ways:

1) When the subscription list recorded by the VNFR or the VNF status changes, NFVO pushes the latest subscription list to the VNFM. In particular, when the VNF status changes, the subscription list can be included in the reply message to facilitate sending notifications.

2) The VNFR is queried by the VNFM to obtain the current subscription list.

It should be noted that the change of the subscription process has nothing to do with the change of the triggering method, and is determined by the implementation or policy. Active subscription can be performed at any time after the VNFR is created and before the VNF is deleted, not limited to the instantiation process, and the subscribed management entity will be notified of the next state change.

Embodiment 3. The state change and notification process of the VNF is described by taking the abnormal state of the VNF as an example, as shown in Figure 8, and the specific process is as follows:

801: The VNFM obtains abnormal status information.

According to the description of the aforementioned state machine, there are 3 kinds of messages that can trigger the abnormal state of VNF, namely in Figure 8:

1) The message sent by the VIM to the VNFM to discover the abnormality of the VNF-related infrastructure;

2) A message sent by VNF or EMS to VNFM to discover abnormality of VNF function or related infrastructure;

3) The VNFM obtains monitoring data from the VNF and finds that the monitoring value of the VNF exceeds the threshold, which may cause performance degradation.

802: After receiving the abnormal state information, the VNFM confirms that the VNF has entered the abnormal state. At this time, the state information in the VNFR needs to be modified.

There are two ways to modify the status information in VNFR:

1) VNFM sends a notification message to NFVO, informing that the state needs to be modified, NFVO sends a state information modification request to NFV Instance, and modifies the state information in VNFR to Abnormal.

In this method, status_constraints may need to be modified, so a message for modifying status_constraints can be sent to NFVO, which is then forwarded to NFV Instance by NFVO.

After the NFV Instance modifies the status, it can send a reply message to the NFVO, which is forwarded to the VNFM by the NFVO to confirm that the status has been modified.

2) The VNFM directly sends a state information modification request to the NFV Instance, thereby modifying the VNFR.

In this method, status_constraints may need to be modified, so the message of modifying status_constraints can be directly sent to NFV Instance.

After the NFV Instance modifies the status, it can send a reply message to the VNFM to confirm that the status has been modified. The reply message can be sent directly to the VNFM without being forwarded by NFVO.

In the above two embodiments, after receiving the request for modifying the status information in the VNFR, the NFV Instance verifies the validity of the request, and then modifies the status, status_constraints, audit_log and other information according to the situation and returns the processing result.

803: After the VNFM learns that the state has been modified, the VNFM notifies the state change to the management entity that subscribes to the message.

VNFM can first obtain the subscription list, and there are two ways to obtain the subscription list:

1) Apply for reading subscription information from VNFR through NFVO; in particular, if the method of NFVO push in Embodiment 2 is adopted, subscription information can be included in the returned result of VNFR modification, thereby omitting this step, or sending subscription by NFVO information to VNFM;

2) The VNFM directly applies to the NFV Instance to read the information in the VNFR; this can also carry the subscription information in the VNFR modified return message, thus omitting this step.

After obtaining the subscription information, the VNFM sends a state change notification to the corresponding management entity.

804: After recording the status and sending the notification, the VNFM executes the corresponding script program according to the requirements of the life cycle event. In this example, the exception handling script is executed to repair the VNF or infrastructure.

805: After the repair is successful, the VNFM will receive a corresponding message informing the VNFM that the abnormal VNF has been repaired. After the VNFM determines that the VNF has been repaired, the VNFM changes the state of the VNF to Active/Inactive through NFVO, and sends a state change notification to the corresponding management entity. Another method of state change notification can be used here, that is, NFVO will notify the process. The process is: VNFM sends a state change request to NFVO, NFVO notifies VNFR to modify it and feed it back to VNFM, and then NFVO applies to VNFR for a subscription list. , and then send a state change notification to the corresponding entity (EMS and VNF need to be forwarded by VNFM).

The technical effect of the third embodiment is as follows:

This embodiment provides a specific state change and notification process, which is supplemented on the basis of Embodiment 1 and Embodiment 2. After receiving the corresponding information, the VNF state recorded by the VNFM needs to be changed (the information that triggers the state change can be seen in the state machine in Figure 3), and then establish communication with the NFV Instance through NFVO or directly to modify the VNFR record. After the status is changed, to notify the relevant management entities of the subscription information, either VNFM or NFVO can initiate a notification. The subscription list can be carried by the feedback message of the VNFR status modification, or the VNFM/NFVO can query the NFV Instance for records in the VNFR. These steps ensure that the state information of the VNF can be updated in real time and used in subsequent management operations or system presentation.

The improvements of the third embodiment include:

This embodiment expands and refines the life cycle event processing process that triggers the state change (such as the exception notification and exception handling in this example), and adds the specific process of the state change and notification. Among them, both NFVO and VNFM can be used as senders of notification messages, and the subscription list recorded in the current VNFR needs to be obtained before sending messages. The direct communication between VNFM and NFV Instance needs to add new interfaces, and the notification sent by NFVO also needs to expand the definition in the standard.

Embodiment 4: This embodiment is the main application scenario except that the state information is presented externally (eg, the OSS management platform obtains the state information and presents it to the administrator or user), that is, using the state information to manage the VNF in real time. Specifically, the state information is used to verify the life cycle event request, so as to avoid making wrong instructions in a specific state. As shown in Figure 9, the specific process is as follows:

901: After receiving the life cycle event request from OSS, NFVO verifies the validity of the life cycle event request. After the verification is passed, it sends the life cycle event request for the VNF to the corresponding VNFM; or, in this step, the EMS sends the life cycle event request The event request is sent to the VNFM. After the VNFM receives the life cycle event request, it first verifies the validity of the input parameters, permissions, etc.; after the verification is passed, it goes to 902;

902: VNFM needs to obtain VNF status, status_constraints, other policies, run-time parameters and other information from VNFR (policy information may also be obtained from VNFD), there are two ways: First, VNFM directly sends a request message to NFVInstance to obtain parameter information , and then receive the returned result; second, VNFM sends a request to obtain information through NFVO. After receiving the request to obtain information, NFVO sends a request message to NFV Instance to obtain parameter information, and then receives the returned result and forwards it to VNFM.

903: After the VNFM receives the return result and obtains the parameter information, the VNFM queries the settings in status_constraints according to the current VNF state, and checks whether the request conforms to the requirements of other policies and run-time parameters. If the verification passes, go to 904, if the verification fails enter 905;

904: The VNFM executes the lifecycle event to request the corresponding script/workflow (the script/workflow information is obtained from the VNFD)

905: When the life cycle event request is rejected, a rejection request notification can be sent to the request initiator (such as OSS or EMS), and the reason for the verification failure can be informed.

The technical effect of the fourth embodiment is as follows:

This embodiment defines the process of verifying the lifecycle event request according to the current state information of the VNF. Through this process, the state information is applied to the life cycle management of the VNF, so as to avoid performing operations that are inconsistent with the current state, resulting in errors in the VNF work.

The improvements of the fourth embodiment include:

This embodiment refines the verification process after MANO receives the life cycle event processing request, and clarifies the acquisition process and verification process of the VNF state and other VNFR parameters. Similar to Embodiment 3, for the direct communication between the VNFM and the NFVInstance, a new interface needs to be added.

The fifth embodiment is the deletion process of the VNF state, as shown in Figure 10, including the following steps:

1001: OSS sends a VNF deletion request to NFVO. After NFVO verifies the validity of the VNF deletion request, it sends the VNF deletion request to VNFM. After VNFM verifies the validity of the VNF deletion request, it starts to enter the VNF deletion process, as follows:

1002: The VNFM sends a modification request to the NFV Instance to notify NFVO to modify the VNF status to terminated. Depending on the policy, the status_constraints information may need to be modified at the same time for verification of other lifecycle event requests by NFVO and VNFM during the VNF deletion process. The above modification request can be directly sent by VNFM to NFVInstance or forwarded by NFVO.

1003: After receiving the modification request, the NFV Instance verifies the validity of the modification request, modifies the status, status_constraints, audit_log, etc. after the verification is passed, and then returns the modification result to the VNFM, or confirms the modification message.

1004: The VNFM can obtain the subscription information of the state change from the confirmation modification message, or initiate a request to the NFVO and then to the NFV Instance to obtain the current subscription information from the VNFR. After obtaining the corresponding subscription information, the VNFM sends a state change notification to the management entity that subscribes to this message. After that, the VNFM runs the script/workflow to close the VNF, notifies the VNF to terminate the program, shut down the system, and notify the VIM to release the virtual network and virtual machine resources; the specific process can be as follows:

1005: The VNFM sends a request for closing the above VNF to the VNF, and receives a reply message for closing the VNF;

1006: The VNFM sends a resource release request to the VIM, requesting to release the resources occupied by the VNF (including virtual network, virtual machine resources, etc.), and then receives a VIM release confirmation message.

In 1006, the release request sent by the VNFM may be directly sent to the VIM, or may be sent by the NFVO when the NFVO is notified that the above-mentioned VNF has been deleted. In the latter case, the release confirmation message may be forwarded to the VNFM without being forwarded to the VNFM, which is not limited herein.

1007: After learning that the above VNF resources have been deleted, NFVO sends a request message to delete/archive the VNFR corresponding to the above VNF to the NFV Instance. After receiving the request, the NFV Instance deletes/archives the corresponding VNFR and returns Confirm the modification message.

In this step, the NFV Instance deletes or archives the VNFR. The archive is for the convenience of subsequent tracking and query.

1008: The NFVO receives the confirmation modification message and confirms that the VNF has been deleted, and sends a confirmation deletion message to the OSS to inform the OSS that the above VNF has been deleted.

The technical effect of the fifth embodiment:

This embodiment defines the deletion process of the VNF state. After this process, the state of the VNF no longer changes, and its records are deleted or archived.

The improvements of the fifth embodiment:

This embodiment mainly improves the VNF termination process, and adds the state information operation process, including state change, notification and deletion in the deletion process.

The embodiment of the present invention also provides a virtual network function manager, as shown in FIG. 11 , including:

A record confirmation unit 1101, configured to determine whether a virtual network function record VNFR corresponding to the VNF has been created;

a state determination unit 1102, configured to determine that the state of the above-mentioned VNF has changed;

The sending unit 1103 is configured to, after the above-mentioned record confirming unit 1101 determines that the virtual network function record VNFR corresponding to the VNF has been created, if the above-mentioned state determining unit 1102 determines that the state of the above-mentioned VNF has changed, then send to the network function virtualization instance storing the above-mentioned VNFR. Send a notification message to change the state of the above VNF to the changed state;

or,

A notification message is sent to the NFVO to modify the state of the VNF to the state after the change, so that the NFVO is forwarded to the network function virtualization instance that stores the VNFR.

In this embodiment, on the side of the virtual network function manager, the update control of the state of the VNF recorded in the VNFR is completed. This process can efficiently complete the management of the VNF state, and can provide accurate information for operations such as control based on the VNF state. basis.

In the embodiment of the present invention, after the state in the VNFR changes, the state information of the VNF needs to be sent to the management entity that subscribes to the state change information of the VNF. The embodiment of the present invention provides the following solution: further, the above sending unit 1103, It is also used to send the information of the above VNF state change to the management entity that subscribes to the above-mentioned VNF state change information after the state of the above-mentioned VNF is modified to the changed state.

When sending the information of VNF state change, it is necessary to determine the management entity that subscribes to the above VNF state change information. This information can be recorded in the VNFR. Therefore, there are two ways to obtain the information based on whether the VNFM has a communication interface with the network function virtualization instance. The details are as follows: Further 12, the above-mentioned virtual network function manager also includes:

The subscription determining unit 1201 is configured to, before sending the information of the above-mentioned VNF state change to the management entity that subscribes to the above-mentioned VNF state change information, the above-mentioned VNFM obtains the subscription information from the above-mentioned network function virtualization instance, and determines to subscribe to the above-mentioned VNF state change according to the above-mentioned subscription information. the management entity of the information;

Or, the above-mentioned subscription determination unit 1203 is configured to receive a reply message that the state of the above-mentioned VNF from the above-mentioned network function virtualization instance has been modified to the changed state, and then, according to the subscription information carried therein, determine to subscribe to the management of the above-mentioned VNF state change information entity.

Further, this embodiment also provides a specific process solution for creating a VNF. As shown in FIG. 13 , the above virtual network function manager further includes:

A receiving unit 1301, configured to receive an instantiated virtual network function VNF request;

The above-mentioned sending unit 1103 is further configured to send the application resource request to the above-mentioned NFVO after the above-mentioned receiving unit 1301 receives the instantiated virtual network function VNF request, so that the above-mentioned NFVO forwards the above-mentioned application resource request to the virtualized infrastructure manager VIM, And the above-mentioned NFVO controls the creation of a virtual network function record VNFR corresponding to the above-mentioned VNF.

Further, in the process of creating the VNF, it is also necessary to perform the relevant configuration of the VNF and the corresponding status update. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 14 , the above receiving unit 1301 is also used to receive the reply returned by the above VIM forwarded by the above NFVO. message; the above virtual network function manager also includes:

A configuration unit 1401, configured to determine that the VIM has allocated resources for the VNF according to the reply message, and then configure the VNF;

The above-mentioned sending unit 1103 is further configured to send an instantiation completion message to the network element management system EMS after the above-mentioned configuration unit 1401 completes the configuration of the above-mentioned VNF, so that the above-mentioned EMS configures the above-mentioned VNF; The above NFVO sends the instantiation operation complete message.

After the VNFR is created, the management entity may need to know the information of the VNF state change in real time. In this embodiment, there can be two implementation methods. One is that the VNFM asks the management entity whether it needs to be subscribed, and the other is that the management entity actively subscribes . The communication between the VNFM and the network function virtualization instance (NFV Instance) can be directly communicated if there is an interface. If there is no interface, it can be forwarded through NFVO. The details are as follows: the above-mentioned sending unit 1103 is also used to control the creation and the above-mentioned VNF in the above-mentioned NFVO After the corresponding virtual network function records the VNFR, it pushes an inquiry message to the management entity to inquire whether it is necessary to subscribe to the above-mentioned VNF state change information;

The above-mentioned receiving unit 1301 is further configured to receive the reply information of whether to subscribe to the above-mentioned VNF state change information returned by the above-mentioned management entity;

The above-mentioned sending unit 1103 is further configured to send the information of whether the above-mentioned management entity subscribes to the above-mentioned VNF state change information to the above-mentioned NFVO, so that the above-mentioned NFVO control is stored in the above-mentioned VNFR;

or,

The above-mentioned sending unit 1103 is also used for the above-mentioned receiving unit 1301, and is also used for receiving the information sent from the management entity whether to subscribe to the above-mentioned VNF state change information;

The above-mentioned sending unit 1103 is further configured to send the information of whether the above-mentioned management entity subscribes to the above-mentioned VNF state change information to the above-mentioned NFVO, so that the above-mentioned NFVO control is stored in the above-mentioned VNFR.

Optionally, this embodiment also gives an example of the source of the instantiated VNF request. It should be noted that if other devices have the need to create a VNF, it is also possible to initiate the instantiated VNF request. It should not be construed as a unique limitation on the embodiment of the present invention, and the details are as follows: the above receiving unit 1301, configured to receive the instantiated virtual network function VNF request includes: receiving the instantiated VNF request of the above NFVO, or, receiving an instance from the above EMS VNF request.

Further, after the VNFR is created, the state of the VNF may change. The embodiment of the present invention also provides a control scheme after there is an operation instruction for the VNF, which is specifically as follows: As shown in FIG. 15 , the above receiving unit 1301 also After the above-mentioned NFVO controls the creation of the virtual network function record VNFR corresponding to the above-mentioned VNF, receiving the life cycle event request for the above-mentioned VNF; the above-mentioned virtual network function manager also includes:

The state obtaining unit 1501 is configured to obtain the current state of the VNF from the network function virtualization instance storing the VNFR after the receiving unit 1301 receives the lifecycle event request for the VNF;

The execution control unit 1502 is configured to execute the operation of the above-mentioned life cycle event request if it is determined that the operation requested by the above-mentioned life cycle event belongs to the operation permitted by the current state of the above-mentioned VNF; otherwise, reject the operation of the above-mentioned life cycle event request.

The embodiment of the present invention also provides the state division of the VNF and the control strategy of the operation command in each state. The control strategy of the operation command can be stored in the VNFR, and the VNFM obtains the state of the VNF and informs the VNFM, which can also be stored in the VNFM. The embodiment is not uniquely limited. The details are as follows: The status of the above VNF includes:

Empty, indicating that the infrastructure required by the VNF has not yet been fully established; instantiation is not configured, indicating that the infrastructure has been established, but the function program of the VNF has not been configured; the instantiation is configured, indicating that the VNF has been configured. The state of working; delete, indicating the state of the VNF being deleted; wherein, the above instantiation has been configured including: stop, indicating that the VNF is in an inactive/dormant state and does not provide services; active, indicating that the VNF is in an active state and can provide The status of normal services; Abnormal, which means that the VNF is in a state of degraded or abnormal performance and may not be able to provide normal services; and Maintenance, which means that it is in a maintenance state and does not accept new services;

In the above empty state, undo operations are allowed, and other operations are not allowed; in the above instantiated unconfigured state, configuration operations and termination operations are allowed, but other operations are not allowed; in the above stopped state, cancellation operations, stop operations, and self-healing operations are not allowed , other operations are allowed; in the above active state, cancel operation, start operation and self-healing operation are not allowed, and other operations are allowed; in the above abnormal state, scaling operation, self-healing operation, configuration operation and deletion operation are allowed, and other operations are not allowed; In the above maintenance state, cancel operation and termination operation are allowed, and other operations are allowed; in the above deletion state, no operation is allowed.

An embodiment of the present invention also provides a network function virtualization orchestrator, as shown in FIG. 16 , including:

The receiving unit 1601 is configured to receive an application resource request from the VNFM; after the sending unit 1602 forwards the above application resource request to the VIM virtualization infrastructure manager, it receives the reply message returned after the above VIM allocates resources for the VNF;

The sending unit 1602 is configured to, after the receiving unit 1601 receives the resource application request from the VNFM, forward the resource application request to the VIM virtualization infrastructure manager; forward the reply message to the VNFM; The instance sends the virtual network function record VNFR creation request; sends the virtual network function descriptor VNFD to the above-mentioned network function virtualization instance, and the above-mentioned VNFD contains the parameter information of the information items in the above-mentioned VNFR; after determining that the above-mentioned VNF state changes, to the above-mentioned network The function virtualization instance sends a message instructing to modify the state of the above VNF to the changed state.

In this embodiment, the network function virtualization orchestrator NFVO completes the update control of the state of the VNF recorded in the VNFR. This process can efficiently complete the management of the VNF state, and can provide accurate information for operations such as control based on the VNF state. basis.

The specific implementation process of "sending a message to the above-mentioned network function virtualization instance to instruct to modify the state of the above-mentioned VNF to the changed state" has different processes according to different application scenarios. The VNF instantiation process can be as follows: The above-mentioned sending unit 1602 is configured to send a message indicating that the state of the above-mentioned VNF is modified to the changed state to the above-mentioned network function virtualization instance after determining that the state of the above-mentioned VNF has changed, including:

After the above-mentioned receiving unit 1601 receives the above-mentioned reply message, it sends a notification message to the above-mentioned network function virtualization instance to instruct to modify the state of the above-mentioned VNF to be an instantiated unconfigured state; and/or,

After the receiving unit 1601 receives the completion of the instantiation operation from the VNFM, it sends a modification instruction indicating that the state of the VNF is changed to stop instantiation to the network function virtualization instance.

Further, after the VNFR is created, the management entity may need to know the information of the VNF state change in real time, and needs to save it to the VNFR in the network function virtualization instance. This embodiment provides a specific implementation scheme, as follows:

The above-mentioned receiving unit 1601 is further configured to, after the above-mentioned sending unit 1602 sends a virtual network function record VNFR creation request to the network function virtualization instance, receive information from the above-mentioned VNFM whether the management entity subscribes to the above-mentioned VNF state change information, or, receive The information sent from the management entity whether the management entity subscribes to the above VNF state change information;

The above-mentioned sending unit 1602 is further configured to send the information of whether the above-mentioned management entity subscribes to the above-mentioned VNF state change information to the above-mentioned network function virtualization instance and save it to the above-mentioned VNFR.

Further, after the VNFR is created, the state of the VNF may change. The embodiment of the present invention also provides a solution for updating the information in the VNFR, as follows:

The above-mentioned receiving unit 1601 is further configured to receive a notification message for modifying the state of the above-mentioned VNF to the changed state;

The above-mentioned sending unit 1602 is further configured to forward the above-mentioned network function virtualization instance to the above-mentioned network function virtualization instance after the above-mentioned receiving unit 1601 receives the notification message that the state of the above-mentioned VNF is modified to the changed state; after the above-mentioned VNF state is modified to the changed state Afterwards, the information of the above-mentioned VNF state change is sent to the management entity that subscribes to the above-mentioned VNF state change information.

Further, after the VNFR is created, the management entity may need to know the information of the VNF state change in real time, and needs to save it to the VNFR in the network function virtualization instance. This embodiment provides a specific implementation scheme, as shown in Figure 17. , the above network function virtualization orchestrator also includes:

The subscription obtaining unit 1701 is configured to obtain the subscription information for the above-mentioned network function virtualization instance before the above-mentioned sending unit 1602 sends the information of the above-mentioned VNF state change to the management entity that subscribes to the above-mentioned VNF state change information, and determine to subscribe to the above-mentioned VNF state according to the above-mentioned subscription information. the entity that manages the change information;

Or, receive a reply message that the state of the VNF has been modified to the changed state from the network function virtualization instance, and then determine the management entity that subscribes to the VNF state change information according to the subscription information carried therein.

The embodiment of the present invention also provides a network function virtualization instance, as shown in FIG. 18 , including:

A receiving unit 1801, configured to receive a virtual network function record VNFR creation request from NFVO;

The creating unit 1802 is configured to create a virtual network function record VNFR corresponding to the VNF after the receiving unit 1801 receives the virtual network function record VNFR creation request from the NFVO;

The above-mentioned receiving unit 1801 is further configured to receive the virtual network function descriptor VNFD from the above-mentioned NFVO, and the above-mentioned VNFD includes the parameter information of the information items in the above-mentioned VNFR;

a recording unit 1803, configured to record the parameter information in the above-mentioned VNFD to the above-mentioned VNFR;

The above-mentioned receiving unit 1801 is further configured to receive a notification message indicating to modify the above-mentioned VNF state from the above-mentioned NFVO;

The recording unit 1803 is further configured to modify the state information in the VNFR corresponding to the VNF to the state indicated by the notification message after the receiving unit 1801 receives the notification message from the NFVO indicating to modify the state of the VNF.

In this embodiment, the network function virtualization instance completes the update of the state of the VNF recorded in the VNFR. This process can efficiently complete the management of the VNF state, and can provide an accurate basis for operations such as control based on the VNF state.

Optionally, in this embodiment, there may be many indications of NFVO, and there may be different indications according to different application processes, wherein this embodiment provides a specific solution in the VNF instantiation process as follows:

The above-mentioned receiving unit 1801, for receiving a notification message from the above-mentioned NFVO to indicate that the state of the VNF is modified includes: receiving a notification message from the above-mentioned NFVO to indicate that the state of the modified VNF is an instantiated unconfigured state; and/or, receiving a notification message from the above-mentioned NFVO. The instruction of NFVO modifies the state of the above VNF to the modification instruction of instantiation stop;

The above-mentioned recording unit 1803, for modifying the state information in the VNFR corresponding to the above-mentioned VNF to the state indicated by the notification message includes: modifying the state information in the VNFR corresponding to the above-mentioned VNF to an instantiated unconfigured state; modifying the state information in the VNFR corresponding to the above-mentioned VNF The status information for instantiation stopped.

Further, because in the subsequent embodiment, when the state of the VNF changes, the information of the state information change of the VNF needs to be sent to the management entity, so it is necessary to save which management entities have subscribed to the VNF state change information, as follows:

The above-mentioned receiving unit 1801 is further configured to receive information on whether the management entity of the above-mentioned NFVO subscribes to the above-mentioned VNF state change information after the virtual network function record VNFR corresponding to the VNF is created;

The above-mentioned recording unit 1803 is further configured to store the information of whether the above-mentioned management entity subscribes to the above-mentioned VNF state change information into the above-mentioned VNFR after the above-mentioned receiving unit 1801 receives the information about whether the above-mentioned management entity subscribes to the above-mentioned VNF state change information from the above-mentioned NFVO.

Further, the embodiment of the present invention also provides a specific implementation scheme for modifying the state information in the VNFR, as follows:

The above-mentioned receiving unit 1801 is further configured to receive a notification message from the above-mentioned VNFM or forwarded by the above-mentioned VNFM through the above-mentioned NFVO, to modify the state of the above-mentioned VNF to a changed state;

The recording unit 1803 is further configured to modify the state information in the VNFR corresponding to the VNF to the changed state after the receiving unit 1801 receives the notification message for modifying the state of the VNF to the changed state.

Further, when the VNFM or NFVO needs to send the VNF status to the management entity, they need to know the subscription information, so as to determine which management entities subscribe to the VNF status change information. In this embodiment, there are two ways to notify, as shown in Figure 19. shown:

The above-mentioned receiving unit 1801 is further configured to receive a query request from the above-mentioned VNFM or the above-mentioned NFVO; the above-mentioned network function virtualization instance further includes:

The sending unit 1901 is configured to send the subscription information of the VNF to the device sending the query request after the receiving unit 1801 queries the request; or, after modifying the state information in the VNFR corresponding to the VNF to the state after the change, to The above-mentioned VNFM or the above-mentioned NFVO sends a reply message for notifying that the above-mentioned VNF state has been modified, and the above-mentioned reply message carries the above-mentioned subscription information; the above-mentioned subscription information includes the information of the management entity that subscribes to the above-mentioned VNF state change information.

The embodiment of the present invention also provides another virtual network function manager, which may be a chip with data processing capability, as shown in FIG. 20 , at least including the following functional components:

a receiving interface 2001, a transmitting interface 2002, and a processor 2003;

The processor 2003 is configured to control the above-mentioned sending interface 2002 to perform the following operations: after it is determined that the virtual network function record VNFR corresponding to the VNF has been created, if the above-mentioned VNFM determines that the state of the above-mentioned VNF has changed, then the virtual network function virtual network storing the above-mentioned VNFR is sent to the virtual network function record VNFR. The virtualized instance sends a notification message to change the state of the above VNF to the changed state; or, sends a notification message to NFVO to change the state of the above VNF to the changed state, so that the above NFVO forwards to the network function virtualization instance that stores the above VNFR .

In this embodiment, on the side of the virtual network function manager, the update control of the state of the VNF recorded in the VNFR is completed. This process can efficiently complete the management of the VNF state, and can provide accurate information for operations such as control based on the VNF state. basis.

In the embodiment of the present invention, after the state in the VNFR changes, the state information of the VNF needs to be sent to the management entity that subscribes to the state change information of the VNF. The embodiment of the present invention provides the following solution: further, the processor 2003 further It is used to control the above-mentioned sending interface 2002 to perform the following operations: after the state of the above-mentioned VNF is modified to the changed state, the above-mentioned VNF state change information is sent to the management entity that subscribes to the above-mentioned VNF state change information.

When sending the information of VNF state change, it is necessary to determine the management entity that subscribes to the above VNF state change information. This information can be recorded in the VNFR. Therefore, there are two ways to obtain the information based on whether the VNFM has a communication interface with the network function virtualization instance. The details are as follows: Further The processor 2003 is further configured to obtain subscription information from the above-mentioned network function virtualization instance before sending the information of the above-mentioned VNF state change to the management entity that subscribes to the above-mentioned VNF state change information, and determine to subscribe to the above-mentioned VNF state change according to the above-mentioned subscription information. the management entity of the information;

Alternatively, the above-mentioned receiving interface 2001 is controlled to receive a reply message that the state of the above-mentioned VNF from the above-mentioned network function virtualization instance has been modified to the changed state; and then, according to the subscription information carried therein, the management entity that subscribes to the above-mentioned VNF state change information is determined.

Further, this embodiment also provides a specific process scheme for creating a VNF. The processor 2003 is further configured to, after the receiving interface 2001 receives the VNF request for instantiating the virtual network function, control the above-mentioned sending interface 2002 to the network function virtualization orchestrator. The NFVO sends an application resource request, so that the above-mentioned NFVO forwards the above-mentioned application resource request to the virtualization infrastructure manager VIM, and makes the above-mentioned NFVO control to create a virtual network function record VNFR corresponding to the above-mentioned VNF.

Further, in the process of creating the VNF, the related configuration of the VNF and the corresponding status update need to be performed, and the details are as follows: the processor 2003 is further configured to receive, through the receiving interface 2001, the reply message that is forwarded by the above-mentioned NFVO and returned from the above-mentioned VIM ; Then according to the above reply message, it is determined that the above VIM has allocated resources for the above VNF, and then the above VNF is configured;

After the configuration of the above-mentioned VNF is completed, the above-mentioned sending interface 2002 is controlled to send an instantiation completion message to the network element management system EMS, so that the above-mentioned EMS is configured with the above-mentioned VNF;

After it is determined that the above-mentioned EMS has completed the configuration of the above-mentioned VNF, the above-mentioned sending interface 2002 is controlled to send an instantiation operation completion message to the above-mentioned NFVO.

After the VNFR is created, the management entity may need to know the information of the VNF state change in real time. In this embodiment, there can be two implementation methods. One is that the VNFM asks the management entity whether it needs to be subscribed, and the other is that the management entity actively subscribes . The communication between the VNFM and the network function virtualization instance (NFV Instance) can be directly communicated if there is an interface. If there is no interface, it can be forwarded through NFVO. The details are as follows: the processor 2003 is also used to control the creation of the above-mentioned VNF in the above-mentioned NFVO. After the virtual network function records the VNFR, the above-mentioned sending interface 2002 is controlled to push an inquiry message to the management entity for inquiring whether to subscribe to the above-mentioned VNF state change information;

The receiving interface 2001 receives the reply information of whether to subscribe to the VNF state change information returned by the management entity, and controls the sending interface 2002 to send the information of whether the management entity subscribes to the VNF state change information to the NFVO, so that the NFVO control is stored in the the above VNFRs;

Or, receive the information of whether to subscribe to the above-mentioned VNF state change information sent by the management entity through the receiving interface 2001; control the above-mentioned sending interface 2002 to send the information of whether the above-mentioned management entity subscribes to the above-mentioned VNF state change information to the above-mentioned NFVO, so that the above-mentioned NFVO controls the storage. into the above VNFR.

Optionally, this embodiment also gives an example of the source of the instantiated VNF request. It should be noted that if other devices have the need to create a VNF, it is also possible to initiate the instantiated VNF request. It should not be construed as a unique limitation to the embodiment of the present invention, and the details are as follows: the above-mentioned received instantiation of the virtual network function VNF request includes:

The instantiated VNF request from the above NFVO is received, or the instantiated VNF request from the above EMS is received.

Further, after the VNFR is created, the state of the VNF may change. The embodiment of the present invention also provides a control scheme after there is an operation instruction for the VNF. The details are as follows: the processor 2003 is also used to control the creation of After the virtual network function corresponding to the above-mentioned VNF records the VNFR, after receiving the life cycle event request for the above-mentioned VNF through the receiving interface 2001, obtain the current state of the above-mentioned VNF from the network function virtualization instance storing the above-mentioned VNFR;

If it is determined that the operation requested by the above life cycle event belongs to the operation permitted by the current state of the above VNF, the operation requested by the above life cycle event is executed; otherwise, the operation requested by the above life cycle event is rejected.

The embodiment of the present invention also provides the state division of the VNF and the control strategy of the operation command in each state. The control strategy of the operation command can be stored in the VNFR, and the VNFM obtains the state of the VNF and informs the VNFM, which can also be stored in the VNFM. The embodiment is not uniquely limited. The details are as follows: The status of the above VNF includes:

Empty, indicating that the infrastructure required by the VNF has not yet been fully established; instantiation is not configured, indicating that the infrastructure has been established, but the function program of the VNF has not been configured; the instantiation is configured, indicating that the VNF has been configured. The state of working; delete, indicating the state of the VNF being deleted; wherein, the above instantiation has been configured including: stop, indicating that the VNF is in an inactive/dormant state and does not provide services; active, indicating that the VNF is in an active state and can provide The status of normal services; Abnormal, which means that the VNF is in a state of degraded or abnormal performance and may not be able to provide normal services; and Maintenance, which means that it is in a maintenance state and does not accept new services;

In the above empty state, undo operations are allowed, and other operations are not allowed; in the above instantiated unconfigured state, configuration operations and termination operations are allowed, but other operations are not allowed; in the above stopped state, cancellation operations, stop operations, and self-healing operations are not allowed , other operations are allowed; in the above active state, cancel operation, start operation and self-healing operation are not allowed, and other operations are allowed; in the above abnormal state, scaling operation, self-healing operation, configuration operation and deletion operation are allowed, and other operations are not allowed; In the above maintenance state, cancel operation and termination operation are allowed, and other operations are allowed; in the above deletion state, no operation is allowed.

This embodiment of the present invention also provides another network function virtualization orchestrator, which may be a chip with data processing capability, as shown in FIG. 21 , and includes at least the following functional components:

a receiving interface 2101, a transmitting interface 2102, and a processor 2103;

The processor 2103 is configured to, after receiving the application resource request from the VNFM through the receiving interface 2101, control the above-mentioned sending interface 2102 to forward the above-mentioned application resource request to the VIM virtualization infrastructure manager, and then receive the above-mentioned VIM through the receiving interface 2101. For the reply message returned after allocating resources to the VNF, control the above-mentioned sending interface 2102 to forward the above-mentioned reply message to the above-mentioned VNFM; send a virtual network function record VNFR creation request to the network function virtualization instance;

Controlling the above-mentioned sending interface 2102 to send the virtual network function descriptor VNFD to the above-mentioned network function virtualization instance, and the above-mentioned VNFD includes the parameter information of the information items in the above-mentioned VNFR;

After determining that the state of the VNF has changed, the sending interface 2102 is controlled to send a message indicating to modify the state of the VNF to the state after the change to the network function virtualization instance.

In this embodiment, the network function virtualization orchestrator NFVO completes the update control of the state of the VNF recorded in the VNFR. This process can efficiently complete the management of the VNF state, and can provide accurate information for operations such as control based on the VNF state. basis.

The specific implementation process of "sending a message to the above-mentioned network function virtualization instance to instruct to modify the state of the above-mentioned VNF to the changed state" has different processes according to different application scenarios. The VNF instantiation process can be as follows: The processor 2103 is further configured to, after determining that the state of the VNF changes, control the sending interface 2102 to send a message indicating that the state of the VNF is modified to the state after the change to the network function virtualization instance, including:

After receiving the above-mentioned reply message through the receiving interface 2101, the above-mentioned sending interface 2102 is controlled to send a notification message to the above-mentioned network function virtualization instance to indicate that the state of the above-mentioned VNF is to be changed to an instantiated unconfigured state; and/or,

After receiving the completion of the instantiation operation from the VNFM through the receiving interface 2101, the sending interface 2102 is controlled to send a modification instruction indicating to modify the state of the VNF to stop instantiation to the network function virtualization instance.

Further, after the VNFR is created, the management entity may need to know the information of the VNF state change in real time, and needs to save it to the VNFR in the network function virtualization instance. This embodiment provides a specific implementation scheme, as follows: the processor 2103, and After controlling the above-mentioned sending interface 2102 to send a virtual network function record VNFR creation request to the network function virtualization instance, the receiving interface 2101 is used to receive from the above-mentioned VNFM whether the management entity subscribes to the above-mentioned VNF state change information information, or, by receiving The interface 2101 receives the information sent from the management entity whether the management entity subscribes to the above-mentioned VNF state change information; controls the above-mentioned sending interface 2102 to send the information of whether the above-mentioned management entity subscribes to the above-mentioned VNF state change information to the above-mentioned network function virtualization instance and saves it to the above-mentioned VNFR .

Further, after the VNFR is created, the state of the VNF may change. The embodiment of the present invention also provides a solution for updating the information in the VNFR, as follows:

The processor 2103 is further configured to control the above-mentioned sending interface 2102 to forward to the above-mentioned network function virtualization instance after receiving the notification message of modifying the state of the above-mentioned VNF to the changed state through the receiving interface 2101; After the state is changed, the above-mentioned sending interface 2102 is controlled to send the above-mentioned VNF state change information to the management entity that subscribes to the above-mentioned VNF state change information.

Further, after the VNFR is created, the management entity may need to know the information of the VNF state change in real time, and needs to save it to the VNFR in the network function virtualization instance. This embodiment provides a specific implementation scheme, as follows: the processor 2103, and For controlling the above-mentioned sending interface 2102 to send the above-mentioned VNF state change information to the management entity that subscribes to the above-mentioned VNF state change information, obtain the subscription information from the above-mentioned network function virtualization instance, and determine according to the above-mentioned subscription information. management entity;

Alternatively, the processor 2103 is further configured to receive, through the receiving interface 2101, a reply message that the state of the above-mentioned VNF from the above-mentioned network function virtualization instance has been modified to the changed state, and then determine to subscribe to the above-mentioned VNF state change according to the subscription information carried therein Information management entity.

This embodiment of the present invention also provides another network function virtualization instance, which may be a chip with data processing capability, as shown in FIG. 22 , and includes at least the following functional components:

a receiving interface 2201, a transmitting interface 2202, and a processor 2203;

The processor 2203 is configured to create a virtual network function record VNFR corresponding to the VNF after receiving the virtual network function record VNFR creation request from the NFVO through the receiving interface 2201;

Receive the virtual network function descriptor VNFD from the above-mentioned NFVO through the receiving interface 2201, and the above-mentioned VNFD contains the parameter information of the information items in the above-mentioned VNFR; record the parameter information in the above-mentioned VNFD to the above-mentioned VNFR;

After receiving the notification message from the NFVO indicating to modify the state of the VNF through the receiving interface 2201, the state information in the VNFR corresponding to the VNF is modified to the state indicated by the notification message.

In this embodiment, the network function virtualization instance completes the update of the state of the VNF recorded in the VNFR. This process can efficiently complete the management of the VNF state, and can provide an accurate basis for operations such as control based on the VNF state.

Optionally, in this embodiment, there may be many indications of NFVO, and there may be different indications according to different application processes, wherein this embodiment provides a specific solution in the VNF instantiation process as follows: processor 2203, For receiving the notification message from the above-mentioned NFVO indicating that the state of the above-mentioned VNF is modified to be an instantiated unconfigured state, and to modify the state information in the VNFR corresponding to the above-mentioned VNF to be an instantiated unconfigured state;

And/or, by receiving an instruction from the NFVO through the receiving interface 2201, the state of the VNF is modified to a modification instruction indicating that the instantiation is stopped, and the state information in the VNFR corresponding to the VNF is modified to be instantiation stopped.

Further, because in the subsequent embodiment, when the state of the VNF changes, the information about the change of the state information of the VNF needs to be sent to the management entity, so it is necessary to save which management entities have subscribed to the state change information of the VNF, and the details are as follows: the processor 2203, It is also used for, after creating the virtual network function record VNFR corresponding to the VNF, after receiving through the receiving interface 2201 the information about whether the management entity of the above-mentioned NFVO subscribes to the above-mentioned VNF state change information, whether the above-mentioned management entity subscribes to the above-mentioned VNF state change information The information of the information is stored in the above-mentioned VNFR.

Further, the embodiment of the present invention also provides a specific implementation scheme for modifying the state information in the VNFR, as follows: the processor 2203 is further configured to receive, through the receiving interface 2201, the information from the above-mentioned VNFM or from the above-mentioned VNFM and forwarded by the above-mentioned NFVO, After the state of the above VNF is modified to the notification message of the changed state, the state information in the VNFR corresponding to the above VNF is modified to the above changed state.

Further, when the VNFM or NFVO needs to send the VNF state to the management entity, they need to know the subscription information, so as to determine which management entities have subscribed to the VNF state change information. In this embodiment, there may be two ways to notify, as follows: processor 2203 is also used to control the above-mentioned sending interface 2202 to send the subscription information of the above-mentioned VNF to the device sending the inquiry request after receiving the inquiry request from the above-mentioned VNFM or the above-mentioned NFVO through the receiving interface 2201; or, in the VNFR corresponding to the above-mentioned VNF After the state information of the VNF is modified to the state after the above change, the above-mentioned sending interface 2202 is controlled to send a reply message to the above-mentioned VNFM or the above-mentioned NFVO for notifying that the above-mentioned VNF state has been modified, and the above-mentioned subscription information is carried in the above-mentioned reply message; The above-mentioned subscription information contains Information of the management entity that subscribes to the above VNF state change information.

It is worth noting that the above-mentioned devices are only divided according to functional logic, but are not limited to the above-mentioned division, as long as the corresponding functions can be realized; to limit the protection scope of the present invention.

Aspects of the present invention may be described in the general context of computer-executable instructions, such as program elements, being executed by a computer. Generally, program elements include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The inventive aspects may also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network. In a distributed computing environment, program elements may be located in both local and remote computer storage media including storage devices. The corresponding program can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium, and the above-mentioned storage medium can be a read-only memory, a magnetic disk or an optical disk, and the like.

Each embodiment in this specification is described in a progressive manner, and the same and similar parts between the various embodiments may be referred to each other, and each embodiment focuses on the differences from other embodiments. In particular, for the apparatus embodiment, since it is basically similar to the method embodiment, the description is relatively simple, and reference may be made to the partial description of the method embodiment for related parts. The device embodiments described above are only illustrative, wherein the units described as separate components may or may not be physically separated, and the components displayed as units may or may not be physical units, that is, they may be located in a local, or it can be distributed over multiple network elements. Some or all of the modules may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution in this embodiment. Those of ordinary skill in the art can understand and implement it without creative effort.

The above are only preferred specific embodiments of the present invention, but the protection scope of the present invention is not limited thereto. Any person skilled in the art can easily think of changes or substitutions within the technical scope disclosed by the embodiments of the present invention. , all should be covered within the protection scope of the present invention. Therefore, the protection scope of the present invention should be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims (32)

1. a life cycle management method of virtual network function, is characterized in that, comprises: After the virtual network function manager VNFM determines that the virtual network function record VNFR corresponding to the VNF has been created, if the VNFM determines that the state of the VNF has changed, it sends the VNF to the network function virtualization instance that stores the VNFR. A notification message that the state of the VNF is modified to the state after the change; or, send a notification message to the network function virtualization orchestrator NFVO to modify the state of the VNF to the state after the change, so that the NFVO forwards it to the network function that stores the VNFR. virtualized instance; After the NFVO controls the creation of a virtual network function record VNFR corresponding to the VNF, the method further includes: The VNFM pushes an inquiry message to the management entity, for inquiring whether to subscribe to the VNF state change information; The VNFM receives the reply information of whether to subscribe to the VNF state change information returned by the management entity, and sends the information of whether the management entity subscribes to the VNF state change information to the NFVO, so that the NFVO controls the storage. the VNFR; Or the method further includes: the VNFM receives information from a management entity on whether to subscribe to the VNF state change information; the VNFM sends the information on whether the management entity subscribes to the VNF state change information to the NFVO , causing the NFVO control to be stored in the VNFR. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the method further comprises: After modifying the state of the VNF to the state after the change, the VNFM sends the information of the state change of the VNF to the management entity that subscribes to the state change information of the VNF. 3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that, before sending the information of the VNF state change to a management entity subscribing to the VNF state change information, the method further comprises: obtaining, by the VNFM, subscription information from the network function virtualization instance, and determining a management entity that subscribes to the VNF state change information according to the subscription information; Alternatively, the method further includes: the VNFM receives a reply message from the network function virtualization instance that the state of the VNF has been modified to a changed state, and then determines to subscribe to the VNF state according to the subscription information carried in the VNFM A management entity for change information. 4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the method further comprises: After receiving the instantiated virtual network function VNF request, the VNFM sends an application resource request to the NFVO, so that the NFVO forwards the application resource request to the virtualization infrastructure manager VIM, and makes the NFVO control Create a virtual network function record VNFR corresponding to the VNF. 5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the method further comprises: Receive the reply message returned by the VIM forwarded by the NFVO, and then determine that the VIM has allocated resources for the VNF according to the reply message, and then configure the VNF; After configuring the VNF, send an instantiation complete message to the network element management system EMS, so that the EMS configures the VNF; After it is determined that the EMS completes the configuration of the VNF, an instantiation operation complete message is sent to the NFVO. 6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the receiving the instantiated virtual network function VNF request comprises: An instantiated VNF request from the NFVO is received, or an instantiated VNF request from the EMS is received. 7. The method according to claim 1, wherein after the NFVO controls the creation of a virtual network function record VNFR corresponding to the VNF, the method further comprises: After receiving the lifecycle event request for the VNF, obtain the current state of the VNF from the network function virtualization instance storing the VNFR; If it is determined that the operation requested by the life cycle event belongs to the operation permitted by the current state of the VNF, the operation requested by the life cycle event is executed; otherwise, the operation requested by the life cycle event is rejected. 8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the state of the VNF comprises: Empty, indicating that the infrastructure required by the VNF has not yet been fully established; instantiation is not configured, indicating that the infrastructure has been established, but the function program of the VNF has not been configured; the instantiation is configured, indicating that the VNF has been configured. The state of working; Delete, indicating that the VNF is being deleted; wherein, the instantiated configuration includes: Stop, indicating that the VNF is in an inactive/dormant state, and does not provide services; Active, indicating that the VNF is in an active state and can The status of providing normal services; Abnormal, indicating that the VNF is in a state of degraded or abnormal performance, and may not be able to provide normal services; and Maintenance, indicating that it is in a maintenance state and does not accept new services; In the empty state, undo operations are allowed, and other operations are not allowed; in the instant unconfigured state, configuration operations and termination operations are allowed, and other operations are not allowed; in the stopped state, cancellation operations, stop operations, and Self-healing operations allow other operations; in the active state, cancel operations, start operations and self-healing operations are not allowed, but other operations are allowed; in the abnormal state, scaling operations, self-healing operations, configuration operations, and deletion operations are allowed, No other operations are allowed; in the maintenance state, cancellation and termination operations are allowed, and other operations are allowed; in the deletion state, no operations are allowed. 9. A life cycle management method for a virtual network function, comprising: After receiving the resource application request from the VNFM, the network function virtualization orchestrator NFVO forwards the resource application request to the VIM virtualization infrastructure manager, and then receives the reply message returned by the VIM after allocating resources to the VNF, and sends the The reply message is forwarded to the VNFM; the virtual network function record VNFR creation request is sent to the network function virtualization instance; The NFVO sends a virtual network function descriptor VNFD to the network function virtualization instance, where the VNFD includes parameter information of the information item in the VNFR; After determining that the state of the VNF changes, the NFVO sends a message indicating that the state of the VNF is modified to the state after the change to the network function virtualization instance; After sending the virtual network function record VNFR creation request to the network function virtualization instance, the method further includes: The NFVO receives information from the VNFM whether the management entity subscribes to the VNF state change information, or receives information from the management entity whether the management entity subscribes to the VNF state change information; whether the management entity subscribes to the VNF state change information; The information of subscribing to the VNF state change information is sent to the network function virtualization instance and stored in the VNFR. 10. The method according to claim 9, wherein after determining that the state of the VNF changes, the NFVO sends a message indicating that the state of the VNF is modified to the state after the change to the network function virtualization instance, comprising: : After receiving the reply message, the NFVO sends a notification message to the network function virtualization instance to indicate that the state of the VNF is modified to be an instantiated unconfigured state; and/or, After receiving the completion of the instantiation operation from the VNFM, the NFVO sends a modification instruction indicating that the state of the VNF is modified to stop instantiation to the network function virtualization instance. 11. The method according to any one of claims 9 to 10, wherein the method further comprises: After receiving the notification message that the state of the VNF is modified to the state after the change, the NFVO forwards it to the network function virtualization instance; After the state of the VNF is modified to the state after the change, the information about the state change of the VNF is sent to the management entity that subscribes to the state change information of the VNF. 12. The method of claim 11, wherein: Before sending the VNF state change information to the management entity subscribing to the VNF state change information, the method further includes: The NFVO obtains subscription information from the network function virtualization instance, and determines a management entity that subscribes to the VNF state change information according to the subscription information; Or, the method further includes: the NFVO receives a reply message from the network function virtualization instance that the state of the VNF has been modified to a changed state, and then determines to subscribe to the VNF state according to the subscription information carried therein A management entity for change information. 13. A life cycle management method for a virtual network function, comprising: After receiving the virtual network function record VNFR creation request from NFVO, the network function virtualization instance creates a virtual network function record VNFR corresponding to the VNF; Receive the virtual network function descriptor VNFD from the NFVO, the VNFD contains parameter information of the information item in the VNFR; record the parameter information in the VNFD to the VNFR; After receiving the notification message from the NFVO indicating to modify the VNF state, modify the state information in the VNFR corresponding to the VNF to the state indicated by the notification message; After creating the virtual network function record VNFR corresponding to the VNF, the method further includes: After receiving the information about whether the management entity subscribes to the VNF state change information from the NFVO, the network function virtualization instance stores the information about whether the management entity subscribes to the VNF state change information in the VNFR. 14. The method according to claim 13, wherein after receiving a notification message from the NFVO indicating to modify the VNF state, modifying the state information in the VNFR corresponding to the VNF into a notification message Indicated states include: Receive a notification message from the NFVO indicating that the state of the VNF is modified to be an instantiated unconfigured state, and modify the state information in the VNFR corresponding to the VNF to be an instantiated unconfigured state; And/or, receiving an instruction from the NFVO to modify the state of the VNF to a modification instruction indicating that the instantiation is stopped, and modifying the state information in the VNFR corresponding to the VNF to stop the instantiation. 15. The method according to any one of claims 13 to 14, wherein the method further comprises: After receiving a notification message from the VNFM or forwarded by the VNFM through the NFVO to modify the state of the VNF to a changed state, modify the state information in the VNFR corresponding to the VNF to the state after the change. 16. The method of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises: After receiving the query request from the VNFM or the NFVO, send the subscription information of the VNF to the device sending the query request; or, after modifying the state information in the VNFR corresponding to the VNF to the change After the status, send a reply message to the VNFM or the NFVO to notify that the VNF status has been modified, and the reply message carries the subscription information; the subscription information includes the subscription information of the VNF status change information about the managed entity. 17. A virtual network function manager, comprising: The record confirmation unit is used to determine whether the virtual network function record VNFR corresponding to the VNF has been created; a state determination unit, configured to determine that the state of the VNF has changed; The sending unit is configured to, after the record confirming unit determines that the virtual network function record VNFR corresponding to the VNF has been created, if the state determining unit determines that the state of the VNF has changed, send the virtual network function storage to the VNFR storage. The instance sends a notification message for modifying the state of the VNF to the state after the change; or, sends a notification message for modifying the state of the VNF to the state after the change to the NFVO, so that the NFVO forwards it to the network function that stores the VNFR virtualized instance; The sending unit is further configured to push an inquiry message to the management entity after the NFVO controls the creation of a virtual network function record VNFR corresponding to the VNF, for inquiring whether to subscribe to the VNF state change information a receiving unit, further configured to receive the reply information of whether to subscribe to the VNF state change information returned by the management entity; The sending unit is further configured to send the information on whether the management entity subscribes to the VNF state change information to the NFVO, so that the NFVO control is stored in the VNFR; or, The receiving unit is further configured to receive the information on whether to subscribe to the VNF state change information sent from the management entity; The sending unit is further configured to send the information of whether the management entity subscribes to the VNF state change information to the NFVO, so that the NFVO control is stored in the VNFR. 18. The virtual network function manager of claim 17, wherein: The sending unit is further configured to send the information of the VNF state change to the management entity that subscribes to the VNF state change information after the state of the VNF is modified to the changed state. 19. The virtual network function manager according to claim 18, wherein the virtual network function manager further comprises: a subscription determination unit, configured to, before sending the information of the VNF state change to the management entity that subscribes to the VNF state change information, the VNFM obtains the subscription information from the network function virtualization instance, and determines the subscription according to the subscription information the management entity of the VNF state change information; Or, the subscription determination unit is configured to receive a reply message from the network function virtualization instance that the state of the VNF has been modified to a changed state, and then determine to subscribe to the VNF state change according to the subscription information carried therein Information management entity. 20. The virtual network function manager according to any one of claims 17 to 19, wherein the virtual network function manager further comprises: a receiving unit, configured to receive an instantiated virtual network function VNF request; The sending unit is further configured to send an application resource request to the NFVO after the receiving unit receives the instantiated virtual network function VNF request, so that the NFVO forwards the application resource request to the virtualized infrastructure management server VIM, and cause the NFVO to control the creation of a virtual network function record VNFR corresponding to the VNF. 21. The virtual network function manager of claim 20, wherein: The receiving unit is further configured to receive a reply message that is forwarded by the NFVO and returned from the VIM; the virtual network function manager further includes: a configuration unit, configured to determine that the VIM has allocated resources to the VNF according to the reply message, and then configure the VNF; The sending unit is further configured to send an instantiation completion message to the network element management system EMS after the configuration unit completes the configuration of the VNF, so that the EMS configures the VNF; After the configuration is completed, an instantiation operation complete message is sent to the NFVO. 22. The virtual network function manager according to claim 21, wherein the receiving unit, configured to receive an instantiated virtual network function VNF request comprises: receiving an instantiated VNF request of the NFVO, or receiving an instantiated VNF request from the NFVO. The instantiated VNF request of the EMS is described. 23. The virtual network function manager of claim 20, wherein: The receiving unit is further configured to receive a lifecycle event request for the VNF after the NFVO controls the creation of a virtual network function record VNFR corresponding to the VNF; the virtual network function manager further includes: a state obtaining unit, configured to obtain the current state of the VNF from the network function virtualization instance storing the VNFR after the receiving unit receives the lifecycle event request for the VNF; An execution control unit, configured to execute the operation requested by the life cycle event if it is determined that the operation requested by the life cycle event belongs to the operation permitted by the current state of the VNF; otherwise, reject the operation requested by the life cycle event. 24. The virtual network function manager of claim 23, wherein the state of the VNF comprises: Empty, indicating that the infrastructure required by the VNF has not yet been fully established; instantiation is not configured, indicating that the infrastructure has been established, but the function program of the VNF has not been configured; the instantiation is configured, indicating that the VNF has been configured. The state of working; Delete, indicating that the VNF is being deleted; wherein, the instantiated configuration includes: Stop, indicating that the VNF is in an inactive/dormant state, and does not provide services; Active, indicating that the VNF is in an active state and can The status of providing normal services; Abnormal, indicating that the VNF is in a state of degraded or abnormal performance, and may not be able to provide normal services; and Maintenance, indicating that it is in a maintenance state and does not accept new services; In the empty state, undo operations are allowed, and other operations are not allowed; in the instant unconfigured state, configuration operations and termination operations are allowed, and other operations are not allowed; in the stopped state, cancellation operations, stop operations, and Self-healing operations allow other operations; in the active state, cancel operations, start operations and self-healing operations are not allowed, but other operations are allowed; in the abnormal state, scaling operations, self-healing operations, configuration operations, and deletion operations are allowed, No other operations are allowed; in the maintenance state, cancellation and termination operations are allowed, and other operations are allowed; in the deletion state, no operations are allowed. 25. A network function virtualization orchestrator, comprising: a receiving unit, configured to receive an application resource request from the VNFM; after the sending unit forwards the application resource request to the VIM virtualization infrastructure manager, receiving a reply message returned by the VIM after allocating resources to the VNF; a sending unit, configured to, after the receiving unit receives the resource application request from the VNFM, forward the resource application request to the VIM virtualization infrastructure manager; forward the reply message to the VNFM; send the request to the network function The virtualization instance sends a virtual network function record VNFR creation request; sends a virtual network function descriptor VNFD to the network function virtualization instance, where the VNFD contains parameter information of the information items in the VNFR; after determining the VNF state After the change, sending a message indicating that the state of the VNF is modified to the state after the change to the network function virtualization instance; The receiving unit is further configured to, after the sending unit sends a virtual network function record VNFR creation request to the network function virtualization instance, receive from the VNFM the information on whether the management entity subscribes to the VNF state change information, or , receiving the information sent from the management entity whether the management entity subscribes to the VNF state change information; The sending unit is further configured to send the information of whether the management entity subscribes to the VNF state change information to the network function virtualization instance and save it to the VNFR. 26. The network function virtualization orchestrator of claim 25, wherein: The sending unit, configured to send a message indicating to modify the state of the VNF to a state after the change to the network function virtualization instance after determining that the state of the VNF has changed, includes: After the receiving unit receives the reply message, send a notification message to the network function virtualization instance to indicate that the state of the VNF is modified to be an instantiated unconfigured state; and/or, After the receiving unit receives the completion of the instantiation operation from the VNFM, it sends a modification instruction indicating that the state of the VNF is to be modified to stop instantiation to the network function virtualization instance. 27. The network function virtualization orchestrator according to any one of claims 25 to 26, wherein: The receiving unit is further configured to receive a notification message for modifying the state of the VNF to a changed state; The sending unit is further configured to forward to the network function virtualization instance after the receiving unit receives the notification message for modifying the state of the VNF to the state after the change; after modifying the state of the VNF to After the changed state, the information about the VNF state change is sent to the management entity that subscribes to the VNF state change information. 28. The network function virtualization orchestrator according to claim 27, wherein the network function virtualization orchestrator further comprises: A subscription obtaining unit, configured to obtain the subscription information by the network function virtualization instance before the sending unit sends the information of the VNF state change to the management entity that subscribes to the VNF state change information, and determine the subscription according to the subscription information the management entity of the VNF state change information; Or, receive a reply message from the network function virtualization instance that the state of the VNF has been modified to a changed state, and then determine the management entity that subscribes to the VNF state change information according to the subscription information carried therein. 29. A network function virtualization instance, comprising: a receiving unit, configured to receive a virtual network function record VNFR creation request from NFVO; The creating unit is configured to create a virtual network function record VNFR corresponding to the VNF after the receiving unit receives the virtual network function record VNFR creation request from the NFVO; The receiving unit is further configured to receive a virtual network function descriptor VNFD from the NFVO, where the VNFD includes parameter information of information items in the VNFR; a recording unit, configured to record the parameter information in the VNFD to the VNFR; The receiving unit is further configured to receive a notification message indicating to modify the VNF state from the NFVO; The recording unit is further configured to modify the state information in the VNFR corresponding to the VNF to the state indicated by the notification message after the receiving unit receives the notification message from the NFVO indicating to modify the VNF state; The receiving unit is further configured to, after creating a virtual network function record VNFR corresponding to the VNF, receive information from the management entity of the NFVO whether to subscribe to the VNF state change information; The recording unit is further configured to store the information on whether the management entity subscribes to the VNF state change information after the receiving unit receives the information on whether the management entity of the NFVO subscribes to the VNF state change information. into the VNFR. 30. The network function virtualization instance of claim 29, wherein: The receiving unit, configured to receive a notification message from the NFVO indicating to modify the state of the VNF includes: receiving a notification message from the NFVO indicating that the state of the VNF is modified to be an instantiated unconfigured state; and/or , receiving an instruction from the NFVO to modify the state of the VNF to a modification instruction that instantiates stop; The recording unit, for modifying the state information in the VNFR corresponding to the VNF to the state indicated by the notification message includes: modifying the state information in the VNFR corresponding to the VNF to an instantiated unconfigured state; modifying the VNF corresponding to The state information in the VNFR is for instantiation stopped. 31. The network function virtualization instance according to any one of claims 29 to 30, wherein: The receiving unit is further configured to receive a notification message from the VNFM or forwarded by the VNFM through the NFVO to modify the state of the VNF to a changed state; The recording unit is further configured to modify the state information in the VNFR corresponding to the VNF to the changed state after the receiving unit receives the notification message for changing the state of the VNF to the changed state. 32. The network functions virtualization instance of claim 31, wherein: The receiving unit is further configured to receive a query request from the VNFM or the NFVO; the network function virtualization instance further includes: A sending unit, configured to send the subscription information of the VNF to the device sending the query request after the receiving unit queries the request; or, after modifying the state information in the VNFR corresponding to the VNF to the changed state , send a reply message to the VNFM or the NFVO for notifying that the VNF state has been modified, and the reply message carries the subscription information; the subscription information includes the management of subscribing to the VNF state change information entity information.

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