WO2025069113A1 - Method and system for managing one or more container network function (cnf) nodes - Google Patents

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a method and system for managing container network function (CNF) node(s) The disclosure encompasses: receiving, a containerized network function component (CNFC) instantiation request at a CNF life cycle manager (CNF-LM) with an input associated with a deployment plan via a user interface; sending a resource reserving request to a policy execution engine (PEEGN) from the CNF-LM based on the received CNFC instantiation request; receiving, a response at the CNF-LM from the PEEGN for a successful reservation request; sending, the CNFC instantiation request to a Docker Service Adapter (DSA) from the CNF-LM for instantiation of the CNFC(s); initiating, at a Docker host via the DSA, the instantiation of CNFC(s) of CNF based on the CNFC instantiation request and the input associated with the deployment plan; receiving an instantiation status from the Docker host at the CNFLM related to the instantiation of the CNFC(s) of the CNF.

Description

METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MANAGING ONE OR MORE CONTAINER NETWORK FUNCTION (CNF) NODES

FIELD OF INVENTION

[0001] Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of wireless communication system. More particularly, embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a method and a system for managing one or more container network function (CNF) nodes.

BACKGROUND

[0002] The following description of related art is intended to provide background information pertaining to the field of the disclosure. This section may include certain aspects of the art that may be related to various features of the present disclosure. However, it should be appreciated that this section be used only to enhance the understanding of the reader with respect to the present disclosure, and not as admissions of prior art.

[0003] In communication networks such as 5G communication networks, different microservices perform different services, jobs, and tasks in the network. Different microservices have to perform their jobs in such a way based on operational parameters and policies, that it does not affect microservices’ own operation and service network operations. Containerized Network Function (CNF) and Containerized Network Function Component (CNFC) microservices manage how and where the functions run across clusters in the environment, which helps to perform service operations in the network. However, the current traditional methods are not efficient for, such as managing the CNF/CNFC instantiations, scaling, termination, re-instantiation of specific CNFC from a CNF in one of the deployment plans, addition of new CNFC, maintaining resources and infrastructure requirements, CNFC instantiation order with efficient resource utilization in the network.

[0004] Thus, there exists an imperative need in the art to provide an efficient system and method for managing one or more container network function (CNF) nodes.

SUMMARY [0005] This section is provided to introduce certain aspects of the present disclosure in a simplified form that are further described below in the detailed description. This summary is not intended to identify the key features or the scope of the claimed subject matter.

[0006] An aspect of the present disclosure may relate to a method for managing one or more container network function (CNF) nodes. The method includes receiving, by a processing unit, a containerized network function component (CNFC) instantiation request at a container network function life cycle manager (CNF-LM) with an input associated with a deployment plan via a user interface. Next, the method includes sending, by the processing unit, a resource reserving request to a policy execution engine (PEEGN) from the CNF-LM based on the received CNFC instantiation request. Next, the method includes receiving, by the processing unit, a response at the CNF-LM from the PEEGN for a successful reservation request. Next, the method includes sending, by the processing unit, the CNFC instantiation request to a Docker Service Adapter (DSA) from the CNF-LM for instantiation of the one or more CNFC(s). Next, the method includes initiating, by the processing unit, at a Docker host via the DSA, the instantiation of one or more CNFC(s) of CNF based on the CNFC instantiation request and the input associated with the deployment plan. Thereafter, the method includes receiving, by the processing unit, an instantiation status from the Docker host at the CNFLM related to the instantiation of the one or more CNFC(s) of the CNF.

[0007] In an exemplary aspect of the present disclosure, the CNFC instantiation request comprises a number of instantiated CNFs, a number of CNFs in a pending state along with a table containing CNF name, CNF version, a number of CNFCs, CNFC version, vendor name, status, and timestamp.

[0008] In an exemplary aspect of the present disclosure, the input associated with the deployment plan includes CNFC names with different version numbers, regional sites, pod names, instantiation orders, CNFC resource constraints, and policy.

[0009] In an exemplary aspect of the present disclosure, the method further comprises storing the instantiation status, CNF details, CNFC details, deployment plan status, host name, and container ID in the storage unit of a PVIM.

[0010] In an exemplary aspect of the present disclosure, managing the one or more CNFs comprises: updating, modifying, instantiating, re-instantiating, and terminating one or more CNFCs from one or more CNFs in the deployment plan without terminating the functioning of the CNF, with changes in image, and resource inputs.

[0011] In an exemplary aspect of the present disclosure, the method further comprises sending an instantiation status update to a Release Management Repository (RMR) from the CNFLM; and sending a CNF instantiation response to the user interface for the received CNFC instantiation request upon receiving a status update response from the RMR.

[0012] Another aspect of the present disclosure may relate to a system for managing one or more container network function (CNF) nodes. The system comprises a processing unit. The processing unit is configured to receive a CNFC instantiation request at a container network function life cycle manager (CNF-LM) with an input associated with a deployment plan via a user interface; send a resource reserving request to a policy execution engine (PEEGN) via the CNFLM based on the received CNFC instantiation request; receive a response at the CNF-LM from the PEEGN for a successful reservation request; send the CNFC instantiation request to a Docker Service Adapter (DSA) from the CNFLM for instantiation of the one or more CNFC(s); initiate, at a Docker host via the DSA, the instantiation of one or more CNFC(s) of CNF based on the CNFC instantiation request and the input associated with the deployment plan; and receive an instantiation status from the Docker host at the CNFLM related to the instantiation of the one or more CNFC(s) of the CNF.

[0013] Yet another aspect of the present disclosure may relate to a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions for managing one or more container network function (CNF) nodes, the instructions include executable code which, when executed by one or more units of a system, causes: a processing unit of the system to receive a CNFC instantiation request at a container network function life cycle manager (CNF-LM) with an input associated with a deployment plan via a user interface; send a resource reserving request to a policy execution engine (PEEGN) via the CNFLM based on the received CNFC instantiation request; receive a response at the CNF-LM from the PEEGN for a successful reservation request; send the CNFC instantiation request to a Docker Service Adapter (DSA) from the CNFLM for instantiation of the one or more CNFC(s); initiate, at a Docker host via the DSA, the instantiation of one or more CNFC(s) of CNF based on the CNFC instantiation request and the input associated with the deployment plan; and receive an instantiation status from the Docker host at the CNFLM related to the instantiation of the one or more CNFC(s) of the CNF.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION [0014] Some of the objects of the present disclosure, which at least one embodiment disclosed herein satisfies are listed herein below.

[0015] It is an object of the present disclosure to provide a system and a method for CNF change management.

[0016] It is another object of the present disclosure to provide a system and a method for handling termination and re-instantiation of specific CNFC from a CNF in one deployment plan (site) without terminating the whole CNF with a change in image, resource inputs, etc, and to keep the same CNFC on other deployment plans (sites) with the older CNFC version.

[0017] It is yet another object of the present disclosure to provide a system and a method for proper end-to-end execution of design or deployment or instantiation or scaling call flow for CNF change management.

[0018] It is yet another object of the present disclosure to provide a system and a method for performing prerequisites and check handling during the design, deployment, and instantiation of a CNFC.

[0019] It is yet another object of the present disclosure to provide a system and a method for managing resource inventory after CNFC termination and instantiation required for change management.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0020] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein, and constitute a part of this disclosure, illustrate exemplary embodiments of the disclosed methods and systems in which like reference numerals refer to the same parts throughout the different drawings. Components in the drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the present disclosure. Also, the embodiments shown in the figures are not to be construed as limiting the disclosure, but the possible variants of the method and system according to the disclosure are illustrated herein to highlight the advantages of the disclosure. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that disclosure of such drawings includes disclosure of electrical components or circuitry commonly used to implement such components. [0021] FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary block diagram of a management and orchestration (MANO) architecture.

[0022] FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary block diagram of a computing device upon which the features of the present disclosure may be implemented, in accordance with an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure.

[0023] FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary block diagram of a system for managing one or more container network function (CNF) nodes, in accordance with an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure.

[0024] FIG. 4 illustrates a method flow diagram for managing one or more container network function (CNF) nodes, in accordance with an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure.

[0025] FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary process flow for CNF change management, in accordance with exemplary implementations of the present disclosure.

[0026] FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary process flow diagram for CNFC instantiation, in accordance with an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure.

[0027] FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary block diagram of a system architecture for managing one or more container network function (CNF) nodes, in accordance with an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure.

[0028] The foregoing shall be more apparent from the following more detailed description of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0029] In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, various specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the present disclosure. It will be apparent, however, that embodiments of the present disclosure may be practiced without these specific details. Several features described hereafter may each be used independently of one another or with any combination of other features. An individual feature may not address any of the problems discussed above or might address only some of the problems discussed above. [0030] The ensuing description provides exemplary embodiments only, and is not intended to limit the scope, applicability, or configuration of the disclosure. Rather, the ensuing description of the exemplary embodiments will provide those skilled in the art with an enabling description for implementing an exemplary embodiment. It should be understood that various changes may be made in the function and arrangement of elements without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure as set forth.

[0031] Specific details are given in the following description to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments. However, it will be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that the embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. For example, circuits, systems, processes, and other components may be shown as components in block diagram form in order not to obscure the embodiments in unnecessary detail.

[0032] Also, it is noted that individual embodiments may be described as a process which is depicted as a flowchart, a flow diagram, a data flow diagram, a structure diagram, or a block diagram. Although a flowchart may describe the operations as a sequential process, many of the operations may be performed in parallel or concurrently. In addition, the order of the operations may be re-arranged. A process is terminated when its operations are completed but could have additional steps not included in a figure.

[0033] The word “exemplary” and/or “demonstrative” is used herein to mean serving as an example, instance, or illustration. For the avoidance of doubt, the subject matter disclosed herein is not limited by such examples. In addition, any aspect or design described herein as “exemplary” and/or “demonstrative” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects or designs, nor is it meant to preclude equivalent exemplary structures and techniques known to those of ordinary skill in the art. Furthermore, to the extent that the terms “includes,” “has,” “contains,” and other similar words are used in either the detailed description or the claims, such terms are intended to be inclusive — in a manner similar to the term “comprising” as an open transition word — without precluding any additional or other elements.

[0034] As used herein, a “processing unit” or “processor” or “operating processor” includes one or more processors, wherein processor refers to any logic circuitry for processing instructions. A processor may be a general-purpose processor, a special purpose processor, a conventional processor, a digital signal processor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in association with a (Digital Signal Processing) DSP core, a controller, a microcontroller, Application Specific Integrated Circuits, Field Programmable Gate Array circuits, any other type of integrated circuits, etc. The processor may perform signal coding data processing, input/output processing, and/or any other functionality that enables the working of the system according to the present disclosure. More specifically, the processor or processing unit is a hardware processor.

[0035] As used herein, “a user equipment”, “a user device”, “a smart-user-device”, “a smart device”, “an electronic device”, “a mobile device”, “a handheld device”, “a wireless communication device”, “a mobile communication device”, “a communication device” may be any electrical, electronic and/or computing device or equipment, capable of implementing the features of the present disclosure. The user equipment/device may include, but is not limited to, a mobile phone, smart phone, laptop, a general-purpose computer, desktop, personal digital assistant, tablet computer, wearable device, or any other computing device that is capable of implementing the features of the present disclosure. Also, the user device may contain at least one input means configured to receive an input from at least one of a transceiver unit, a processing unit, a storage unit, a detection unit, and any other such unit(s) that are required to implement the features of the present disclosure.

[0036] As used herein, “storage unit” or “memory unit” refers to a machine or computer-readable medium including any mechanism for storing information in a form readable by a computer or similar machine. For example, a computer-readable medium includes read-only memory (“ROM”), random access memory (“RAM”), magnetic disk storage media, optical storage media, flash memory devices, or other types of machine-accessible storage media. The storage unit stores at least the data that may be required by one or more units of the system to perform their respective functions.

[0037] As used herein “interface” or “user interface refers to a shared boundary across which two or more separate components of a system exchange information or data. The interface may also be referred to as a set of rules or protocols that define the communication or interaction of one or more modules or one or more units with each other, which also includes the methods, functions, or procedures that may be called.

[0038] All modules, units, and components used herein, unless explicitly excluded herein, may be software modules or hardware processors, the processors being a general-purpose processor, a special-purpose processor, a conventional processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in association with a DSP core, a controller, a microcontroller, Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASIC), Field Programmable Gate Array circuits (FPGA), any other type of integrated circuits, etc.

[0039] As used herein the transceiver unit includes at least one receiver and at least one transmitter configured respectively for receiving and transmitting data, signals, information, or a combination thereof between units/components within the system and/or connected with the system.

[0040] As used herein, the Physical and Virtual Inventory Manager (PVIM) module maintains the inventory and its resources. After getting a request to reserve resources from PEEGN, PVIM adds up the resources consumed by a particular network function as used resources. Further, the PVIM updates this in the NoSQL database.

[0041] As used herein, Containerized Network Function (CNF) Life Cycle Manager (CNF-LM/ CNFLM) may capture the details of vendors, CNFs, and Containerized Network Function Components (CNFCs) via create, read, and update APIs exposed by the service itself. The captured details are stored in a database. CNFLM may create CNF or individual CNFC instances. CNF-LM may scale out the CNFs.

[0042] As used herein, Policy Execution Engine (PEEGN) module provides a network function virtualisation (NFV) software-defined network (SDN) platform functionality to support dynamic requirements of resource management and network service orchestration in the virtualized network. Further, the PEEGN is involved during the CNF instantiation flow to check for CNF policy and to reserve the resources required to instantiate CNF at PVIM. PEEGN supports the scaling policy for CNFC.

[0043] As used herein, the Docker Service Adapter (DSA) may be used to establish CNF instances / CNFC instances. DSA may connect to the docker host of the swarm manager to deploy the docker image. In a call flow, DSA may create a docker service manager and add a docker host as a service worker node. DSA may be deployed region-wise, and all containerized network function-related operations may be performed region-wise. DSA is a microservices-based system designed to deploy and manage Container Network Functions (CNFs) and their components (CNFCs) across Docker nodes. It offers REST endpoints for key operations, including uploading container images to a Docker registry, terminating CNFC instances, and creating Docker volumes and networks. CNFs, which are network functions packaged as containers, may consist of multiple CNFCs. The DSA facilitates the deployment, configuration, and management of these components by interacting with Docker's API, ensuring proper setup and scalability within a containerized environment. This approach provides a modular and flexible framework for handling network functions in a virtualized network setup.

[0044] As discussed in the background section, the current known solutions have several shortcomings. The present disclosure aims to overcome the above-mentioned and other existing problems in this field of technology by providing a method and system for managing one or more container network function (CNF) nodes.

[0045] The present method and system provide a solution, that handle termination and reinstantiation of specific CNFC from a CNF in one deployment plan (site) without terminating the whole CNF with a change in image, resource inputs etc. The present disclosure enables a solution for keeping the same CNFC on other deployment plans (sites) on the older CNFC version. The present method and system provide a solution, that supports the addition of a new CNFC to an existing running CNF and managing data of an existing running CNF while adding a new CNFC or new version of an existing CNFC. The present method and system provide a solution, which maintains CNF/CNFC resources and infrastructure as per requirements. The present method and system provide a solution, that enables modification of an existing CNFC in a CNF, such as image update or any virtual resource modification, if the user fully terminates the CNFC to be modified on all the sites. The present method and system provide a solution, which handles prerequisites and checks applicable for CNF change management and CNFC anti-affinity or affinity policy, if applicable. The present method and system maintain method and procedure for CNFC instantiation order. The present method and system provide a solution, that supports highly available modes for all events with cache-less operation, so no data replication is required. The present method and system provide async event-based implementation to utilize the supported interface efficiently. The present method and system implement Extended Detection and Response (XDR) for all operations.

[0046] The present disclosure is implemented in networks such as, but not limited to 5G networks, network preceding 5G (e.g., 4G network), and networks post 5G (e.g., 6G network).

[0047] The foregoing shall be more apparent from the following more detailed description of the disclosure. [0048] Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0049] FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary block diagram representation of a management and orchestration (MANO) architecture/ platform [100], in accordance with exemplary implementation of the present disclosure. The MANO architecture [100] may be developed for managing telecom cloud infrastructure automatically, managing design or deployment design, managing instantiation of network node(s)/ service(s) etc. The MANO architecture [100] deploys the network node(s) in the form of a Virtual Network Function (VNF) and Cloud-native/ Container Network Function (CNF). The system as provided by the present disclosure may comprise one or more components of the MANO architecture [100], The MANO architecture [100] may be used to auto-instantiate the VNFs into the corresponding environment of the present disclosure so that it could help in onboarding other vendor(s) CNFs and VNFs to the platform.

[0050] As shown in FIG. 1, the MANO architecture [100] comprises a user interface layer [102], a network function virtualization (NFV) and software-defined network (SDN) design function module [104], a platform foundation services module [106], a Platform Schedulers & Cron Jobs module [108] and a platform resource adapters and utilities module [112], All the components are assumed to be connected to each other in a manner as obvious to the person skilled in the art of implementing features of the present disclosure.

[0051] The NFV and SDN design function module [104] comprises a VNF lifecycle manager (compute) [1042], a VNF catalog [1044], a network services catalog [1046], a network slicing and service chaining manager [1048], a physical and virtual resource manager [1050] and a CNF lifecycle manager [1052], The VNF lifecycle manager (compute) [1042] may be responsible for deciding on which server of the communication network, the microservice will be instantiated. The VNF lifecycle manager (compute) [1042] may manage the overall flow of incoming/ outgoing requests during interaction with the user. The VNF lifecycle manager (compute) [1042] may be responsible for determining which sequence to be followed for executing the process. For e.g., in an AMF network function of the communication network (such as a 5G network), a sequence for execution of processes Pl and P2 etc. The VNF catalog [1044] stores the metadata of all the VNFs (also CNFs in some cases). The network services catalog [1046] stores the information on the services that need to be run. The network slicing and service chaining manager [1048] manages the slicing (an ordered and connected sequence of network service/ network functions (NFs)) that must be applied to a specific networked data packet. The physical and virtual resource manager [1050] stores the logical and physical inventory of the VNFs. Just like the VNF lifecycle manager (compute) [1042], the CNF lifecycle manager [1052] may be used for the CNFs lifecycle management.

[0052] The platform foundation services module [106] comprises a microservices elastic load balancer [1062], an identity & access manager [1064], a command line interface (CLI) [1066], a central logging manager [1068], and an event routing manager [1070], The microservices elastic load balancer [1062] may be used for maintaining the load balancing of the request for the services. The identity & access manager [1064] may be used for logging purposes. The command line interface (CLI) [1066] may be used to provide commands to execute certain processes which require changes during the run time. The central logging manager [1068] may be responsible for keeping the logs of every service. These logs are generated by the MANO platform [100], These logs are used for debugging purposes. The event routing manager [1070] may be responsible for routing the events i.e., the application programming interface (API) hits to the corresponding services.

[0053] The platforms core services module [108] comprises an NFV infrastructure monitoring manager [1082], an assure manager [1084], a performance manager [1086], a policy execution engine [1088], a capacity monitoring manager [1090], a release management (mgmt.) repository [1092], a configuration manager & GCT [1094], an NFV platform decision analytics [1096], a platform NoSQL DB [1098]; a platform schedulers and cron jobs [1100], a VNF backup & upgrade manager [1102], a microservice auditor [1104], and a platform operations, administration and maintenance manager [1106], The NFV infrastructure monitoring manager [1082] monitors the infrastructure part of the NFs. For e.g., any metrics such as CPU utilization by the VNF. The assure manager [1084] may be responsible for supervising the alarms the vendor may be generating. The performance manager [1086] may be responsible for managing the performance counters. The policy execution engine (PEGN) [1088] may be responsible for managing all of the policies. The capacity monitoring manager (CMM) [1090] may be responsible for sending the request to the PEGN [1090], The release management (mgmt.) repository (RMR) [1092] may be responsible for managing the releases and the images of all of the vendor's network nodes. The configuration manager & (GCT) [1094] manages the configuration and GCT of all the vendors. The NFV platform decision analytics (NPDA) [1096] helps in deciding the priority of using the network resources. It may be further noted that the policy execution engine (PEGN) [1088], the configuration manager & GCT [1094], and the NPDA [1096] work together. The platform NoSQL DB [1098] may be a database for storing all the inventory (both physical and logical) as well as the metadata of the VNFs and CNF. The platform schedulers and cron jobs [1100] schedule the tasks such as but not limited to triggering an event, traversing the network graph etc. The VNF backup & upgrade manager [1102] takes backup of the images, and binaries of the VNFs and the CNFs and produces those backups on demand in case of server failure. The microservice auditor [1104] audits the microservices. E.g., in a hypothetical case, instances not being instantiated by the MANO architecture [100] may be using the network resources. In such cases, the microservice auditor [1104] audits and informs the same so that resources can be released for services running in the MANO architecture [100], The audit assures that the services only run on the MANO platform [100], The platform operations, administration, and maintenance manager [1106] may be used for newer instances that are spawning.

[0054] The platform resource adapters and utilities module [112] further comprises a platform external API adaptor and gateway [1122]; a generic decoder and indexer (XML, CSV, JSON) [1124]; a docker service adaptor [1126]; an API adapter [1128]; and a NFV gateway [1130], The platform's external API adaptor and gateway [1122] may be responsible for handling the external services (to the MANO platform [100]) that require the network resources. The generic decoder and indexer (XML, CSV, JSON) [1124] gets directly the data of the vendor system in the XML, CSV, and JSON format. The docker service adaptor [1126] may be the interface provided between the telecom cloud and the MANO architecture [100] for communication. The OpenStack API adapter [1128] may be used to connect with the virtual machines (VMs). The NFV gateway [1130] may be responsible for providing the path to each service going to/incoming from the MANO architecture [100],

[0055] Referring to FIG. 2, an exemplary block diagram of a computing device [200] (also referred to herein as a computer system [200]) upon which the features of the present disclosure may be implemented in accordance with exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, is shown. In an implementation, the computing device [200] may also implement a method for managing one or more container network function (CNF) nodes utilizing the system. In another implementation, the computing device [200] itself implements the method for managing one or more container network function (CNF) nodes using one or more units configured within the computing device [200], wherein said one or more units are capable of implementing the features as disclosed in the present disclosure. [0056] The computing device [200] may include a bus [202] or other communication mechanism for communicating information, and a hardware processor [204] coupled with the bus [202] for processing information. The hardware processor [204] may be, for example, a general-purpose microprocessor. The computing device [200] may also include a main memory [206], such as a random-access memory (RAM), or other dynamic storage device, coupled to the bus [202] for storing information and instructions to be executed by the processor [204], The main memory [206] also may be used for storing temporary variables or other intermediate information during the execution of the instructions to be executed by the processor [204], Such instructions, when stored in non-transitory storage media accessible to the processor [204], render the computing device [200] into a special-purpose machine that is customized to perform the operations specified in the instructions. The computing device [200] further includes a read only memory (ROM) [208] or other static storage device coupled to the bus [202] for storing static information and instructions for the processor [204],

[0057] A storage device [210], such as a magnetic disk, optical disk, or solid-state drive is provided and coupled to the bus [202] for storing information and instructions. The computing device [200] may be coupled via the bus [202] to a display [212], such as a cathode ray tube (CRT), Liquid crystal Display (LCD), Light Emitting Diode (LED) display, Organic LED (OLED) display, etc. for displaying information to a computer user. An input device [214], including alphanumeric and other keys, touch screen input means, etc. may be coupled to the bus [202] for communicating information and command selections to the processor [204], Another type of user input device may be a cursor controller [216], such as a mouse, a trackball, or cursor direction keys, for communicating direction information and command selections to the processor [204], and for controlling cursor movement on the display [212], The input device typically has two degrees of freedom in two axes, a first axis (e.g., x) and a second axis (e.g., y), that allow the device to specify positions in a plane.

[0058] The computing device [200] may implement the techniques described herein using customized hard-wired logic, one or more ASICs or FPGAs, firmware, and/or program logic which in combination with the computing device [200] causes or programs the computing device [200] to be a special-purpose machine. According to one implementation, the techniques herein are performed by the computing device [200] in response to the processor [204] executing one or more sequences of one or more instructions contained in the main memory [206], Such instructions may be read into the main memory [206] from another storage medium, such as the storage device [210], Execution of the sequences of instructions contained in the main memory [206] causes the processor [204] to perform the process steps described herein. In alternative implementations of the present disclosure, hard-wired circuitry may be used in place of or in combination with software instructions.

[0059] The computing device [200] also may include a communication interface [218] coupled to the bus [202], The communication interface [218] provides a two-way data communication coupling to a network link [220] that is connected to a local network [222], For example, the communication interface [218] may be an integrated services digital network (ISDN) card, cable modem, satellite modem, or a modem to provide a data communication connection to a corresponding type of telephone line. As another example, the communication interface [218] may be a local area network (LAN) card to provide a data communication connection to a compatible LAN. Wireless links may also be implemented. In any such implementation, the communication interface [218] sends and receives electrical, electromagnetic or optical signals that carry digital data streams representing various types of information.

[0060] The computing device [200] can send messages and receive data, including program code, through the network(s), the network link [220] and the communication interface [218], In the Internet example, a server [230] might transmit a requested code for an application program through the Internet [228], the ISP [226], the local network [222], the host [224] and the communication interface [218], The received code may be executed by the processor [204] as it is received, and/or stored in the storage device [210], or other non-volatile storage for later execution.

[0061] Referring to FIG. 3, an exemplary block diagram of a system [300] managing one or more container network function (CNF) nodes is shown, in accordance with the exemplary implementations of the present disclosure. The system [300] comprises at least one processing unit [302] and at least one storing unit [304], Also, all of the components/ units of the system [300] are assumed to be connected to each other unless otherwise indicated below. Also, in FIG. 3 only a few units are shown, however, the system [300] may comprise multiple such units or the system [300] may comprise any such numbers of said units, as required to implement the features of the present disclosure. In an implementation, the system [300] may reside in a server or a network entity. In yet another implementation, the system [300] may reside partly in the server/ network entity. [0062] The system [300] is configured for managing one or more container network function (CNF) nodes, with the help of the interconnection between the components/units of the system [300],

[0063] The system [300] comprises a processing unit [302], The processing unit [302] is configured to receive a CNFC instantiation request at a container network function life cycle manager (CNF-LM) with an input associated with a deployment plan via a user interface. In an operation for managing one or more CNF nodes, the processing unit [302] is configured to receive the CNFC request at CNF-LM with an input via the user interface (e.g., interface associated with mobile device, computing device, human machine interface (HMI)). The CNFC instantiation request may comprise such as, but not limited to, a number of instantiated CNFs, a number of CNFs in a pending state along with a table containing CNF name, CNF version, a number of CNFCs, CNFC version, vendor name, status (e.g., pending or completed), and timestamp. In an exemplary implementation, a user such as, but not limited to, a network administrator, a service provider, and an authorised person may provide the input via the user interface with the deployment plan. The input associated with the deployment plan may comprise such as, but not limited to, CNFC names with different version numbers, regional sites, pod names, instantiation order, CNFC resource constraints, and policy. In an exemplary implementation, the CNFC resource constraints may include such as compute, CPU, storage, RAM, Disk, network, image, or virtual resources. In an exemplary implementation, policy may be such as affinity or anti-affinity. In an exemplary implementation, management of one or more CNFs corresponds to updating, modifying, instantiating, re-instantiating, and terminating one or more CNFCs from one or more CNFs in the deployment plan without terminating the functioning of the CNF, with changes in image, and resource inputs. The processing unit [302] is configured to store input associated with deployment in a storage unit [304],

[0064] The processing unit [302] is configured to send a resource reserving request to a policy execution engine (PEEGN) via the CNFLM based on the received CNFC instantiation request. After receiving the CNFC instantiation request with input associated with the deployment plan, the processing unit [302] is configured to send the resource reserving request to the PEEGN via the CNFLM. In an exemplary implementation, the processing unit [302] is configured to perform via the PEEGN a quota check based on the stored details and deployment plan for the CNF/CNFC. The quota check may be associated with such as, but not limited to, CPU, memory, and disk so that resource constraints do not fail during instantiation. [0065] The processing unit [302] is further configured to receive a response at the CNF-LM from the PEEGN for a successful reservation request. In response to this request, the processing unit [302] is configured to receive the response from the PEEGN for a successful reservation request, such as a reservation acknowledgment. In an example, the response may comprise such as details associated with reserved resources, such as CPU and memory.

[0066] The processing unit [302] is configured to send the CNFC instantiation request to a Docker Service Adapter (DSA) from the CNFLM for instantiation of the one or more CNFC(s). After receiving the successful response from the PEEGN, the processing unit [302] is configured to send the CNFC instantiation request to the DSA for instantiation of the one or more CNFC(s). Further, the CNFC instantiation request may comprise the input associated with the deployment plan. The processing unit [302] is configured to send via the CNF-LM such as but not limited to, CNF version, the number of CNFCs, CNFC version, and vendor name to the DSA for instantiation of the one or more CNFC(s).

[0067] The processing unit [302] is configured to initiate, at a Docker host via the DSA, the instantiation of one or more CNFC(s) of CNF based on the CNFC instantiation request and the input associated with the deployment plan. After receiving the CNFC instantiation request, the processing unit [302] is configured to initiate at the Docker host the instantiation of one or more CNFC(s) via the DSA. In an exemplary implementation, DSA may communicate with the docker agent manager. The docker agent manager may communicate with the service manager having one or more DSA host(s) and initiate the instantiation of one or more CNFC(s) of CNF based on the CNFC instantiation request and the input associated with the deployment plan.

[0068] The processing unit [302] is configured to receive an instantiation status from the Docker host at the CNF-LM related to the instantiation of the one or more CNFC(s) of the CNF. After performing the instantiation of one or more CNFCs based on the deployment plan, the processing unit [302] is configured to receive at the CNFLM the instantiation status of the one or more CNFC(s) of the CNF from the Docker host. In an exemplary implementation, the Docker host may communicate the instantiation status with the DSA. The DSA may send the instantiation status to the CNF-LM. In an implementation, the instantiation status may comprise at least one from among an acknowledgment and status (e.g., pending or complete). After receiving the instantiation status, the processing unit is further configured to store the instantiation status, CNF details, CNFC details, deployment plan status (e.g., successful, partially completed, or not completed), host name, container ID in the storage unit [304] of a Physical Virtual Inventory Manager (PVIM). [0069] In an exemplary implementation, the processing unit [302] is configured to send an instantiation status update to a Release Management Repository (RMR) from the CNFLM. The CNFLM may send the instantiation status such as pending or complete to the RMR for storing and further processing in the network. In response to this, RMR may send a status update response such as an acknowledgement to CNFLM. The processing unit [302] is further configured to send via the CNFLM a CNF instantiation response to the user interface for the received CNFC instantiation request upon receiving the status update response from the RMR.

[0070] Further, in accordance with the present disclosure, it is to be acknowledged that the functionality described for the various components/units can be implemented interchangeably. While specific embodiments may disclose a particular functionality of these units for clarity, it is recognized that various configurations and combinations thereof are within the scope of the disclosure. The functionality of specific units as disclosed in the disclosure should not be construed as limiting the scope of the present disclosure. Consequently, alternative arrangements and substitutions of units, provided they achieve the intended functionality described herein, are considered to be encompassed within the scope of the present disclosure.

[0071] Referring to FIG. 4 an exemplary method flow diagram [400], to perform resource management for Virtual Network Function (VNF) / VNFC instantiation, in accordance with exemplary implementations of the present disclosure is shown. In an implementation, the method [400] is performed by the system [300], As shown in FIG. 4, the method [400] starts at step [402],

[0072] At step [404], the method [400] as disclosed by the present disclosure comprises receiving, by a processing unit [302], a containerized network function component (CNFC) instantiation request at a container network function life cycle manager (CNF-LM) with an input associated with a deployment plan via a user interface. In an operation for managing one or more CNF nodes, the processing unit [302] may receive the CNFC request at CNF-LM with an input via the user interface (e.g., interface associated with mobile device, computing device, human machine interface (HMI)). The CNFC instantiation request may comprise such as, but not limited to, a number of instantiated CNFs, a number of CNFs in a pending state along with a table containing CNF name, CNF version, a number of CNFCs, CNFC version, vendor name, status (e.g., pending or completed), and timestamp. In an exemplary implementation, a user such as, but not limited to, a network administrator, a service provider, and an authorized person may provide the input via the user interface with the deployment plan. The input associated with the deployment plan may comprise such as, but not limited to, CNFC names with different version numbers, regional sites, pod names, instantiation order, CNFC resource constraints, and policy. In an exemplary implementation, the CNFC resource constraints may be such as compute, CPU, storage, RAM, Disk, network, image, or virtual resources. In an exemplary implementation, policy may be such as affinity or anti-affinity. In an exemplary implementation, management of the one or more CNFs corresponds to updating, modifying, instantiating, re-instantiating, and terminating one or more CNFCs from one or more CNFs in the deployment plan without terminating the functioning of the CNF, with changes in image, and resource inputs. The processing unit [302] may store input associated with deployment in a storage unit [304],

[0073] Next at step [406], the method [400], as disclosed by the present disclosure, comprises sending, by the processing unit [302], a resource reserving request to a policy execution engine (PEEGN) from the CNF-LM based on the received CNFC instantiation request. After receiving the CNFC instantiation request with input associated with the deployment plan, the processing unit [302] may send the resource reserving request to the PEEGN via the CNFLM. In an exemplary implementation, the processing unit [302] may perform via the PEEGN a quota check based on the stored details and deployment plan for the CNF/CNFC. The quota check may be associated with such as, but not limited to, CPU, memory, and disk so that resource constraints do not fail during instantiation.

[0074] Next at step [408], the method [400] as disclosed by the present disclosure comprises receiving, by the processing unit [302], a response at the CNF-LM from the PEEGN for a successful reservation request. In response to this request, the processing unit [302] may receive the response from the PEEGN for a successful reservation request, such as a reservation acknowledgment. In an example, the response may comprise such as details associated with reserved resources, such as CPU and memory.

[0075] Next at step [410], the method [400] as disclosed by the present disclosure comprises sending, by the processing unit [302], the CNFC instantiation request to a Docker Service Adapter (DSA) from the CNF-LM for instantiation of the one or more CNFC(s). After receiving the successful response from the PEEGN, the processing unit [302] may send the CNFC instantiation request to the DSA for instantiation of the one or more CNFC(s). Further, the CNFC instantiation request may comprise the input associated with the deployment plan. The processing unit [302] may send, via the CNF-LM, such as but not limited to, CNF version, the number of CNFCs, CNFC version, and vendor name to the DSA for instantiation of the one or more CNFC(s). [0076] Next at step [412], the method [400], as disclosed by the present disclosure, comprises initiating, by the processing unit [302], at a Docker host via the DSA, the instantiation of one or more CNFC(s) of CNF based on the CNFC instantiation request and the input associated with the deployment plan. After receiving the CNFC instantiation request, the processing unit [302] may initiate at the Docker host the instantiation of one or more CNFC(s) via the DSA. In an exemplary implementation, DSA may communicate with the docker agent manager. The docker agent manager further may communicate with service manager having one or more DSA host(s) and initiate the instantiation of one or more CNFC(s) of CNF based on the CNFC instantiation request and the input associated with the deployment plan.

[0077] Next at step [414], the method [400] as disclosed by the present disclosure comprises receiving, by the processing unit [302], an instantiation status from the Docker host at the CNFLM related to the instantiation of the one or more CNFC(s) of the CNF. After performing the instantiation of one or more CNFCs based on the deployment plan, the processing unit [302] may receive at the CNFLM the instantiation status of the one or more CNFC(s) of the CNF from the Docker host. In an exemplary implementation, the Docker host may communicate the instantiation status with the DSA. The DSA may send the instantiation status to the CNF-LM. In an implementation, the instantiation status may comprise at least one from an acknowledgment and status (e.g., pending or complete). After receiving the instantiation status, the processing unit may further store the instantiation status, CNF details, CNFC details, deployment plan status (e.g., successful, partially completed, or not completed), host name, container ID in the storage unit [304] of a Physical Virtual Inventory Manager (PVIM).

[0078] In an exemplary implementation, the processing unit [302] may send an instantiation status update to a Release Management Repository (RMR) from the CNFLM. The CNFLM may send the instantiation status such as pending or complete to the RMR for storing and further processing in the network. In response to this, RMR may send a status update response such as an acknowledgement to CNFLM. The processing unit [302] may further send via the CNFLM a CNF instantiation response to the user interface for the received CNFC instantiation request upon receiving the status update response from the RMR.

[0079] Thereafter, the method [400] terminates at step [416],

[0080] Referring to FIG. 5, an exemplary process flow [500] for CNF change management, in accordance with exemplary implementations of the present disclosure, is shown. As shown in FIG. 5, the process flow [500] involves or comprises a user [502], a UI/UX [504], a Release Management Repository (RMR) [1092], and a CNF Lifecycle Manager (CNFLM) [1052], The CNF change management design operation may perform, but is not limited to, to following steps:

At step S 1 , user [502] may request CNF change management by providing input such as vendor name and CNF name to UI/UX [504],

At step S2, UI/UX [504] sends a request for getting CNF change data to the RMR [1092],

- Next, at step S3, in response to this, the RMR [1092] provides acknowledgment for CNF change data.

At step S4, user [502] may select the CNF edit option, which may be present in a drop-down or tabular form to UI/UX [504],

At step S5, UI/UX [504] sends a request for getting CNF data along with CNFCs to the CNFLM [1052],

At step S6, CNFLM [1052] provides acknowledgement for CNF data along with CNFCs.

At step S7, user [502] updates CNFC design parameters, such as, but not limited to, compute, Network, Storage, Image, etc. to the UI/UX [504],

At step S8, UI/UX [502] saves the CNF detail draft or plan into the RMR [1092],

- Next, at step S9, in response to this, RMR [1092] provides acknowledgment for saving the CNF detail draft or plan to the UI/UX [504],

At step S10, UI/UX [504] saves CNF data along with CNFCs to the CNFLM [1052],

- Next, at step SI 1, CNFLM [1052] provides acknowledgment for saving CNF status details to the UI/UX [504],

At step S12, UI/UX [504] provides CNF status to the user [502],

[0081] In an exemplary implementation, a user may first select change management from the CNF maintenance option available on UI and then select the “Vendor Name” and “CNF Name”. Only those entries are shown to the user which are successfully instantiated. Further change-related information (CNF Version, Change Status, Timestamp, and available action options) may be shown to the user in a tabular form. From action options, the user may click on the “Edit” button, to design a CNFC using the existing CNFC as a new version or create a new CNFC under CNF. While modifying existing CNFC, the old CNFC data is prepopulated automatically allowing the user to make changes in any resource requirements (Compute, Storage, Network, etc) as per requirement. If the existing CNFC is part of the anti-affinity or affinity policy, then the user may edit policies for modified CNFC. There may be a validation check at the anti-affinity or affinity policy section to avoid the selection of both the CNFC versions (Modified and Existing) at a time.

[0082] In an exemplary implementation, for CNF change management call flow, UI is hosted on a UI container, and it has access to all interfaces and components. Next, a Centralized Platform Operations, Administration, and Maintenance Manager (POAM) may be run in the environment, and it has the visibility of the complete environment and microservices. Next, all microservices (CNFLM, PVIM, PEEGN, DSA, etc.) may connect with POAM. Next, the POAM may provide available microservice instance and Load balancer details back to microservices in the form of broadcast data. This broadcast data has all the required details that is consumed by microservices. Once this information is set at microservices, they are ready for work and accept requests. Further, the user may initiate a change management request from the UI and start the design, deployment, or instantiation flow.

[0083] In an exemplary implementation, for CNF Change Management Deployment, the present method and system may perform, but not limited to, the following steps: Once the design changes are done for the CNF, the user may create or modify the existing deployment plan. Next, in the deployment phase, the user may select the CNFC Names of each CNFC. For example, there are three CNFCs with the names CNFClvl, CNFClv2, and CNFC2vl. The user may select from the dropdown in case there are multiple entries of the same CNFC Names with different versions. Next, the user may select sites, pod names, instantiation orders, and CNFC resource constraints (CPU, RAM, Disk). Next, the user selects affinity/anti affinity option for CNFC. If affinity is defined between CNFCs and the user-selected “site”, then all the CNFCs with affinity policy may get the name site selected automatically. Next, on saving the deployment plan, an entry may be created that can be instantiated by the user.

[0084] Referring to FIG. 6, an exemplary process flow diagram [600] for CNFC instantiation, in accordance with the exemplary implementations of the present disclosure, is shown. As shown in FIG. 6, the process flow [600] comprises a user [502], a UI/UX [504], a CNF Lifecycle Manager (CNFLM) [1052], a Policy Execution Engine (PEEGN) [1088], a Physical & Virtual Inventory Manager (PVIM) (also referred as Physical & Virtual Resource Manager) [1050], a Docker Service Adaptor (DSA) [1126], a Docker Host [602] and a Release Management Repository (RMR) [1092], The process flow [500] has the following steps for CNFC instantiation:

At step SI, user [502] may request for CNFC instantiation to UI/UX [504],

At step S2, UI/UX [504] may send a request for CNFC instantiation to the CNFLM [1052],

At step S3, CNFLM [1052] may send the request for reserving resources and fetching region details, to the PEEGN [1088],

At step S4, the PEEGN [1088] may send resources reserving acknowledgment to the CNFLM [1052],

At step S5, CNFLM [1052] sends a CNFC instantiation request to DSA [1126],

At step S6, DSA [1126] sends the CNFC instantiation request to the Docker host [602],

- Next, at step S7, in response to this, Docker host [602] sends instantiation status, such as, but not limited to, complete, partial complete to the DSA [1126],

- Next, at step S8, the DSA sends instantiation the acknowledgement to the CNFLM [1052],

- Next, at step S9, in response to the instantiation, the CNFLM [1052] sends an update inventory request to the PVIM [1050],

- Next, at step S10, PVIM [1050] sends the update inventory acknowledgement to the CNFLM [1052],

- Next, at step SI 1, CNFLM [1052] sends a request for an update of the instantiation status to the RMR [1092],

- Next, at step S 12, RMR [ 1092] sends an acknowledgment after updating the instantiation status to the CNFLM [1052],

Further, at step S13, CNFLM [1052] sends CNFC instantiation acknowledgment to the UI/UX [504] and UI/UX [504] further sends, at step S14, the instantiation acknowledgment to the user [502], [0085] In an exemplary implementation, the CNFC Change Management Instantiation operation may perform the following steps: CNFCs added from change management may be instantiated by the user by selecting a deployment plan. Next, on clicking the “Instantiation” tab from “CNF Lifecycle Management”, the user may be able to see the “No of CNFs” instantiated and the “No of CNFs” in Pending state along with a table containing the CNF name, CNF version, No of CNFCs, Vendor name, Status (Pending/Completed) and Last updated time stamp. Next, on clicking on an entry where instantiation is pending, the deployment plans created in the “Deployment Planning” phase are visible to the user. Next, in case a new CNFC is added to the deployment plan or a new version of an old CNFC is updated in the deployment plan, then these CNFCs may be shown as “Deployed Status” - “Pending”. The user can click on this CNFC and click the “Instantiate” option to instantiate this CNFC. The Host Name, Container ID, and Status may be populated after the instantiation is done. After successful instantiation, the Deployed Status will become “Success”, the user may see all the information after completion of instantiation of a CNFC.

[0086] Referring to FIG. 7, an exemplary block diagram of a system architecture [700] for managing one or more container network function (CNF) nodes, in accordance with an exemplary implementation of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 7, the system [700] comprises at least one user interface (UI) [702], at least one CNF Lifecycle Manager (CNFLM) [1052], at least one elastic search (ES) [704], at least one Policy execution engine (PEEGN) [1088], at least one Release management repository (RMR) [1092], at least one physical & virtual inventory manager (PVIM) [1050], at least one DSA [1126] (DSA1 [1126a]... DSA, [1126n]). The system [700] further comprises at least one region. The at least one region comprises at least one docker agent manager (DAM) [708] and at least one swarm manager [706] and at least one worker node (also referred to as Docker host) W [710]/W [712],

[0087] UI [702] sends a request to the CNFLM [1052] for such as, onboarding, instantiating, and terminating a CNF instance.

[0088] Next, the CNFLM [1052] captures the details of vendors, CNFs, and CNFCs using Create, Read, and Update APIs exposed by the service itself. The captured details are stored in a database and can be further used by the DSA service. The CNFLM may be used for creation of CNF or individual CNFC instances. Further, CNFLM [1052] may scale out CNFs or individual CNFCs as per the requirement. [0089] Further, the PEEGN [1088] is involved during the CNF instantiation flow to check for CNF policy and to reserve the resources required to instantiate CNF at PVIM [1050], The PEEGN [1088] supports the scaling policy for CNFC. The PVIM [1050] may subscribe to CNFLM [1052] for any acknowledgment event to get the status of instantiated CNF/CNFC and update its inventory mapping from reserved to use.

[0090] Next, the CNFLM [1052] may interact with DSA [1126] to spawn appropriate CNF instances / CNFC instances. The DSA [1126] may directly connect to docker host W [710]/[712] of swarm manager [706] to deploy the docker image to docker host nodes. In the Call flow, the DSA [1126] may connect with the Docker swarm manager [706] to add Docker hosts as swarm worker nodes (e.g., W1 [710a]..Wl[710n] and W1 [720a]..Wl[720n]). The DSA [1126] is deployed region-wise (e.g., DSA1 [1126a]..DSAn [1126n]). Further, all the CNF-related operations are also performed region-wise. The CNFLM [1052] asks region related detail to PEEGN [1088] and based on that ELB routes such requests to region- specific DSAs [1052], A swarm manager [706a-706n] may connect with multiple Docker hosts (e.g., W [710a-710n], W [712a-712n]) which run in swarm mode and act as managers (to manage membership, delegation), and workers (which run swarm services). A given Docker host can be a manager, a worker, or perform both roles. During the creation of a service, the system may define its optimal state, a number of replicas, network and storage resources available to it, ports the service exposes to the outside world, and more.

[0091] The present disclosure may relate to a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions for managing one or more container network function (CNF) nodes, the instructions include executable code which, when executed by one or more units of a system [300], causes: a processing unit [302] of the system to: receive a CNFC instantiation request at a container network function life cycle manager (CNF-LM) with an input associated with a deployment plan via a user interface; send a resource reserving request to a policy execution engine (PEEGN) via the CNFLM based on the received CNFC instantiation request; receive a response at the CNF-LM from the PEEGN for a successful reservation request; send the CNFC instantiation request a to a Docker Service Adapter (DSA) from the CNFLM for instantiation of the one or more CNFC(s); initiate, at the Docker host via the DSA, the instantiation of one or more CNFC(s) of CNF based on the CNFC instantiation request and the input associated with the deployment plan; and receive an instantiation status from the Docker host at the CNFLM related to the instantiation of the one or more CNFC(s) of the CNF. [0092] As is evident from the above, the present disclosure provides a technically advanced solution for an efficient system and method for managing CNF life cycle management. The present method and system provide a solution, that handles termination and re-instantiation of specific CNFC from a CNF in one deployment plan (site) without terminating the whole CNF with a change in image, resource inputs, etc. The present disclosure enables a solution for keeping the same CNFC on other deployment plans (sites) with the older CNFC version. The present method and system provide a solution, that supports the addition of a new CNFC to an existing running CNF and managing data of an existing running CNF while adding a new CNFC or new version of an existing CNFC. The present method and system provide a solution, which maintains CNF/CNFC resources and infrastructure as per requirements. The present method and system provide a solution, that enables modification of an existing CNFC in a CNF, such as image update or any virtual resource modification, if the user fully terminates the CNFC to be modified on all the sites.

[0093] While considerable emphasis has been placed herein on the disclosed embodiments, it will be appreciated that many embodiments can be made and that many changes can be made to the embodiments without departing from the principles of the present disclosure. These and other changes in the embodiments of the present disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art, whereby it is to be understood that the foregoing descriptive matter to be implemented is illustrative and non-limiting.

Claims

We Claims:

1. A method for managing one or more container network function (CNF) nodes, the method comprising: receiving, by a processing unit [302], a containerized network function component (CNFC) instantiation request at a container network function life cycle manager (CNF-LM) with an input associated with a deployment plan via a user interface; sending, by the processing unit [302], a resource reserving request to a policy execution engine (PEEGN) from the CNF-LM based on the received CNFC instantiation request; receiving, by the processing unit [302], a response at the CNF-LM from the PEEGN for a successful reservation request; sending, by the processing unit [302], the CNFC instantiation request to a Docker Service Adapter (DSA) from the CNF-LM for instantiation of the one or more CNFC(s); initiating, by the processing unit [302], at a Docker host via the DSA, the instantiation of one or more CNFC(s) of CNF based on the CNFC instantiation request and the input associated with the deployment plan; and receiving, by the processing unit [302], an instantiation status from the Docker host at the CNF-LM related to the instantiation of the one or more CNFC(s) of the CNF.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the CNFC instantiation request comprises a number of instantiated CNFs, a number of CNFs in a pending state along with a table containing CNF name, CNF version, a number of CNFCs, CNFC version, vendor name, status being at least one of pending or completed, and timestamp.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein receiving the input associated with the deployment plan comprises CNFC names with different version numbers, regional site, pod name, instantiation order, CNFC resource constraints, and policy.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprises storing the instantiation status, CNF details, CNFC details, deployment plan status, host name, container ID in a storage unit

5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein managing the one or more CNFs comprises: updating, modifying, instantiating, re-instantiating, and terminating one or more CNFCs from one or more CNFs in the deployment plan without terminating functioning of the CNF, with changes in image, and resource inputs.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprises: sending an instantiation status update to a Release Management Repository (RMR) from the CNF-LM; and sending a CNF instantiation response to the user interface for the received CNFC instantiation request upon receiving a status update response from the RMR.

7. A system for managing one or more container network function (CNF) nodes, the system comprising: a processing unit [302] configured to: receive a CNFC instantiation request at a container network function life cycle manager (CNF-LM) with an input associated with a deployment plan via a user interface; send a resource reserving request to a policy execution engine (PEEGN) via the CNFLM based on the received CNFC instantiation request; receive a response at the CNF-LM from the PEEGN for a successful reservation request; send the CNFC instantiation request to a Docker Service Adapter (DSA) from the CNFLM for instantiation of the one or more CNFC(s); initiate, at a Docker host via the DSA, the instantiation of one or more CNFC(s) of CNF based on the CNFC instantiation request and the input associated with the deployment plan; and receive an instantiation status from the Docker host at the CNFLM related to the instantiation of the one or more CNFC(s) of the CNF.

8. The system as claimed in claim 7, wherein the CNFC instantiation request comprises a number of instantiated CNFs, a number of CNFs in a pending state along with a table containing CNF name, CNF version, a number of CNFCs, CNFC version, vendor name, status, and timestamp.

9. The system as claimed in claim 7, wherein the input associated with the deployment plan comprises CNFC names with different version numbers, regional site, pod name, instantiation order, CNFC resource constraints, and policy.

10. The system as claimed in claim 7, wherein the processing unit is further configured to store the instantiation status, CNF details, CNFC details, deployment plan status, host name, container ID in a storage unit [304] of a Physical Virtual Inventory Manager (PVIM) [210],

11. The system as claimed in claim 7, wherein management of the one or more CNF corresponds to update, modify, instantiate, re-instantiate, and terminate one or more CNFCs from one or more CNFs in the deployment plan without terminating the functioning of the CNF, with changes in image, and resource inputs.

12. The system as claimed in claim 7, wherein the processing unit is configured to: send an instantiation status update to a Release Management Repository (RMR) from the CNFLM; and send a CNF instantiation response to the user interface for the received CNFC instantiation request upon receiving a status update response from the RMR.

13. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions for managing one or more container network function (CNF) nodes, the instructions include executable code which, when executed by one or more units of a system [300], causes: a processing unit [302] of the system to: receive a CNFC instantiation request at a container network function life cycle manager (CNF-LM) with an input associated with a deployment plan via a user interface; send a resource reserving request to a policy execution engine (PEEGN) via the CNFLM based on the received CNFC instantiation request; receive a response at the CNF-LM from the PEEGN for a successful reservation request; send the CNFC instantiation request a to a Docker Service Adapter (DSA) from the CNFLM for instantiation of the one or more CNFC(s); initiate, at the Docker host via the DSA, the instantiation of one or more CNFC(s) of CNF based on the CNFC instantiation request and the input associated with the deployment plan; and receive an instantiation status from the Docker host at the CNFLM related to the instantiation of the one or more CNFC(s) of the CNF.