CONTROLLING OF VIRTUALIZED NETWORK FUNCTIONS FOR USAGE IN COMMUNICATION NETWORK

• US 20150358248A1
• Filed: 06/02/2015
• Published: 12/10/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/09/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Solutions and Networks US LLC (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Solutions and Networks US LLC (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: HAHN, Wolfgang, SAHA, Sumanta
• Granted Patent: US 10,904,158 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0894 Policy-based network configuration management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0895 Configuration of virtualised networks or elements, e.g. virtualised network function or OpenFlow elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0897 by horizontal or vertical scaling of resources, or by migrating entities, e.g. virtual resources or entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/122 of virtualised topologies, e.g. software-defined networks [SDN] or network function virtualisation [NFV]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/40 using virtualisation of network functions or resources, e.g. SDN or NFV entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5096 wherein the managed service relates to distributed or central networked applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 by checking functioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/16 Threshold monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/20 the monitoring system or the monitored elements being virtualised, abstracted or software-defined entities, e.g. SDN or NFV
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/12 Avoiding congestion; Recovering from congestion
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/70 Admission control; Resource allocation

Abstract

A method including obtaining a plurality of data sets each describing a specific virtualized network function, acquiring and processing control information related to at least one of a communication traffic situation in a communication network for which at least one virtualized network function is implementable and a resource usage situation in a virtualization infrastructure in which at least one virtualized network function can be instantiated, and adjusting an amount and type of at least one virtualized network function instantiated in the virtualization infrastructure for usage in the communication network by, based on the processed control information, selecting at least one virtualized network function from the obtained data sets, instantiating the selected at least one virtualized network function.

Claims

1. A method including

obtaining a plurality of data sets each describing a specific virtualized network function,

acquiring and processing control information related to at least one of a communication traffic situation in a communication network for which at least one virtualized network function is implementable and a resource usage situation in a virtualization infrastructure in which at least one virtualized network function can be instantiated, and

adjusting an amount and type of at least one virtualized network function instantiated in the virtualization infrastructure for usage in the communication network by

based on the processed control information, selecting at least one virtualized network function from the obtained data sets, and

instantiating the selected at least one virtualized network function.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of data sets includes a software image corresponding to the specific virtualized network function.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the data sets each include information about at least one of

capabilities of the specific virtualized network function for a usage in the communication network, and

an amount and type of resources to be allocated in the virtualization infrastructure.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the amount and type of resources to be allocated in the virtualization infrastructure are separable with regard to resources to be allocated in the virtualization infrastructure for a usage in a control plane of a virtualized network function in the communication network and for a usage in a user plane of the same virtualized network function in the communication network.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of data sets is obtained in at least one of a software build phase for implementing an orchestrator element or function for virtualized network functions, an operation phase of the orchestrator element or function for virtualized network functions, and at any time before the orchestrator element or function for virtualized network functions executes an instantiation process for instantiating a virtualized network function.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the control information includes at least one of

information about a traffic pattern or traffic mix of communications conducted in the communication network,

an indication that a load level in the communication network exceeds a threshold, and

information about at least one of processing resources, storing resources, and data transmission resources of the virtualization infrastructure available for an instantiation of at least one virtualized network function.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the processing of the control information includes

comparing of parameters derived from the control information with parameters derived from the plurality of data sets, and

determining a data set of the plurality of data sets whose parameters matches with the parameters derived from the control information.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the selecting of the at least one virtualized network function considers variations in the plurality of data sets and an operator specific setup.

9. The method according to claim 1, further including at least one of

implementing a control loop based on the processed control information for adjusting the amount and type of at least one virtualized network function instantiated in the virtualization infrastructure for usage in the communication network, and

predicting, based on a monitored history of the communication traffic situation in the communication network, a requirement for a specific virtualized network function, wherein the adjustment of the amount and type of at least one virtualized network function instantiated in the virtualization infrastructure for usage in the communication network is based on the prediction.

10. The method according to claim 1, further including

instantiating in parallel a plurality of different virtualized network functions based on the data sets, wherein user communications are assigned to a respective one of the different virtualized network functions according to at least one of a subscription type of the user communication, a service type for the user communication, and an access point type of the user communication.

11. The method according to claim 1, further including

setting an activity level for conducting the adjustment of the amount and type of at least one virtualized network function instantiated in the virtualization infrastructure for usage in the communication network according to a resource usage state in the virtualization infrastructure, wherein the activity level is one of

an activity level where the adjustment of the amount and type of at least one virtualized network function is conducted only in a case of scaling out for adding a new virtualized network function, and

an activity level where the adjustment of the amount and type of at least one virtualized network function is conducted for removing a virtualized network function by replacing it with a new virtualized network function.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein the method is executed by one of

a communication network control element or communication network control function acting as a orchestrator for instantiating virtualized network functions, and

a communication network control element or communication network control function of acting as a manager for the virtualized network function

wherein the at least one virtualized network function being instantiated is related to a communication network control function of the communication network.

14. A computer program product for a computer, including software code portions for performing claim 1 when said product is run on the computer.

15. The computer program product according to claim 14, wherein

the computer program product includes a computer-readable medium on which said software code portions are stored, and/or

the computer program product is directly loadable into the internal memory of the computer and/or transmittable via a network by means of at least one of upload, download and push procedures.

13. An apparatus including

at least one processor configured to:

obtain a plurality of data sets each describing a specific virtualized network function;

acquire and process control information related to at least one of a communication traffic situation in a communication network for which at least one virtualized network function is implementable and a resource usage situation in a virtualization infrastructure in which at least one virtualized network function can be instantiated; and

adjust an amount and type of at least one virtualized network function instantiated in the virtualization infrastructure for usage in the communication network by

based on the processed control information, selecting at least one virtualized network function from the obtained data sets, and

instantiating the selected at least one virtualized network function.