Methods and System for Allocating an IP Address for an Instance in a Network Function Virtualization (NFV) system

• US 20160057102A1
• Filed: 08/19/2015
• Published: 02/25/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/19/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Futurewei Technologies Incorporated (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: WEI, Anni, ZHU, Lei, XIANG, Zhixian
• Granted Patent: US 9,887,959 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/70 Virtual switches
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5007 Internet protocol [IP] addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5061 Pools of addresses

Abstract

A method for allocating an IP address for an instance in a NFV system includes obtaining a first requirement of IP address allocation from VNFD by a first node in the NFV system. A second requirement of IP address allocation for the instance is determined according to the first requirement. Then the second requirement is sent to a second node in the NFV system that allocates the IP address for the instance.

Claims

1. A method for allocating an IP address for an instance in a network function virtualization (NFV) system, comprising:

obtaining, by a first node in the NFV system, a first requirement of IP address allocation for the instance from a virtualised network function descriptor (VNFD);

determining, by the first node, a second requirement of IP address allocation for the instance according to the first requirement; and

sending, by the first node, to a second node in the NFV system the second requirement, wherein the IP address is allocated for the instance based upon the second requirement.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the instance comprises a virtualised network function (VNF) instance or a virtualised network function component (VNFC) instance.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first requirement is included in a virtual deployment unit (VDU) information element in the VNFD.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

allocating, by the second node, the IP address for the instance based on the second requirement.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first requirement and the second requirement respectively indicate one or more characteristics of the IP address to be allocated, and wherein the one or more characteristics indicated in the first requirement are pre-defined in the VNFD.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the first node is a NFV orchestrator (NFVO) entity or a VNF manager (VNFM) entity, and the second node is a virtualized infrastructure manager (VIM) entity.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the one or more characteristics of the IP address comprises at least one type from a group of:

an IP address type indicator indicating the type of the IP address to be allocated;

an access point name (APN) indicator indicating an APN which the IP address to be allocated belongs to;

an IP address pool indicator indicating an IP address pool which the IP address to be allocated belongs to;

an IP address range indicator indicating an IP address range constraint within which the IP address to be allocated is;

an IP address list indicator indicating a list of specific IP addresses in which the IP address to be allocated is; and

a port indicator indicating an allowed port associated with the IP address for the instance.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving, by the first node, a third requirement of IP address allocation for the instance from a third node in the NFV system through an interface between the first node and the third node; and

wherein the first requirement indicates the IP address allocation is to be configured through an interface between nodes in the NFV system, the second requirements indicates one or more characteristics of the IP address that the first node expects to allocate, the third requirement indicates one or more characteristics of the IP address that the third node expects to allocate, and the determining the second requirement of IP address allocation for the instance according to the first requirement comprises;

determining the second requirement at least based on the first and third requirement.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the second requirement is sent through an interface between the first node and the second node in the NFV system.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the first node is a VNFM entity, the second node is a VIM entity and the third node is a VNF entity;

wherein the first node is a VNFM entity, the second node is a VNF entity or an element management system (EMS), and the third node is a NFVO entity;

wherein the first node is an NFVO entity, the second node is a VIM entity and the third node is an OSS entity or other authorized management entity;

or wherein the first node is an NFVO entity, the second node is a VNF entity or an EMS, and the third node is a VIM entity.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the one or more characteristics of the IP address comprises at least one type from a group of:

an IP address type indicator indicating the type of the IP address to be allocated;

an APN indicator indicating an APN which the IP address to be allocated belongs to;

an IP address pool indicator indicating an IP address pool which the IP address to be allocated belongs to;

an IP address range indicator indicating an IP address range constraint within which the IP address to be allocated is;

an IP address list indicator indicating a list of specific IP addresses in which the IP address to be allocated is; and

a port indicator indicating an allowed port associated with the IP address for the instance.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the first requirement indicates the IP address allocation is to be configured through an interface between nodes in the NFV system, the second requirements indicates one or more characteristics of the IP address that the first node expects to allocate.

13. A system, comprising:

a memory that stores at least one range of IP addresses;

a processor that receives a request for an IP address for an instance in a Network Function Virtualization (NFV) system, wherein the processor allocates the IP address by obtaining a first requirement of IP address allocation for the instance from a virtualised network function descriptor (VNFD) and a second requirement of IP address allocation for the instance according to the first requirement, and

an interface connected to the processor that sends a selected IP address to the instance based upon the second requirement.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the first requirement is included in a virtual deployment unit (VDU) information element in the VNFD.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the first requirement and the second requirement respectively indicate one or more characteristics of the IP address to be allocated, and wherein the one or more characteristics indicated in the first requirement are pre-defined in the VNFD.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the one or more characteristics of the IP address comprises at least one type from a group of:

an IP address type indicator indicating the type of the IP address to be allocated;

an access point name (APN) indicator indicating an APN which the IP address to be allocated belongs to;

an IP address pool indicator indicating an IP address pool which the IP address to be allocated belongs to;

an IP address range indicator indicating an IP address range constraint within which the IP address to be allocated is;

an IP address list indicator indicating a list of specific IP addresses in which the IP address to be allocated is; and

a port indicator indicating an allowed port associated with the IP address for the instance.

17. A system, comprising:

a memory storing instructions; and

a processor coupled to the memory, wherein when the processor executes the instructions, the instructions instruct the processor to;

obtain a first requirement of IP address allocation for the instance from a virtualised network function descriptor (VNFD) in a network function virtualization (NFV) system;

determine a second requirement of IP address allocation for the instance according to the first requirement; and

send the second requirement to a node that allocates the IP address for the instance based upon the second requirement in the NFV system.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the first requirement is included in a virtual deployment unit (VDU) information element in the VNFD.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the first requirement and the second requirement respectively indicate one or more characteristics of the IP address to be allocated, and wherein the one or more characteristics indicated in the first requirement are pre-defined in the VNFD.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the one or more characteristics of the IP address comprises at least one type from a group of:

an IP address type indicator indicating the type of the IP address to be allocated;

an access point name (APN) indicator indicating an APN which the IP address to be allocated belongs to;

an IP address pool indicator indicating an IP address pool which the IP address to be allocated belongs to;

an IP address range indicator indicating an IP address range constraint within which the IP address to be allocated is;

an IP address list indicator indicating a list of specific IP addresses in which the IP address to be allocated is; and

a port indicator indicating an allowed port associated with the IP address for the instance.