Exchanging Application Metadata for Application Context Aware Service Insertion in Service Function Chain

• US 20160352629A1
• Filed: 05/29/2015
• Published: 12/01/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/29/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Futurewei Technologies Incorporated (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Futurewei Technologies Incorporated (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Wang, Xiaobo, Zhang, Hong
• Granted Patent: US 10,122,622 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/50 Network service management, e.g. ensuring proper service fulfilment according to agreements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/306 Route determination based on the nature of the carried application
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/38 Flow based routing

Abstract

A method implemented by a network element (NE), comprising receiving a classification message comprising a classification rule for identifying a service function chain (SFC) in a network, wherein the SFC comprises an ordered set of service functions (SFs) that provides services to an application, and a dynamic application-specific contextual data associated with an operation of the application, receiving a first of a plurality of application data packets, determining that the first of the application data packets matches the classification rule, generating a first SFC packet by adding the dynamic application-specific contextual data to the first of the application data packets according to the classification rule to enable communication of the dynamic application-specific contextual data to at least one of the SFs in the SFC, and sending the first SFC packet towards a next NE according to an SF path in the network associated with the SFC.

Claims

1. A method implemented by a network element (NE), comprising:

receiving a classification message comprising;

a classification rule for identifying a service function chain (SFC) in a network, wherein the SFC comprises an ordered set of service functions (SFs) that provides services to an application; and

a dynamic application-specific contextual data associated with an operation of the application;

receiving a first of a plurality of application data packets;

determining that the first of the application data packets matches the classification rule;

generating, when the first of the application data packets matches the classification rule, a first SFC packet by adding the dynamic application-specific contextual data to the first of the application data packets according to the classification rule to enable communication of the dynamic application-specific contextual data to at least one of the SFs in the SFC; and

sending the first SFC packet towards a next NE according to an SF path in the network associated with the SFC.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a flow configuration message that indicates an addition of the SF path into the network, wherein the addition of the SF path is associated with an initiation of the application; and

receiving a flow termination message that indicates a deletion of the SF path from the network, wherein the deletion of the SF path is associated with a termination of the application.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a service update message that indicates an updated application-specific contextual data while the application is in operation;

receiving a second of the application data packets after receiving the service update message;

generating a second SFC packet by adding the updated application-specific contextual data to the second of the application data packets; and

sending the second SFC packet to the next NE.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the dynamic application-specific contextual data is associated with at least a portion of the application data packets, and wherein the method further comprises determining that the first of the application data packets corresponds to one of the application data packets in the portion prior to adding the dynamic application-specific contextual data to the first of the application data packets.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein generating the first SFC packet further comprises:

generating a service header comprising a metadata field;

inserting the dynamic application-specific contextual data into the metadata field; and

adding the service header to the first of the application data packets.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the metadata field comprises:

one or more SF identifier (ID) fields that identify one or more of the SFs;

an SF count field that indicates a number of the SF ID fields in the metadata field; and

a selective-forwarding bit (SBF) field that indicates whether the dynamic application-specific contextual data is to be only forwarded to the SFs identified in the SF ID fields.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the classification message further comprise a forwarding policy that indicates a forwarding scope for the dynamic application-specific contextual data, wherein the forward scope indicates one or more SFs, and wherein generating the first SFC packet further comprises:

inserting the one or more SFs into the SF ID fields of the metadata field;

setting the SBF field to indicate that the dynamic application-specific contextual data is to be only forwarded to the SFs indicated in the SF ID fields; and

setting the SF ID count field to indicate a number of the SFs inserted into the SF ID fields.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the application is a voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) application, wherein the SFs comprise a transcoding function, an encryption function, a fraud prevention function, or combinations thereof, and wherein the dynamic application-specific contextual data comprises a transcoding parameter, an encryption parameter, or combinations thereof.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the network is a software-defined network (SDN), and wherein the classification message is received from a central management entity of the SDN.

10. A network element (NE) comprising:

a receiver configured to;

couple to a service function chain (SFC)-enabled network;

receive a flow forwarding message from a management entity via the network, wherein the flow forwarding message indicates a service flow in the network, and wherein the service flow comprises an ordered set of service functions (SFs) that provides services to an application; and

receive a first packet from a first NE, wherein the first packet comprises service flow information and data associated with the application;

a processor coupled to the receiver and configured to;

identify a first of the SFs in the service flow according to the service flow information;

obtain a dynamic application-specific contextual data associated with an operation of the application; and

generate a second packet according to the data associated with the application and the dynamic application-specific contextual data; and

a transmitter coupled to the processor and configured to send the second packet to a second NE in the service flow that provides the first SF to request the first SF to process the second packet according to the dynamic application-specific contextual data.

11. The NE of claim 10, wherein the first packet further comprises a service header comprising:

the dynamic application-specific contextual data; and

a forwarding scope identifying one or more SFs for forwarding the dynamic application-specific contextual data,

wherein the dynamic application-specific contextual data used for generating the second packet is obtained from the service header, and

wherein the processor is further configured to determine that the first SF corresponds to an SF identified in the forwarding scope of the service header.

12. The NE of claim 10, further comprises a memory coupled to the processor, wherein the receiver is further configured to receive a third packet comprising a second data associated with the application and a service header comprising the dynamic application-specific contextual data and a forwarding scope identifying one or more SFs for forwarding the dynamic application-specific contextual data, wherein the processor is further configured to:

identify a second of the SFs immediately prior to the first SF in the service flow, wherein the second SF is provided by the first NE;

determine that the second SF is excluded from the forwarding scope of the service header;

remove the dynamic application-specific contextual data from the SCH of the third packet to produce a fourth packet;

determine that at least one SF subsequent to the second SF in the service flow is included in the forwarding scope of the service header; and

store the dynamic application-specific contextual data in the memory, and

wherein the transmitter is further configured to send the fourth packet to the first NE to request the second SF to process the fourth packet.

13. The NE of claim 12, wherein the first packet is received in response to the fourth packet, wherein the data in the first packet is processed by the second SF, and wherein the dynamic application-specific contextual data employed for generating the second packet is obtained from the memory.

14. The NE of claim 10, wherein the flow forwarding message further comprises a local forwarding policy for the NE, wherein the local forwarding rule comprises:

the dynamic application-specific contextual data; and

a forwarding scope identifying one or more SFs for forwarding the dynamic application-specific contextual data,

wherein the processor is further configured to determine that the first SF corresponds to an SF identified in the forwarding scope of the local forwarding policy, and

wherein the dynamic application-specific contextual data employed for generating the second packet is obtained from the local forwarding policy.

15. A network element (NE) comprising:

a receiver configured to;

couple to a service function chain (SFC)-enabled network; and

receive a packet via the network, wherein the packet is associated with an initiation of an application;

a processor coupled to the receiver and configured to;

determine that the application is associated with a service according to the received packet;

determine that the service is associated with an application-specific contextual data according to the packet; and

generate a service add request message comprising the application-specific contextual data; and

a transmitter coupled to the processor and configured to send the service add request message to a management entity in the SFC-enabled network to request an addition of the service to an SFC that serves the application and provides the application-specific contextual data to the management entity.

16. The NE of claim 15, wherein the service add request message indicates a forwarding scope for forwarding the application-specific contextual data, wherein the service is identified by a service name, and wherein the forwarding scope comprises one or more service functions (SFs) associated with the service name.

17. The NE of claim 16, wherein the processor is further configured to detect an updated application-specific contextual data while the application is in operation, and wherein the transmitter is further configured to send a service update message to the management entity to request a service update for the SFC and to provide the updated application-specific contextual data to the management entity.

18. The NE of claim 16, wherein the NE is a voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) signaling gateway (GW), wherein the management entity comprises a VoIP orchestrator, a policy center, or combinations thereof, wherein the service comprises a transcoding service, an encryption service, or a fraud prevention service, and wherein the application-specific contextual data comprises a coder-decoder (codec) parameter, an encryption parameter, or combinations thereof.

20. The NE of claim 18, wherein the NE is a policy center, an SFC orchestrator, a voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) manager, or combinations thereof.

19. A network element (NE) comprising:

a receiver configured to;

couple to a service function chain (SFC)-enabled network; and

receive a service add request message associated with an SFC comprising an ordered set of service functions (SFs), wherein the service add request message comprises an application-specific contextual data associated with a first of the SFs;

a processor coupled to the receiver and configured to;

determine an SFC entity for inserting the application-specific contextual data into the SFC, wherein the SFC entity is one of a classifier and a service function forwarder (SFF); and

insert the application-specific contextual data into a policy message, wherein the policy message comprises a forwarding policy when the determined SFC entity is the SFF, and wherein the policy message comprises a classification policy when the determined SFC entity is the classifier; and

a transmitter coupled to the processor and configured to send the policy message to a network controller.