Intent-Based Services Orchestration

• US 20170093750A1
• Filed: 12/30/2015
• Published: 03/30/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Jones, Aaron, Olson, Carl Matthew, McBride, Kevin M., McManus, John, O'Brien, William Jr.
• Granted Patent: US 9,882,833 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/762 triggered by the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/805 QOS or priority aware

Abstract

Novel tools and techniques might provide for implementing intent-based network services orchestration. In some embodiments, a computing system might receive, over a network, a request for network services from a customer. The request for network services might include desired performance parameters for the requested network services, without information regarding any of specific hardware, specific hardware type, specific location, or specific network for providing the requested network services. The computing system might allocate network resources from one or more networks, based at least in part on the desired performance parameters. Based on a determination that at least one network can no longer provide at least one network resource having the desired performance parameters, the computing system might allocate at least one other network resource from at least one second network, based at least in part on network performance metrics, and based at least in part on the desired performance parameters.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, with a computing system over a network, a request for network services from a customer, the request for network services comprising desired performance parameters for the requested network services, without information regarding any of specific hardware, specific hardware type, specific location, or specific network for providing the requested network services;

allocating, with the computing system, one or more network resources from one or more first networks of a first set of networks for providing the requested network services, based at least in part on the desired performance parameters and based at least in part on a determination that the one or more first networks is capable of providing network resources each having the desired performance parameters;

determining, with the computing system, whether at least one first network of the one or more first networks can no longer provide at least one first network resource, of the one or more network resources, having the desired performance parameters, based at least in part on one or more network performance metrics;

based on a determination that at least one first network can no longer provide at least one first network resource having the desired performance parameters, allocating, with the computing system, at least one second network resource from at least one second network of a second set of networks for supplementing provision of the requested network services having the desired performance parameters, based at least in part on one or more updated network performance metrics, thereby replacing or augmenting the at least one first network resource provided from the one or more first networks of the first set of networks; and

based on a determination that there is a conflict between at least one third network of the one or more first networks and at least one fourth network of the one or more first networks, in terms of providing the requested network services to the customer, stopping, with the computing system, allocation of one of at least one third network resource provided by the at least one third network or at least one fourth network resource provided by the at least one fourth network, and allocating, with the computing system, at least one fifth network resource provided by at least one fifth network for supplementing provision of the requested network services having the desired performance parameters, based at least in part on one or more further updated network performance metrics;

wherein the at least one fifth network is part of one of the first set of networks, the second set of networks, or a third set of networks that is separate from either the first set of networks or the second set of networks.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the desired performance parameters comprise at least one of a maximum latency, a maximum jitter, or a maximum packet loss.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the desired performance parameters comprise at least one of performance parameters defined in a service level agreement (“

SLA”

) associated with the customer or performance parameters defined in terms of natural resource usage.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the one or more network performance metrics and the one or more updated network performance metrics comprise at least one of quality of service (“

QoS”

) measurement data, platform resource data and metrics, service usage data, topology and reference data, historical network data, or network usage trend data.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the one or more network performance metrics and the one or more updated network performance metrics comprise one or more of information regarding at least one of latency, jitter, bandwidth, packet loss, nodal connectivity, compute resources, storage resources, memory capacity, routing, operations support systems (“

OSS”

), or business support systems (“

BSS”

) or information regarding at least one of fault, configuration, accounting, performance, or security (“

FCAPS”

).

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the determination that the one or more first networks is capable of providing network resources each having the desired performance parameters is based on one or more network performance metrics of the one or more first networks at the time that the request for network services from a customer is received.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether at least one first network of the one or more first networks can no longer provide at least one first network resource having the desired performance parameters comprises determining, with the computing system, whether at least one first network of the one or more first networks can no longer provide at least one first network resource having the desired performance parameters, based at least in part on one or more network performance metrics of at least one of the one or more first networks, the at least one second network, the first set of networks, or the second set of networks.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the second set of networks is different from the first set of networks by at least one network.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the at least one second network is different from each of the one or more first networks.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

based at least in part on one or more of time of day usage data, day of week usage data, or peak usage data of each of at least one sixth network resource provided by at least one sixth network of the one or more first networks and at least one seventh network resource provided by at least one seventh network, stopping, with the computing system, allocation of the at least one sixth network resource provided by the at least one sixth network, and allocating, with the computing system, the at least one seventh network resource provided by at least one seventh network for supplementing provision of the requested network services having the desired performance parameters, based at least in part on one or more further updated network performance metrics;

wherein the at least one seventh network is part of one of the first set of networks, the second set of networks, or a third set of networks that is separate from either the first set of networks or the second set of networks.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein allocating one or more network resources from one or more first networks of a first set of networks for providing the requested network services comprises providing the one or more first networks with access to one or more virtual network functions (“

VNFs”

) for use by the customer, the one or more VNFs providing the one or more network resources having the desired performance parameters.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein providing access to the one or more VNFs comprises bursting, using an application programming interface (“

API”

), one or more VNFs to one or more network functions virtualization (“

NFV”

) entities at the one or more first networks.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein allocating at least one second network resource from at least one second network of a second set of networks for supplementing provision of the requested network services comprises providing the at least one second network with access to one or more virtual network functions (“

VNFs”

) for use by the customer, the one or more VNFs providing the at least one second network resource having the desired performance parameters.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein providing access to the one or more VNFs comprises bursting, using an application programming interface (“

API”

), one or more VNFs to one or more network functions virtualization (“

NFV”

) entities at the at least one second network.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein determining, with the computing system, whether at least one first network of the one or more first networks can no longer provide at least one first network resource, of the one or more network resources, having the desired performance parameters, based at least in part on one or more network performance metrics, is performed in one of a real-time manner, a periodic manner, a per-request manner, or a random manner.

10. (canceled)

17. A computing system, comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one non-transitory computer readable medium communicatively coupled to the at least one processor, the at least one non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon computer software comprising a set of instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, causes the computing system to;

receive, over a network, a request for network services from a customer, the request for network services comprising desired performance parameters for the requested network services, without information regarding any of specific hardware, specific hardware type, specific location, or specific network for providing the requested network services;

allocate one or more network resources from one or more first networks of a first set of networks for providing the requested network services, based at least in part on the desired performance parameters and based at least in part on a determination that the one or more first networks is capable of providing network resources each having the desired performance parameters;

determine whether at least one first network of the one or more first networks can no longer provide at least one first network resource, of the one or more network resources, having the desired performance parameters, based at least in part on one or more network performance metrics;

based on a determination that at least one first network can no longer provide at least one first network resource having the desired performance parameters, allocate at least one second network resource from at least one second network of a second set of networks for supplementing provision of the requested network services having the desired performance parameters, based at least in part on one or more updated network performance metrics, thereby replacing or augmenting the at least one first network resource provided from the one or more first networks of the first set of networks; and

based on a determination that there is a conflict between at least one third network of the one or more first networks and at least one fourth network of the one or more first networks, in terms of providing the requested network services to the customer, stop allocation of one of at least one third network resource provided by the at least one third network or at least one fourth network resource provided by the at least one fourth network, and allocate at least one fifth network resource provided by at least one fifth network for supplementing provision of the requested network services having the desired performance parameters, based at least in part on one or more further updated network performance metrics;

wherein the at least one fifth network is part of one of the first set of networks, the second set of networks, or a third set of networks that is separate from either the first set of networks or the second set of networks.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the desired performance parameters comprise at least one of a maximum latency, a maximum jitter, or a maximum packet loss.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the desired performance parameters comprise at least one of performance parameters defined in a service level agreement (“

SLA”

) associated with the customer or performance parameters defined in terms of natural resource usage.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein each of the one or more network performance metrics and the one or more updated network performance metrics comprises at least one of quality of service (“

QoS”

) measurement data, platform resource data and metrics, service usage data, topology and reference data, historical network data, or network usage trend data.

21. The system of claim 17, wherein each of the one or more network performance metrics and the one or more updated network performance metrics comprises one or more of information regarding at least one of latency, jitter, bandwidth, packet loss, nodal connectivity, compute resources, storage resources, memory capacity, routing, operations support systems (“

OSS”

), or business support systems (“

BSS”

) or information regarding at least one of fault, configuration, accounting, performance, or security (“

FCAPS”

).

22. The system of claim 17, wherein the determination that the one or more first networks is capable of providing network resources each having the desired performance parameters is based on one or more network performance metrics of the one or more first networks at the time that the request for network services from a customer is received.

23. The system of claim 17, wherein determining whether at least one first network of the one or more first networks can no longer provide at least one first network resource having the desired performance parameters comprises determining whether at least one first network of the one or more first networks can no longer provide at least one first network resource having the desired performance parameters, based at least in part on one or more network performance metrics of at least one of the one or more first networks, the at least one second network, the first set of networks, or the second set of networks.

24. The system of claim 17, wherein the second set of networks is different from the first set of networks by at least one network.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the at least one second network is different from each of the one or more first networks.

27. The system of claim 17, wherein the set of instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further causes the computing system to:

based at least in part on one or more of time of day usage data, day of week usage data, or peak usage data of each of at least one sixth network resource provided by at least one sixth network of the one or more first networks and at least one seventh network resource provided by at least one seventh network, stop allocation of the at least one sixth network resource provided by the at least one sixth network, and allocate the at least one seventh network resource provided by at least one seventh network for supplementing provision of the requested network services having the desired performance parameters, based at least in part on one or more further updated network performance metrics;

wherein the at least one seventh network is part of one of the first set of networks, the second set of networks, or a third set of networks that is separate from either the first set of networks or the second set of networks.

28. The system of claim 17, wherein allocating one or more network resources from one or more first networks of a first set of networks for providing the requested network services comprises providing the one or more first networks with access to one or more virtual network functions (“

VNFs”

) for use by the customer, the one or more VNFs providing the one or more network resources having the desired performance parameters.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein providing access to the one or more VNFs comprises bursting, using an application programming interface (“

API”

), one or more VNFs to one or more network functions virtualization (“

NFV”

) entities at the one or more first networks.

30. The system of claim 17, wherein allocating at least one second network resource from at least one second network of a second set of networks for supplementing provision of the requested network services comprises providing the at least one second network with access to one or more virtual network functions (“

VNFs”

) for use by the customer, the one or more VNFs providing the at least one second network resource having the desired performance parameters.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein providing access to the one or more VNFs comprises bursting, using an application programming interface (“

API”

), one or more VNFs to one or more network functions virtualization (“

NFV”

) entities at the at least one second network.

32. The system of claim 17, wherein determining whether at least one first network of the one or more first networks can no longer provide at least one first network resource, of the one or more network resources, having the desired performance parameters, based at least in part on one or more network performance metrics, is performed in one of a real-time manner, a periodic manner, a per-request manner, or a random manner.

33. The system of claim 17, wherein the network is a software defined network (“

SDN”

).

26. (canceled)