Method for Upgrading Network Functions Virtualization Application, Service Forwarding Method, and Apparatus

• US 20170187572A1
• Filed: 03/14/2017
• Published: 06/29/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/12/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Huawei Cloud Computing Technologies Company Limited (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Xu, Lei, Wu, Xin
• Granted Patent: US 10,326,653 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0806 for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/082 the condition being updates or upgrades of network functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0843 based on generic templates
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0859 by keeping history of different configuration generations or by rolling back to previous configuration versions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0895 Configuration of virtualised networks or elements, e.g. virtualised network function or OpenFlow elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0896 Bandwidth or capacity management, i.e. automatically increasing or decreasing capacities flow or congestion control using dynamic resource allocation, e.g. in-call renegotiation, H04L47/76
• 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 41/145 involving simulating, designing, planning or modelling of a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/40 using virtualisation of network functions or resources, e.g. SDN or NFV entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/50 Testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/125 by balancing the load, e.g. traffic engineering
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/40 Support for services or applications

Abstract

A method for upgrading a network functions virtualization application includes creating, by a virtualized infrastructure manager (VIM), a network resource according to an upgrade plan for the network functions virtualization application; creating, by the VIM, a virtual machine for a new-version virtualized network function (VNF) according to the upgrade plan; configuring, by the VIM, the virtual machine on a test network according to the network resource; performing, by the VIM, upgrade configuration on the virtual machine according to an upgrade configuration script to obtain the new-version VNF; and switching, by an NFV orchestrator, an earlier-version VNF to the new-version VNF after determining that a function test of the new-version VNF on the test network is successful. In the embodiments of the present disclosure, an automated upgrade procedure and upgrade steps for a network functions virtualization application are defined, so that upgrading the network functions virtualization application can be automated.

Claims

1. A method for upgrading a network functions virtualization (NFV) application, comprising:

creating, by a virtualized infrastructure manager (VIM), a network resource according to an upgrade plan for the NFV application;

creating, by the VIM, a virtual machine for a new-version virtualized network function (VNF) according to the upgrade plan;

configuring, by the VIM, the virtual machine on a test network according to the network resource;

performing, by the VIM, upgrade configuration on the virtual machine according to an upgrade configuration script to obtain the new-version VNF; and

switching, by an NFV orchestrator (NFVO), an earlier-version VNF to the new-version VNF after determining that a function test of the new-version VNF on the test network is successful.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein before creating, by the VIM, the virtual machine for the new-version VNF according to the upgrade plan, the method further comprises instructing, by the NFVO according to the upgrade plan, a virtualized network function manager (VNFM) to call a createVNF interface to create the new-version VNF, wherein an input parameter of the createVNF interface comprises at least a version number of the new-version VNF, and wherein creating, by the VIM, the virtual machine for the new-version VNF according to the upgrade plan comprises creating, by the VIM, the virtual machine for the new-version VNF according to the instruction of the VNFM.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein switching, by the NFVO, the earlier-version VNF to the new-version VNF comprises:

instructing, by the NFVO, the VIM to switch a network configuration of the new-version VNF from the test network to a production network on which the earlier-version VNF is located;

instructing, by the NFVO, the VIM to switch a database corresponding to the earlier-version VNF to a database corresponding to the new-version VNF;

instructing, by the NFVO, the VIM to configure, in an earlier service load forwarding point corresponding to the earlier-version VNF, information about the new-version VNF, such that the earlier service load forwarding point manages traffic forwarding and load balancing of both the new-version VNF and the earlier-version VNF; and

instructing, by the NFVO, the VIM to switch a service of the earlier-version VNF to the new-version VNF.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein instructing, by the NFVO, the VIM to configure, in the earlier service load forwarding point corresponding to the earlier-version VNF, the information about the new-version VNF comprises instructing, by the NFVO, the VIM to call an AddNewVAPPToVLB interface to configure, in the earlier service load forwarding point corresponding to the earlier-version VNF, the information about the new-version VNF.

5. The method according to claim 3, wherein after instructing, by the NFVO, the VIM to switch the database corresponding to the earlier-version VNF to the database corresponding to the new-version VNF, the method further comprises:

storing, by the VIM, data of the new-version VNF in the database corresponding to the earlier-version VNF when a data model of the new-version VNF does not change relative to a data model of the earlier-version VNF; and

creating, by the VIM, a new database for the new-version VNF, and storing data of the earlier-version VNF in the new database when a data model of the new-version VNF changes relative to a data model of the earlier-version VNF.

6. The method according to claim 3, wherein after instructing, by the NFVO, the VIM to switch the service of the earlier-version VNF to the new-version VNF, the method further comprises:

instructing, by the VIM according to the instruction delivered by the NFVO, the earlier service load forwarding point to determine a connection status of a service request according to a stored connection record when the earlier-version VNF is stateful;

sending, by the earlier service load forwarding point, the service request to the earlier-version VNF when determining that the service request has a stateful connection; and

sending, by the earlier service load forwarding point, the service request to the new-version VNF when determining that the service request has a stateless connection.

7. The method according to claim 3, wherein instructing, by the NFVO, the VIM to switch the service of the earlier-version VNF to the new-version VNF comprises instructing, by the NFVO, the VIM to call a StartGracefulSwitchover interface to start a service switching procedure between the new-version VNF and the earlier-version VNF.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein before switching, by the NFVO, the earlier-version VNF to the new-version VNF, the method further comprises:

creating, by the VIM, a new service load forwarding point according to the upgrade plan; and

configuring, by the VIM and in the new service load forwarding point, information about the new-version VNF, such that the new service load forwarding point manages traffic forwarding and load balancing of the new-version VNF.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein after instructing the VIM to configure, in an earlier service load forwarding point corresponding to the earlier-version VNF, the information about the new-version VNF, the method further comprises:

obtaining, by the VIM, the information about the new-version VNF from the new service load forwarding point; and

configuring, by the VIM and in the earlier service load forwarding point, the information about the new-version VNF, such that the earlier service load forwarding point manages the new-version VNF and the earlier-version VNF.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein obtaining, by the VIM, the information about the new-version VNF from the new service load forwarding point comprises calling, by the VIM, an ExportVAPPInfoFromVLB interface to obtain the information about the new-version VNF from the new service load forwarding point, and wherein configuring, by the VIM and in the earlier service load forwarding point, the information about the new-version VNF comprises calling, by the VIM, an ImportVAPPInfoToVLB interface to configure, in the earlier service load forwarding point, the information about the new-version VNF.

11. A service forwarding method, applied in a network functions virtualization (NFV) system, comprising:

receiving, by a service load forwarding point, a service request;

determining, by the service load forwarding point, a connection status of the service request according to a stored connection record; and

sending, by the service load forwarding point, the service request to an earlier-version virtualized network function (VNF) when the service request has a stateful connection; and

sending, by the service load forwarding point, the service request to a new-version VNF when the service request has a stateless connection.

12. A network functions virtualization (NFV) system, comprising:

an NFV orchestrator (NFVO); and

a virtualized infrastructure manager (VIM) configured to;

create a network resource according to an upgrade plan for an NFV application;

create a virtual machine for a new-version virtualized network function (VNF) according to the upgrade plan;

configure the virtual machine on a test network according to the network resource; and

perform upgrade configuration on the virtual machine according to an upgrade configuration script to obtain the new-version VNF, and

wherein the NFVO is configured to switch an earlier-version VNF to the new-version VNF after determining that a function test of the new-version VNF on the test network is successful.

13. The system according to claim 12, wherein the NFVO is further configured to instruct a virtualized network function manager (VNFM) to call a createVNF interface to create the new-version VNF before the VIM creates the virtual machine for the new-version VNF according to the upgrade plan, wherein an input parameter of the createVNF interface comprises at least a version number of the new-version VNF, and wherein the VIM is further configured to create the virtual machine for the new-version VNF according to the instruction of the VNFM.

14. The system according to claim 12, further comprising an earlier service load forwarding point configured to manage traffic forwarding and load balancing of the earlier-version VNF, wherein the NFVO is further configured to:

instruct the VIM to switch a network configuration of the new-version VNF, from the test network to a production network on which the earlier-version VNF is located;

instruct the VIM to switch a database corresponding to the earlier-version VNF to a database corresponding to the new-version VNF;

instruct the VIM to configure, in the earlier service load forwarding point corresponding to the earlier-version VNF, information about the new-version VNF, such that the earlier service load forwarding point manages traffic forwarding and load balancing of both the new-version VNF and the earlier-version VNF; and

instruct the VIM to switch a service of the earlier-version VNF to the new-version VNF.

15. The system according to claim 14, wherein the NFVO is further configured to instruct the VIM to call an AddNewVAPPToVLB interface to configure, in the earlier service load forwarding point corresponding to the earlier-version VNF, the information about the new-version VNF.

16. The system according to claim 14, wherein after the NFVO instructs the VIM to switch the database corresponding to the earlier-version VNF to the database corresponding to the new-version VNF, the VIM is further configured to:

store data of the new-version VNF in the database corresponding to the earlier-version VNF when a data model of the new-version VNF does not change relative to a data model of the earlier-version VNF; and

create a new database for the new-version VNF, and store data of the earlier-version VNF in the new database when a data model of the new-version VNF changes relative to a data model of the earlier-version VNF.

17. The system according to claim 14, wherein the VIM is further configured to instruct, according to the instruction delivered by the NFVO, the earlier service load forwarding point to determine a connection status of a service request according to a stored connection record when the earlier-version VNF is stateful, and wherein the earlier service load forwarding point is further configured to:

send the service request to the earlier-version VNF when determining that the service request has a stateful connection;

or

send the service request to the new-version VNF when determining that the service request has a stateless connection.

18. The system according to claim 14, wherein the NFVO is further configured to instruct the VIM to call a StartGracefulSwitchover interface to start a service switching procedure between the new-version VNF and the earlier-version VNF.

19. The system according to claim 12, wherein the VIM is further configured to:

create a new service load forwarding point according to the upgrade plan; and

configure, in the new service load forwarding point, information about the new-version VNF, such that the new service load forwarding point manages traffic forwarding and load balancing of the new-version VNF.

20. The system according to claim 19, wherein the VIM is further configured to:

obtain the information about the new-version VNF from the new service load forwarding point; and

configure, in an earlier service load forwarding point, the information about the new-version VNF, such that the earlier service load forwarding point manages the new-version VNF and the earlier-version VNF.

21. The system according to claim 20, wherein the VIM is further configured to:

call an ExportVAPPInfoFromVLB interface to obtain the information about the new-version VNF from the new service load forwarding point; and

call an ImportVAPPInfoToVLB interface to configure, in the earlier service load forwarding point, the information about the new-version VNF.

22. A service load forwarding point, applied in a network functions virtualization (NFV) system and comprising:

a receiving module configured to receive a service request;

a storage module configured to store a connection record;

a determining module configured to determine, according to the connection record stored in the storage module, a connection status of the service request received by the receiving module; and

a sending module configured to;

send the service request to an earlier-version virtualized network function (VNF) when the service request has a stateful connection; and

send the service request to a new-version VNF when the service request has a stateless connection.