System and method for modifying a service-specific data plane configuration

• US 9,913,151 B2
• Filed: 11/20/2015
• Issued: 03/06/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/21/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Li, Xu, Rao, Jaya
• Primary Examiner(s): Jung, Min
• Application Number:
  US14/948,035
• Publication Number:
  US 20160150421A1
• Time in Patent Office: 837 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0803 Configuration setting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0816 the condition being an adaptation, e.g. in response to network events
• 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 41/40 using virtualisation of network functions or resources, e.g. SDN or NFV entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5025 by proactively reacting to service quality change, e.g. by reconfiguration after service quality degradation or upgrade
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/08 Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0852 Delays
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0888 Throughput
• 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: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0289 Congestion control load shedding arrangements in network planning H04W16/08; performing reselection for handling the traffic H04W36/22; wireless traffic scheduling H04W72/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/084 among network function virtualisation [NFV] entities; among edge computing entities, e.g. multi-access edge computing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/18 Negotiating wireless communication parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 40/00 Systems for electrical power generation, transmission, distribution or end-user application management characterised by the use of communication or information technologies, or communication or information technology specific aspects supporting them

Abstract

A method for network adaptation includes receiving, by an adaptation coordinator of a virtual network, a performance measurement generated at a performance checkpoint located in the virtual network. The method also includes generating, by the adaptation coordinator, a first update of a service-specific configuration of the virtual network. The first update includes at least one of a modification of a performance checkpoint configuration, a modification of a Virtual Network Function (VNF) configuration, a modification of a protocol configuration, a modification of a resource allocation input, or a modification of a logical graph. The service-specific configuration includes a configuration of a plurality of logical nodes and a plurality of logical links of the virtual network in accordance with a service-specific data plane logical topology.

Claims

1. A method for network adaptation, comprising:

receiving, by an adaptation coordinator of a virtual network, a performance measurement, comprising at least one of logical link delay, logical link delay jitter, logical link throughput, or router queue status, generated at a performance checkpoint located in the virtual network; and

generating, by the adaptation coordinator, a first update of a service-specific configuration of the virtual network in accordance with the performance measurement,

the first update comprising at least one of a modification of a performance checkpoint configuration, a modification of a virtual network function (VNF) configuration, a modification of a protocol configuration, a modification of a resource allocation input, or a modification of a logical graph, and

the service-specific configuration comprising a configuration of a plurality of logical nodes and a plurality of logical links of the virtual network in accordance with a service-specific data plane logical topology.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing the first update to a first controller of the virtual network, wherein;

the first controller comprises at least one of a software defined topology (SDT) controller, a software defined protocol (SDP) controller, or a software defined resource allocation (SDRA) controller;

the modification of the performance checkpoint configuration comprises at least one of a modification of a performance checkpoint location, a deletion of a performance checkpoint, or an instantiation of a performance checkpoint;

the modification of the VNF configuration comprises at least one of a modification of a VNF location, a deactivation of a VNF instance, a deletion of a VNF instance, an activation of a VNF instance, or an instantiation of a VNF instance;

the modification of the protocol configuration comprises at least one of a modification of a protocol definition, a deactivation of a protocol instance, a deletion of a protocol instance, an activation of a protocol instance, an instantiation of a protocol instance, or a reordering of protocol execution;

the modification of the logical graph comprises at least one of a modification of a logical node location, a deletion of a logical node, an addition of a logical node, a modification of a traffic capacity of a logical node, a modification of a logical link location, a deletion of a logical link, or an addition of a logical link; and

a data plane of the virtual network comprises the plurality of logical nodes and the plurality of logical links.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein a network service associated with the service-specific configuration comprises a machine-to-machine service.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the first controller comprises a portion of the adaptation coordinator.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the modification of the resource allocation input comprises at least one of

a modification to prevent a flow allocation from exceeding a first capacity limit comprising one of a capacity limit of a first logical link of the plurality of logical links of the data plane, a capacity limit of a router, or a capacity limit of a physical link,

a modification to permit the flow allocation to avoid overloading the first logical link,

a modification to permit the flow allocation to avoid overloading the router,

a modification to permit the flow allocation to avoid overloading the physical link, or

a modification in a quantity of physical paths to be allocated for the first logical link.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the modification of the VNF configuration comprises at least one of a modification of adaptive packet aggregation of the first logical link, a modification of a traffic shaping configuration of the first logical link, or a modification of traffic prioritization of the first logical link.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein:

the performance measurement indicates traffic congestion is present at an input queue of a router associated with the first logical link;

the modification of traffic prioritization comprises an increase in traffic prioritization of the first logical link; and

the modification of the protocol configuration comprises at least one of a reordering of protocol execution for the first logical link, a modification of a definition of a first protocol previously instantiated on the first logical link, an activation of the first protocol, a deactivation of the first protocol, or a deletion of the first protocol.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein

the first capacity limit further comprises a safety margin for accommodating traffic variation, and

the modification of the protocol configuration comprises a reduction of a packet header size of the first logical link.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein:

the performance measurement indicates traffic congestion is present at the first logical link and the traffic congestion is not present at an input queue of a router associated with the first logical link;

the modification of the traffic shaping configuration comprises at least one of an instantiation of a traffic shaping VNF to shape background traffic of the first logical link, or an activation of a traffic shaping VNF to shape background traffic of the first logical link; and

the modification in the quantity of physical paths comprises an increase in the quantity of physical paths to be allocated for the first logical link.

10. A method for network adaptation, comprising:

receiving a performance measurement, comprising at least one of logical link delay, logical link delay jitter, logical link throughput, or router queue status, generated at a performance checkpoint located in a virtual network; and

modifying a service-specific configuration of the virtual network in accordance with the performance measurement during a first configuration update that does not include modifying a logical graph of the virtual network,

the modifying the service-specific configuration comprising at least one of modifying a performance checkpoint configuration, modifying a virtual network function (VNF) configuration, modifying a protocol configuration, or modifying a resource allocation input, and

the service-specific configuration comprising a configuration of a plurality of logical nodes and a plurality of logical links of the virtual network.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein:

the modifying the performance checkpoint configuration comprises at least one of modifying a performance checkpoint location, deleting a performance checkpoint, or adding a performance checkpoint;

the modifying the VNF configuration comprises at least one of modifying a VNF location, deactivating a VNF instance, deleting a VNF instance, activating a VNF instance, or adding a VNF instance;

the modifying the protocol configuration comprises at least one of modifying a protocol definition, deleting a protocol instance, adding a protocol, or modifying a protocol stack;

the logical graph consists of all logical locations of the plurality of logical nodes, all logical locations of the plurality of logical links, and all traffic flow capacities of the plurality of logical nodes; and

a data plane of the virtual network comprises the plurality of logical nodes and the plurality of logical links.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein a network service associated with the service-specific configuration comprises a machine-to-machine service.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein modifying the resource allocation input comprises at least one of

preventing a flow allocation from exceeding a first capacity limit comprising one of a capacity limit of a first logical link of the plurality of logical links of the data plane, a capacity limit of a router, or a capacity limit of a physical link,

permitting the flow allocation to avoid overloading the first logical link,

permitting the flow allocation to avoid overloading the router,

permitting the flow allocation to avoid overloading the physical link, or

modifying a quantity of physical paths to be allocated for the first logical link.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the modifying the VNF configuration comprises at least one of a modifying adaptive packet aggregation of the first logical link, modifying a traffic shaping configuration of the first logical link, or modifying a traffic prioritization of the first logical link.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein:

the performance measurement indicates traffic congestion is present at an input queue of a router associated with the first logical link;

the modifying the traffic prioritization comprises increasing the traffic prioritization of the first logical link; and

the modifying the protocol configuration comprises at least one of reordering protocol execution for the first logical link, modifying a definition of a first protocol previously instantiated on the first logical link, activating the first protocol, deactivating the first protocol, or deleting the first protocol.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein

the first capacity limit further comprises a safety margin for accommodating traffic variation, and

the modifying the protocol configuration comprises reducing a packet header size of the first logical link.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein:

the performance measurement indicates traffic congestion is present at the first logical link and the traffic congestion is not present at an input queue of a router associated with the first logical link;

the modifying the traffic shaping configuration comprises at least one of instantiating a traffic shaping VNF to shape background traffic of the first logical link, or activating a traffic shaping VNF to shape background traffic of the first logical link; and

the modifying the quantity of physical paths comprises increasing the quantity of physical paths to be allocated for the first logical link.

18. An adaptation coordinator, comprising:

a processor;

a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing programming for execution by the processor, the programming comprising instructions to;

receive a performance measurement, comprising at least one of logical link delay, logical link delay jitter, logical link throughput, or router queue status, generated at a performance checkpoint located in a virtual network; and

generate a first update of a service-specific configuration of the virtual network in accordance with the performance measurement,

the first update comprising at least one of a modification of a performance checkpoint configuration, a modification of a virtual network function (VNF) configuration, a modification of a protocol configuration, a modification of a resource allocation input, or a modification of a logical graph, and

the service-specific configuration comprising a configuration of a plurality of logical nodes of the virtual network and a plurality of logical links of the virtual network in accordance with a service-specific data plane logical topology.

19. The adaptation coordinator of claim 18, wherein:

the programming further comprises instructions to provide the first update to a first controller of the virtual network;

the first controller comprises at least one of a software defined topology (SDT) controller, a software defined protocol (SDP) controller, or a software defined resource allocation (SDRA) controller;

the modification of the performance checkpoint configuration comprises at least one of a modification of a performance checkpoint location, a deletion of a performance checkpoint, or an instantiation of a performance checkpoint;

the modification of the VNF configuration comprises at least one of a modification of a VNF location, a deactivation of a VNF instance, a deletion of a VNF instance, an activation of a VNF instance, or an instantiation of a VNF instance;

the modification of the protocol configuration comprises at least one of a modification of a protocol definition, a deactivation of a protocol instance, a deletion of a protocol instance, an activation of a protocol instance, an instantiation of a protocol instance, or a reordering of protocol execution;

the modification of the logical graph comprises at least one of a modification of a logical node location, a deletion of a logical node, an addition of a logical node, a modification of a traffic capacity of a logical node, a modification of a logical link location, a deletion of a logical link, or an addition of a logical link; and

a data plane of the virtual network comprises the plurality of logical nodes and the plurality of logical links.

20. The adaptation coordinator of claim 19, wherein a network service associated with the service-specific configuration comprises a machine-to-machine service.

21. The adaptation coordinator of claim 19, wherein the first controller comprises at least one of the processor or the non-transitory computer readable storage medium.

22. The adaptation coordinator of claim 18, wherein the modification of the resource allocation input comprises at least one of

a modification to prevent a flow allocation from exceeding a first capacity limit comprising one of a capacity limit of a first logical link of the plurality of logical links of the data plane, a capacity limit of a router, or a capacity limit of a physical link,

a modification to permit the flow allocation to avoid overloading the first logical link,

a modification to permit the flow allocation to avoid overloading the router,

a modification to permit the flow allocation to avoid overloading the physical link, or

a modification in a quantity of physical paths to be allocated for the first logical link.

23. The adaptation coordinator of claim 22, wherein the modification of the VNF configuration comprises at least one of a modification of adaptive packet aggregation of the first logical link, a modification of a traffic shaping configuration of the first logical link, or a modification of traffic prioritization of the first logical link.

24. The adaptation coordinator of claim 23, wherein:

the performance measurement indicates traffic congestion is present at an input queue of a router associated with the first logical link;

the modification of traffic prioritization comprises an increase in traffic prioritization of the first logical link; and

the modification of the protocol configuration comprises at least one of a reordering of protocol execution for the first logical link, a modification of a definition of a first protocol previously instantiated on the first logical link, an activation of the first protocol, a deactivation of the first protocol, or a deletion of the first protocol.

25. The adaptation coordinator of claim 23, wherein

the first capacity limit further comprises a safety margin for accommodating traffic variation, and

the modification of the protocol configuration comprises a reduction of a packet header size of the first logical link.

26. The adaptation coordinator of claim 23, wherein:

the performance measurement indicates traffic congestion is present at the first logical link and the traffic congestion is not present at an input queue of a router associated with the first logical link;

the modification of the traffic shaping configuration comprises at least one of an instantiation of a traffic shaping VNF to shape background traffic of the first logical link, or an activation of a traffic shaping VNF to shape background traffic of the first logical link; and

the modification in the quantity of physical paths comprises an increase in the quantity of physical paths to be allocated for the first logical link.