A cloud-native UPF signaling plane load balancing selection method and system

Abstract

The present invention provides a cloud-native UPF signaling plane load balancing selection method and system, comprising: determining a corresponding UPF service instance in a UPF cluster based on a User Plane Function (UPF) signaling plane load balancing selection algorithm when a PFCP session is established; and processing PFCP messages between a Session Management Function (SMF) and the UPF based on the UPF service instance. Within the cloud-native core network, the present invention uses the cloud-native UPF signaling plane load balancing selection algorithm to handle signaling communications between an external SMF and the UPF cluster, enabling the containerized UPF cluster to meet elasticity, reliability, and scalability requirements.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of mobile communication technologies, and in particular to a cloud-native UPF signaling plane load balancing selection method and system. Background Art

[0002] In 5G (5th Generation Mobile Communication Technology), the 5G core network (5GC) is divided into two categories: CPF (Control Plane Function) and UPF (User Plane Function). Figure 1 shown.

[0003] The control plane SMF (Session Management Function) configures the UPF through the PFCP (Packet Forwarding Control Protocol). The UPF establishes a tunnel between the AN (Access Network) and the DN (Data Network) based on the message information carried by the PFCP. Based on the tunnel information and the forwarding rules configured by the PFCP, the UPF forwards, discards, caches, and performs QoS operations on the UE (User Equipment) data. In the cloud-native core network, when the UPF is decomposed into multiple running service instances, the problem of how to route the PFCP messages sent by the control plane to the UPF to select the UPF service instance needs to be solved.

[0004] Therefore, a new method for load balancing the cloud-native UPF signaling plane needs to be proposed to solve the problem of how to route the PFCP message sent by the control plane to the UPF to select the UPF service instance. Summary of the Invention

[0005] The present invention provides a cloud-native UPF signaling plane load balancing selection method and system to solve the defects in the prior art of how to route and select UPF service instances for PFCP messages sent by the control plane to UPF in the cloud-native core network.

[0006] In a first aspect, the present invention provides a cloud native UPF signaling plane load balancing selection method, comprising:

[0007] When the Message Forwarding Control Protocol (PFCP) session is established, the corresponding UPF service instance in the UPF cluster is determined based on the user plane function (UPF) signaling plane load balancing selection algorithm.

[0008] Based on the UPF service instance, the PFCP message between the session management function SMF and UPF is processed.

[0009] According to a cloud-native UPF signaling plane load balancing selection method provided by the present invention, when the PFCP session is established, the corresponding UPF service instance in the UPF cluster is determined based on the user plane function UPF signaling plane load balancing selection algorithm, including:

[0010] Obtaining a signaling message, and if it is determined that the signaling message is of a Request type, further confirming whether the signaling message is a session-level message;

[0011] If it is determined that the signaling message is a session-level message, further confirm whether the signaling message is a PFCPSessionEstablishmentRequest. If so, call the metrics interface to calculate the load of each UPF service instance and determine the service instance with the minimum load. Otherwise, obtain the UP-SEID carried in the signaling message, compare the UP-SEID with the SEID-UPF table, and confirm the UPF service instance.

[0012] If it is determined that the signaling message is not a session level message, a service instance is randomly selected as the UPF service instance.

[0013] According to a cloud-native UPF signaling plane load balancing selection method provided by the present invention, the method calls the metrics interface, calculates the load of each UPF service instance, and determines the service instance with the minimum load, including:

[0014] Obtain the CPU usage, memory usage, service instance capacity, and current session count of each UPF service instance through the metrics interface.

[0015] If it is determined that the CPU occupancy rate is greater than a first threshold, or the memory occupancy rate is greater than a second threshold, or the ratio of the number of current sessions of the service instance to the capacity of the service instance is greater than a third threshold, then the load is determined to be positive infinity;

[0016] If it is determined that the CPU occupancy rate is not greater than the first threshold, the memory occupancy rate is not greater than the second threshold, and the ratio of the current number of sessions of the service instance to the service instance capacity is not greater than the third threshold, then the load is determined to be the weighted sum of the CPU occupancy rate, the memory occupancy rate, and the ratio of the current number of sessions of the service instance to the service instance capacity.

[0017] According to a cloud-native UPF signaling plane load balancing selection method provided by the present invention, obtaining the UP-SEID carried in the signaling message, comparing the UP-SEID with the SEID-UPF table, and confirming the UPF service instance includes:

[0018] If the service instance corresponding to the UP-SEID exists in the SEID-UPF table, determining that the service instance corresponding to the UP-SEID is the UPF service instance;

[0019] If the service instance corresponding to the UP-SEID does not exist in the SEID-UPF table, a service instance is randomly selected as the UPF service instance.

[0020] According to a cloud native UPF signaling plane load balancing selection method provided by the present invention, when the PFCP session is established, the corresponding UPF service instance in the UPF cluster is determined based on the user plane function UPF signaling plane load balancing selection algorithm, and further includes:

[0021] Obtain a signaling message. If it is determined that the signaling message is not of the Request type, further confirm whether the signaling message is a PFCPSessionEstablishmentResponse.

[0022] If it is determined that the signaling message is a PFCPSessionEstablishmentResponse, obtain the session endpoint identifier in the message header and process the SEID field; otherwise, send the signaling message to the outside and end the process;

[0023] Based on the SEID field, confirm whether there is a service instance corresponding to the SEID field in the SEID-UPF table. If so, update the SEID of the corresponding service instance, send the signaling message to the outside and end the process. Otherwise, determine the UPF service instance based on the capacity of the SEID-UPF table.

[0024] According to a cloud-native UPF signaling plane load balancing selection method provided by the present invention, the UPF service instance is determined based on the capacity of the SEID-UPF table, including:

[0025] If it is determined that the SEID-UPF table is full, the SEID-UPF table is replaced based on the least recently used page replacement algorithm LRU, the signaling message is sent to the outside and the process ends;

[0026] Otherwise, the SEID field and service instance record are inserted into the SEID-UPF table, the signaling message is sent to the outside and the process ends.

[0027] In a second aspect, the present invention further provides a cloud native UPF signaling plane load balancing selection system, comprising:

[0028] A selection module is used to determine the corresponding UPF service instance in the UPF cluster based on the user plane function UPF signaling plane load balancing selection algorithm when the PFCP session is established;

[0029] A processing module is used to process the PFCP message between the session management function SMF and UPF based on the UPF service instance.

[0030] In the third aspect, the present invention also provides an electronic device, comprising a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored on the memory and runnable on the processor. When the processor executes the program, the steps of the cloud-native UPF signaling plane load balancing selection method as described in any one of the above are implemented.

[0031] In a fourth aspect, the present invention also provides a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium on which a computer program is stored. When the computer program is executed by a processor, the steps of the cloud-native UPF signaling plane load balancing selection method as described in any one of the above are implemented.

[0032] In a fifth aspect, the present invention also provides a computer program product, comprising a computer program, which, when executed by a processor, implements the steps of any of the above-mentioned cloud-native UPF signaling plane load balancing selection methods.

[0033] The cloud-native UPF signaling plane load balancing selection method and system provided by the present invention processes the signaling communication between the external SMF and the UPF cluster through the cloud-native UPF signaling plane load balancing selection algorithm in the cloud-native core network, so that the containerized UPF cluster can meet the requirements of elasticity, reliability and scalability. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0034] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the present invention or the prior art, a brief introduction is given below to the drawings required for use in the embodiments or the description of the prior art. Obviously, the drawings described below are some embodiments of the present invention. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without paying any creative work.

[0035] Figure 1 This is a diagram of the core network user plane function and control plane function structure provided by existing technologies;

[0036] Figure 2 This is one of the flow charts of the cloud native UPF signaling plane load balancing selection method provided by the present invention;

[0037] Figure 3 This is the architecture diagram of the cloud native UPF signaling plane load balancer provided by the present invention;

[0038] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the PFCP message header format provided by the present invention;

[0039] Figure 5 This is the second flow chart of the cloud native UPF signaling plane load balancing selection method provided by the present invention;

[0040] Figure 6 It is a structural diagram of the cloud native UPF signaling plane load balancing selection system provided by the present invention;

[0041] Figure 7 It is a structural schematic diagram of the electronic device provided by the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0042] To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of the present invention more clear, the technical solutions of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the embodiments described are only some of the embodiments of the present invention, not all of them. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without making creative efforts shall fall within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0043] Figure 2 This is one of the flow charts of the cloud native UPF signaling plane load balancing selection method provided by the present invention, such as Figure 2 Shown, including:

[0044] Step S1: When a Message Forwarding Control Protocol (PFCP) session is established, the corresponding UPF service instance in the UPF cluster is determined based on the user plane function (UPF) signaling plane load balancing selection algorithm.

[0045] Step S2: Based on the UPF service instance, the PFCP message between the session management function SMF and the UPF is processed.

[0046] It should be noted that in the process of cloud-native evolution of the core network, the key is to split network functions into several fine-grained microservices according to functional dimensions, and combine virtualization and microservice governance to achieve cloud-native elasticity, reliability and scalability requirements.

[0047] The present invention proposes a cloud-native UPF signaling plane load balancing algorithm, which is deployed on a UPF signaling plane load balancer device. The device selects a service instance of the UPF cluster when establishing a PFCP session according to the cloud-native UPF signaling plane load balancing selection algorithm and maintains the session consistency through a stickiness strategy. Through this algorithm, the elasticity, reliability, and scalability requirements of the cloud-native UPF cluster can be achieved. The cloud-native UPF signaling plane load balancer architecture is shown in the figure below. Figure 3 shown.

[0048] The N4 interface between the SMF and UPF, which serves as the interface between the control plane and forwarding plane of the 5G core network, uses the Session Endpoint Identifier Handling (SEID) as the unique identifier for the PFCP session context between control plane network elements (i.e., the SMF and UPF). The F-SEID (Fully Qualified SEID) consists of the PFCP entity's IP address and assigned SEID. It is independently assigned by the CPF and UPF entities and sent to each other in PFCP messages. The other PFCP entity uses this identifier to uniquely identify the PFCP session. PFCP endpoints must use the locally assigned SEID value of their peer PFCP endpoint when sending messages. SEID values are exchanged between PFCP endpoints using PFCP messages. A PFCP entity wishes to send SEID values to its peer PFCP entity and expects to receive all subsequent control plane messages related to the PFCP session via the "F-SEID" IE. Messages related to the PFCP session should share the same F-SEID as the PFCP session. The F-SEID should be released after the PFCP session is released.

[0049] The PFCP message header contains an optional SEID, which occupies 8 bytes. For node-related messages, the PFCP message header does not contain the SEID field; for session-related messages, the SEID must be included. In the session establishment request, the SEID is set to all 0s. The general format of the PFCP message header is as follows: Figure 4 shown.

[0050] The present invention processes the signaling communication between the external SMF and the UPF cluster in the cloud-native core network according to the cloud-native UPF signaling plane load balancing selection algorithm, so that the containerized UPF cluster can meet the requirements of elasticity, reliability and scalability.

[0051] Based on the above embodiment, step S1 includes:

[0052] Obtaining a signaling message, and if it is determined that the signaling message is of a Request type, further confirming whether the signaling message is a session-level message;

[0053] If it is determined that the signaling message is a session-level message, further confirm whether the signaling message is a PFCPSessionEstablishmentRequest. If so, call the metrics interface to calculate the load of each UPF service instance and determine the service instance with the minimum load. Otherwise, obtain the UP-SEID carried in the signaling message, compare the UP-SEID with the SEID-UPF table, and confirm the UPF service instance.

[0054] If it is determined that the signaling message is not a session level message, a service instance is randomly selected as the UPF service instance.

[0055] Specifically, if Figure 5 The flowchart shown first monitors the signaling message. After obtaining the signaling message, it checks whether the message is of the Request type. If so, it further determines whether it is a session-level message. Here, for node-related messages or session-related messages, the message header in PFCP needs to distinguish whether it contains SEID.

[0056] If it is further determined to be a session-level message, check whether the message is a PFCPSessionEstablishmentRequest. If so, call the metrics interface to calculate the load of each UPF service instance and determine the service instance with the minimum load. Otherwise, obtain the UP-SEID carried in the signaling message and compare it with the SEID-UPF table to obtain the UPF service instance.

[0057] If it is further determined that it is not a session level message, a service instance is randomly selected as the UPF service instance.

[0058] The present invention determines that the type of the signaling message is the Request type, and then obtains the corresponding UPF service instance according to the corresponding routing selection strategy to meet the elasticity, reliability and scalability requirements of the UPF cluster.

[0059] Based on any of the above embodiments, the calling of the metrics interface to calculate the load of each UPF service instance and determine the service instance with the minimum load includes:

[0060] Obtain the CPU usage, memory usage, service instance capacity, and current session count of each UPF service instance through the metrics interface.

[0061] If it is determined that the CPU occupancy rate is greater than a first threshold, or the memory occupancy rate is greater than a second threshold, or the ratio of the number of current sessions of the service instance to the capacity of the service instance is greater than a third threshold, then the load is determined to be positive infinity;

[0062] If it is determined that the CPU occupancy rate is not greater than the first threshold, the memory occupancy rate is not greater than the second threshold, and the ratio of the current number of sessions of the service instance to the service instance capacity is not greater than the third threshold, then the load is determined to be the weighted sum of the CPU occupancy rate, the memory occupancy rate, and the ratio of the current number of sessions of the service instance to the service instance capacity.

[0063] Specifically, the metrics interface is called to calculate the load of each UPF service instance using the following algorithm:

[0064] Get the CPU usage cpu, memory usage memory, service instance capacity capacity and current session number seNumber of the UPF service instance, and calculate the load of the UPF service instance, as follows:

[0065]

[0066] According to the above calculation principles, the load of each UPF service instance is obtained, and the service instance with the smallest load is selected as the UPF service instance.

[0067] The present invention calculates the CPU occupancy, memory occupancy, service instance capacity and number of current sessions of the service instance respectively, and sets certain thresholds to obtain the load under high load and low load states, so as to select the service instance with the smallest load.

[0068] Based on any of the foregoing embodiments, obtaining the UP-SEID carried in the signaling message, comparing the UP-SEID with the SEID-UPF table, and confirming the UPF service instance includes:

[0069] If the service instance corresponding to the UP-SEID exists in the SEID-UPF table, determining that the service instance corresponding to the UP-SEID is the UPF service instance;

[0070] If the service instance corresponding to the UP-SEID does not exist in the SEID-UPF table, a service instance is randomly selected as the UPF service instance.

[0071] Specifically, if it is further determined that it is not a session-level message, the UP-SEID carried in the signaling message is obtained, and the UP-SEID is used as the query condition to query the SEID-UPF table to see if there is a service instance recorded by the SEID in the table. If a service instance with the SEID record is found in the table, the instance is selected as the UPF service instance. Otherwise, the UPF service instance is randomly selected, the signaling message is sent to the UPF service instance, and the process ends.

[0072] The present invention selects a specific UPF service instance by comparing the SEID records in the SEID-UPF table, and has the characteristics of high execution efficiency and high reliability.

[0073] Based on any of the above embodiments, step S1 further includes:

[0074] Obtain a signaling message. If it is determined that the signaling message is not of the Request type, further confirm whether the signaling message is a PFCPSessionEstablishmentResponse.

[0075] If it is determined that the signaling message is a PFCPSessionEstablishmentResponse, obtain the session endpoint identifier in the message header and process the SEID field; otherwise, send the signaling message to the outside and end the process;

[0076] Based on the SEID field, confirm whether there is a service instance corresponding to the SEID field in the SEID-UPF table. If so, update the SEID of the corresponding service instance, send the signaling message to the outside and end the process. Otherwise, determine the UPF service instance based on the capacity of the SEID-UPF table.

[0077] Specifically, if Figure 5 As shown, for another case of the signaling message, if it is determined to be not a Request type, it is necessary to further confirm whether the signaling message is a PFCPSessionEstablishmentResponse. If so, the SEID field in the message header is obtained, and the SEID in the message header is used as the query condition to query the SEID-UPF table to see if there is a service instance recorded with the SEID in the table. If the service instance recorded with the SEID exists in the table, the SEID of the service instance is updated, the signaling message is sent to the outside and the process ends. If the service instance recorded with the SEID does not exist in the table, the UPF service instance is determined based on the capacity of the SEID-UPF table.

[0078] In addition, if it is confirmed that the signaling message is not PFCPSessionEstablishmentResponse, the signaling message is directly sent to the outside and the process ends.

[0079] The present invention determines that the type of the signaling message is non-Request type, and then obtains the corresponding UPF service instance according to the corresponding routing selection strategy to meet the elasticity, reliability and scalability requirements of the UPF cluster.

[0080] Based on any of the foregoing embodiments, determining the UPF service instance based on the capacity of the SEID-UPF table includes:

[0081] If it is determined that the SEID-UPF table is full, the SEID-UPF table is replaced based on the least recently used page replacement algorithm LRU, the signaling message is sent to the outside and the process ends;

[0082] Otherwise, the SEID field and service instance record are inserted into the SEID-UPF table, the signaling message is sent to the outside and the process ends.

[0083] Specifically, the present invention determines a UPF service instance based on the capacity of the SEID-UPF table, including:

[0084] Check whether the capacity of the SEID-UPF table is full. If the capacity is full, replace the SEID-UPF table according to the Least Recently Used (LRU) page replacement algorithm, then send the signaling message to the outside and end the process;

[0085] If the capacity of the above SEID-UPF table is not full, the record of SEID and service instance is inserted into the table, and then the signaling message is sent to the outside and the process ends.

[0086] The present invention determines the capacity of the SEID-UPF table and further determines whether the SEID information in the table needs to be updated, so as to obtain the service instance with the smallest load among the UPF service instances in a timely manner and ensure the smoothness of the business.

[0087] The following is based on Figure 5 The complete process of the cloud native UPF signaling plane load balancing selection method is described as follows: Figure 5 As shown, the specific steps include:

[0088] (1) The algorithm starts;

[0089] (2) Monitor the signaling message. When a signaling message is received, check whether the message is of the Request type. If the message type is Request, go to step (3); otherwise, go to step (8).

[0090] (3) Check whether it is a session-level message. If it is a session-level message, go to step (4); otherwise, go to step (20);

[0091] (4) Check whether the message is PFCPSessionEstablishmentRequest. If the message is of this type, go to step (5); otherwise, go to step (17);

[0092] (5) Call the metrics interface to obtain the CPU usage cpu, memory usage memory, service instance capacity capacity and the current number of sessions seNumber of the UPF service instance;

[0093] (6) Let the load of the UPF service instance be load:

[0094]

[0095] (7) Calculate the load of each UPF service instance and select the service instance with the smallest load;

[0096] (8) If it is not a Request type message, check whether the message is a PFCPSessionEstablishmentResponse. If it is a PFCPSessionEstablishmentResponse message, go to step (9); otherwise, go to step (15);

[0097] (9) Get the SEID field in the message header;

[0098] (10) Use the SEID as the query condition to query the SEID-UPF table to see if there is a service instance with the SEID in the table. If there is a service instance with the SEID in the table, go to step (11); otherwise, go to step (12);

[0099] (11) Update the SEID of the service instance and go to step (16);

[0100] (12) Check whether the SEID-UPF table is full. If the SEID-UPF table is full, go to step (13); otherwise, go to step (14);

[0101] (13) Replace the SEID-UPF table according to the LRU algorithm and go to step (16);

[0102] (14) Insert the record of SEID and service instance into the table and go to step (16);

[0103] (15) If the message type is not PFCPSessionEstablishmentRespone, go to step (16);

[0104] (16) Send the signaling message to the outside and go to step (22);

[0105] (17) Obtain the UP-SEID carried in the signaling message;

[0106] (18) Using the UP-SEID as a query condition, query the SEID-UPF table to see if there is a service instance with the SEID in the table; if there is a service instance with the SEID in the table, go to step (19); otherwise, go to step (20);

[0107] (19) Select the UPF service instance;

[0108] (20) Randomly select a UPF service instance;

[0109] (21) Send signaling message to UPF service instance;

[0110] (22) End the algorithm process.

[0111] The cloud-native UPF signaling plane load balancing selection system provided by the present invention is described below. The cloud-native UPF signaling plane load balancing selection system described below and the cloud-native UPF signaling plane load balancing selection method described above can be referenced to each other.

[0112] Figure 6 This is a structural diagram of the cloud native UPF signaling plane load balancing selection system provided by the present invention, such as Figure 6 As shown, it includes: a selection module 61 and a processing module 62, wherein:

[0113] The selection module 61 is used to determine the corresponding UPF service instance in the UPF cluster based on the user plane function UPF signaling plane load balancing selection algorithm when the message forwarding control protocol PFCP session is established; the processing module 62 is used to process the PFCP message between the session management function SMF and UPF based on the UPF service instance.

[0114] The present invention processes the signaling communication between the external SMF and the UPF cluster through the cloud-native UPF signaling plane load balancing selection algorithm within the cloud-native core network, so that the containerized UPF cluster can meet the requirements of elasticity, reliability and scalability.

[0115] Figure 7 An example of a physical structure diagram of an electronic device is shown below. Figure 7As shown, the electronic device may include: a processor 710, a communication interface 720, a memory 730, and a communication bus 740, wherein the processor 710, the communication interface 720, and the memory 730 communicate with each other through the communication bus 740. The processor 710 can call the logic instructions in the memory 730 to execute the cloud native UPF signaling plane load balancing selection method, which includes: when a message forwarding control protocol PFCP session is established, determining the corresponding UPF service instance in the UPF cluster based on the user plane function UPF signaling plane load balancing selection algorithm; based on the UPF service instance, processing the PFCP message between the session management function SMF and the UPF.

[0116] In addition, the logic instructions in the above-mentioned memory 730 can be implemented in the form of a software functional unit and can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium when sold or used as an independent product. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present invention, or the part that contributes to the prior art, or the part of the technical solution, can be embodied in the form of a software product. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions for enabling a computer device (which can be a personal computer, server, or network device, etc.) to perform all or part of the steps of the method described in each embodiment of the present invention. The aforementioned storage medium includes: various media that can store program codes, such as a USB flash drive, a mobile hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a magnetic disk or an optical disk.

[0117] On the other hand, the present invention also provides a computer program product, which includes a computer program, which can be stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. When the computer program is executed by a processor, the computer can execute the cloud-native UPF signaling plane load balancing selection method provided by the above methods. The method includes: when a message forwarding control protocol PFCP session is established, determining the corresponding UPF service instance in the UPF cluster based on the user plane function UPF signaling plane load balancing selection algorithm; based on the UPF service instance, processing the PFCP message between the session management function SMF and the UPF.

[0118] On the other hand, the present invention also provides a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon. When the computer program is executed by a processor, it is implemented to execute the cloud-native UPF signaling plane load balancing selection method provided by the above methods. The method includes: when a message forwarding control protocol PFCP session is established, determining the corresponding UPF service instance in the UPF cluster based on the user plane function UPF signaling plane load balancing selection algorithm; based on the UPF service instance, processing the PFCP message between the session management function SMF and the UPF.

[0119] The device embodiments described above are merely illustrative. The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separate, and the components shown as units may or may not be physical units, i.e., they may be located in one location or distributed across multiple network units. Some or all of the modules may be selected based on actual needs to achieve the objectives of the present embodiment. Persons of ordinary skill in the art will be able to understand and implement the present invention without inventive effort.

[0120] Through the description of the above embodiments, those skilled in the art can clearly understand that each embodiment can be implemented by means of software plus a necessary general hardware platform, or of course, by hardware. Based on this understanding, the essence of the above technical solution or the part that contributes to the existing technology can be embodied in the form of a software product. The computer software product can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium, such as ROM / RAM, a magnetic disk, an optical disk, etc., and includes a number of instructions for enabling a computer device (which can be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to execute the methods described in each embodiment or certain parts of the embodiments.

[0121] Finally, it should be noted that the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present invention, rather than to limit it. Although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the aforementioned embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that they can still modify the technical solutions described in the aforementioned embodiments, or make equivalent replacements for some of the technical features therein. However, these modifications or replacements do not deviate the essence of the corresponding technical solutions from the spirit and scope of the technical solutions of the various embodiments of the present invention.

Claims

1. A cloud native UPF signaling plane load balancing selection method, characterized in that: include: Obtaining a signaling message, and if it is determined that the signaling message is of a Request type, further confirming whether the signaling message is a session-level message; If it is determined that the signaling message is a session-level message, further confirm whether the signaling message is a PFCPSessionEstablishmentRequest. If so, call the metrics interface to calculate the load of each UPF service instance and determine the service instance with the minimum load. Otherwise, obtain the UP-SEID carried in the signaling message, compare the UP-SEID with the SEID-UPF table, and confirm the UPF service instance. If it is determined that the signaling message is not a session level message, randomly selecting a service instance as the UPF service instance; If it is determined that the signaling message is not of the Request type, further confirm whether the signaling message is a PFCPSessionEstablishmentResponse; If it is determined that the signaling message is a PFCPSessionEstablishmentResponse, obtain the session endpoint identifier in the message header and process the SEID field; otherwise, send the signaling message to the outside and end the process; Based on the SEID field, confirm whether the service instance corresponding to the SEID field exists in the SEID-UPF table. If so, update the SEID of the corresponding service instance, send the signaling message to the outside and end the process. Otherwise, determine the UPF service instance based on the capacity of the SEID-UPF table; Based on the UPF service instance, the PFCP message between the session management function SMF and UPF is processed.

2. The cloud native UPF signaling plane load balancing selection method according to claim 1 is characterized in that: The calling of the metrics interface to calculate the load of each UPF service instance and determine the service instance with the minimum load includes: Obtain the CPU usage, memory usage, service instance capacity, and current session count of each UPF service instance through the metrics interface. If it is determined that the CPU occupancy rate is greater than a first threshold, or the memory occupancy rate is greater than a second threshold, or the ratio of the number of current sessions of the service instance to the capacity of the service instance is greater than a third threshold, then the load is determined to be positive infinity; If it is determined that the CPU occupancy rate is not greater than the first threshold, the memory occupancy rate is not greater than the second threshold, and the ratio of the current number of sessions of the service instance to the service instance capacity is not greater than the third threshold, then the load is determined to be the weighted sum of the CPU occupancy rate, the memory occupancy rate, and the ratio of the current number of sessions of the service instance to the service instance capacity.

3. The cloud native UPF signaling plane load balancing selection method according to claim 1 is characterized in that: The obtaining of the UP-SEID carried in the signaling message, comparing the UP-SEID with the SEID-UPF table, and confirming the UPF service instance includes: If the service instance corresponding to the UP-SEID exists in the SEID-UPF table, determining that the service instance corresponding to the UP-SEID is the UPF service instance; If the service instance corresponding to the UP-SEID does not exist in the SEID-UPF table, a service instance is randomly selected as the UPF service instance.

4. The cloud native UPF signaling plane load balancing selection method according to claim 1 is characterized in that: The determining the UPF service instance based on the capacity of the SEID-UPF table includes: If it is determined that the SEID-UPF table is full, the SEID-UPF table is replaced based on the least recently used page replacement algorithm LRU, the signaling message is sent to the outside and the process ends; Otherwise, the SEID field and service instance record are inserted into the SEID-UPF table, the signaling message is sent to the outside and the process ends.

5. A cloud native UPF signaling plane load balancing selection system for executing the cloud native UPF signaling plane load balancing selection method according to claim 1, characterized in that: include: A selection module is used to determine the corresponding UPF service instance in the UPF cluster based on the user plane function UPF signaling plane load balancing selection algorithm when the PFCP session is established; A processing module is used to process the PFCP message between the session management function SMF and UPF based on the UPF service instance.

6. An electronic device comprising a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored in the memory and executable on the processor, wherein: When the processor executes the program, it implements the steps of the cloud-native UPF signaling plane load balancing selection method as described in any one of claims 1 to 4.

7. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, characterized in that: When the computer program is executed by a processor, the steps of the cloud-native UPF signaling plane load balancing selection method as described in any one of claims 1 to 4 are implemented.

8. A computer program product comprising a computer program, characterized in that When the computer program is executed by a processor, the steps of the cloud-native UPF signaling plane load balancing selection method as described in any one of claims 1 to 4 are implemented.

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