Method and device for determining resource utilization rate of network function network element

Abstract

The present disclosure proposes a method and device for determining resource utilization of a network function element, which relates to the field of wireless communications. The network function NF element is implemented based on a virtualized network function VNF, and the load of the jth instance of the i-th NF element is obtained. i，j ; Get the capacity of the jth instance of the i-th NF network element i，j ; Get the kth resource R occupied by the jth instance of the i-th NF network element i，j，k ; According to load i，j 、capacity i，j and R i，j，k Calculate the utilization rate NFRE of the kth resource of the jth instance of the i-th NF network element i，j，k Since resource utilization is positively correlated with energy efficiency, the resource utilization of a certain instance of a network function network element is calculated based on the load, capacity and occupied resources of the instance of the network function network element to evaluate the energy efficiency of the instance of the network function network element.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to the field of wireless communications, and in particular to a method and device for determining resource usage of a network function element. Background Art

[0002] The energy efficiency (abbreviated as "energy efficiency") originally defined in the fifth-generation wireless communication network is calculated by taking the ratio of data throughput to energy consumption as the energy efficiency.

[0003] With the widespread use of Network Function Virtualization (NFV) in the fifth-generation wireless communication networks, some Network Functions (NF) network elements implement their network functions based on virtual network functions (VNF), so these network elements are also called "virtualized network elements".

[0004] Different virtualized network elements may share the same physical resources, including computing, storage, internal input / output bandwidth, external input / output bandwidth, etc. Therefore, it is impossible to directly distinguish the energy consumption of each virtualized network element; at the same time, for virtualized network elements on the control plane, many of their tasks are various signaling processing, so data throughput is not suitable for measuring their actual workload. For these reasons, the energy efficiency calculation method proposed based on physical entity network elements is not suitable for virtualized network elements. Summary of the invention

[0005] When instantiating and allocating resources to virtualized network elements, the energy efficiency of the virtualized network elements is an important reference. The present disclosure proposes a method suitable for measuring the energy efficiency of virtualized network elements.

[0006] In the embodiment of the present disclosure, since resource utilization rate is positively correlated with energy efficiency, the resource utilization rate of a certain instance of a certain network function network element is calculated based on the load, capacity and occupied resources of the instance of the network function network element to evaluate the energy efficiency of the instance of the network function network element.

[0007] Some embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method for determining a resource usage rate of a network function element, wherein the network function NF element is implemented based on a virtualized network function VNF, and the method includes:

[0008] Get the load of the jth instance of the i-th NF network element i,j ;

[0009] Get the capacity of the jth instance of the i-th NF network element i,j ;

[0010] Get the kth resource R occupied by the jth instance of the i-th NF network element i,j,k ;

[0011] According to load i,j 、capacity i,j and R i,j,k Calculate the utilization rate NFRE of the kth resource of the jth instance of the i-th NF network element i,j,k .

[0012] In some embodiments, the load of the jth instance of the i-th NF network element is obtained. i,j Including: Obtaining load by reading the load attributes in the NF configuration file saved by the network warehouse function NRF network element i,j , where the value of the load attribute is load i,j Updated in real time by the jth instance of the i-th NF network element.

[0013] In some embodiments, the load of the jth instance of the i-th NF network element is obtained. i,j Including: Obtaining load by accessing the NF performance analysis service of the network data analysis function NWDAF network element i,j , load i,j It is determined by the NF performance analysis service based on statistics or predictions.

[0014] In some embodiments, the capacity of the jth instance of the i-th NF network element is obtained. i,j Including: Get capacity by reading the capacity attribute in the NF configuration file saved by the network warehouse function NRF network element i,j , where the value of the capacity attribute is pre-configured.

[0015] In some embodiments, according to load i,j 、capacity i,j and R i,j,k Calculating NFRE i,j,k include:

[0016] or,

[0017]

[0018] Among them, W i The unit conversion factor representing the capacity attribute of the i-th NF network element, W i is configurable.

[0019] In some embodiments, when calculating for different instances of the same NF network element, W iis configured as 1 and dimensionless; when calculating different instances of different types of NF network elements, W is set according to the functions of each NF network element. i The value and dimension of .

[0020] In some embodiments, W is set according to the functions of each NF network element. i The values ​​and dimensions of include:

[0021] For the control plane NF network element, W i Configured as: Number of service users / capacity;

[0022] For the user plane NF network element, W i Configured as: Throughput / Capacity.

[0023] In some embodiments, the method further includes: using a usage rate NFRE of a kth resource of a jth instance of an i-th NF network element i,j,k , evaluate the energy efficiency of the jth instance of the i-th NF network element.

[0024] In some embodiments, it also includes:

[0025] Compare the energy efficiency of different instances of the same NF network element based on their resource utilization; or

[0026] The energy efficiency of different instances of different types of NF network elements is compared based on the resource utilization of different instances of different types of NF network elements.

[0027] In some embodiments, it also includes: performing task allocation according to resource utilization or energy efficiency of different instances in the system to optimize the resource utilization or energy efficiency of the entire system.

[0028] In some embodiments, it also includes: And W i When configured as the effective output / capacity of the preset type, according to the NFRE of various NF network elements in the system i,j,k , evaluating the energy efficiency of the system in terms of said effective output.

[0029] Some embodiments of the present disclosure propose a device for determining resource utilization of a network function network element, comprising: a memory; and a processor coupled to the memory, wherein the processor is configured to execute a method for determining resource utilization of the network function network element based on instructions stored in the memory.

[0030] Some embodiments of the present disclosure provide a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, which, when executed by a processor, implements the steps of a method for determining resource usage of a network function network element. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0031] The following is a brief introduction to the drawings required for use in the embodiments or related technical descriptions. The present disclosure can be more clearly understood according to the following detailed description with reference to the drawings.

[0032] Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present disclosure, and a person skilled in the art can obtain other drawings based on these drawings without creative work.

[0033] Figure 1 A flow chart showing a method for determining resource usage of a network function element according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is shown.

[0034] Figure 2 A structural schematic diagram of an apparatus for determining resource utilization of a network function network element according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0035] The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present disclosure will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0036] Unless otherwise specified, the NF network element in the embodiments of the present disclosure refers to a network element implemented based on VNF, also known as a "virtualized network element." An NF network element may be composed of one or more VNFs.

[0037] Figure 1 A flow chart showing a method for determining resource usage of a network function element according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is shown.

[0038] like Figure 1 As shown, the method for determining the resource utilization rate of the NF network element in this embodiment includes:

[0039] In step 110, the load of the jth instance of the i-th NF network element is obtained. i,j .

[0040] In some embodiments, the load attribute is obtained by reading the load attribute in the NF configuration file stored in the NRF (network repository function) network element. i,j , where the value of the load attribute is load i,j It is updated in real time by the jth instance of the i-th NF network element. Therefore, the real-time resource utilization rate of the NF network element can be calculated based on it.

[0041] In some other embodiments, the load is obtained by accessing the NF performance analysis service of the NWDAF (Network Data Analytics Function) network element.i,j , load i,j It is determined by the NF performance analysis service based on statistics or prediction. Therefore, the resource utilization rate of the NF network element based on statistics or prediction can be calculated accordingly.

[0042] load i,j Dimensionless, the value range is, for example, 0-100.

[0043] NF network elements include, for example, UPF (User Plane Function), AMF (access and mobility management function), NWDAF and other network elements, but are not limited to the examples given.

[0044] In step 120, the capacity of the jth instance of the i-th NF network element is obtained. i,j .

[0045] In some embodiments, the capacity is obtained by reading the capacity attribute in the NF configuration file stored in the NRF network element. i,j , where the value of the capacity attribute is pre-configured.

[0046] capacity i,j Dimensionless, the value range is, for example, 0-65535.

[0047] In step 130, obtain the kth resource R occupied by the jth instance of the i-th NF network element i,j,k .

[0048] The occupied resources may be obtained, for example, through performance monitoring, which may be a monitoring function provided by an external monitoring tool or an NFV infrastructure.

[0049] Resources include, for example, CPU (central processing unit), memory, storage, network, etc., but are not limited to the examples given.

[0050] The CPU resource Rcpu is calculated by, for example, multiplying the average CPU utilization by the CPU clock speed (in megahertz) and the number of cores. The unit of the CPU resource is, for example, MHz.

[0051] The memory resource Rmemery is the total memory used by the VNF, which can be derived from the memory metric, for example. The unit of the memory resource is MB, for example.

[0052] The storage resource Rstorage is the amount of disk space occupied by the VNF on the host. The unit of storage resource is, for example, MB.

[0053] The network resource Rnetwork is the average network throughput of bytes sent and received per second by the VNF external connection point. The unit of network resources is, for example, BPS (bits per second).

[0054] For a certain NF network element NFi, one or several resources can be selected for calculation, for example, the CPU resources and memory resources of the virtual machine (VM) occupied by the jth instance of the i-th NF network element are calculated.

[0055] For the control plane NF network element, for example, at least CPU resources are selected; for the user plane NF network element, for example, at least throughput resources (such as network resources) are selected.

[0056] In step 140, according to load i,j 、capacity i,j and R i,j,k Calculate the utilization rate NFRE of the kth resource of the jth instance of the i-th NF network element i,j,k .

[0057] In some embodiments,

[0058] In other embodiments, Among them, W i The unit conversion factor representing the capacity attribute of the i-th NF network element, W i It is configurable, for example, by an operator.

[0059] When calculating different instances of the same NF network element, W i is configured as 1 and is dimensionless.

[0060] When calculating different instances of different NF network elements, W is set according to the functions of each NF network element. i For example, for the control plane NF network element, W i Configured as: number of service users / capacity; for user-side NF network elements, W i It is configured as: throughput / capacity, for example, PPS (packet per second) / capacity. Thus, through the unit conversion factor, the value of the capacity attribute can be mapped to a value with a specific dimension.

[0061] Since resource utilization is positively correlated with energy efficiency, the resource utilization of a certain instance of a network function network element is calculated according to the load, capacity and occupied resources of the instance of the network function network element, so as to indirectly evaluate the energy efficiency of the instance of the network function network element. Moreover, the method is applicable to control plane NF network elements and data plane NF network elements, and has good versatility. In addition, the real-time, statistical or predicted resource utilization of NF network elements can be calculated to meet various business requirements.

[0062] Here are some NFRE i,j,k application.

[0063] In some embodiments, since resource utilization is positively correlated with energy efficiency, the utilization rate NFRE of the kth resource of the jth instance of the i-th NF network element is used. i,j,k , evaluate the energy efficiency of the jth instance of the i-th NF network element. Thus, the energy efficiency of the NF network element is indirectly measured.

[0064] In some embodiments, the energy efficiencies of different instances of the same NF network element are compared based on the resource utilization rates of different instances of the same NF network element. Since the resource utilization rate is positively correlated with the energy efficiency, if the resource utilization rate of instance 1 of the NF network element is greater than the resource utilization rate of instance 2 of the NF network element, then the energy efficiency of instance 1 of the NF network element is greater than the energy efficiency of instance 2 of the NF network element; if the resource utilization rate of instance 1 of the NF network element is less than the resource utilization rate of instance 2 of the NF network element, then the energy efficiency of instance 1 of the NF network element is less than the energy efficiency of instance 2 of the NF network element.

[0065] As mentioned above, when calculating different instances of different types of NF network elements, W is set according to the functions of each NF network element. i The value and dimension of , and then calculate Therefore, according to the resource utilization rates of different instances of different types of NF network elements, the energy efficiency of different instances of different types of NF network elements is compared. Since the resource utilization rate is positively correlated with the energy efficiency, if the resource utilization rate of instance 1 of NF network element 1 is greater than the resource utilization rate of instance 2 of NF network element 2, then the energy efficiency of instance 1 of NF network element 1 is greater than the energy efficiency of instance 2 of NF network element 2; if the resource utilization rate of instance 1 of NF network element 1 is less than the resource utilization rate of instance 2 of NF network element 2, then the energy efficiency of instance 1 of NF network element 1 is less than the energy efficiency of instance 2 of NF network element 2.

[0066] In some embodiments, task allocation is performed based on resource utilization or energy efficiency of different instances in the system to optimize resource utilization or energy efficiency of the entire system.

[0067] For example, for a certain control plane network element, when providing the same service output, the CPU resource utilization rate of instance NF1 is lower than that of instance NF2. Therefore, the energy efficiency of instance NF1 is lower than that of instance NF2. When deploying tasks, more instances of NF2 can be deployed and fewer instances of NF1 can be deployed, thereby improving the overall energy efficiency.

[0068] In some embodiments, when And W i When configured as the effective output / capacity of the preset type, according to the NFRE of various NF network elements in the system i,j,k , evaluate the energy efficiency of the system in terms of effective output. Effective output includes, for example, the number of users, the number of sessions, throughput, etc., thereby providing a reference for the adjustment of service management.

[0069] Figure 2 A structural diagram of an apparatus for determining resource utilization of a network function network element according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0070] like Figure 2 As shown, the device 200 of this embodiment includes: a memory 210 and a processor 220 coupled to the memory 210, and the processor 220 is configured to execute the method for determining the resource utilization rate of the network function network element in any of the aforementioned embodiments based on the instructions stored in the memory 210.

[0071] For example, get the load of the jth instance of the i-th NF network element i,j ; Get the capacity of the jth instance of the i-th NF network element i,j ; Get the kth resource R occupied by the jth instance of the i-th NF network element i,j,k ; According to load i,j 、capacity i,j and R i,j,k Calculate the utilization rate NFRE of the kth resource of the jth instance of the i-th NF network element i,j,k .

[0072] The memory 210 may include, for example, a system memory, a fixed non-volatile storage medium, etc. The system memory may store, for example, an operating system, an application program, a boot loader, and other programs.

[0073] The device 200 may also include an input / output interface 230, a network interface 240, a storage interface 250, etc. These interfaces 230, 240, 250, the memory 210, and the processor 220 may be connected, for example, via a bus 260. The input / output interface 230 provides a connection interface for input / output devices such as a display, a mouse, a keyboard, and a touch screen. The network interface 240 provides a connection interface for various networked devices. The storage interface 250 provides a connection interface for external storage devices such as an SD card and a USB flash drive.

[0074] Some embodiments of the present disclosure provide a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, which, when executed by a processor, implements the steps of the method for determining resource usage of a network function network element of any embodiment.

[0075] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the embodiments of the present disclosure may be provided as methods, systems, or computer program products. Therefore, the present disclosure may take the form of a complete hardware embodiment, a complete software embodiment, or an embodiment combining software and hardware. Moreover, the present disclosure may take the form of a computer program product implemented on one or more non-transient computer-readable storage media (including but not limited to disk storage, CD-ROM, optical storage, etc.) containing computer program code.

[0076] The present disclosure is described with reference to the flowcharts and / or block diagrams of the methods, devices (systems), and computer program products according to the embodiments of the present disclosure. It should be understood that each process and / or box in the flowchart and / or block diagram, as well as the combination of the processes and / or boxes in the flowchart and / or block diagram, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions can be provided to a processor of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, an embedded processor, or other programmable data processing device to generate a machine, so that the instructions executed by the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing device generate instructions for implementing the processes in the flowchart and / or block diagram. Figure 1 A process or multiple processes and / or boxes Figure 1 A device that provides the functions specified in a block or multiple blocks.

[0077] These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory capable of directing a computer or other programmable data processing device to operate in a specific manner, so that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture comprising an instruction device, which implements the process Figure 1 A process or multiple processes and / or boxes Figure 1 A function specified in one or more boxes.

[0078] These computer program instructions can also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing device so that a series of operating steps are executed on the computer or other programmable device to produce a computer-implemented process, thereby providing instructions for implementing the process in the computer or other programmable device. Figure 1 A process or multiple processes and / or boxes Figure 1 The steps for the functions specified in one or more boxes.

[0079] The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure and is not intended to limit the present disclosure. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements, etc. made within the spirit and principles of the present disclosure should be included in the protection scope of the present disclosure.

Claims

1. A method for determining resource utilization of a network function element, wherein the network function NF element is implemented based on a virtualized network function VNF, characterized in that: The method comprises: Get the load of the jth instance of the i-th NF network element i，j ; Get the capacity of the jth instance of the i-th NF network element i,j ; Get the kth resource R occupied by the jth instance of the i-th NF network element i，j,k ; According to load i，j 、capacity i，j and R i，j,k Calculate the utilization rate NFRE of the kth resource of the jth instance of the i-th NF network element i，j,k ,include: Among them, W i The unit conversion factor representing the capacity attribute of the i-th NF network element, W i is configurable; when calculating for different instances of the same NF network element, W i is configured as 1 and dimensionless; when calculating different instances of different types of NF network elements, W is set according to the functions of each NF network element. i The value and dimension of .

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that: Get the load of the jth instance of the i-th NF network element i，j include: Obtain the load by reading the load attributes in the NF configuration file saved by the network warehouse function NRF network element i，j , where the value of the load attribute is load i，j Updated in real time by the jth instance of the i-th NF network element.

3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that: Get the load of the jth instance of the i-th NF network element i，j include: Obtain load by accessing the NF performance analysis service of the network data analysis function NWDAF network element i，j , load i，j It is determined by the NF performance analysis service based on statistics or predictions.

4. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that: Get the capacity of the jth instance of the i-th NF network element i，j include: Get capacity by reading the capacity attribute in the NF configuration file saved by the network warehouse function NRF network element i，j , where the value of the capacity attribute is pre-configured.

5. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that Set W according to the functions of each NF network element. i The values ​​and dimensions of include: For the control plane NF network element, W i Configured as: Number of service users / capacity; For the user plane NF network element, W i Configured as: Throughput / Capacity.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that: Also includes: The utilization rate of the kth resource of the jth instance of the i-th NF network element NFRE i，j，k , evaluate the energy efficiency of the jth instance of the i-th NF network element.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that: Also includes: Compare the energy efficiency of different instances of the same NF network element based on their resource utilization; or, The energy efficiency of different instances of different types of NF network elements is compared based on the resource utilization of different instances of different types of NF network elements.

8. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that Also includes: Tasks are allocated based on the resource utilization or energy efficiency of different instances in the system to optimize the overall resource utilization or energy efficiency of the system.

9. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that: Also includes: when And W i When configured as the effective output / capacity of the preset type, according to the NFRE of various NF network elements in the system i，j，k , evaluating the energy efficiency of the system in terms of said effective output.

10. A device for determining resource utilization of a network function network element, comprising: Memory; as well as A processor coupled to the memory, the processor being configured to execute the method for determining resource usage of a network function network element according to any one of claims 1 to 9 based on instructions stored in the memory.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, which, when executed by a processor, implements the steps of the method for determining resource usage of a network function network element according to any one of claims 1 to 9.

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