Forwarding Path Generation Method, SDN Controller, Slice Network System and Storage Medium

Abstract

The present invention provides a forwarding path generation method, a slice network system and a storage medium, relating to the field of slice networks. The method is applied to an SDN controller and includes: when detecting a target path with a fault in a target service slice network, determining whether a replacement forwarding path corresponding to the target path can be generated in the target service slice network; when determining that a replacement forwarding path cannot be generated in the target service slice network, generating a replacement forwarding path in an escape slice network; and sending the replacement forwarding path generated in the escape slice network to a target forwarding device corresponding to the target path, so that the target forwarding device updates the target path by using the received replacement forwarding path and uses the updated target path for business data transmission. An escape slice network dedicated to carrying the service traffic corresponding to the path with a fault and unable to be restored in the service slice network can be added, so as to avoid the interruption of the service traffic of the fault path or the occupation of the bandwidth of other service slice networks.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of slice networks, and particularly to a method for generating a forwarding path, an SDN controller, a slice network system, and a computer-readable storage medium. Background Art

[0002] To improve the utilization efficiency of network resources, slice networks have emerged as the times require. Common slice networks usually deploy multiple mutually isolated service slice networks in the same set of forwarding devices by using an SDN controller (Software Defined Network), where the SDN controller is used to manage the information of each service slice network, and the forwarding device is used to carry the actual service traffic of each service slice network.

[0003] In related technologies, since different network slices are strictly isolated, when some links in a certain slice network fail, and the SDN controller cannot generate a replacement forwarding path for the failed path in the failed slice network, the service traffic corresponding to the failed path will be interrupted. If we forcibly use the paths in other service network slices to transmit the traffic of the above-mentioned failed path, it will break the isolation situation between network slices and occupy the bandwidth resources in other service network slices.

[0004] Therefore, how to generate a replacement forwarding path for a failed path in a service slice network is a technical problem that those skilled in the art urgently need to solve. Summary of the Invention

[0005] The object of the present invention is to provide a method for generating a forwarding path, an SDN controller, a slice network system, and a computer-readable storage medium, which can additionally add an escape slice network dedicated to carrying the service traffic corresponding to the paths that fail and cannot be recovered in the service slice network, so as to avoid the interruption of the service traffic of the failed path or the occupation of the bandwidth of other service slice networks.

[0006] To solve the above technical problem, the present invention provides a method for generating a forwarding path, which is applied to an SDN controller, and the method includes:

[0007] When a target path that fails in a target service slice network is detected, determine whether a replacement forwarding path corresponding to the target path can be generated in the target service slice network;

[0008] When it is determined that the replacement forwarding path cannot be generated in the target service slice network, generate the replacement forwarding path in the escape slice network;

[0009] Send the replacement forwarding path generated in the escape slice network to the target forwarding device corresponding to the target path, so that the target forwarding device uses the received replacement forwarding path to update the target path and uses the updated target path to transmit service data.

[0010] Preferably, after determining whether a replacement forwarding path corresponding to the target path can be generated in the target service slice network, it further includes:

[0011] When it is determined that a replacement forwarding path can be generated in the target service slice network, send the replacement forwarding path generated in the target service slice network to the target forwarding device.

[0012] Preferably, before detecting a target path with a fault in the target service slice network, it further includes:

[0013] Receive the fault link information corresponding to the fault link sent by the forwarding device when detecting the fault link;

[0014] Determine the target service slice network corresponding to the fault link information, and mark the target path passing through the fault link in the target service slice network as faulty;

[0015] Correspondingly, the determining whether a replacement forwarding path corresponding to the target path can be generated in the target service slice network includes:

[0016] Update the topology information of the target service slice network using the fault link information, and determine whether the replacement forwarding path can be generated according to the updated topology information.

[0017] Preferably, the receiving the fault link information corresponding to the fault link sent by the forwarding device when detecting the fault link includes:

[0018] Receive the fault link information sent by the forwarding device through the BGP-LS protocol.

[0019] Preferably, before detecting a target path with a fault in the target service slice network, it further includes:

[0020] Mark the links in all service slice networks as first links, set a first-generation value for each of the first links, and mark the links in the escape slice network as second links, and set a second-generation value for each of the second links; each of the second-generation values is less than each of the first-generation values;

[0021] Deploy the information of the first link and the corresponding first-generation value, the information of the second link and the corresponding second-generation value to each forwarding device, so that when each forwarding device detects that the path with it as the ingress node fails and determines that the SDN controller cannot issue the first replacement forwarding path corresponding to the path, determine the second replacement forwarding path corresponding to the path in the first link and the second link according to the principle of minimum cost and based on the first-generation value and the second-generation value, and use the second replacement forwarding path for business data transmission.

[0022] Preferably, the forwarding device detects that the path with it as the ingress node fails, including:

[0023] The forwarding device detects whether the path fails through the IGP protocol.

[0024] Preferably, determining that the SDN controller cannot issue the first replacement forwarding path corresponding to the path includes:

[0025] The forwarding device determines that the SDN controller cannot issue the first replacement forwarding path corresponding to the path when it determines that the SDN controller is not in an active state according to the PCEP protocol.

[0026] The present invention also provides a forwarding path generation device, which is applied to an SDN controller. The device includes:

[0027] An evaluation module, configured to determine whether a replacement forwarding path corresponding to the target path can be generated in the target service slice network when detecting a failed target path in the target service slice network;

[0028] A first path generation module, configured to generate the replacement forwarding path in the escape slice network when determining that the replacement forwarding path cannot be generated in the target service slice network;

[0029] A path distribution module, configured to distribute the replacement forwarding path generated in the escape slice network to the target forwarding device corresponding to the target path, so that the target forwarding device updates the target path using the received replacement forwarding path and uses the updated target path for business data transmission.

[0030] The present invention also provides an SDN controller, including:

[0031] A memory, configured to store a computer program;

[0032] A processor, configured to implement the forwarding path generation method as described above when executing the computer program.

[0033] The present invention also provides a sliced network system, including: an SDN controller and a forwarding device, wherein,

[0034] The SDN controller is configured to, when detecting a target path with a fault in the target service sliced network, determine whether a replacement forwarding path corresponding to the target path can be generated in the target service sliced network; when determining that the replacement forwarding path cannot be generated in the target service sliced network, generate the replacement forwarding path in the escape sliced network; and send the replacement forwarding path generated in the escape sliced network to the target forwarding device corresponding to the target path;

[0035] The forwarding device is configured to update the target path by using the received replacement forwarding path, and perform service data transmission by using the updated target path.

[0036] The present invention also provides a computer-readable storage medium, in which computer-executable instructions are stored. When the computer-executable instructions are loaded and executed by a processor, the forwarding path generation method as described above is implemented.

[0037] The present invention provides a forwarding path generation method, which is applied to an SDN controller. The method includes: when detecting a target path with a fault in the target service sliced network, determining whether a replacement forwarding path corresponding to the target path can be generated in the target service sliced network; when determining that the replacement forwarding path cannot be generated in the target service sliced network, generating the replacement forwarding path in the escape sliced network; and sending the replacement forwarding path generated in the escape sliced network to the target forwarding device corresponding to the target path, so that the target forwarding device updates the target path by using the received replacement forwarding path, and performs service data transmission by using the updated target path.

[0038] It can be seen that in the present invention, when the SDN controller determines a target path with a fault in the target service slice network, it can first determine whether a replacement forwarding path corresponding to the target path can be generated in the target service slice network. If it is determined that the above replacement forwarding path cannot be generated in the target service slice network, the SDN controller can further generate the above replacement forwarding path in the escape slice network, where the escape slice network is dedicated to carrying the service traffic corresponding to the path with a fault and cannot be restored in the service slice network; after the generation of the above replacement forwarding path is completed in the escape slice network, the SDN controller can send the replacement forwarding path to the target forwarding device corresponding to the target path, so that the target forwarding device can update the target path using the received replacement forwarding path and perform service data transmission using the updated target path. That is, in short, the present invention can additionally add an escape slice network dedicated to carrying the service traffic corresponding to the path with a fault and cannot be restored in the service slice network, so as to avoid the interruption of the service traffic of the fault path or the occupation of the bandwidth of other service slice networks, and thus can effectively ensure the normal operation of the service. The present invention also provides an SDN controller, a slice network system and a computer-readable storage medium, which have the above beneficial effects. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0039] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention or the prior art, the following will briefly introduce the drawings required for the description of the embodiments or the prior art. Obviously, the drawings in the following description are only the embodiments of the present invention. For those of ordinary skill in the art, other drawings can be obtained according to the provided drawings without creative efforts.

[0040] Figure 1 FIG. is a schematic structural diagram of a slice network system provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0041] Figure 2 FIG. is a flowchart of a first forwarding path generation method provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0042] Figure 3 FIG. is a flowchart of a second forwarding path generation method provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0043] Figure 4 FIG. is a flowchart of a third forwarding path generation method provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0044] Figure 5 FIG. is a schematic diagram of an SDN controller and a forwarding device provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0045] Figure 6 FIG. is a flowchart of another forwarding path generation method provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0046] Figure 7 The block diagram of an SDN controller provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0047] Figure 8 The block diagram of a slice network system provided by an embodiment of the present invention. Detailed implementation manners

[0048] To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of the embodiments of the present invention clearer, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiments are some, but not all, of the embodiments of the present invention. All other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art based on the embodiments of the present invention without creative efforts shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

[0049] In related technologies, since different network slices are strictly isolated, when some links in a certain slice network fail and the SDN controller cannot generate a replacement forwarding path for the failed path in the failed slice network, the service traffic corresponding to the failed path will be interrupted. If the traffic of the above-mentioned failed path is forcibly transmitted using the paths in other service network slices, the isolation situation between network slices will be broken, and the bandwidth resources in other service network slices will be occupied. In view of this, the present invention can provide a forwarding path generation method, which can additionally add an escape slice network dedicated to carrying the service traffic corresponding to the paths that fail and cannot be restored in the service slice network, so as to avoid the interruption of the service traffic of the failed path or the occupation of the bandwidth of other service slice networks.

[0050] For ease of understanding, please refer to Figure 1 , Figure 1 which is the schematic structural diagram of a slice network system provided by an embodiment of the present invention, where PE1 to PE6 represent 6 forwarding devices. The SDN controller can deploy a slice network on these 6 forwarding devices, such as Figure 1Three slice networks are deployed in the [network], namely slice 1, slice 2 and the escape slice. Among them, slice 1 and slice 2 are both business network slices, while the escape slice network is a slice network specially added in the embodiment of the present invention and is dedicated to carrying the service traffic corresponding to the path that fails and cannot be restored in the business slice network. Virtual forwarding nodes are set in each slice network. For example, nodes A2, A3, A4, A5, A6 are deployed in slice 1, nodes B1, B3, B4, B5, B6 are deployed in slice 2, and nodes C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, C6 are deployed in the escape slice. The SDN controller can deploy these virtual forwarding nodes on the corresponding forwarding devices and set links between the nodes. For example, node A2 and node C2 are deployed on PE1, and nodes A3, B3, C3 are deployed on PE3; a link is set between node A2 and node A3, and a link is set between node A3 and A6, and so on. During the deployment process, the forwarding device needs to upload the network topology to the SDN controller; and the SDN controller needs to generate slice networks such as business slice and escape network slice according to the received network topology, and send the slice information to each forwarding device. At the same time, it also needs to send the routing information of the forwarding path required to transmit service data to the corresponding forwarding device, so that the forwarding device can use the forwarding path to transmit service traffic; in addition, the forwarding device also needs to monitor the working status of each link and upload the change of the link working status to the SDN controller in time, so that the SDN controller can adjust the routing information of each forwarding path in the slice network in time and send the updated routing information to the corresponding forwarding device. It should be noted that a path is composed of one or more links. For example, a link can be formed from A2 through A3 to A6, and for another example, a link can be formed from B1 through B3 to B6, and so on. It should be noted that the embodiment of the present invention does not limit the specific number of forwarding devices, Figure 1 only for illustration, and its specific number can be set according to actual application requirements.

[0051] Based on the above introduction of the slice network system, the forwarding path generation method provided by the embodiment of the present invention will be introduced in detail below. Please refer to Figure 2 , Figure 2 which is the flowchart of the first forwarding path generation method provided by the embodiment of the present invention. This method is applied to the SDN controller and may include:

[0052] S100. When detecting a target path with a fault in the target business slice network, determine whether a replacement forwarding path corresponding to the target path can be generated in the target business slice network.

[0053] In the embodiment of the present invention, when any link in the target path has a fault, it can be determined that the path has a fault. For example, for Figure 1For the path composed of A2, A3, and A6, if a link failure occurs between A3 and A6, it can be determined that the path has a fault. The SDN controller needs to generate a corresponding replacement forwarding path for the target path with a fault. It can be understood that the target path and the replacement forwarding path are set with the same ingress node and egress node. For example, for the fault path A2, A3, A6, its corresponding replacement forwarding path can be A2, A4, A5, A6.

[0054] Furthermore, the link failure situation can be detected and reported by the forwarding device. For example, for the forwarding device PE3 deployed with the virtual forwarding node A3, when it detects that a link failure occurs between A3 and A6, it can report the corresponding fault link information to the SDN controller. Further, when receiving the link failure information, the SDN controller will first determine whether the link failure information corresponds to a certain target service slice network. If it corresponds, all target paths passing through the fault link in the target service slice network will be marked as faulty; subsequently, the SDN controller can use the link failure information to update the topology information of the slice network to determine the available links in the slice network, and use the updated topology information to determine whether the remaining available links in the slice can generate a replacement forwarding path for the faulty target path.

[0055] Based on this, in a possible situation, before the SDN controller detects a faulty target path in the target service slice network, it may further include:

[0056] S101: Receive the fault link information corresponding to the fault link sent by the forwarding device when detecting the fault link;

[0057] S102: Determine the target service slice network corresponding to the fault link information, and mark the target paths passing through the fault link in the target service slice network as faulty;

[0058] Correspondingly, determining whether a replacement forwarding path corresponding to the target path can be generated in the target service slice network may include:

[0059] S103: Update the topology information of the target service slice network using the fault link information, and determine whether a replacement forwarding path can be generated according to the updated topology information.

[0060] For ease of understanding the relationship between S101~S103 and other steps, please refer to Figure 3 , Figure 3 which is the flowchart of the second forwarding path generation method provided by the embodiment of the present invention.

[0061] Furthermore, the SDN controller device can receive the faulty link information sent by the forwarding device through the BGP-LS protocol (Border Gateway Protocol Link-state, the border gateway protocol carrying extended link state). It should be noted that the embodiments of the present invention do not limit the specific form of the faulty link information, nor the specific form of the topology information of each slice network, and the related technologies of the slice network can be referred to.

[0062] S200. When it is determined that a replacement forwarding path cannot be generated in the target service slice network, generate a replacement forwarding path in the escape slice network.

[0063] When it is determined that the remaining available links in the target service slice network cannot generate a corresponding replacement forwarding path for the target path, the SDN controller in the embodiments of the present invention can generate the above-mentioned replacement forwarding path in the escape slice network. Among them, the escape slice network is a slice network dedicated to carrying the service traffic corresponding to the paths that are faulty and cannot be restored in the service slice network, and no services are deployed in it. For this reason, when the SDN controller determines that the remaining available links in the target service slice network cannot be used to restore the faulty path in this slice network, it can transfer the service traffic corresponding to the faulty path to the escape slice network, which can effectively avoid the interruption of service traffic or the occupation of the bandwidth of other service slice networks, and thus can effectively improve the stability of the service. It should be noted that as a redundant slice network, the deployment and management methods of the escape slice network are exactly the same as those of other service slice networks. Of course, to ensure that the escape slice network can effectively carry the traffic of each service slice network, virtual forwarding nodes of the escape slice network can be deployed in each forwarding device, and it can be ensured that each virtual forwarding node in the escape slice network can communicate directly or indirectly with other virtual forwarding nodes.

[0064] Furthermore, it can be understood that the SDN controller also generates the above-mentioned replacement forwarding path based on the topology information of the escape slice network. The embodiments of the present invention do not limit the specific manner in which the SDN controller uses the topology information to generate the forwarding path. For example, a multi-constraint algorithm can be used for path generation, and the related technologies of the SDN controller can be referred to.

[0065] S300. Send the replacement forwarding path generated in the escape slice network to the target forwarding device corresponding to the target path, so that the target forwarding device updates the target path using the received replacement forwarding path and uses the updated target path for service data transmission.

[0066] After the replacement forwarding path is generated, the SDN controller distributes the replacement forwarding path to the target forwarding device corresponding to the failed target path, so that the target forwarding device can use the replacement forwarding path to update the target path and continue to transmit service traffic using the updated target path. Specifically, the target forwarding device can generate new routing information based on the replacement forwarding path and use the routing information to update the routing information of the target path, so as to transmit service traffic according to the updated routing information. For specific details, reference can be made to the related technologies of the slice network.

[0067] Of course, if the SDN controller determines that the remaining available links in the target service slice network can also generate a replacement forwarding path corresponding to the failed target path, it can also preferentially distribute the replacement forwarding path generated in the target service slice network to the corresponding forwarding device to avoid occupying the resources of the escape slice network.

[0068] Based on this, after determining whether a replacement forwarding path corresponding to the target path can be generated in the target service slice network, it may further include:

[0069] S400. When it is determined that a replacement forwarding path can be generated in the target service slice network, distribute the replacement forwarding path generated in the target service slice network to the target forwarding device.

[0070] For ease of understanding the relationship between S400 and other steps, please refer to Figure 3 , Figure 3 which is the flowchart of the second forwarding path generation method provided by the embodiment of the present invention.

[0071] Based on the above embodiments, in the present invention, when the SDN controller determines that there is a failed target path in the target service slice network, it can first determine whether a replacement forwarding path corresponding to the target path can be generated in the target service slice network. If it is determined that the above replacement forwarding path cannot be generated in the target service slice network, the SDN controller can further generate the above replacement forwarding path in the escape slice network, where the escape slice network is specifically used to carry the service traffic corresponding to the path that fails and cannot be restored in the service slice network; after the generation of the above replacement forwarding path is completed in the escape slice network, the SDN controller can distribute the replacement forwarding path to the target forwarding device corresponding to the target path, so that the target forwarding device can use the received replacement forwarding path to update the target path and perform service data transmission using the updated target path. That is, in short, the present invention can additionally add an escape slice network specifically used to carry the service traffic corresponding to the path that fails and cannot be restored in the service slice network, so as to avoid the interruption of the service traffic of the failed path or the occupation of the bandwidth of other service slice networks, and thus can effectively ensure the normal operation of the service.

[0072] Based on the above embodiments, the generation of the replacement forwarding path is crucial for ensuring the uninterrupted business traffic. However, the SDN controller may fail or be unable to issue the replacement forwarding path corresponding to the faulty path to the forwarding device, which will in turn cause the interruption of the business traffic on the faulty path. Therefore, in order to prevent the situation where the SDN controller fails and cannot issue the replacement forwarding path resulting in traffic interruption, in the embodiments of the present invention, the above replacement forwarding path can also be autonomously generated by the forwarding device. The following introduces the specific implementation process of the forwarding device autonomously generating the replacement forwarding path. Please refer to Figure 4 , Figure 4 is a flowchart of the third forwarding path generation method provided by the embodiments of the present invention. In a possible situation, this method may further include:

[0073] S500: Mark the links in each service slice network as the first links, and set the first-generation value for each first link, and mark the links in the escape slice network as the second links, and set the second-generation value for each second link; each second-generation value is less than each first-generation value.

[0074] S600: Deploy the information of the first links and the corresponding first-generation values, the information of the second links and the corresponding second-generation values to each forwarding device, so that when each forwarding device detects that the path with it as the ingress node fails and determines that the SDN controller cannot issue the first replacement forwarding path corresponding to the path, it determines the second replacement forwarding path corresponding to the path in the first links and the second links according to the minimum cost principle and based on the first-generation value and the second-generation value, and uses the second replacement forwarding path for business data transmission.

[0075] In the embodiments of the present invention, the SDN controller will respectively set the first-generation value and the second-generation value for the links in each service slice network and the links in the escape slice network, and can issue these links together with the corresponding generation values to each forwarding device, so that the forwarding device determines the replacement forwarding path corresponding to the faulty path among the links based on the minimum cost principle. To ensure that the forwarding device preferentially generates the replacement forwarding path in the escape slice network, when setting the generation values, it can be ensured that the second-generation value of each link in the escape slice network is always less than the first-generation value of each link in the service slice network. It should be noted that the embodiments of the present invention do not limit the specific values of the first-generation value and the second-generation value, which can be set according to actual application requirements. Further, for convenient management, the SDN controller marks the links in each service slice network as the first links, and marks the links in the escape slice network as the second links. The specific marking method can be selected according to actual application requirements, for example, it can be marked by the affinity attribute.

[0076] For ease of understanding, the following will continue with Figure 1This will be introduced by way of example. When the SDN controller deploys the slice network to the forwarding device, two attributes can be set for each slice network: the affinity attribute and the link cost attribute. For example, the affinity attributes of the links belonging to the service slice network 1 are all set to 1, and the link cost is set to 100; the affinity attributes of the links belonging to the service slice network 2 are all set to 2, and the link cost is 100; the affinity attributes of the links belonging to the escape slice network are all set to 3, and the link cost is set to 10. Of course, if there are some links that are not allocated to the slice network, the SDN controller can also allocate link affinity attributes and link costs to these links. For example, the link affinity attributes of other non-slice network links are all set to 0, and the link cost is set to 10. Furthermore, if a link in the service slice network 1 fails, when the SDN controller cannot calculate the replacement forwarding path in both the service slice network 1 and the escape slice network, or when the SDN controller itself fails, the forwarding device will take over the path generation function and use the deployed links in the physical forwarding network and the corresponding link affinity attributes and link cost attributes, and use constraint algorithms such as the minimum cost to calculate the replacement forwarding path. It can be understood that since the cost values corresponding to the links in the escape slice network are all smaller than the cost values of the links in the service slice network, and the forwarding device determines the replacement forwarding path corresponding to the faulty path among the links based on the minimum cost principle, that is, the sum of the cost values of the links in the generated replacement forwarding path is the smallest, so the forwarding device will preferentially generate the replacement forwarding path in the links of the escape slice network, which can avoid using the links of other service slice networks, and thus will not affect the traffic of other slice services, ensuring the effectiveness of the slice function. It should be noted that the embodiments of the present invention do not limit the specific manner of generating the replacement forwarding path for the forwarding path. For example, a constraint algorithm can be used for generation. The embodiments of the present invention also do not limit the specific constraint algorithm. For example, it can be the CSPF (Constrained Shortest Path First) algorithm.

[0077] Furthermore, it should be pointed out that the replacement forwarding path should be generated by the forwarding device serving as the path ingress node. This ingress node forwarding device can also detect whether the path is faulty, specifically through the IGP protocol (Interior Gateway Protocol). Since the replacement forwarding path still needs to be preferentially generated by the SDN controller, when a fault is detected, the forwarding device needs to determine whether the SDN controller can issue the corresponding replacement forwarding path.

[0078] Specifically, the ingress node forwarding device can determine whether the SDN controller is deactivated based on the PCEP protocol (Path Computation Element Communication Protocol). For example, the ingress node forwarding device will determine whether the SDN controller is in an active state (Keepalived) according to the PCEP protocol, so as to determine whether it can return a replacement forwarding path in accordance with the PCEP protocol. That is, the forwarding device can determine that the SDN controller cannot issue the first replacement forwarding path corresponding to the path when it determines that the SDN controller is not in an active state according to the PCEP protocol.

[0079] Based on the above embodiments, the embodiments of the present invention also generate a replacement forwarding path corresponding to a target path with a fault by the forwarding device independently, which can effectively prevent the situation that the SDN controller fails and cannot issue a replacement forwarding path, resulting in traffic interruption, and can further improve service stability.

[0080] The following will introduce in detail the relevant modules set in the SDN controller and the forwarding device, as well as the interaction steps executed between the SDN controller and the forwarding device to generate a replacement forwarding path. Please refer to Figure 5 , Figure 5 which is a schematic diagram of the SDN controller and the forwarding device provided by the embodiments of the present invention. The modules included in the SDN controller and the forwarding device are:

[0081] Module 1: Topology management module. The SDN controller stores and abstracts the topology data reported by the forwarding device to form a topology database of the SDN controller, responds to the update of the topology change reported by the forwarding device, and provides data support for the controller forwarding routing calculation module.

[0082] Module 2: Slice management module. The SDN controller divides the physical network into multiple service slice networks and escape slice networks according to user requirements, and manages and maintains the slice networks.

[0083] Module 3: Service deployment module. The SDN controller deploys services to the service slice network according to user service requirements, and relevant configurations are sent from the SDN controller to the forwarding device, and the services are managed and maintained on the SDN controller.

[0084] Module 4: Controller forwarding routing calculation module. The SDN controller calculates the forwarding routes reachable by the service according to the multi-constraint algorithm, responds to link failures or node failures, calculates the escape paths for the service routes, ensures that the service forwarding routes are reachable, and ensures routing isolation between slices.

[0085] Module 5: Topology reporting module. The forwarding device reports the interconnection relationships between forwarding devices and relevant routing information to the SDN controller via BGP-LS (Border Gateway Protocol Link-state, which is a border gateway protocol carrying extended link state). Various status data of the link can be reported to the SDN controller together.

[0086] Module 6: Link management module. The forwarding device identifies and records the affinity attributes and link costs cost issued by the SDN controller for the slice links to distinguish different slice links and provide link topology services for the routing calculation of the forwarding device.

[0087] Module 7: Forwarding device routing calculation module. When the SDN controller is unable to calculate the service forwarding path or the SDN controller fails, the forwarding device takes over the routing calculation function and performs forwarding routing calculation according to the algorithm of the forwarding device, such as the minimum cost algorithm, to ensure the isolation of the forwarding routes between slices and the forwarding routing escape path in the fault scenario.

[0088] Module 8: Routing forwarding module. The forwarding device forms a forwarding routing representation according to the forwarding path calculated by the SDN controller or the forwarding device itself, and the service packets are matched and routed according to the information in the forwarding routing table.

[0089] Please refer to Figure 6 , Figure 6 which is a flowchart of another forwarding path generation method provided by the embodiment of the present invention. The interaction steps performed between the SDN controller and the forwarding device to generate the replacement forwarding path may include:

[0090] Step 1, mainly for the basic configuration of the network, address allocation of the forwarding device, interface configuration, and opening the protocol channels between the forwarding network elements, such as enabling relevant protocols such as ISIS or OSPF.

[0091] Step 2, opening the control protocol channels between the forwarding device and the SDN controller, such as the BGP-LS protocol for collecting network topology and the NETCONF protocol for configuring user services, tunnels, and policies.

[0092] Step 3, after ISIS or OSPF is configured between the forwarding network elements, they flood IGP routing information to each other, and then report the three-layer topology information of the network to the controller through BGP-LS, facilitating the SDN controller to understand the network topology and perform service forwarding path calculation.

[0093] Step 4: The SDN controller divides the physical network into multiple service slice networks and escape slice networks according to user requirements, and manages and maintains the slice networks.

[0094] Step 5: According to the service requirements of the user, the SDN controller deploys the service into the service slice network, and relevant configurations are sent from the SDN controller to the forwarding device, and the service is managed and maintained on the SDN controller.

[0095] Step 6: After one or several slice links on the forwarding device fail, they are reported to the SDN controller through the BGP-LS protocol.

[0096] Step 7: After receiving the slice link failure, the SDN controller updates the topology information and calculates a new forwarding path within the slice network where the failure occurs.

[0097] Step 8: The SDN controller calculates a new forwarding path and sends it to the forwarding device, and the service routing of the device is restored, and the service traffic is normally forwarded.

[0098] Step 9: If the SDN controller cannot calculate a new forwarding path within the slice network where the failure occurs, the SDN controller will attempt to calculate the forwarding path in the escape slice network. If a new forwarding path is calculated, it enters the process of Step 8. If a new forwarding path cannot be calculated, it enters the process of Step 10.

[0099] Step 10: When the SDN controller cannot calculate the service forwarding path or the SDN controller fails, the forwarding device takes over the routing calculation function and calculates the forwarding routing according to the algorithm of the forwarding device, such as the CSPF algorithm, with the minimum cost within the escape slice.

[0100] Step 11: If the forwarding device calculates a new forwarding path, it will update the forwarding routing table entry, and the service routing forwarding is restored, and the service packets are normally forwarded.

[0101] Step 12: If the forwarding device cannot calculate a new forwarding path, it means that there is no reachable escape route in the network, the service forwarding fails, and the service traffic is interrupted. At this time, the user needs to troubleshoot the network and perform manual fault recovery to ensure the normal forwarding of the service routing.

[0102] Next, the slice network system and computer-readable storage medium provided by the embodiments of the present invention are introduced. The slice network system and computer-readable storage medium described below can be mutually corresponding and referred to with the forwarding path generation method described above.

[0103] Please refer to Figure 7 , Figure 7 which is the structural block diagram of a forwarding path generation device provided by the embodiments of the present invention. The device is applied to the SDN controller and may include:

[0104] An evaluation module 701, configured to determine whether a replacement forwarding path corresponding to a target path can be generated in a target service slice network when a target path with a fault is detected in the target service slice network;

[0105] A first path generation module 702, configured to generate a replacement forwarding path in an escape slice network when it is determined that a replacement forwarding path cannot be generated in the target service slice network;

[0106] A path distribution module 703, configured to distribute the replacement forwarding path generated in the escape slice network to a target forwarding device corresponding to the target path, so that the target forwarding device updates the target path by using the received replacement forwarding path and performs service data transmission by using the updated target path.

[0107] Preferably, the apparatus may further include:

[0108] A second path generation module, configured to distribute the replacement forwarding path generated in the target service slice network to the target forwarding device when it is determined that a replacement forwarding path can be generated in the target service slice network.

[0109] Preferably, the apparatus may further include:

[0110] A receiving module, configured to receive fault link information corresponding to a fault link sent by a forwarding device when the fault link is detected;

[0111] A marking module, configured to determine a target service slice network corresponding to the fault link information and mark a target path passing through the fault link in the target service slice network as faulty;

[0112] Correspondingly, the first path generation module 702 is specifically configured to:

[0113] Update the topology information of the target service slice network by using the fault link information, and determine whether a replacement forwarding path can be generated according to the updated topology information.

[0114] Preferably, the receiving module is specifically configured to:

[0115] Receive the fault link information sent by the forwarding device through the BGP-LS protocol.

[0116] Preferably, the apparatus may further include:

[0117] A setting module, configured to mark links in all service slice networks as first links, set a first generation value for each first link, mark links in the escape slice network as second links, and set a second generation value for each second link; each second generation value is less than each first generation value;

[0118] A deployment module, which is used to deploy the information of the first link and the corresponding first-generation value, and the information of the second link and the corresponding second-generation value to each forwarding device, so that when each forwarding device detects that a path with it as the ingress node fails and determines that the SDN controller cannot issue a first replacement forwarding path corresponding to the path, it determines a second replacement forwarding path corresponding to the path in the first link and the second link according to the principle of minimum cost and based on the first-generation value and the second-generation value, and uses the second replacement forwarding path to transmit service data.

[0119] Please refer to Figure 8 , Figure 8 FIG. 7 is a structural block diagram of a slice network system provided by an embodiment of the present invention. The system may include: an SDN controller 801 and a forwarding device 802. Among them,

[0120] The SDN controller 801 can be used to determine whether a replacement forwarding path corresponding to a target path can be generated in the target service slice network when detecting a failed target path in the target service slice network; when determining that a replacement forwarding path cannot be generated in the target service slice network, generate a replacement forwarding path in the escape slice network; and issue the replacement forwarding path generated in the escape slice network to the target forwarding device corresponding to the target path.

[0121] The forwarding device 802 can be used to update the target path by using the received replacement forwarding path and use the updated target path to transmit service data.

[0122] It should be noted that the embodiment of the present invention does not limit the specific number of the forwarding devices 802, which can be set according to actual application requirements.

[0123] Optionally, the SDN controller 801 can also be used to: when determining that a replacement forwarding path can be generated in the target service slice network, issue the replacement forwarding path generated in the target service slice network to the target forwarding device.

[0124] Optionally, the forwarding device 802 can also be used to: when detecting a failed link, send the failed link information corresponding to the failed link to the SDN controller 801;

[0125] The SDN controller 801 can also be used to: determine the target service slice network corresponding to the failed link information, and mark the target path passing through the failed link in the target service slice network as failed; update the topology information of the target service slice network by using the failed link information, and determine whether a replacement forwarding path can be generated according to the updated topology information.

[0126] Optionally, the forwarding device 802 can also be used to: send the failed link information to the SDN controller 801 through the BGP-LS protocol.

[0127] Optionally, the SDN controller 801 can also be used to: label the links in each service slice network as first links, set a first-generation value for each first link, label the links in the escape slice network as second links, and set a second-generation value for each second link; each second-generation value is less than each first-generation value; deploy the information of the first links and the corresponding first-generation values, and the information of the second links and the corresponding second-generation values to each forwarding device 802;

[0128] The forwarding device 802 can also be used to: when detecting that a path with it as the ingress node fails and determining that the SDN controller 801 cannot issue a first replacement forwarding path corresponding to the path, determine a second replacement forwarding path corresponding to the path from the first links and the second links according to the principle of minimum cost and based on the first-generation value and the second-generation value, and use the second replacement forwarding path to transmit service data.

[0129] Optionally, the forwarding device 802 can also be used to: detect whether a path fails through the IGP protocol.

[0130] Optionally, the forwarding device 802 can also be used to: determine that the SDN controller 801 cannot issue a first replacement forwarding path corresponding to the path when determining that the SDN controller 801 is not in an active state according to the PCEP protocol.

[0131] Furthermore, an embodiment of the present invention also discloses a computer-readable storage medium for storing a computer program, where the computer program, when executed by a processor, implements the forwarding path generation method disclosed in the foregoing embodiments.

[0132] For the specific process of the foregoing forwarding path generation method, reference can be made to the corresponding content disclosed in the foregoing embodiments, and details will not be repeated here.

[0133] The various embodiments in the specification are described in a progressive manner. Each embodiment focuses on the differences from other embodiments. The same or similar parts among the various embodiments can be referred to each other. For the device disclosed in the embodiment, since it corresponds to the method disclosed in the embodiment, the description is relatively simple, and the relevant parts can be referred to the description of the method part.

[0134] Those skilled in the art may further realize that the units and algorithm steps of each example described in combination with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented by electronic hardware, computer software, or a combination of the two. To clearly illustrate the interchangeability of hardware and software, the composition and steps of each example have been generally described according to functions in the above description. Whether these functions are executed in a hardware or software manner depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Those skilled in the art can use different methods for each specific application to implement the described functions, but such implementation should not be considered to exceed the scope of the present invention.

[0135] The steps of the methods or algorithms described in combination with the embodiments disclosed herein can be directly implemented by hardware, software modules executed by a processor, or a combination of the two. The software modules can be placed in a random access memory (RAM), internal memory, read-only memory (ROM), electrically programmable ROM, electrically erasable programmable ROM, registers, hard disk, removable disk, CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium well-known in the technical field.

[0136] The above has introduced in detail a method for generating a forwarding path, an SDN controller, a slice network system, and a computer-readable storage medium provided by the present invention. Specific examples are used herein to illustrate the principle and implementation manner of the present invention. The description of the above embodiments is only used to help understand the method and its core idea of the present invention. It should be noted that for those of ordinary skill in the art, without departing from the principle of the present invention, several improvements and modifications can be made to the present invention, and these improvements and modifications also fall within the protection scope of the claims of the present invention.

Claims

1. A method for generating a forwarding path, characterized in that Applied to an SDN controller, the method includes: When detecting a target path with a fault in the target service slice network, determining whether a replacement forwarding path corresponding to the target path can be generated in the target service slice network; When determining that the replacement forwarding path cannot be generated in the target service slice network, generating the replacement forwarding path in the escape slice network; Sending the replacement forwarding path generated in the escape slice network to the target forwarding device corresponding to the target path, so that the target forwarding device updates the target path using the received replacement forwarding path and performs service data transmission using the updated target path; Before detecting the target path with a fault in the target service slice network, it further includes: Marking the links in all service slice networks as first links, setting a first-generation value for each of the first links, marking the links in the escape slice network as second links, and setting a second-generation value for each of the second links; each of the second-generation values is less than each of the first-generation values; Deploying the information of the first links and the corresponding first-generation values, the information of the second links and the corresponding second-generation values to each forwarding device, so that when each forwarding device detects that the path with it as the ingress node fails and determines that the SDN controller cannot send the first replacement forwarding path corresponding to the path, it determines the second replacement forwarding path corresponding to the path in the first links and the second links according to the minimum cost principle and based on the first-generation values and the second-generation values, and performs service data transmission using the second replacement forwarding path.

2. The forwarding path generation method according to claim 1, wherein After determining whether a replacement forwarding path corresponding to the target path can be generated in the target service slice network, it further includes: When determining that the replacement forwarding path can be generated in the target service slice network, sending the replacement forwarding path generated in the target service slice network to the target forwarding device.

3. The forwarding path generation method according to claim 1, wherein Before detecting the target path with a fault in the target service slice network, it further includes: Receiving the fault link information corresponding to the fault link sent by the forwarding device when the forwarding device detects the fault link; Determining the target service slice network corresponding to the fault link information, and marking the target path passing through the fault link in the target service slice network as faulty; Correspondingly, the determining whether a replacement forwarding path corresponding to the target path can be generated in the target service slice network includes: Updating the topology information of the target service slice network using the fault link information, and determining whether the replacement forwarding path can be generated according to the updated topology information.

4. The forwarding path generation method according to claim 3, wherein The receiving the fault link information corresponding to the fault link sent by the forwarding device when the forwarding device detects the fault link includes: Receiving the fault link information sent by the forwarding device through the BGP-LS protocol.

5. The forwarding path generation method according to claim 1, characterized in that The forwarding device detecting that the path with it as the ingress node fails includes: The forwarding device detecting whether the path is faulty through the IGP protocol.

6. The forwarding path generation method according to claim 1, wherein The determining that the SDN controller cannot send the first replacement forwarding path corresponding to the path includes: When the forwarding device determines that the SDN controller is not in an active state according to the PCEP protocol, it determines that the SDN controller cannot issue the first replacement forwarding path corresponding to the path.

7. A forwarding path generation device, characterized in that, Applied to an SDN controller, the device includes: An evaluation module, configured to determine whether a replacement forwarding path corresponding to the target path can be generated in the target service slice network when a target path with a fault appears in the target service slice network; A first path generation module, configured to generate the replacement forwarding path in the escape slice network when it is determined that the replacement forwarding path cannot be generated in the target service slice network; A path distribution module, configured to distribute the replacement forwarding path generated in the escape slice network to the target forwarding device corresponding to the target path, so that the target forwarding device updates the target path by using the received replacement forwarding path and uses the updated target path to transmit service data; A setting module, configured to mark the links in all service slice networks as first links, set a first generation value for each of the first links, mark the links in the escape slice network as second links, and set a second generation value for each of the second links; each of the second generation values is less than each of the first generation values; A deployment module, configured to deploy the information of the first links and the corresponding first generation values, the information of the second links and the corresponding second generation values to each forwarding device, so that when each forwarding device detects that a path with it as the ingress node fails and determines that the SDN controller cannot issue the first replacement forwarding path corresponding to the path, it determines the second replacement forwarding path corresponding to the path in the first links and the second links according to the minimum cost principle and based on the first generation value and the second generation value, and uses the second replacement forwarding path to transmit service data.

8. An SDN controller, characterized in that, Includes: A memory, configured to store a computer program; A processor, configured to implement the forwarding path generation method according to any one of claims 1 to 6 when executing the computer program.

9. A slicing network system, characterized in that, Includes: An SDN controller and a forwarding device, wherein, The SDN controller is configured to determine whether a replacement forwarding path corresponding to the target path can be generated in the target service slice network when a target path with a fault appears in the target service slice network; when it is determined that the replacement forwarding path cannot be generated in the target service slice network, generate the replacement forwarding path in the escape slice network; and distribute the replacement forwarding path generated in the escape slice network to the forwarding device corresponding to the target path; The forwarding device is configured to update the target path by using the received replacement forwarding path and use the updated target path to transmit service data; The SDN controller is further configured to label the links in all service slice networks as first links, set a first-generation value for each of the first links, label the links in the escape slice network as second links, and set a second-generation value for each of the second links; each of the second-generation values is less than each of the first-generation values; and deploy the information of the first links and the corresponding first-generation values, and the information of the second links and the corresponding second-generation values to each of the forwarding devices. The forwarding device is further configured to, when detecting that a path with the forwarding device as the ingress node fails and determining that the SDN controller cannot issue a first replacement forwarding path corresponding to the path, determine a second replacement forwarding path corresponding to the path from the first links and the second links according to the principle of minimum cost and based on the first-generation value and the second-generation value, and use the second replacement forwarding path for business data transmission.

10. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, Computer-executable instructions are stored in the computer-readable storage medium, and when the computer-executable instructions are loaded and executed by a processor, the forwarding path generation method according to any one of claims 1 to 6 is implemented.

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