An information processing method and apparatus, a network device, and a storage medium

Abstract

Embodiments of the present application disclose an information processing method and device, network equipment and a storage medium. The method comprises: a network function virtualization orchestrator (NFVO) determining a first operation to be performed based on a first information record table and a second information record table; the first information record table is used to record first related information of each policy created in a resource pool and association relationship information of each policy and a corresponding network element instance; the second information record table is used to record second related information of each network element instance in the resource pool; the first operation is used to manage the association relationship of the policy and the corresponding network element instance of the policy in the resource pool; the first information record table is generated based on an obtained policy file, and the second information record table is generated based on a change operation of the network element instance; a first type of configuration parameter corresponding to the first operation is sent to a virtual network function manager (VNFM) through a first type of interface corresponding to the first operation; wherein the first type of configuration parameter is used for the VNFM to perform the first operation.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to an information processing method, apparatus, network device, and storage medium. Background Technology

[0002] Traditional network equipment is customized by manufacturers based on specific specifications and technical requirements, making maintenance and upgrades complex and service deployment costly. To reduce the complexity and cost of network deployment and service promotion, decoupling hardware and software based on a general-purpose hardware platform can effectively reduce the cost of equipment upgrades and accelerate the deployment of new services. Network Function Virtualization (NFV) was proposed based on this background.

[0003] In existing network cloud products, the NFV Orchestrator (NFVO) issues creation policies to the Virtualized Network Function Manager (VNFM) by calling the Or-vnfm:CreatePolicy interface. Because the NFVO needs to specify a specific Virtualized Network Function (VNF) instance identifier to associate the policy with the instance when issuing the policy, policy issuance must occur after the VNF instance (or VNF record) is created, which is not conducive to flexible policy management. Furthermore, after issuance, the policy can only be applied to the specified VNF instance. As the number of VNF instances increases, the number of policies that need to be created and stored also increases. Since VNF instances of the same type exhibit similar service performance, there are instances where the same policies are used. However, based on the existing policy management method, policies with identical content are repeatedly created, resulting in information redundancy and resource waste.

[0004] Furthermore, the ETSI-IFA working group defines two operations: Transfer Policy and Associate Policy, used for policy distribution and policy association with specific VNF instances, respectively. However, in a network cloud, there are many VNF instances in the resource pool, and the number of VNF instances will continue to increase with the expansion and upgrade of the resource pool. Using the policy distribution and policy association interfaces defined by the IFA working group requires operators to first manually distribute relevant policy information from the NFVO according to the VNF instance classification, or use the policy information already distributed by the NFVO, and then manually trigger the policy association operation to associate the policy with specific VNF instances in sequence. This results in high operational complexity and a high risk of errors. Summary of the Invention

[0005] To address the existing technical problems, embodiments of the present invention provide an information processing method, apparatus, network device, and storage medium.

[0006] To achieve the above objectives, the technical solution of this invention is implemented as follows:

[0007] In a first aspect, embodiments of the present invention provide an information processing method, comprising:

[0008] NFVO determines the first operation to be performed based on a first information record table and a second information record table. The first information record table is used to record the first relevant information of each policy created in the resource pool, as well as the association information between each policy and its corresponding network element instance. The second information record table is used to record the second relevant information of each network element instance in the resource pool. The first operation is used to manage the association relationship between policies in the resource pool and the network element instances corresponding to the policies. The first information record table is generated based on the obtained policy file, and the second information record table is generated based on the change operation of the network element instance.

[0009] The first type of configuration parameters corresponding to the first operation are sent to the VNFM through the first type of interface corresponding to the first operation; wherein, the first type of configuration parameters are used by the VNFM to execute the first operation.

[0010] In the above scheme, the first operation includes at least one of creating an association, updating an association, and deleting an association; wherein,

[0011] When the first operation corresponding to the first type of interface is to create an association, the first type of configuration parameters includes at least a policy identifier, and one or more of a list of Network Service (NS) instance identifiers and a list of VNF instance identifiers; the first response information sent by the VNFM received through the first type of interface includes at least an association identifier.

[0012] When the first operation corresponding to the first type of interface is to update the association relationship, the first type of configuration parameters includes at least an association relationship identifier, and one or more of the NS instance identifier list and the VNF instance identifier list;

[0013] When the first operation corresponding to the first type of interface is to delete the association, the first type of configuration parameters shall include at least the association identifier.

[0014] In the above scheme, the first relevant information includes at least the policy identifier, policy type, and information related to the network element instance associated with the policy; the method further includes:

[0015] The NFVO determines a second operation to be performed, which is used to manage policies in the resource pool; and sends a second type of configuration parameters corresponding to the second operation to the VNFM through a second type of interface corresponding to the second operation; wherein, the second type of configuration parameters are used by the VNFM to execute the second operation;

[0016] Based on the second type of configuration parameters and / or the second response information sent by the VNFM received through the second type of interface, determine the first relevant information of the second operation management strategy in the first information record table.

[0017] In the above scheme, the second operation includes at least creating a policy and / or updating a policy; wherein,

[0018] When the second operation corresponding to the second type of interface is to create a policy, the second type of configuration parameters include at least the policy type, the instance information associated with the policy, the NFVO identifier, the VNFM identifier, and the policy content; wherein, the instance information associated with the policy includes at least one or more of the following: NS instance type, VNF instance type, NS instance name list, and VNF instance name list; the second response information includes at least the policy identifier.

[0019] When the second operation corresponding to the second type of interface is to update the policy, the second type of configuration parameters includes at least the instance information associated with the policy, the NFVO identifier, the VNFM identifier, and the policy content; wherein, the instance information associated with the policy includes at least one or more of the NS instance name list and the VNF instance name list.

[0020] In the above scheme, the strategy types include a first type and a second type; wherein,

[0021] When the strategy type in the second type of configuration parameters is the first type, the second type of configuration parameters also includes NS instance type or VNF instance type;

[0022] When the policy type in the second type of configuration parameters is the second type, the second type of configuration parameters also includes a list of NS instance names or a list of VNF instance names.

[0023] In the above scheme, when the policy type in the second type of configuration parameters is the first type and the policy of the second operation management is used for NS instance, the first related information of the policy in the first information record table is determined to include NS instance type and NS instance identifier, or include NS instance type, NS instance identifier and NS instance name;

[0024] When the policy type in the second type of configuration parameters is the first type and the policy managed by the second operation is used for a VNF instance, the first related information of the policy in the first information record table includes the VNF instance type and the VNF instance identifier, or includes the VNF instance type, the VNF instance identifier and the VNF instance name;

[0025] When the policy type in the second type of configuration parameters is the second type and the policy managed by the second operation is used for an NS instance, the first relevant information of the policy in the first information record table includes the NS instance name and the NS instance identifier;

[0026] When the policy type in the second type of configuration parameters is the second type and the policy managed by the second operation is used for a VNF instance, the first relevant information of the policy in the first information record table includes the VNF instance name and the VNF instance identifier.

[0027] In the above scheme, when the network element instance in the resource pool is a VNF network element, the second relevant information of the network element instance in the second information record table includes at least the VNF instance type, VNF instance name, and VNF instance identifier; when the network element instance in the resource pool is an NS network element, the second relevant information of the network element instance in the second information record table includes at least the NS instance type, NS instance name, NS instance identifier, VNF instance type, VNF instance name, and VNF instance identifier; the method further includes:

[0028] The NFVO performs lifecycle operations on network element instances and determines the second relevant information of the network element instance corresponding to the lifecycle operations in the second information record table; the lifecycle operations include at least one of instantiating a network element, updating a network element instance, terminating a network element instance, and deleting a network element record.

[0029] The method in the above scheme further includes:

[0030] The NFVO updates the association information between the first operation management policy and the corresponding network element instance in the first information record table according to the first type of configuration parameters and / or the first response information.

[0031] In the above scheme, the NFVO determines the first operation to be performed based on the first information record table and the second information record table, including:

[0032] Based on the second relevant information of the network element instance recorded in the second information record table, retrieve the first relevant information of the strategy recorded in the first information record table;

[0033] If there is a network element instance in the second information record table that is not associated with a policy recorded in the first information record table, and there is no association information between the policy and the corresponding network element instance in the first information record table, then the first operation is determined to be creating an association.

[0034] If there is a network element instance in the second information record table that is not associated with the policy recorded in the first information record table, and the first information record table already contains association information between the policy and the corresponding network element instance, then the first operation is determined to be updating the association relationship.

[0035] If a network element instance corresponding to a strategy exists in the first information record table but is not recorded in the second information record table, the first operation is determined to be deleting the association relationship.

[0036] Secondly, embodiments of the present invention also provide an information processing apparatus applied to NFVO, comprising:

[0037] The processing module is used to determine the first operation to be performed based on a first information record table and a second information record table. The first information record table is used to record the first relevant information of each policy created in the resource pool, as well as the association information between each policy and its corresponding network element instance. The second information record table is used to record the second relevant information of each network element instance in the resource pool. The first operation is used to manage the association relationship between policies in the resource pool and the network element instances corresponding to the policies. The first information record table is generated based on the obtained policy file, and the second information record table is generated based on the change operation of the network element instance.

[0038] The sending module is used to send the first type of configuration parameters corresponding to the first operation to the VNFM through the first type of interface corresponding to the first operation; wherein, the first type of configuration parameters are used by the VNFM to execute the first operation.

[0039] In the above scheme, the device further includes a receiving module, used to receive first response information sent by the VNFM through the first type of interface; the first operation includes at least one of creating an association, updating an association, and deleting an association; wherein,

[0040] When the first operation corresponding to the first type of interface is to create an association, the first type of configuration parameters includes at least a policy identifier, and one or more of the NS instance identifier list and the VNF instance identifier list; the first response information received by the receiving module includes at least an association identifier;

[0041] When the first operation corresponding to the first type of interface is to update the association relationship, the first type of configuration parameters includes at least an association relationship identifier, and one or more of the NS instance identifier list and the VNF instance identifier list;

[0042] When the first operation corresponding to the first type of interface is to delete the association, the first type of configuration parameters shall include at least the association identifier.

[0043] In the above scheme, the first relevant information includes at least the policy identifier, policy type, and information related to the network element instance associated with the policy;

[0044] The processing module is further configured to determine a second operation to be performed, the second operation being used to manage policies in the resource pool; the sending module is further configured to send a second type of configuration parameters corresponding to the second operation to the VNFM through a second type of interface corresponding to the second operation; wherein, the second type of configuration parameters are used by the VNFM to execute the second operation;

[0045] The receiving module is also configured to receive the second response information sent by the VNFM through the second type of interface;

[0046] The processing module is further configured to determine, based on the second type of configuration parameters sent by the sending module and / or the second response information received by the receiving module, the first relevant information of the second operation management strategy in the first information record table.

[0047] In the above scheme, the second operation includes at least creating a policy and / or updating a policy; wherein,

[0048] When the second operation corresponding to the second type of interface is to create a policy, the second type of configuration parameters include at least the policy type, the instance information associated with the policy, the NFVO identifier, the VNFM identifier, and the policy content; wherein, the instance information associated with the policy includes at least one or more of the following: NS instance type, VNF instance type, NS instance name list, and VNF instance name list; the second response information includes at least the policy identifier.

[0049] When the second operation corresponding to the second type of interface is to update the policy, the second type of configuration parameters includes at least the instance information associated with the policy, the NFVO identifier, the VNFM identifier, and the policy content; wherein, the instance information associated with the policy includes at least one or more of the NS instance name list and the VNF instance name list.

[0050] In the above scheme, the strategy types include a first type and a second type; wherein,

[0051] When the strategy type in the second type of configuration parameters is the first type, the second type of configuration parameters also includes NS instance type or VNF instance type;

[0052] When the policy type in the second type of configuration parameters is the second type, the second type of configuration parameters also includes a list of NS instance names or a list of VNF instance names.

[0053] In the above scheme, when the policy type in the second type of configuration parameters is the first type and the policy of the second operation management is used for NS instance, the first related information of the policy in the first information record table is determined to include NS instance type and NS instance identifier, or, it includes NS instance type, NS instance identifier and NS instance name;

[0054] When the policy type in the second type of configuration parameters is the first type and the policy managed by the second operation is used for a VNF instance, the first related information of the policy in the first information record table includes the VNF instance type and the VNF instance identifier, or includes the VNF instance type, the VNF instance identifier and the VNF instance name;

[0055] When the policy type in the second type of configuration parameters is the second type and the policy managed by the second operation is used for an NS instance, the first relevant information of the policy in the first information record table includes the NS instance name and the NS instance identifier;

[0056] When the policy type in the second type of configuration parameters is the second type and the policy managed by the second operation is used for a VNF instance, the first relevant information of the policy in the first information record table includes the VNF instance name and the VNF instance identifier.

[0057] In the above scheme, when the network element instance in the resource pool is a VNF network element, the second relevant information of the network element instance in the second information record table includes at least the VNF instance type, VNF instance name, and VNF instance identifier; when the network element instance in the resource pool is an NS network element, the second relevant information of the network element instance in the second information record table includes at least the NS instance type, NS instance name, NS instance identifier, VNF instance type, VNF instance name, and VNF instance identifier.

[0058] The processing module is further configured to perform lifecycle operations on network element instances and determine second relevant information of the network element instance corresponding to the lifecycle operations in the second information record table; the lifecycle operations include at least one of instantiating a network element, updating a network element instance, terminating a network element instance, and deleting a network element record.

[0059] In the above scheme, the processing module is further configured to update the association information between the first operation management strategy and the corresponding network element instance in the first information record table according to the first type of configuration parameters and / or the first response information.

[0060] In the above scheme, the processing module is further configured to retrieve the first relevant information of the strategy recorded in the first information record table based on the second relevant information of the network element instance recorded in the second information record table;

[0061] If there is a network element instance in the second information record table that is not associated with a policy recorded in the first information record table, and there is no association information between the policy and the corresponding network element instance in the first information record table, then the first operation is determined to be creating an association.

[0062] If there is a network element instance in the second information record table that is not associated with the policy recorded in the first information record table, and the first information record table already contains association information between the policy and the corresponding network element instance, then the first operation is determined to be updating the association relationship.

[0063] If a network element instance corresponding to a strategy exists in the first information record table but is not recorded in the second information record table, the first operation is determined to be deleting the association relationship.

[0064] Thirdly, embodiments of the present invention also provide a network device, including a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored in the memory and executable on the processor, wherein the processor executes the program to implement the steps of the aforementioned information processing method.

[0065] Fourthly, embodiments of the present invention also provide a computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, which, when executed by a processor, implements the steps of the aforementioned information processing method.

[0066] This invention provides an information processing method, apparatus, network device, and storage medium. A first information record table records created policy information and the association between policies and network element instances. A second information record table records created or planned network element instance information. After the NFVO determines the required association management operation by retrieving relevant content from the first and second information record tables, it can call the corresponding first-type interface to automate the association management between policies and specific instance network elements. This eliminates the need for manual triggering of policy association operations, reducing operational complexity and error susceptibility, while solving the problem in existing networks where policy creation requires waiting for instance creation. Attached Figure Description

[0067] Figure 1This is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a core cloud platform system based on NFV.

[0068] Figure 2 This is a flowchart illustrating the information processing method according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 1 ;

[0069] Figure 3 This is a diagram illustrating the logical relationship between NS instances and VNF instances.

[0070] Figure 4 This is a flowchart illustrating the information processing method according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 2 ;

[0071] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram illustrating the process of the information processing method of this invention for automatically associating strategies with newly created network element instances.

[0072] Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram illustrating the process of using the information processing method of this invention to automatically update the policy association relationship after a network element instance is deleted.

[0073] Figure 7 This is a schematic diagram of the composition structure of the information processing device according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 1 ;

[0074] Figure 8 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a network device according to an embodiment of the present invention. Detailed Implementation

[0075] The present invention will now be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments. The information processing method of the present invention is applicable to NFV technology. Before describing the information processing method of the present invention in detail, NFV and related interfaces will be briefly introduced first.

[0076] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a core cloud platform system based on NFV. Figure 1 As shown, NFV implements core cloud management functions through a management and orchestration (MANO) system and a network management system. The network management system includes an Operation Support System (OSS) and an Operation and Maintenance Center (OMC). The MANO system was proposed by the European Telecommunication Standards Institution (ETSI). Figure 1As shown, it consists of three main components: NFV Orchestrator (NFVO), VNFM, and Virtualized Infrastructure Manager (VIM). Its main functions include network element lifecycle management, creation of images required by network elements, management of templates and software required by network elements, and allocation and management of network resources.

[0077] Among them, NFVO is responsible for unified resource scheduling, creating automatic scaling policies for VNFs, and providing specification configuration parameters for VNF instantiation; VNFM is responsible for VNF lifecycle management, such as parsing and processing VNF descriptions (VNFDs), initializing VNF instances, and scaling up and down VNFs, and communicates with NFVO through the interface Or-vnfm; VIM is responsible for the scheduling and management of hardware resources and virtualization resources; OMC is responsible for managing information related to VNF fault, configuration, accounting, performance, and security (FCAPS), and communicates with VNFM through the interface Vi-Vnfm.

[0078] In related technologies, the implementation of network cloud products includes policy management interfaces such as CreatePolicy, UpdatePolicy, DeletePolicy, QueryPolicy, and Activate / Deactivate Policy. Specifically, the CreatePolicy interface is used for NFVO to send policy information to VNFM, the UpdatePolicy interface is used to update policy information, the DeletePolicy interface is used to delete policies, the QueryPolicy interface is used to query policy information, and the Activate / Deactivate Policy interface is used to activate and deactivate policies. Tables 1.1 and 1.2 provide descriptions of the CreatePolicy and UpdatePolicy interfaces, respectively. In these tables, the "Direction" column indicates the direction of parameter transmission, the "Parameter" column indicates the specific parameter name, and the "Parameter Description" column provides the corresponding description information. "M" indicates a required parameter, "C" indicates a required parameter condition, "O" indicates an optional parameter, "URL" indicates parameters are passed via Uniform Resource Locator (URL) format, and "Body" indicates the parameter is located in the Body structure.

[0079] Table 1.1

[0080]

[0081] Table 1.2

[0082]

[0083] In addition, the ETSI NFV-IFA working group proposed policy management operations such as Transfer / Delete Policy, Query Policy, Activate / Deactivate Policy, and Associate / Disassociate Policy. Specifically, Transfer / Delete Policy is used by the NFVO to send policy information to the VNFM; Delete Policy is used by the NFVO to initiate the deletion of policy information from the VNFM; Query Policy is used by the NFVO to query detailed policy information from the VNFM; Activate / Deactivate Policy is used for policy activation and deactivation; and Associate / Disassociate Policy is used for binding policies to specific VNF instances.

[0084] At least based on Figure 1 The architecture of the core cloud platform system shown in the present invention is presented in the following embodiments.

[0085] This invention provides an information processing method. Figure 2 This is a flowchart illustrating the information processing method according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 1 ,like Figure 2 As shown, the method includes:

[0086] Step 101: NFVO determines the first operation to be performed based on the first information record table and the second information record table; the first information record table is used to record the first relevant information of each policy created in the resource pool, as well as the association information between each policy and its corresponding network element instance; the second information record table is used to record the second relevant information of each network element instance in the resource pool; the first operation is used to manage the association relationship between policies in the resource pool and the network element instances corresponding to the policies; the first information record table is generated based on the obtained policy file, and the second information record table is generated based on the change operation of the network element instance;

[0087] Step 102: Send the first type of configuration parameters corresponding to the first operation to the VNFM through the first type of interface corresponding to the first operation; wherein, the first type of configuration parameters are used by the VNFM to execute the first operation.

[0088] In this embodiment, the first information record table is used to record the first relevant information of each policy created in the resource pool, as well as the association information between each policy and its corresponding network element instance, i.e., the policy information record table. The first relevant information of a policy includes at least the policy's relevant information and the relevant information of the network element instance associated with the policy. The policy's relevant information may include, for example, a policy identifier (ID, identity) and a policy type. The relevant information of the associated network element instance may include, for example, the network element instance's type, name, and unique identifier. The second information record table is used to record the second relevant information of each network element instance created or planned to be created in the resource pool, i.e., the network element instance information record table. The second relevant information may include, for example, the network element instance's type, name, and unique identifier.

[0089] It should be noted that in this embodiment, NFVO can generate or update the first information record table based on policy-related information in the policy file uploaded by the operator, and can generate or update the second information record table based on the change operation of the network element instance triggered by the operator. The policy-related information may include policy type, information related to the network element instance associated with the policy, etc. The change operation may be a lifecycle operation of the network element instance, such as instantiating the network element, updating the network element instance, terminating the network element instance, etc.

[0090] As an optional implementation, the contents of the first information record table can be created or updated by NFVO after completing policy management-related operations such as policy creation, policy deletion, and policy modification. The contents of the second information record table can be created or updated by NFVO after completing network element instance management-related operations such as network element instantiation, network element instance update, deletion, and termination.

[0091] Optionally, in step 101, the NFVO determining the first operation to be performed based on the first and second information record tables may include: the NFVO determining the policies that meet the conditions in the first information record table based on the second relevant information of each network element instance recorded in the second information record table and the first relevant information of each policy in the first information record table; and determining the first operation based on the association information corresponding to the policies that meet the conditions. Specifically, the conditions may include the network element instance corresponding to the policy not being recorded in the second information record table, the association information corresponding to the policy not being recorded in the first information record table, or the network element instance corresponding to the policy recorded in the first information record table changing, etc.

[0092] In this embodiment, different first operations can correspond to different first-type interfaces. The first-type interface is a policy association management interface, used to implement the orchestration and management of the association between policies and network element instances. Optionally, it can be based on... Figure 1 The Or-vnfm interface is used for implementation. In step 102, NFVO sends the first type of configuration parameters required to execute the first operation to VNFM through the first type of interface corresponding to the first operation. After VNFM executes the first operation based on the first type of configuration parameters, it can realize the association, deassociation, or update of association between policies and specific network element instances in the resource pool, etc., thereby enabling NFVO to manage the association relationship between policies and the network element instances corresponding to the policies.

[0093] This embodiment uses a first information record table to record created policy information and the association between policies and network element instances, and a second information record table to record created or planned network element instance information. After NFVO determines the required association management operation by retrieving relevant content from the first and second information record tables, it can call the corresponding first type interface to realize the automated management of the association between policies and specific instance network elements. This eliminates the need for manual triggering of policy association operations, reducing operational complexity and error susceptibility, while solving the problem in the current network that requires waiting for instance creation before policy creation.

[0094] In one embodiment, the first operation includes at least one of creating an association, updating an association, and deleting an association; wherein, when the first operation corresponding to the first type of interface is creating an association, the first type of configuration parameters includes at least a policy identifier, and one or more of an NS instance identifier list and a virtualization VNF instance identifier list; the first response information sent by the VNFM received through the first type of interface includes at least an association identifier; when the first operation corresponding to the first type of interface is updating an association, the first type of configuration parameters includes at least an association identifier, and one or more of an NS instance identifier list and a VNF instance identifier list; when the first operation corresponding to the first type of interface is deleting an association, the first type of configuration parameters includes at least an association identifier.

[0095] The following, in conjunction with Tables 2 to 4, provides a detailed explanation of the configuration parameters for different types of interfaces. In the tables, the "Parameter" column represents an example parameter name; the "Type" column represents the data type of the parameter; the "Parameter Description" column represents the descriptive information for the parameter; the "Required" column represents the limited type of the parameter; "URL" indicates that the parameter is passed via URL format; and "Body" indicates that the parameter is located in the Body structure.

[0096] When the first operation corresponding to the first type of interface is to create an association, the CreateAssociation interface can be extended in the Or-vnfm interface. This is used by the NFVO to send relevant policy information and network element instance information for creating the association to the VNFM. For example, the interface access method of the CreateAssociation interface can be POST / v1 / policies / associations, where "POST" indicates the operation type and "v1 / policies / associations" indicates the specific path information. Table 2.1 provides an exemplary description of the parameter passing direction of the CreateAssociation interface from NFVO to VNFM. As shown in Table 2.1, when the NFVO calls this first type of interface for creating an association, the first type of configuration parameters passed to the VNFM must at least include the policy ID, and depending on the network element instance, it must also include one or more of the NS instance ID list and the VNF instance ID list. Table 2.2 provides an example description of the parameter passing direction of the CreateAssociation interface from VNFM to NFVO. As shown in Table 2.2, after NFVO calls the CreateAssociation interface, the first response information returned by VNFM to NFVO must include at least the unique identifier of the association relationship (i.e., the association relationship identifier).

[0097] Table 2.1

[0098] parameter type Parameter Description Is it mandatory? URL / Body PolicyID String Strategy ID Required Body NsInstanceID Array NS instance ID list Required conditions Body VnfInstanceID Array VNF Instance ID List Conditions are required Body

[0099] Table 2.2

[0100] parameter type Parameter Description Is it mandatory? URL / Body AssociationID String Unique identifier of association Required Body

[0101] When the first operation corresponding to the first type of interface is updating association relationships, an UpdateAssociation interface can be added to the Or-vnfm interface. This interface is used by NFVO to send relevant network element instance information and association relationship information to VNFM to update the association relationships. For example, the interface access method of this UpdateAssociation interface can be PUT / v1 / policies / associations / {associationID}, where "PUT" indicates the operation type. Table 3 shows an example description of the parameter passing direction of the UpdateAssociation interface when it is from NFVO to VNFM. As shown in Table 3, when NFVO calls this first type of interface for updating association relationships, the first type of configuration parameters passed to VNFM must at least include the association relationship ID, and depending on the network element instance, must also include one or more of the NS instance ID list and the VNF instance ID list.

[0102] Table 3

[0103] parameter type Parameter Description Is it mandatory? URL / Body AssocaitionID String Relationship ID Required URL NsInstanceID Array NS instance ID list Required conditions Body VnfInstanceID Array VNF Instance ID List Required conditions Body

[0104] When the first operation corresponding to the first type of interface is to delete associations, a DeleteAssociation interface can be added to the Or-vnfm interface. This interface is used by the NFVO to send the association information to be deleted to the VNFM. For example, the interface access method of the DeleteAssociation interface can be Delete / v1 / policies / associations. Table 4 shows an example description of the parameter passing direction of the DeleteAssociation interface from the NFVO to the VNFM. As shown in Table 4, when the NFVO calls this first type of interface for deleting associations, the first type of configuration parameters passed to the VNFM must include at least the association ID.

[0105] Table 4

[0106] parameter type Parameter Description Is it mandatory? URL / Body AssocaitionID String Relationship ID Required Body

[0107] As an optional implementation, after step 102, the method further includes: step 103, whereby the NFVO updates the association information between the first operation management policy and the corresponding network element instance in the first information record table according to the first type of configuration parameters and / or the first response information.

[0108] Optionally, the association information includes at least an association identifier (ID); step 103 may include: when the first operation is to create an association, NFVO updates the association ID of the policy indicated by the policy ID in the first information record table according to the policy ID in the first type of configuration parameters and the association identifier in the first response information; when the first operation is to update an association, NFVO updates the relevant information of the network element instance associated with the policy corresponding to the association ID in the first type of configuration parameters in the first information record table according to the relevant information of the network element instance in the first type of configuration parameters (such as NS instance ID list, VNF instance ID list, etc.); when the first operation is to delete an association, NFVO deletes the association ID in the first information record table according to the association ID in the first type of configuration parameters.

[0109] This embodiment uses a first-class interface for managing multiple Or-vnfm policy associations to achieve at least the automatic creation, updating, or deletion of the association between policies and specific network element instances, thereby improving the automation level of NFVO's policy orchestration and management.

[0110] Based on steps 101 to 102 or 101 to 103 of the aforementioned embodiments, this embodiment of the invention also provides an information processing method. This embodiment provides a detailed description of the process of obtaining a first information record table. In this embodiment, the first relevant information includes at least information related to a policy identifier, a policy type, and network element instances associated with the policy; optionally, the method further includes:

[0111] Step 201: The NFVO determines the second operation to be performed, the second operation being used to manage policies in the resource pool; and sends the second type of configuration parameters corresponding to the second operation to the VNFM through the second type of interface corresponding to the second operation; wherein, the second type of configuration parameters are used by the VNFM to execute the second operation;

[0112] Step 202: Based on the second type of configuration parameters and / or the second response information sent by the VNFM received through the second type of interface, determine the first relevant information of the second operation management strategy in the first information record table.

[0113] In this embodiment, different second operations can correspond to different second-type interfaces. The second-type interface is a policy management interface, used to implement policy orchestration and management, specifically based on... Figure 1 The Or-vnfm interface is used for implementation. In step 201, the NFVO sends the second type of configuration parameters required to execute the second operation to the VNFM through the second type of interface corresponding to the second operation. After the VNFM executes the second operation based on the second type of configuration parameters, it can realize the creation, updating, or deletion of policies in the resource pool, etc., thereby enabling the NFVO to manage policies. Optionally, the second operation can be triggered by an operator. For example, the operator selects a policy file on the NFVO and configures the type of the policy and the relevant information of the associated network element instance to trigger the policy creation process.

[0114] In one embodiment, step 202 may include: updating the first relevant information in the first information record table based on one or more of the instance information associated with the policy in the second type of configuration parameters, the policy type, and the policy identifier in the second response information.

[0115] As an optional implementation, the second operation includes at least creating a policy and / or updating a policy; wherein, when the second operation corresponding to the second type of interface is creating a policy, the second type of configuration parameters includes at least a policy type, policy-associated instance information, NFVO identifier, VNFM identifier, and policy content; wherein, the policy-associated instance information includes at least one or more of NS instance type, VNF instance type, NS instance name list, and VNF instance name list; the second response information includes at least a policy identifier; when the second operation corresponding to the second type of interface is updating a policy, the second type of configuration parameters includes at least policy-associated instance information, NFVO identifier, VNFM identifier, and policy content; wherein, the policy-associated instance information includes at least one or more of NS instance name list and VNF instance name list.

[0116] Optionally, the strategy type includes a first type and a second type; wherein, when the strategy type in the second type configuration parameter is the first type, the second type configuration parameter further includes an NS instance type or a VNF instance type; when the strategy type in the second type configuration parameter is the second type, the second type configuration parameter further includes a list of NS instance names or a list of VNF instance names.

[0117] Specifically, this embodiment divides policy types into generic and specified types. When the policy type is generic, it indicates that the policy is used for a type of network element (NS / VNF) instance, and the second type of configuration parameters must carry the NS instance type or VNF instance type. When the policy type is specified, it indicates that the policy is used for a specific NS / VNF instance, and the second type of configuration parameters must carry the NS instance name list or VNF instance name list.

[0118] The following sections, in conjunction with Tables 5 and 6, provide a detailed explanation of the configuration parameters for different types of interfaces.

[0119] When the second operation corresponding to the second type of interface is policy creation, the CreatePolicy interface can be extended in the Or-vnfm interface for NFVO to send relevant information about the policy to be created to VNFM. For example, the interface access method of this CreatePolicy interface can be POST / v1 / policies. Table 5.1 provides an exemplary description of the parameter passing direction of the CreatePolicy interface from NFVO to VNFM. As shown in Table 5.1, when NFVO calls this second type of interface for policy creation, the second type of configuration parameters passed to VNFM must at least include the policy type, the instance information associated with the policy, the NFVO identifier, the VNFM identifier, and the policy content. Depending on the policy type, it must also include one or more of the following: NS instance type, VNF instance type, a list of NS instance names, and a list of VNF instance names. Table 5.2 provides an exemplary description of the parameter passing direction of the CreatePolicy interface from VNFM to NFVO. As shown in Table 5.2, after NFVO calls this CreatePolicy interface, the second response information returned by VNFM to NFVO must at least include the policy identifier.

[0120] Table 5.1

[0121]

[0122] Table 5.2

[0123] parameter type Parameter Description Is it mandatory? URL / Body PolicyId String Strategy Identifier Required Body

[0124] When the second operation corresponding to the second type of interface is to update the policy, the UpdatePolicy interface can be extended in the Or-vnfm interface. This is used by the NFVO to send relevant information about the policy to be updated to the VNFM. The interface access method of the UpdatePolicy interface can be PUT / v1 / policies / {policyID}. Table 6 shows an exemplary description of the parameter passing direction of the UpdatePolicy interface when it is from NFVO to VNFM. As shown in Table 6, when the NFVO calls this second type of interface for updating the policy, the second type of configuration parameters passed to the VNFM must include at least the instance information associated with the policy, the NFVO identifier, the VNFM identifier, and the policy content. Depending on the network element instance, it must also include one or more of the NS instance name list and the VNF instance name list.

[0125] Table 6

[0126]

[0127]

[0128] In step 202, optionally, when the policy type in the second type of configuration parameters is the first type and the policy managed by the second operation is used for an NS instance, the first related information of the policy in the first information record table is determined to include the NS instance type and NS instance identifier, or, include the NS instance type, NS instance identifier, and NS instance name; when the policy type in the second type of configuration parameters is the first type and the policy managed by the second operation is used for a VNF instance, the first related information of the policy in the first information record table includes the VNF instance type and VNF instance identifier, or, includes the VNF instance type, VNF instance identifier, and VNF instance name; when the policy type in the second type of configuration parameters is the second type and the policy managed by the second operation is used for an NS instance, the first related information of the policy in the first information record table includes the NS instance name and NS instance identifier; when the policy type in the second type of configuration parameters is the second type and the policy managed by the second operation is used for a VNF instance, the first related information of the policy in the first information record table includes the VNF instance name and VNF instance identifier.

[0129] It should be noted that this refers to creating VNF instances and network connections between instances in a non-Software Defined Network (SDN) environment. With the introduction of SDN, Figure 3 This is a diagram illustrating the logical relationship between NS instances and VNF instances. For example... Figure 3 As shown, virtual resources are deployed in the form of NS. Each NS instance contains one or more VNF instances, as well as virtual links (VLs) and network connectivity resources required for communication and interaction between VNF instances.

[0130] Table 7 provides an exemplary description of the parameters included in the first information record table. As shown in Table 7, the first related information of the policy in the first information record table includes Policy ID, Policy Type, NS Instance Type associated with the policy, VNF Instance Type associated with the policy, NS Instance Name associated with the policy, VNF Instance Name associated with the policy, NS Instance ID associated with the policy, and VNF Instance ID associated with the policy. The association information between the policy and the corresponding network element instance in the first information record table includes an association ID.

[0131] Table 7

[0132]

[0133] In step 202, please refer to Table 7. When the policy type is Generic and the policy is used for a certain type of NS instance, the NS Type and NS ID must be filled in the first information record table. The VNF Type, VNF Name, and VNF ID do not need to be filled in, and the NSName is optional. When the policy type is Generic and the policy is used for a certain type of VNF instance, the VNF Type and VNF ID must be filled in the first information record table. The NS Type, NS Name, and NS ID do not need to be filled in, and the VNF Name is optional. When the policy type is Specified and the policy is used for a specific NS instance, the NSName and NS ID must be filled in the first information record table. The NS Type, VNF Type, VNF Name, and VNF ID do not need to be filled in. When the policy type is Specified and the policy is used for a specific VNF instance, the VNF Name and VNF ID must be filled in the first information record table. The NS Type, VNF Type, NS Name, and NS ID do not need to be filled in.

[0134] This embodiment introduces fields such as policy type and instance information associated with the policy into the Or-vnfm policy management interface, enabling policy creation based on general or specific types. At the same time, through the first and second information record tables, it solves the problem of waiting for instance creation before policy creation in the current network, so that policies can be automatically associated with a type of NS / VNF instance, or one or more NS / VNF instances, improving the flexibility and portability of policy use.

[0135] Based on the foregoing embodiments, this embodiment of the invention also provides an information processing method. This embodiment provides a detailed description of the process of obtaining a second information record table. In this embodiment, when the network element instance in the resource pool is a VNF network element, the second relevant information of the network element instance in the second information record table includes at least VNF ​​instance type, VNF instance name, and VNF instance identifier; when the network element instance in the resource pool is an NS network element, the second relevant information of the network element instance in the second information record table includes at least NS instance type, NS instance name, NS instance identifier, VNF instance type, VNF instance name, and VNF instance identifier; optionally, the method further includes:

[0136] Step 301: The NFVO performs the lifecycle operation of the network element instance and determines the second relevant information of the network element instance corresponding to the lifecycle operation in the second information record table; the lifecycle operation includes at least one of instantiating the network element, updating the network element instance, terminating the network element instance, and deleting the network element record.

[0137] A network element instance can be an NS instance or a VNF instance. For example, the lifecycle operations are changes to the network element instance. These operations can be used to increase the number of NS or VNF instances, such as NS instantiation, VNF instantiation, and NS updates, or to decrease the number of NS or VNF instances, such as NS termination, NS update, VNF termination, deletion of NS records (NSR), and deletion of VNF records (VNFR). Optionally, the lifecycle operations can be triggered by an operator. For example, an operator triggers an NS instance or VNF instance update or termination operation on the NFVO, causing a change in the number of NS instances or VNF instances.

[0138] Table 8 provides an exemplary description of the parameters included in the second information record table. As shown in Table 8, the second relevant information for a network element instance in the second information record table includes NS instance type, NS instance name, NS instance ID, VNF instance type, VNF instance name, and VNF instance ID.

[0139] Table 8

[0140]

[0141]

[0142] In step 301, please refer to Table 8. In an SDN environment, resources in the resource pool are deployed and created at the NS level. In this case, the NS Type, NS Name, and NS Instance ID fields in the second information record table need to be filled in, and the VNF instance information contained in the NS instance is recorded through the VNF Type, VNF Name, and VNF Instance ID fields. In a non-SDN environment, resources in the resource pool are deployed and created at the VNF level. In this case, the NS Type, NS Name, and NSInstance ID fields in the second information record table do not need to be filled in, but the VNF Type, VNF Name, and VNF Instance ID fields need to be filled in to record VNF instance related information.

[0143] This invention also provides an information processing method. Figure 4 This is a flowchart illustrating the information processing method according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 2 ,like Figure 4 As shown, the method includes:

[0144] Step 401: NFVO determines the first operation to be performed based on the first information record table and the second information record table; the first information record table is used to record the first relevant information of each policy created in the resource pool, as well as the association information between each policy and its corresponding network element instance; the second information record table is used to record the second relevant information of each network element instance in the resource pool; the first operation is used to manage the association relationship between policies in the resource pool and the network element instances corresponding to the policies; the first information record table is generated based on the obtained policy file, and the second information record table is generated based on the change operation of the network element instance;

[0145] Wherein, the first relevant information includes at least one or more of the following: policy identifier, policy type, and information related to the network element instance associated with the policy; the association relationship information includes at least one of the following: association relationship identifier; the first operation includes at least one of the following: creating an association relationship, updating an association relationship, and deleting an association relationship; the second relevant information includes at least one or more of the following: network element instance type, network element instance name, and network element instance identifier.

[0146] Step 402: Send the first type of configuration parameters corresponding to the first operation to the VNFM through the first type of interface corresponding to the first operation; wherein, the first type of configuration parameters are used by the VNFM to execute the first operation;

[0147] Step 403: Update the association information between the first operation management policy and the corresponding network element instance in the first information record table according to the first type of configuration parameters and / or the first response information sent by the VNFM received through the first type of interface.

[0148] For a detailed description of steps 401 to 403 in this embodiment, please refer to the relevant descriptions of steps 101 to 103 in the previous embodiments. To save space, they will not be repeated here.

[0149] Optionally, the network element instance is an NS instance or a VNF instance.

[0150] In step 401, the NFVO determines the first operation to be performed based on the first information record table and the second information record table, which may include: retrieving the first relevant information of the policy recorded in the first information record table according to the second relevant information of the network element instance recorded in the second information record table; determining that the first operation is to create an association relationship if there is a network element instance in the second information record table that is not associated with the policy recorded in the first information record table, and the first information record table does not have association information between the policy and the corresponding network element instance; determining that the first operation is to update the association relationship if there is a network element instance in the second information record table that is not associated with the policy recorded in the first information record table, and the first information record table already has association information between the policy and the corresponding network element instance; and determining that the first operation is to delete the association relationship if there is a network element instance corresponding to the policy in the first information record table that is not recorded in the second information record table.

[0151] For example, the first operation of creating an association may specifically include: the policy type of the policy in the first information record table is Generic (first type), and the policy is used for a certain type of NS instance, and all created NS instances of that type in the second information record table have not yet been associated with the policy, and the first information record table does not record the association ID corresponding to the policy; the policy type of the policy in the first information record table is Generic, and the policy is used for a certain type of VNF instance, and all created VNF instances of that type in the second information record table have not yet been associated with the policy, and the first information record table does not record the association ID corresponding to the policy; the policy type of the policy in the first information record table is Specified (second type), and the policy is used for a specific NS instance, and all created NS instances of that specific type in the second information record table have not yet been associated with the policy; the policy type of the policy in the first information record table is Specified, and the policy is used for a specific VNF instance, and all created VNF instances of that specific type in the second information record table have not yet been associated with the policy; and so on.

[0152] The first operation, which updates the association relationship, may specifically include: the policy type in the first information record table is Generic, and the policy is used for a certain type of NS instance; all created NS instances of that type in the second information record table have not yet been associated with the policy, and the association relationship ID corresponding to the policy has been recorded in the first information record table; the policy type in the first information record table is Generic, and the policy is used for a certain type of VNF; all created VNF instances of that type in the second information record table have not yet been associated with the policy, and the association relationship ID corresponding to the policy already exists in the first information record table; and so on.

[0153] The first operation, which involves deleting the association, may specifically include: the network element instance corresponding to the policy in the first information record table is not recorded in the second information record table; the relevant information of the network element instance associated with the policy in the first information record table is empty; and so on.

[0154] The information processing scheme of this invention will be described below in conjunction with specific application scenarios.

[0155] Figure 5 This is a flowchart illustrating the information processing method of this invention for automatically associating policies with newly created network element instances. In this example, before the creation of the NS instance or VNF, the policy file upload and policy creation have been completed. After the new NS instance or VNF instance is created, the NFVO automatically associates the policy with the corresponding NS instance or VNF instance based on the aforementioned information processing method. Specifically, as shown... Figure 5 As shown, the process includes:

[0156] Phase A: Strategy Creation;

[0157] Step A.1: The operator selects the uploaded policy file on the NFVO and fills in the relevant policy information, i.e., configures the type of the policy and the related instance information (such as NS / VNF Type, NS / VNF Name), triggering policy creation; Step A.2: The NFVO calls the Or-vnfm:CreatePolicy interface to create the policy; Step A.3: VNFM returns the unique policy identifier Policy ID; Step A.4: The NFVO writes the created policy information into the policy information record table (i.e., the first information record table).

[0158] Phase B: Create NS instance or VNF instance;

[0159] Step B.1: The operator triggers NS or VNF instance lifecycle operations (such as NS instantiation, VNF instantiation, NS update, etc.) on NFVO to increase the number of NS or VNF instances; Step B.2: Based on the changes to NS and VNF instances, NFVO updates the NS / VNF instance information record table (i.e., the second information record table) to record the relevant information of the newly added instance.

[0160] Phase C: Automated association between strategies and instances;

[0161] Step C.1: NFVO retrieves the policy information record table. Based on the policy type, instance type, instance name, and changes in information in the NS / VNF instance information record table, proceed to step C.2 if any of the following conditions are met:

[0162] Condition 1: The strategy type is Generic and it is used for a certain type of NS instance. All existing NS instances of this type have not yet been associated with this strategy, and there is no corresponding Association ID.

[0163] Condition 2: If the policy type is Generic and it is used for a certain type of VNF instance, all created VNF instances of this type have not yet been associated with this policy, and there is no corresponding Association ID;

[0164] Condition 3: The strategy type is Generic and it is used for a certain type of NS instance. All created NS instances of this type have not yet been associated with this strategy, but there is a corresponding Association ID.

[0165] Condition 4: If the policy type is Generic and it is used for a certain type of VNF instance, all created VNF instances of this type have not yet been associated with this policy, but there is a corresponding Association ID;

[0166] Condition 5: If the policy type is Specified and it is used for a specific NS instance, not all the corresponding created NS instances have been associated with this policy;

[0167] Condition 6: If the policy type is Specified and it is used for a specific VNF instance, not all of the corresponding created VNF instances have been associated with this policy;

[0168] Step C.2: If conditions 1, 2, 5, or 6 in step C.1 are met, then NFVO calls the Or-vnfm:CreateAssociation interface based on the NS / VNF instance information record table to create an association between the policy and the corresponding instance; if conditions 3 or 4 in step C.1 are met, then NFVO calls the Or-vnfm:UpdateAssociation interface to update the association between the policy and the corresponding instance; Step C.3: If NFVO calls the Or-vnfm:CreateAssociation interface in step C.2, then VNFM returns the Association ID; if NFVO calls the Or-vnfm:UpdateAssociation interface, then VNFM does not need to return the Association ID; Step C.4: NFVO writes the corresponding association information into the policy information record table.

[0169] Figure 6 This is a flowchart illustrating the information processing method of this invention for automatically updating policy association relationships after a network element instance is deleted. In this example, after an NS instance or VNF instance is deleted, the NFVO automatically updates the policy association relationship with the instance based on the information processing method of the aforementioned embodiment and the changes in relevant instance resources. Figure 6 As shown, the process includes:

[0170] Deleting a Phase D, NS instance, or VNF instance;

[0171] Step D.1: NFVO reduces the number of NS or VNF instances by calling NS / VNF lifecycle operations (including NS termination, NS update, VNF termination, NSR deletion, VNFR deletion, etc.); Step D.2: Based on the changes to NS and VNF instances, NFVO deletes the information of the corresponding instances and updates the NS / VNF instance information record table.

[0172] Phase E: Automated updates of the relationship between policies and instances;

[0173] Step E.1: NFVO retrieves the policy information record table based on the deleted NS or VNF instance ID, and obtains the corresponding Association ID based on the information changes in the NS / VNF instance information record table. Step E.2: NFVO calls the Or-vnfm:UpdateAssociation interface, carrying the Association ID, to update the association between the policy and the instance. Step E.3: NFVO updates the policy information record table. Step E.4: NFVO searches the policy information record table to determine if there is an empty NS or VNF instance information corresponding to the association. If it exists, it calls the Or-vnfm:DeleteAssociation interface to delete the association; if it does not exist, this step is unnecessary.

[0174] In the above example, the CreatePolicy interface is the second type of interface used to create policies in the aforementioned embodiments; the CreateAssociation interface, UpdateAssociation interface, and DeleteAssociation interface are the first type of interfaces used to create associations, update associations, and delete associations in the aforementioned embodiments, respectively; the policy information record table is the first information record table, and the NS / VNF instance information record table is the second information record table.

[0175] This example, based on the policy management requirements in the network cloud, extends the existing policy management interface and adds a policy association management interface. Combining the policy information record table and the NS / VNF instance information record table, it constructs an end-to-end operation solution for policy management based on NFV, realizing automated policy management.

[0176] This invention also provides an information processing device. Figure 7 This is a schematic diagram of the composition structure of the information processing device according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 1 ,like Figure 7 As shown, the information processing device 500 includes:

[0177] The processing module 501 is used to determine a first operation to be performed based on a first information record table and a second information record table; the first information record table is used to record the first relevant information of each policy created in the resource pool, as well as the association information between each policy and its corresponding network element instance; the second information record table is used to record the second relevant information of each network element instance in the resource pool; the first operation is used to manage the association relationship between policies in the resource pool and the network element instances corresponding to the policies; the first information record table is generated based on the obtained policy file, and the second information record table is generated based on the change operation of the network element instance;

[0178] The sending module 502 is used to send the first type of configuration parameters corresponding to the first operation to the VNFM through the first type of interface corresponding to the first operation; wherein, the first type of configuration parameters are used by the VNFM to perform the first operation.

[0179] In an optional embodiment of the present invention, the device 600 further includes a receiving module, configured to receive first response information sent by the VNFM through the first type of interface; the first operation includes at least one of creating an association, updating an association, and deleting an association; wherein, when the first operation corresponding to the first type of interface is creating an association, the first type of configuration parameters includes at least a policy identifier, and one or more of an NS instance identifier list and a VNF instance identifier list; the first response information received by the receiving module includes at least an association identifier; when the first operation corresponding to the first type of interface is updating an association, the first type of configuration parameters includes at least an association identifier, and one or more of an NS instance identifier list and a VNF instance identifier list; when the first operation corresponding to the first type of interface is deleting an association, the first type of configuration parameters includes at least an association identifier.

[0180] In an optional embodiment of the present invention, the first relevant information includes at least the policy identifier, policy type, and information related to the network element instance associated with the policy;

[0181] The processing module 501 is further configured to determine a second operation to be performed, the second operation being used to manage policies in the resource pool; the sending module 502 is further configured to send a second type of configuration parameter corresponding to the second operation to the VNFM through a second type of interface corresponding to the second operation; wherein, the second type of configuration parameter is used by the VNFM to execute the second operation;

[0182] The receiving module is also configured to receive the second response information sent by the VNFM through the second type of interface;

[0183] The processing module 501 is further configured to determine the first relevant information of the second operation management strategy in the first information record table based on the second type of configuration parameters sent by the sending module 502 and / or the second response information received by the receiving module.

[0184] In an optional embodiment of the present invention, the second operation includes at least creating a policy and / or updating a policy; wherein, when the second operation corresponding to the second type of interface is creating a policy, the second type of configuration parameters includes at least a policy type, policy-associated instance information, NFVO identifier, VNFM identifier, and policy content; wherein, the policy-associated instance information includes at least one or more of NS instance type, VNF instance type, NS instance name list, and VNF instance name list; the second response information includes at least a policy identifier; and when the second operation corresponding to the second type of interface is updating a policy, the second type of configuration parameters includes at least policy-associated instance information, NFVO identifier, VNFM identifier, and policy content; wherein, the policy-associated instance information includes at least one or more of NS instance name list and VNF instance name list.

[0185] In an optional embodiment of the present invention, the strategy type includes a first type and a second type; wherein, when the strategy type in the second type configuration parameter is the first type, the second type configuration parameter further includes an NS instance type or a VNF instance type; when the strategy type in the second type configuration parameter is the second type, the second type configuration parameter further includes a list of NS instance names or a list of VNF instance names.

[0186] In an optional embodiment of the present invention, when the policy type in the second type of configuration parameters is of the first type and the policy managed by the second operation is used for an NS instance, the first related information of the policy in the first information record table is determined to include the NS instance type and the NS instance identifier, or, it includes the NS instance type, the NS instance identifier, and the NS instance name; when the policy type in the second type of configuration parameters is of the first type and the policy managed by the second operation is used for a VNF instance, the first related information of the policy in the first information record table includes the VNF instance type and the VNF instance identifier, or, it includes the VNF instance type, the VNF instance identifier, and the VNF instance name; when the policy type in the second type of configuration parameters is of the second type and the policy managed by the second operation is used for an NS instance, the first related information of the policy in the first information record table includes the NS instance name and the NS instance identifier; when the policy type in the second type of configuration parameters is of the second type and the policy managed by the second operation is used for a VNF instance, the first related information of the policy in the first information record table includes the VNF instance name and the VNF instance identifier.

[0187] In an optional embodiment of the present invention, when the network element instance in the resource pool is a VNF network element, the second relevant information of the network element instance in the second information record table includes at least the VNF instance type, VNF instance name, and VNF instance identifier; when the network element instance in the resource pool is an NS network element, the second relevant information of the network element instance in the second information record table includes at least the NS instance type, NS instance name, NS instance identifier, VNF instance type, VNF instance name, and VNF instance identifier; the processing module 501 is further configured to perform lifecycle operations of the network element instance and determine the second relevant information of the network element instance corresponding to the lifecycle operation in the second information record table; the lifecycle operation includes at least one of instantiating the network element, updating the network element instance, terminating the network element instance, and deleting the network element record.

[0188] In an optional embodiment of the present invention, the processing module 501 is further configured to update the association information between the first operation management strategy and the corresponding network element instance in the first information record table according to the first type of configuration parameters and / or the first response information.

[0189] In an optional embodiment of the present invention, the processing module 501 is further configured to: retrieve the first relevant information of the strategy recorded in the first information record table based on the second relevant information of the network element instance recorded in the second information record table; determine that the first operation is to create an association relationship if there is a network element instance in the second information record table that is not associated with the strategy recorded in the first information record table, and the first information record table does not contain association information between the strategy and the corresponding network element instance; determine that the first operation is to update the association relationship if there is a network element instance in the second information record table that is not associated with the strategy recorded in the first information record table, and the first information record table already contains association information between the strategy and the corresponding network element instance; and determine that the first operation is to delete the association relationship if there is a network element instance corresponding to the strategy in the first information record table that is not recorded in the second information record table.

[0190] In this embodiment of the invention, the processing module 501 in the information processing device 500 can be implemented by a central processing unit (CPU), digital signal processor (DSP), microcontroller unit (MCU), or field-programmable gate array (FPGA) in the terminal in practical applications; the transmitting module 502 and the receiving module in the terminal can be implemented by a communication module (including: basic communication kit, operating system, communication module, standardized interface and protocol, etc.) and transceiver antenna in practical applications.

[0191] It should be noted that the information processing device provided in the above embodiments is only illustrated by the division of the above program modules. In practical applications, the above processing can be assigned to different program modules as needed, that is, the internal structure of the device can be divided into different program modules to complete all or part of the processing described above. In addition, the information processing device and the information processing method embodiments provided in the above embodiments belong to the same concept, and their specific implementation process can be found in the method embodiments, which will not be repeated here.

[0192] This invention also provides a network device. Figure 8 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a network device according to an embodiment of the present invention. For example, the network device 600 may be... Figure 1 NFVO in. Figure 8 The network device 600 shown includes at least one processor 601, a memory 602, and at least one network interface 603. The various components in the network device 600 are coupled together via a bus system 604. It is understood that the bus system 604 is used to implement communication between these components. In addition to a data bus, the bus system 604 also includes a power bus, a control bus, and a status signal bus. However, for clarity, in... Figure 8 The general designated all buses as Bus System 604.

[0193] It is understood that memory 602 can be volatile memory or non-volatile memory, or both. Non-volatile memory can be read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), ferromagnetic random access memory (FRAM), flash memory, magnetic surface memory, optical disc, or compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM); magnetic surface memory can be disk storage or magnetic tape storage. Volatile memory can be random access memory (RAM), which is used as an external cache. By way of example, but not limitation, many forms of RAM are available, such as Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), Synchronous Static Random Access Memory (SSRAM), Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (SDRAM), Double Data Rate Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (DDRSDRAM), Enhanced Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (ESDRAM), SyncLink Dynamic Random Access Memory (SLDRAM), and Direct Rambus Random Access Memory (DRRAM).The memory 602 described in this embodiment of the invention is intended to include, but is not limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

[0194] The memory 602 in this embodiment of the invention is used to store various types of data to support the operation of the network device 600. Examples of such data include: any computer program used to operate on the network device 600, such as the program of the information processing method of this embodiment of the invention, data related to the first information record table, data related to the second information record table, etc.

[0195] The methods disclosed in the above embodiments of the present invention can be applied to processor 601, or implemented by processor 601. Processor 601 may be an integrated circuit chip with signal processing capabilities. In the implementation process, each step of the above method can be completed by the integrated logic circuit of the hardware in processor 601 or by instructions in the form of software. The processor 601 may be a general-purpose processor, DSP, or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, etc. Processor 601 can implement or execute the methods, steps, and logic block diagrams disclosed in the embodiments of the present invention. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor, etc. The steps of the methods disclosed in the embodiments of the present invention can be directly manifested as being executed by a hardware decoding processor, or being executed by a combination of hardware and software modules in the decoding processor. The software modules may be located in a storage medium, which is located in memory 602. Processor 601 reads the information in memory 602 and combines its hardware to complete the steps of the aforementioned method.

[0196] In an exemplary embodiment, the network device 600 may be implemented by one or more application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), DSPs, programmable logic devices (PLDs), complex programmable logic devices (CPLDs), FPGAs, general-purpose processors, controllers, MCUs, microprocessors, or other electronic components to perform the aforementioned method.

[0197] In an exemplary embodiment, the present invention also provides a computer-readable storage medium, such as a memory 602 including a computer program, which can be executed by a processor 601 of a network device 600 to complete the steps described in the foregoing method. The computer-readable storage medium may be a memory such as FRAM, ROM, PROM, EPROM, EEPROM, Flash Memory, magnetic surface memory, optical disc, or CD-ROM; or it may be various devices including one or any combination of the above-mentioned memories, such as mobile phones, computers, tablet devices, personal digital assistants, etc.

[0198] The methods disclosed in the several method embodiments provided in this application can be arbitrarily combined without conflict to obtain new method embodiments.

[0199] The features disclosed in the several product embodiments provided in this application can be arbitrarily combined without conflict to obtain new product embodiments.

[0200] The features disclosed in the several method or device embodiments provided in this application can be arbitrarily combined without conflict to obtain new method or device embodiments.

[0201] In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed devices and methods can be implemented in other ways. The device embodiments described above are merely illustrative. For example, the division of units is only a logical functional division, and in actual implementation, there may be other division methods, such as: multiple units or components can be combined, or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. In addition, the coupling, direct coupling, or communication connection between the various components shown or discussed can be through some interfaces, and the indirect coupling or communication connection between devices or units can be electrical, mechanical, or other forms.

[0202] The units described above as separate components may or may not be physically separate. The components shown as units may or may not be physical units, that is, they may be located in one place or distributed across multiple network units. Some or all of the units may be selected to achieve the purpose of this embodiment according to actual needs.

[0203] In addition, in the various embodiments of the present invention, each functional unit can be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit can be a separate unit, or two or more units can be integrated into one unit; the integrated unit can be implemented in hardware or in the form of hardware plus software functional units.

[0204] Those skilled in the art will understand that all or part of the steps of the above method embodiments can be implemented by hardware related to program instructions. The aforementioned program can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. When the program is executed, it performs the steps of the above method embodiments. The aforementioned storage medium includes various media that can store program code, such as mobile storage devices, ROM, RAM, magnetic disks, or optical disks.

[0205] Alternatively, if the integrated units of this invention are implemented as software functional modules and sold or used as independent products, they can also be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solutions of the embodiments of this invention, or the parts that contribute to the prior art, can be embodied in the form of a software product. This computer software product is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions to cause a computer device (which may be a personal computer, server, or network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the methods described in the various embodiments of this invention. The aforementioned storage medium includes various media capable of storing program code, such as mobile storage devices, ROM, RAM, magnetic disks, or optical disks.

[0206] The above description is merely a specific embodiment of the present invention, but the scope of protection of the present invention is not limited thereto. Any variations or substitutions that can be easily conceived by those skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosed in the present invention should be included within the scope of protection of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of protection of the present invention should be determined by the scope of the claims.

Claims

1. An information processing method, characterized in that, The method includes: The Network Function Virtualization Orchestrator (NFVO) determines the first operation to be performed based on a first information record table and a second information record table. The first information record table records the first relevant information of each policy created in the resource pool, as well as the association information between each policy and its corresponding network element instance. The second information record table records the second relevant information of each network element instance in the resource pool. The first operation is used to manage the association relationship between policies in the resource pool and the network element instances corresponding to the policies. The first information record table is generated based on the obtained policy file, and the second information record table is generated based on the change operation of the network element instance. The first type of configuration parameters corresponding to the first operation are sent to the Virtual Network Function Manager (VNFM) through the first type of interface corresponding to the first operation; wherein, the first type of configuration parameters are used by the VNFM to execute the first operation.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The first operation includes at least one of creating a relationship, updating a relationship, and deleting a relationship; wherein, When the first operation corresponding to the first type of interface is to create an association, the first type of configuration parameters include at least a policy identifier, and one or more of the Network Service NS instance identifier list and the Virtualized Network Function VNF instance identifier list; the first response information sent by the VNFM received through the first type of interface includes at least an association identifier. When the first operation corresponding to the first type of interface is to update the association relationship, the first type of configuration parameters includes at least an association relationship identifier, and one or more of the NS instance identifier list and the VNF instance identifier list; When the first operation corresponding to the first type of interface is to delete the association, the first type of configuration parameters shall include at least the association identifier.

3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that, The first relevant information includes at least information about the policy identifier, policy type, and network element instance associated with the policy; the method further includes: The NFVO determines a second operation to be performed, which is used to manage policies in the resource pool; and sends a second type of configuration parameters corresponding to the second operation to the VNFM through a second type of interface corresponding to the second operation; wherein, the second type of configuration parameters are used by the VNFM to execute the second operation; Based on the second type of configuration parameters and / or the second response information sent by the VNFM received through the second type of interface, determine the first relevant information of the second operation management strategy in the first information record table.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that, The second operation includes at least creating a policy and / or updating a policy; wherein, When the second operation corresponding to the second type of interface is to create a policy, the second type of configuration parameters include at least the policy type, the instance information associated with the policy, the NFVO identifier, the VNFM identifier, and the policy content; wherein, the instance information associated with the policy includes at least one or more of the following: NS instance type, VNF instance type, NS instance name list, and VNF instance name list; the second response information includes at least the policy identifier. When the second operation corresponding to the second type of interface is to update the policy, the second type of configuration parameters includes at least the instance information associated with the policy, the NFVO identifier, the VNFM identifier, and the policy content; wherein, the instance information associated with the policy includes at least one or more of the NS instance name list and the VNF instance name list.

5. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that, The strategy types include a first type and a second type; wherein... When the strategy type in the second type of configuration parameters is the first type, the second type of configuration parameters also includes NS instance type or VNF instance type; When the policy type in the second type of configuration parameters is the second type, the second type of configuration parameters also includes a list of NS instance names or a list of VNF instance names.

6. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that, When the policy type in the second type of configuration parameters is the first type and the policy of the second operation management is used for NS instance, it is determined that the first related information of the policy in the first information record table includes NS instance type and NS instance identifier, or includes NS instance type, NS instance identifier and NS instance name; When the policy type in the second type of configuration parameters is the first type and the policy managed by the second operation is used for a VNF instance, the first related information of the policy in the first information record table includes the VNF instance type and the VNF instance identifier, or includes the VNF instance type, the VNF instance identifier and the VNF instance name; When the policy type in the second type of configuration parameters is the second type and the policy managed by the second operation is used for an NS instance, the first relevant information of the policy in the first information record table includes the NS instance name and the NS instance identifier; When the policy type in the second type of configuration parameters is the second type and the policy managed by the second operation is used for a VNF instance, the first relevant information of the policy in the first information record table includes the VNF instance name and the VNF instance identifier.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that, When the network element instance in the resource pool is a VNF network element, the second relevant information of the network element instance in the second information record table includes at least the VNF instance type, VNF instance name, and VNF instance identifier; when the network element instance in the resource pool is an NS network element, the second relevant information of the network element instance in the second information record table includes at least the NS instance type, NS instance name, NS instance identifier, VNF instance type, VNF instance name, and VNF instance identifier; the method further includes: The NFVO performs lifecycle operations on network element instances and determines the second relevant information of the network element instance corresponding to the lifecycle operations in the second information record table; the lifecycle operations include at least one of instantiating a network element, updating a network element instance, terminating a network element instance, and deleting a network element record.

8. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 6, characterized in that, The method further includes: The NFVO updates the association information between the first operation management policy and the corresponding network element instance in the first information record table according to the first type of configuration parameters and / or the first response information.

9. The method according to any one of claims 3 to 6, characterized in that, The NFVO determines the first operation to be performed based on the first information record table and the second information record table, including: Based on the second relevant information of the network element instance recorded in the second information record table, retrieve the first relevant information of the strategy recorded in the first information record table; If there is a network element instance in the second information record table that is not associated with the policy recorded in the first information record table, and there is no association information between the policy and the corresponding network element instance in the first information record table, then the first operation is determined to be creating an association relationship. If there is a network element instance in the second information record table that is not associated with the policy recorded in the first information record table, and the first information record table already contains association information between the policy and the corresponding network element instance, then the first operation is determined to be updating the association relationship. If a network element instance corresponding to a strategy exists in the first information record table but is not recorded in the second information record table, the first operation is determined to be deleting the association relationship.

10. An information processing device, characterized in that, Applied to NFVO, the device includes: The processing module is used to determine the first operation to be performed based on a first information record table and a second information record table. The first information record table is used to record the first relevant information of each policy created in the resource pool, as well as the association information between each policy and its corresponding network element instance. The second information record table is used to record the second relevant information of each network element instance in the resource pool. The first operation is used to manage the association relationship between policies in the resource pool and the network element instances corresponding to the policies. The first information record table is generated based on the obtained policy file, and the second information record table is generated based on the change operation of the network element instance. The sending module is used to send the first type of configuration parameters corresponding to the first operation to the VNFM through the first type of interface corresponding to the first operation; wherein, the first type of configuration parameters are used by the VNFM to execute the first operation.

11. The apparatus according to claim 10, characterized in that, The device further includes a receiving module for receiving first response information sent by the VNFM through the first type of interface; the first operation includes at least one of creating an association, updating an association, and deleting an association; wherein... When the first operation corresponding to the first type of interface is to create an association, the first type of configuration parameters includes at least a policy identifier, and one or more of the NS instance identifier list and the VNF instance identifier list; the first response information received by the receiving module includes at least an association identifier; When the first operation corresponding to the first type of interface is to update the association relationship, the first type of configuration parameters includes at least an association relationship identifier, and one or more of the NS instance identifier list and the VNF instance identifier list; When the first operation corresponding to the first type of interface is to delete the association, the first type of configuration parameters shall include at least the association identifier.

12. The apparatus according to claim 11, characterized in that, The first relevant information includes at least the policy identifier, policy type, and information related to the network element instance associated with the policy; The processing module is further configured to determine a second operation to be performed, the second operation being used to manage policies in the resource pool; the sending module is further configured to send a second type of configuration parameters corresponding to the second operation to the VNFM through a second type of interface corresponding to the second operation; wherein, the second type of configuration parameters are used by the VNFM to execute the second operation; The receiving module is also configured to receive the second response information sent by the VNFM through the second type of interface; The processing module is further configured to determine, based on the second type of configuration parameters sent by the sending module and / or the second response information received by the receiving module, the first relevant information of the second operation management strategy in the first information record table.

13. The apparatus according to claim 12, characterized in that, The second operation includes at least creating a policy and / or updating a policy; wherein, When the second operation corresponding to the second type of interface is to create a policy, the second type of configuration parameters include at least the policy type, the instance information associated with the policy, the NFVO identifier, the VNFM identifier, and the policy content; wherein, the instance information associated with the policy includes at least one or more of the following: NS instance type, VNF instance type, NS instance name list, and VNF instance name list; the second response information includes at least the policy identifier. When the second operation corresponding to the second type of interface is to update the policy, the second type of configuration parameters includes at least the instance information associated with the policy, the NFVO identifier, the VNFM identifier, and the policy content; wherein, the instance information associated with the policy includes at least one or more of the NS instance name list and the VNF instance name list.

14. The apparatus according to claim 12, characterized in that, The strategy types include a first type and a second type; wherein... When the strategy type in the second type of configuration parameters is the first type, the second type of configuration parameters also includes NS instance type or VNF instance type; When the policy type in the second type of configuration parameters is the second type, the second type of configuration parameters also includes a list of NS instance names or a list of VNF instance names.

15. The apparatus according to claim 14, characterized in that, When the policy type in the second type of configuration parameters is the first type and the policy managed by the second operation is used for an NS instance, the first related information of the policy in the first information record table is determined to include the NS instance type and the NS instance identifier, or, it includes the NS instance type, the NS instance identifier and the NS instance name. When the policy type in the second type of configuration parameters is the first type and the policy managed by the second operation is used for a VNF instance, the first related information of the policy in the first information record table includes the VNF instance type and the VNF instance identifier, or includes the VNF instance type, the VNF instance identifier and the VNF instance name; When the policy type in the second type of configuration parameters is the second type and the policy managed by the second operation is used for an NS instance, the first relevant information of the policy in the first information record table includes the NS instance name and the NS instance identifier; When the policy type in the second type of configuration parameters is the second type and the policy managed by the second operation is used for a VNF instance, the first relevant information of the policy in the first information record table includes the VNF instance name and the VNF instance identifier.

16. The apparatus according to any one of claims 10 to 15, characterized in that, When the network element instance in the resource pool is a VNF network element, the second relevant information of the network element instance in the second information record table includes at least the VNF instance type, VNF instance name, and VNF instance identifier; when the network element instance in the resource pool is an NS network element, the second relevant information of the network element instance in the second information record table includes at least the NS instance type, NS instance name, NS instance identifier, VNF instance type, VNF instance name, and VNF instance identifier. The processing module is further configured to perform lifecycle operations on network element instances and determine second relevant information of the network element instance corresponding to the lifecycle operations in the second information record table; the lifecycle operations include at least one of instantiating a network element, updating a network element instance, terminating a network element instance, and deleting a network element record.

17. The apparatus according to any one of claims 11 to 15, characterized in that, The processing module is further configured to update the association information between the first operation management strategy and the corresponding network element instance in the first information record table according to the first type of configuration parameters and / or the first response information.

18. The apparatus according to any one of claims 12 to 15, characterized in that, The processing module is further configured to retrieve the first relevant information of the strategy recorded in the first information record table based on the second relevant information of the network element instance recorded in the second information record table; If there is a network element instance in the second information record table that is not associated with a policy recorded in the first information record table, and there is no association information between the policy and the corresponding network element instance in the first information record table, then the first operation is determined to be creating an association. If there is a network element instance in the second information record table that is not associated with the policy recorded in the first information record table, and the first information record table already contains association information between the policy and the corresponding network element instance, then the first operation is determined to be updating the association relationship. If a network element instance corresponding to a strategy exists in the first information record table but is not recorded in the second information record table, the first operation is determined to be deleting the association relationship.

19. A network device, comprising a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored in the memory and executable on the processor, characterized in that, When the processor executes the program, it implements the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 9.

20. A computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, characterized in that, When executed by a processor, the program implements the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 9.

Images