Data forwarding methods, devices, electronic equipment and storage media

Abstract

This application relates to the field of communication technology, and provides a data forwarding method, apparatus, electronic device, and storage medium. The method includes: distributively deploying multiple instance replicas of user plane network elements on a mobile IP bearer network; each instance replica includes a primary instance replica and multiple secondary instance replicas; the primary instance replica is used to synchronize configuration and status information of the primary instance replica with each secondary instance replica; and announcing anycast address routing messages of the service interfaces of each instance replica to forwarding devices in the mobile IP bearer network, so that the forwarding devices send the user's uplink traffic to a target instance replica according to the anycast address routing messages, and the target instance replica forwards the user's uplink traffic according to the configuration and status information. This application, by distributively deploying multiple instance replicas of user plane network elements on a mobile IP bearer network, achieves automatic selection of the nearest instance replica of the user plane network element for forwarding traffic data through dynamic routing of the bearer network, thereby improving data forwarding efficiency.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a data forwarding method, apparatus, electronic device, and storage medium. Background Technology

[0002] Against the backdrop of the development of mobile communication networks, edge computing, and proximity computing, the existing user plane network element reselection mechanism struggles to guarantee the continuity of low-latency service traffic for on-premises offloading and forwarding. Furthermore, this reselection mechanism exhibits lag when terminals move rapidly. Therefore, improving the efficiency of proximity data forwarding has become an urgent problem to solve. Summary of the Invention

[0003] This application provides a data forwarding method, apparatus, electronic device, and storage medium to solve the problem of low efficiency in data forwarding based on proximity in the prior art.

[0004] This application provides a data forwarding method, including:

[0005] On a mobile IP bearer network, multiple instance replicas of user plane network elements are deployed in a distributed manner; each instance replica includes a primary instance replica and multiple secondary instance replicas; the primary instance replica is used to synchronize the configuration information and status information of the primary instance replica to each of the secondary instance replicas;

[0006] The forwarding devices in the mobile IP bearer network are notified of the anycast address routing messages of the service interfaces of each instance replica, so that the forwarding devices can send the user's uplink traffic to the target instance replica according to the anycast address routing messages;

[0007] The target instance replica forwards the user's uplink traffic based on the configuration information and the status information; the target instance replica is the instance replica closest to the forwarding device.

[0008] According to a data forwarding method provided in this application, the primary instance replica is connected to a control plane network element; the synchronization methods for the configuration information and status information of the primary instance replica include periodic synchronization and event-driven synchronization.

[0009] The periodic synchronization indicates that the primary instance replica synchronizes the configuration information and the status information to each of the secondary instance replicas at a set time interval;

[0010] The event-driven synchronization characterizes the primary instance replica synchronizing the configuration information and the status information to each of the secondary instance replicas when it receives an update instruction sent by the control plane network element; the update instruction is used to instruct the updating of the configuration information and the status information.

[0011] According to a data forwarding method provided in this application, the step of announcing the anycast address routing message of the service interface of each instance replica to the forwarding device in the mobile IP bearer network includes:

[0012] Identify the business interfaces with the same interface type in each instance replica;

[0013] The forwarding devices in the mobile IP bearer network are notified of anycast address routing messages for service interfaces of the same interface type;

[0014] Service interfaces of the same type are assigned the same IP address.

[0015] According to a data forwarding method provided in this application, after announcing the anycast address routing message of the service interface of each instance replica to the forwarding device in the mobile IP bearer network, the method further includes:

[0016] If the instance replica is abnormal, then the notification of anycast address routing messages of the abnormal instance replica to the forwarding device is stopped.

[0017] According to a data forwarding method provided in this application, a bidirectional forwarding detection (BFD) session is established between the instance replica and the forwarding device; the abnormal instance replica is determined as follows:

[0018] If the instance replica does not send a BFD probe message to the forwarding device within a set time, then the instance replica is determined to be the abnormal instance replica.

[0019] According to a data forwarding method provided in this application, the status information includes at least Message Forwarding Control Protocol (PFCP) association information and Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session context information.

[0020] According to a data forwarding method provided in this application, the user's downlink traffic is sent from the data network DN-side host to its nearest instance replica.

[0021] This application provides a data forwarding apparatus, comprising:

[0022] The deployment module is used to distribute and deploy multiple instance replicas of user plane network elements on a mobile IP bearer network; the instance replicas include a primary instance replica and multiple secondary instance replicas; the primary instance replica is used to synchronize the configuration information and status information of the primary instance replica to each of the secondary instance replicas;

[0023] The forwarding module is used to notify the forwarding devices in the mobile IP bearer network of the anycast address routing message of the service interface of each instance replica, so that the forwarding devices can send the user's uplink traffic to the target instance replica according to the anycast address routing message; wherein, the target instance replica forwards the user's uplink traffic according to the configuration information and the status information; the target instance replica is the instance replica closest to the forwarding device.

[0024] This application also provides an electronic 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 any of the data forwarding methods described above.

[0025] This application also provides a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, which, when executed by a processor, implements the data forwarding method as described above.

[0026] The data forwarding method, apparatus, electronic device, and storage medium provided in this application distribute multiple instance replicas of user plane network elements on a mobile IP bearer network. Each instance replica includes a primary instance replica and multiple secondary instance replicas. The primary instance replica synchronizes its configuration and status information with each secondary instance replica. It also notifies forwarding devices in the mobile IP bearer network of anycast address routing messages for the service interfaces of each instance replica, enabling the forwarding devices to send user uplink traffic to a target instance replica based on the anycast address routing messages. The target instance replica then forwards the user's uplink traffic based on its configuration and status information. This application, by distributing multiple instance replicas of user plane network elements on a mobile IP bearer network, achieves automatic selection of the nearest instance replica of the user plane network element for forwarding traffic data through dynamic routing of the bearer network, thereby improving data forwarding efficiency. Attached Figure Description

[0027] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in this application or the prior art, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are some embodiments of this application. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative effort.

[0028] Figure 1 This is a flowchart illustrating the data forwarding method provided in this application;

[0029] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the data forwarding device provided in this application;

[0030] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of the electronic device provided in this application. Detailed Implementation

[0031] To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of this application clearer, the technical solutions of this application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some embodiments of this application, not all embodiments. Based on the embodiments of this application, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative effort are within the scope of protection of this application.

[0032] It should be noted that in the description of the embodiments of this application, the terms "comprising," "including," or any other variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that includes a list of elements includes not only those elements but also other elements not expressly listed, or elements inherent to such a process, method, article, or apparatus. Without further limitations, an element defined by the phrase "comprising one..." does not exclude the presence of other identical elements in the process, method, article, or apparatus that includes said element. The terms "upper," "lower," etc., indicating orientation or positional relationships based on the orientation or positional relationships shown in the accompanying drawings, are only for the convenience of describing this application and simplifying the description, and do not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, or be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore should not be construed as a limitation of this application. Unless otherwise expressly specified and limited, the terms "installed," "connected," and "linked" should be interpreted broadly, for example, they can be fixed connections, detachable connections, or integral connections; they can be mechanical connections or electrical connections; they can be direct connections or indirect connections through an intermediate medium; and they can be internal connections between two elements. Those skilled in the art can understand the specific meaning of the above terms in this application according to the specific circumstances.

[0033] The terms "first," "second," etc., used in this application are used to distinguish similar objects and not to describe a specific order or sequence. It should be understood that such data can be interchanged where appropriate so that embodiments of this application can be implemented in orders other than those illustrated or described herein, and the objects distinguished by "first," "second," etc., are generally of the same class, without limiting the number of objects; for example, a first object can be one or more. Furthermore, "and / or" indicates at least one of the connected objects, and the character " / " generally indicates that the preceding and following objects have an "or" relationship.

[0034] Vehicle-to-everything (V2X) and Cloud VR / AR services are gradually merging with mobile communication networks. V2X services require rapid connections to edge computing nodes deployed on a large scale near transportation infrastructure to analyze road information; while mobile Cloud VR / AR services need to frequently switch to the nearest service node to render real-time images. These services require deterministic network guarantees and extremely low end-to-end latency. However, the terminal devices currently widely using these services are mobile devices, which struggle to support low-latency services in wide-area, rapid switching scenarios. Therefore, efficient and rapid data traffic offloading technologies are needed to ensure the quality of service for these applications.

[0035] 5G networks offer differentiated network capabilities at the radio interface, including high bandwidth, low latency, and wide connectivity. With the large-scale deployment of 5G networks, leveraging their low latency and high bandwidth characteristics in wide-area coverage scenarios requires the extensive deployment of edge computing power to reduce end-to-end service latency. Therefore, efficiently and quickly selecting the nearest computing node to the user, while ensuring service continuity by offloading user data traffic to the nearest computing node, has become a key focus of 6G technology research and evolution.

[0036] In the control logic of the 5G core network, the SMF (Session Management Function) allocates a centrally deployed UPF (User Plane Function) as a user plane anchor point for each PDU (Protocol Data Unit) session, providing service continuity assurance services during data forwarding and handover. However, with the development and evolution of edge computing and distributed computing, offloading user service flows to the nearest service node (nearest routing) has become a critical requirement. Centralized UPF deployment schemes are difficult to meet latency requirements, while edge UPF deployment schemes involve complex processes and handover latency due to anchor point reselection, making it difficult to meet the proximity computing requirements in large-scale public networks.

[0037] To address the aforementioned issues, this application proposes a data forwarding method that enables the automatic selection of the nearest user plane network element instance for forwarding uplink and downlink traffic through dynamic routing of the bearer network, thereby improving the reliability of user plane connections.

[0038] The following is combined with Figures 1-3 This application describes a data forwarding method, apparatus, electronic device, and storage medium.

[0039] Specifically, this application provides a data forwarding method, referring to... Figure 1 , Figure 1 This is a flowchart illustrating the data forwarding method provided in this application.

[0040] The data forwarding method provided in this application includes:

[0041] Step 100: On the mobile IP bearer network, deploy multiple instance replicas of the user plane network element in a distributed manner.

[0042] Mobile IP bearer network refers to the network that carries IP data packets in mobile communication networks.

[0043] User plane network elements refer to user plane functions (UPFs), which are network functions responsible for handling user data traffic. They carry functions such as data forwarding, packet analysis, and processing in mobile networks.

[0044] User plane network element instance replicas (also known as user plane network element instance replicas) refer to multiple replicas of a user plane network element. These instance replicas can be deployed at different physical locations or network nodes. Each instance replica has the same functionality and configuration and can independently handle user data traffic. The instance replicas include one primary instance replica and multiple secondary instance replicas. The primary instance replica is responsible for interacting with control plane network elements and synchronizing configuration and status information to the secondary instance replicas through periodic and event-driven synchronization. This maintains consistency between instance replicas, and they are treated as the same user plane network element by the mobile core network control plane. This improves system reliability, fault tolerance, and load balancing capabilities, thereby better handling user requests and traffic. The primary instance replica is the main working node in the entire system, responsible for handling most data forwarding, packet analysis, and processing functions, and interacting with other control plane network elements. Secondary instance replicas are backup or auxiliary nodes of the primary instance replica; they have the same functionality and configuration and can independently handle user data traffic. Optionally, when the primary instance replica is unavailable, the secondary instance replicas can take over its functions, ensuring continuous system operation and service continuity.

[0045] The periodic synchronization feature refers to the primary instance replica synchronizing configuration and status information with each secondary instance replica at set time intervals. This synchronization is performed automatically at predetermined intervals without external triggering. Periodic synchronization ensures that the configuration and status information of the secondary instance replicas are consistent with those of the primary instance replica, enabling rapid failover to the secondary instance replicas in the event of a primary instance replica failure.

[0046] Event-driven synchronization represents the process where the primary instance replica, upon receiving an update command from a control plane network element, synchronizes configuration and status information with each secondary instance replica. The update command instructs the primary instance replica to update the configuration and status information. In other words, this synchronization occurs when the primary instance replica's configuration and status information are updated due to a control plane network element message. This synchronization is triggered by a control plane network element message; upon receiving the message, the primary instance replica updates its configuration and status information accordingly and synchronizes the updated information to the secondary instance replicas. After synchronization is complete, the primary instance replica replies with a Response message to the control plane network element, indicating the end of the synchronization process.

[0047] On mobile IP bearer networks, multiple instances of user plane network elements are deployed in a distributed manner. For example, multiple instances of user plane network elements can be deployed at different physical locations or network nodes to meet different needs and application scenarios. Distributed deployment can improve the system's reliability, fault tolerance, and load balancing capabilities.

[0048] By deploying instance replicas of user plane network elements at different geographical locations or network nodes, data can be transmitted to the nearest instance replica, thereby reducing network latency and improving data transmission speed. Simultaneously, periodic and event-driven synchronization of configuration and status information is performed on the mobile IP bearer network to maintain consistency and synchronization among instance replicas, ensuring they are treated as the same user plane network element by the mobile core network control plane. This enables seamless handover and continuous connection for user sessions.

[0049] Step 200: Announce the anycast address routing message of the service interface of each instance replica to the forwarding device in the mobile IP bearer network, so that the forwarding device can send the user's uplink traffic to the target instance replica according to the anycast address routing message.

[0050] Anycast address routing messages are network messages used to announce the anycast address of a service interface. They help devices in the network quickly locate the nearest user plane network element instance replica and enable fast packet forwarding, thereby improving communication efficiency and reliability.

[0051] To achieve efficient forwarding of user plane network elements in mobile communication networks, service interfaces of the same interface type are assigned the same IP address. Routing messages for these service interfaces are then announced by forwarding devices on the mobile IP bearer network. Based on this, forwarding devices can directly send user uplink traffic through the nearest instance replica. It is understandable that when multiple instance replicas share the same IP address, network traffic can be distributed across these instance replicas to avoid overloading any single instance replica. Furthermore, if a single instance replica fails, other instance replicas can continue processing traffic, ensuring service continuity and stability. Therefore, by using the same IP address, service traffic can be evenly distributed across different instance replicas, thereby improving overall system performance and reliability.

[0052] Specifically, the system identifies service interfaces with the same interface type within each instance replica and assigns them the same IP address. Then, it notifies the forwarding devices in the mobile IP bearer network of anycast address routing messages for these service interfaces. Once the forwarding device receives the anycast address routing message, it can determine which instance replicas in the current network can handle traffic for a specific service interface. When a user's uplink traffic arrives at the forwarding device, it selects a suitable instance replica based on the anycast address routing message and sends the user's uplink traffic to the nearest target instance replica for processing.

[0053] For example, suppose there are three instance replicas, all providing the same type of service interface (such as data traffic forwarding). These three instance replicas are then assigned the same IP address, such as 192.168.0.1. When the base station needs to send uplink traffic to a user, it sends the data packet to the IP address 192.168.0.1. At this point, the forwarding device on the mobile IP bearer receives the data packet and, based on the previously announced anycast address routing message, selects the nearest instance replica. The forwarding device then forwards the data packet to the selected instance replica, which will continue processing the data packet and sending the uplink traffic to the target user.

[0054] The target instance replica (i.e., the nearest instance replica) forwards the user's uplink traffic based on configuration and status information. The configuration information includes IP address configuration, routing table configuration, service policy configuration, session management configuration, anycast address routing configuration, and BFD (Bidirectional Forwarding Detection) session configuration. The status information includes Packet Forwarding Control Protocol (PFCP) association information and PDU session context information. PFCP association information includes PFCP session identifier, user identifier, QoS (Quality of Service) information, network interface identifier, and data plane processing rules. PDU session context information includes PDU session identifier, user identifier, session start and end times, session status, session traffic statistics, and session policy information. It can be understood that PFCP association information and PDU session context information are primarily used to manage and control sessions and data flows in the mobile network, supporting related service and QoS requirements. By maintaining and updating this status information, network devices can perform traffic forwarding, policy control, and resource allocation as needed to achieve flexible network management and optimization.

[0055] For example, the target instance replica resolves and matches the destination address of received user uplink traffic based on the routing table or forwarding rules in the configuration information. Then, based on the resolution and matching results, the target instance replica determines the next-hop destination address and can either directly forward the traffic to the target terminal device or send the traffic to other network elements for further processing. Simultaneously, the target instance replica determines whether the current traffic belongs to an established PDU session based on the PDU session context information in the status information. If it is an established PDU session, the target instance replica processes the traffic according to the relevant session's policies and rules. Based on these policies and rules, the target instance replica performs operations such as traffic classification, priority marking, traffic control, and security checks to ensure that user uplink traffic is processed and forwarded as required.

[0056] In one embodiment, in a mobile communication network, a DN (Data Network) side host can send downlink traffic to a user using the nearest instance replica in the network location. For example, suppose in a mobile communication network, user A is located at a specific geographical location, and there are multiple instance replicas near this location. The DN side host needs to send downlink data to user A. The data forwarding device receives the downlink data traffic and, based on user A's location information and the network topology, determines the nearest instance replica to user A. The data forwarding device then sends the downlink data traffic to the nearest instance replica. After receiving the downlink data traffic, the instance replica, based on its own state information, session context, etc., forwards the data traffic to the terminal device where user A is located, thus realizing downlink data transmission from the DN side host to user A. Based on this, data transmission latency can be effectively reduced, data transmission efficiency can be improved, and the rational utilization of network resources can be facilitated. Furthermore, by selecting the nearest instance replica for data forwarding, user requests can be responded to more quickly, providing a better network experience.

[0057] The data forwarding method provided in this application involves distributing multiple instance replicas of user plane network elements on a mobile IP bearer network. Each instance replica includes a primary instance replica and multiple secondary instance replicas. The primary instance replica synchronizes its configuration and status information with each secondary instance replica. It also notifies forwarding devices in the mobile IP bearer network of the anycast address routing messages for the service interfaces of each instance replica, enabling the forwarding devices to send the user's uplink traffic to a target instance replica based on the anycast address routing messages. The target instance replica forwards the user's uplink traffic based on its configuration and status information. The target instance replica is the instance replica closest to the forwarding device. This application, by distributing multiple instance replicas of user plane network elements on a mobile IP bearer network, achieves automatic selection of the nearest instance replica of the user plane network element for forwarding traffic data through dynamic routing of the bearer network, thereby improving data forwarding efficiency.

[0058] Based on the above embodiments, after announcing the anycast address routing message of the service interface of each instance replica to the forwarding device in the mobile IP bearer network, the method further includes:

[0059] If the instance replica is abnormal, then the notification of anycast address routing messages of the abnormal instance replica to the forwarding device is stopped.

[0060] A bidirectional forwarding detection (BFD) session is established between the instance replicas and the forwarding device to continuously monitor the availability of each instance replica. If an instance replica fails to send a BFD probe message to the forwarding device within a set time, it is determined to be an abnormal instance replica, and the broadcast of anycast address routing messages for the abnormal instance replica to the forwarding device is stopped.

[0061] For example, a BFD session is established between the instance replica and the forwarding device of the mobile IP bearer network. This can be achieved through steps such as negotiating parameters and exchanging state information. Once the BFD session is established, the participants will periodically send BFD probe packets. Upon receiving a BFD probe packet, the peer device will immediately respond to confirm receipt. If the peer device does not receive a probe packet within a certain period of time, or fails to respond in a timely manner, it will consider the connection to have failed. When one device does not receive a response from the peer device within a predetermined time, it will determine that the connection has failed and trigger the corresponding fault handling procedure.

[0062] This application embodiment can quickly and accurately detect the availability of instance replicas through BFD sessions. Once an instance replica becomes unavailable, the notification of anycast address routing messages for abnormal instance replicas to the forwarding device is stopped, thereby ensuring the reliability of user plane connections.

[0063] To further explain the data forwarding method proposed in this application, please refer to the following embodiments.

[0064] This application specifically proposes a user plane forwarding mechanism, system, and deployment method for mobile communication networks, mainly including the following:

[0065] 1) Distribute multiple instance replicas of user plane network elements on the mobile IP bearer network, and periodically and event-drivenly synchronize the configuration and status information of these instance replicas, so that the instance replicas of these user plane network elements are regarded as the same user plane network element in the mobile core network control plane.

[0066] 2) Instance replicas are divided into primary instance replicas and secondary instance replicas. The primary instance replica is responsible for interacting with control plane network elements and synchronizing configuration and status information with secondary instance replicas.

[0067] 3) Status information includes at least PFCP association information and PDU session context information.

[0068] 4) Periodic synchronization refers to synchronizing configuration and status information between instance replicas at specific time intervals.

[0069] 5) Event-driven synchronization refers to the synchronization behavior performed when the configuration information and status information of the primary instance replica are updated due to the control plane message indication, and then replies with a Respose message to the control plane network element after the synchronization behavior is completed.

[0070] 6) Assign the same IP address to service interfaces of the same interface type for multiple instance replicas, and announce the anycast address routing message of these service interfaces on the mobile IP bearer network through the mobile IP bearer network forwarding device that is directly connected to each instance replica. In this way, the base station equipment can directly send the user's uplink traffic through the instance replica with the nearest network location, and the DN-side host can also directly send downlink traffic to the user through the instance replica with the nearest network location.

[0071] 7) Establish a BFD session between the instance replica and the mobile IP bearer network forwarding device directly connected to it, and continuously probe the availability of the instance replica. When the mobile IP bearer network forwarding device detects that the instance replica is unavailable, it stops advertising anycast address routing messages for these service interfaces to the mobile IP bearer network, thereby improving the reliability of user plane connections.

[0072] This application first deploys multiple instance replicas of user plane network elements in a distributed manner on the mobile IP bearer network. State information is synchronized on these instance replicas through PFCP association information and PDU session context information synchronization mechanisms, allowing the mobile core network control plane to treat these distributed instance replicas as the same user plane network element. Then, the same IP address is assigned to service interfaces of the same interface type on these instance replicas, and anycast address routes are published in the mobile IP bearer network. This enables the dynamic routing of the bearer network to automatically select the nearest instance replica of the user plane network element to forward uplink and downlink traffic, improving the reliability of user plane connections.

[0073] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the data forwarding device provided in this application, with reference to... Figure 2 The embodiments of this application provide a data forwarding device, including a deployment module 201 and a forwarding module 202.

[0074] Deployment module 201 is used to distribute and deploy multiple instance replicas of user plane network elements on a mobile IP bearer network; the instance replicas include a primary instance replica and multiple secondary instance replicas; the primary instance replica is used to synchronize the configuration information and status information of the primary instance replica to each of the secondary instance replicas;

[0075] The forwarding module 202 is used to notify the forwarding devices in the mobile IP bearer network of the anycast address routing message of the service interface of each instance replica, so that the forwarding devices can send the user's uplink traffic to the target instance replica according to the anycast address routing message; wherein, the target instance replica forwards the user's uplink traffic according to the configuration information and the status information; the target instance replica is the instance replica closest to the forwarding device.

[0076] The data forwarding apparatus provided in this application provides a method for distributing multiple instance replicas of user plane network elements on a mobile IP bearer network. Each instance replica includes a primary instance replica and multiple secondary instance replicas. The primary instance replica synchronizes its configuration and status information with each secondary instance replica. It also notifies forwarding devices in the mobile IP bearer network of the anycast address routing messages for the service interfaces of each instance replica, enabling the forwarding devices to send the user's uplink traffic to a target instance replica based on the anycast address routing messages. The target instance replica forwards the user's uplink traffic based on its configuration and status information. The target instance replica is the instance replica closest to the forwarding device. This application, by distributing multiple instance replicas of user plane network elements on a mobile IP bearer network, achieves automatic selection of the nearest instance replica of the user plane network element for forwarding traffic data through dynamic routing of the bearer network, thereby improving data forwarding efficiency.

[0077] In one embodiment, the primary instance replica is connected to a control plane network element; the synchronization methods for the configuration information and status information of the primary instance replica include periodic synchronization and event-driven synchronization.

[0078] The periodic synchronization indicates that the primary instance replica synchronizes the configuration information and the status information to each of the secondary instance replicas at a set time interval;

[0079] The event-driven synchronization characterizes the primary instance replica synchronizing the configuration information and the status information to each of the secondary instance replicas when it receives an update instruction sent by the control plane network element; the update instruction is used to instruct the updating of the configuration information and the status information.

[0080] In one embodiment, the forwarding module 202 is further configured to:

[0081] Identify the business interfaces with the same interface type in each instance replica;

[0082] The forwarding devices in the mobile IP bearer network are notified of anycast address routing messages for service interfaces of the same interface type;

[0083] Service interfaces of the same type are assigned the same IP address.

[0084] In one embodiment, the forwarding module 202 is further configured to:

[0085] If the instance replica is abnormal, then the notification of anycast address routing messages of the abnormal instance replica to the forwarding device is stopped.

[0086] In one embodiment, the forwarding module 202 is further configured to:

[0087] If the instance replica does not send a BFD probe message to the forwarding device within a set time, then the instance replica is determined to be the abnormal instance replica.

[0088] In one embodiment, the status information includes at least Message Forwarding Control Protocol (PFCP) association information and Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session context information.

[0089] In one embodiment, the user's downlink traffic is sent from the data network (DN) side host to its nearest instance replica.

[0090] Figure 3 An example is a schematic diagram of the physical structure of an electronic device, such as... Figure 3 As shown, the electronic device may include: a processor 310, a communications interface 320, a memory 330, and a communication bus 340, wherein the processor 310, the communications interface 320, and the memory 330 communicate with each other via the communication bus 340. The processor 310 can call logical instructions in the memory 330 to execute a data forwarding method, which includes:

[0091] On a mobile IP bearer network, multiple instance replicas of user plane network elements are deployed in a distributed manner; each instance replica includes a primary instance replica and multiple secondary instance replicas; the primary instance replica is used to synchronize the configuration information and status information of the primary instance replica to each of the secondary instance replicas;

[0092] The forwarding devices in the mobile IP bearer network are notified of the anycast address routing messages of the service interfaces of each instance replica, so that the forwarding devices can send the user's uplink traffic to the target instance replica according to the anycast address routing messages;

[0093] The target instance replica forwards the user's uplink traffic based on the configuration information and the status information; the target instance replica is the instance replica closest to the forwarding device.

[0094] Furthermore, the logical instructions in the aforementioned memory 330 can be implemented as software functional units and, when sold or used as independent products, can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of this application, in essence, or the part that contributes to the prior art, or a portion of the technical solution, 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 steps of the methods described in the various embodiments of this application. The aforementioned storage medium includes various media capable of storing program code, such as USB flash drives, portable hard drives, read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), magnetic disks, or optical disks.

[0095] On the other hand, this application also provides a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program thereon, which, when executed by a processor, is implemented to perform the data forwarding methods provided by the above methods, the method comprising:

[0096] On a mobile IP bearer network, multiple instance replicas of user plane network elements are deployed in a distributed manner; each instance replica includes a primary instance replica and multiple secondary instance replicas; the primary instance replica is used to synchronize the configuration information and status information of the primary instance replica to each of the secondary instance replicas;

[0097] The forwarding devices in the mobile IP bearer network are notified of the anycast address routing messages of the service interfaces of each instance replica, so that the forwarding devices can send the user's uplink traffic to the target instance replica according to the anycast address routing messages;

[0098] The target instance replica forwards the user's uplink traffic based on the configuration information and the status information; the target instance replica is the instance replica closest to the forwarding device.

[0099] The device embodiments described above are merely illustrative. The units described 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 modules can be selected to achieve the purpose of this embodiment according to actual needs. Those skilled in the art can understand and implement this without any creative effort.

[0100] Through the above description of the embodiments, those skilled in the art can clearly understand that each embodiment can be implemented by means of software plus necessary general-purpose hardware platforms, and of course, it can also be implemented by hardware. Based on this understanding, the above technical solutions, in essence or the part that contributes to the prior art, can be embodied in the form of a software product. This computer software product can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium, such as ROM / RAM, magnetic disk, optical disk, etc., and includes several instructions to cause a computer device (which may be a personal computer, server, or network device, etc.) to execute the methods described in the various embodiments or some parts of the embodiments.

[0101] Finally, it should be noted that the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of this application, and are not intended to limit them. Although this application has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that modifications can still be made to the technical solutions described in the foregoing embodiments, or equivalent substitutions can be made to some of the technical features. Such modifications or substitutions do not cause the essence of the corresponding technical solutions to deviate from the spirit and scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of this application.

Claims

1. A data forwarding method, characterized in that, include: On mobile IP bearer networks, multiple instance replicas of user plane network elements are deployed in a distributed manner; The instance replicas include one primary instance replica and multiple secondary instance replicas; The primary instance replica is used to synchronize the configuration and status information of the primary instance replica to each of the secondary instance replicas; The forwarding devices in the mobile IP bearer network are notified of the anycast address routing messages of the service interfaces of each instance replica, so that the forwarding devices can send the user's uplink traffic to the target instance replica according to the anycast address routing messages; The target instance replica forwards the user's uplink traffic based on the configuration information and the status information; the target instance replica is the instance replica closest to the forwarding device.

2. The data forwarding method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The primary instance replica is connected to the control plane network element; the synchronization methods for the configuration information and status information of the primary instance replica include periodic synchronization and event-based synchronization; The periodic synchronization indicates that the primary instance replica synchronizes the configuration information and the status information to each of the secondary instance replicas at a set time interval; The event-driven synchronization characterizes the primary instance replica synchronizing the configuration information and the status information to each of the secondary instance replicas when it receives an update instruction sent by the control plane network element; the update instruction is used to instruct the updating of the configuration information and the status information.

3. The data forwarding method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The notification of the anycast address routing message of the service interface of each instance replica to the forwarding device in the mobile IP bearer network includes: Identify the business interfaces with the same interface type in each instance replica; The forwarding devices in the mobile IP bearer network are notified of anycast address routing messages for service interfaces of the same interface type; Service interfaces of the same type are assigned the same IP address.

4. The data forwarding method according to claim 1, characterized in that, After announcing the anycast address routing message of the service interface of each instance replica to the forwarding device in the mobile IP bearer network, the method further includes: If the instance replica is abnormal, then the notification of anycast address routing messages of the abnormal instance replica to the forwarding device is stopped.

5. The data forwarding method according to claim 4, characterized in that, A bidirectional forwarding detection (BFD) session is established between the instance replica and the forwarding device; the abnormal instance replica is determined as follows: If the instance replica does not send a BFD probe message to the forwarding device within a set time, then the instance replica is determined to be the abnormal instance replica.

6. The data forwarding method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The status information includes at least Message Forwarding Control Protocol (PFCP) association information and Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session context information.

7. The data forwarding method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The user's downlink traffic is sent from the data network DN-side host to its nearest instance replica.

8. A data forwarding device, characterized in that, include: The deployment module is used to distribute multiple instance replicas of user plane network elements on the mobile IP bearer network. The instance replicas include one primary instance replica and multiple secondary instance replicas; The primary instance replica is used to synchronize the configuration and status information of the primary instance replica to each of the secondary instance replicas; The forwarding module is used to notify the forwarding devices in the mobile IP bearer network of the anycast address routing message of the service interface of each instance replica, so that the forwarding devices can send the user's uplink traffic to the target instance replica according to the anycast address routing message; wherein, the target instance replica forwards the user's uplink traffic according to the configuration information and the status information; the target instance replica is the instance replica closest to the forwarding device.

9. An electronic 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 data forwarding method as described in any one of claims 1 to 7.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, characterized in that, When the computer program is executed by a processor, it implements the data forwarding method as described in any one of claims 1 to 7.

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