Link simulation method, electronic equipment and storage medium

Abstract

The invention discloses a link simulation method based on a digital twin network, electronic equipment and a storage medium. The method is applied to a first network element, and comprises the following steps: responding to the change of a link connected to the first network element, generating a first increment message according to the change of the link, and sending the first increment message to a neighbor network element of the first network element. According to the technical scheme of the invention, by constructing the digital twin network with complete network data and changing the state of the analog link of the digital twin network, the network element only needs to correspondingly forward the changed routing information to realize the optimal routing calculation without constructing a routing table from zero, thereby greatly reducing the operation data volume, and improving the routing calculation efficiency. And the calculation accuracy and efficiency are improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the field of communications, and more particularly, to a link simulation method, an electronic device, and a computer-readable storage medium based on a digital twin network. Background Art

[0002] A digital twin network is a digital model based on a physical entity that interacts in real time with the actual physical entity through sensors and data connections and provides real-time feedback and prediction capabilities. Its goal is to accurately simulate and reflect the state and behavior of a physical entity in a virtual environment for tasks such as analysis, monitoring, optimization, and decision-making.

[0003] How to efficiently simulate link changes occurring in a physical network using a digital twin network is a problem to be solved in this field. Summary of the Invention

[0004] The main objective of the embodiments of the present application is to propose a link simulation method based on a digital twin network, aiming to achieve optimal routing calculation, reduce the amount of operation data, and improve the calculation accuracy and efficiency.

[0005] The embodiments of the present application provide a link simulation method based on a digital twin network, which is applied to a first network element and includes: in response to a change in a link connected to the first network element, generating a first incremental message according to the change in the link; and sending the first incremental message to a neighbor network element of the first network element.

[0006] In some embodiments, the change in the link includes: changing the metric value of the link connected to the first network element to simulate a failure of the link, and generating the first incremental message according to the change in the link includes: deleting the route in the routing table of the first network element whose next-hop IP address is the peer network element of the failed link; generating deletion route information, where the deletion route information includes information about the deleted route; and using the deletion route information as the first incremental message.

[0007] In some embodiments, generating the first incremental message according to the change in the link further includes: saving the destination IP address of the deleted route to the set of destination IP addresses of the digital twin network.

[0008] In some embodiments, changing the metric value of the link connected to the first network element to simulate a failure of the link includes at least one of the following: increasing the metric value of the link and deleting the link.

[0009] In some embodiments, the change of the link includes at least one of the following: adding a link connected to the first network element and reducing the metric value of the link connected to the first network element, and generating the first incremental message according to the change of the link, including: recalculating the direct route of the first network element; generating new routing information, where the new routing information includes the information of the recalculated direct route and the information of the routes stored in the routing table of the first network element; and using the new routing information as the first incremental message.

[0010] In some embodiments, the first incremental message further includes information about the incremental type, and the incremental type includes one of the delete route type and the add route type.

[0011] An embodiment of the present application further provides a link simulation method based on a digital twin network, which is applied to a second network element and includes: receiving an incremental message sent by a neighbor network element of the second network element, where the incremental message includes delete routing information or add routing information; determining whether the routing table of the second network element needs to be updated according to the received incremental message; in response to determining that an update is required, updating the routing table of the second network element according to the incremental message and generating a second incremental message, and sending the second incremental message to the neighbor network elements of the second network element.

[0012] In some embodiments, the incremental message includes information about the incremental type, and the incremental type includes one of the delete route type and the add route type. In response to the incremental type being the delete route type, it is determined that the incremental message includes delete routing information.

[0013] In some embodiments, in response to the incremental type being the delete route type, determining whether the routing table of the second network element needs to be updated according to the received incremental message includes: determining whether there is a first target route in the routing table of the second network element, where the destination IP address of the first target route is the same as the destination IP address of the deleted route included in the incremental message, and the next-hop IP address of the first target route is the IP address of the sending network element of the incremental message; in response to the existence of the first target route, determining that the routing table of the second network element needs to be updated.

[0014] In some embodiments, in response to determining that an update is required, updating the routing table of the second network element according to the incremental message and generating a second incremental message includes: deleting the first target route in the routing table of the second network element, where the number of the first target routes is one or more; and using the information of the deleted first target route as the second incremental message, and the incremental type of the second incremental message is the delete route type.

[0015] In some embodiments, the incremental message includes information about the incremental type, and the incremental type includes one of a deletion routing type and a new routing type. In response to the incremental type being the new routing type, it is determined that the incremental message includes new routing information.

[0016] In some embodiments, in response to the incremental type being the new routing type, according to the received incremental message, it is determined whether the routing table of the second network element needs to be updated, including: recalculating the routes to each of the other network elements in the digital twin network according to the new routing information; determining whether the metric value of the recalculated routes to each of the other network elements in the digital twin network is less than the metric value of the routes to the corresponding network elements in the routing table of the second network element; and in response to the metric value of the recalculated routes to each of the other network elements in the digital twin network being less than the metric value of the routes to the corresponding network elements in the routing table of the second network element, it is determined that the routing table of the second network element needs to be updated.

[0017] In some embodiments, in response to determining that an update is required, the routing table of the second network element is updated according to the incremental message and a second incremental message is generated, including: replacing the corresponding routes in the routing table of the second network element with the recalculated routes, and generating the second incremental message, where the second incremental message includes information about the replaced routes, and the incremental type of the second incremental message is the new routing type.

[0018] An embodiment of the present application further provides a link simulation method based on a digital twin network. The digital twin network includes a digital twin simulation unit and a digital twin control unit. The method includes: the digital twin simulation unit simulates a change in a link in the digital twin network; and in response to the link change, the digital twin control unit updates the routes of each network element in the digital twin network.

[0019] In some embodiments, the digital twin control unit updates the routing of each network element in the digital twin network, including: the digital twin control unit notifies a first network element to perform the following steps, where the first network element is the network element at both ends of the link that has changed in the digital twin network: generating a first incremental message according to the change of the link, where the first incremental message includes deleted routing information or newly added routing information, and the first incremental message further includes information about the incremental type, and the incremental type includes one of the deleted routing type and the newly added routing type; sending the first incremental message to a second network element adjacent to the first network element, and the second network element receives the first incremental message and performs the following steps: determining whether it is necessary to update the routing table of the second network element according to the received first incremental message; in response to determining that an update is required, updating the routing table of the second network element according to the first incremental message and generating a second incremental message, and sending the second incremental message to the neighbor network element of the second network element.

[0020] In some embodiments, the digital twin simulation unit simulating a change in a link in the digital twin network includes: changing the metric value of the link connected to the first network element to simulate a failure of the link, and generating the first incremental message according to the change of the link, including: deleting the route in the routing table of the first network element whose next-hop IP address is the peer network element of the failed link; generating deleted routing information, where the deleted routing information includes the information of the deleted route; using the deleted routing information as the first incremental message, and the incremental type of the first incremental message is the deleted routing type; and saving the destination IP address of the deleted route to the set of destination IP addresses of the digital twin network. Determining whether it is necessary to update the routing table of the second network element according to the received first incremental message includes: in response to the incremental type of the first incremental message being the deleted routing type, determining that the first incremental message includes deleted routing information; determining whether there is a first target route in the routing table of the second network element, where the destination IP address of the first target route is included in the set of destination IP addresses of the digital twin network, and the next-hop IP address of the first target route is the IP address of the first network element; in response to the existence of the first target route, determining that it is necessary to update the routing table of the second network element. In response to determining that an update is required, updating the routing table of the second network element according to the first incremental message and generating the second incremental message includes: deleting the first target route in the routing table of the second network element, where the number of the first target routes is one or more; and using the information of the deleted first target route as the second incremental message, and the incremental type of the second incremental message is the deleted routing type.

[0021] In some embodiments, changing the metric value of the link connected to the first network element to simulate a failure of the link includes at least one of the following: increasing the metric value of the link, and deleting the link.

[0022] In some embodiments, the method further includes: in response to each network element in the digital twin network no longer transmitting an incremental message of the deletion route type for the incremental type, the digital twin control unit notifies each network element in the digital twin network to check whether there is a second target route in its routing table, where the destination IP address of the second target route is included in the set of destination IP addresses of the digital twin network; in response to the existence of the second target route in the routing table, the notified network element marks the second target route as a newly added route, generates a third incremental message, and sends the third incremental message to the neighboring network elements of the network element, where the third incremental message includes information marked as a newly added route, and the incremental type of the third incremental message is the newly added route type.

[0023] In some embodiments, the method further includes: in response to each network element in the digital twin network no longer transmitting an incremental message with an incremental type of delete route type, the digital twin simulation unit performing at least one of the following operations: adding a link connected to a third network element and reducing the metric value of the link connected to the third network element; the digital twin control unit saving the third network element to the set of route change network elements of the digital twin network and notifying the network elements in the set of route change network elements to perform the following steps: recalculating the direct routes of the network elements in the set of route change network elements; generating new route information, where the new route information includes the information of the recalculated direct routes and the information of the routes stored in the route tables of the network elements in the set of route change network elements; using the new route information as a fourth incremental message, where the incremental type of the fourth incremental message is new route type; sending the fourth incremental message to a fourth network element adjacent to the network elements in the set of route change network elements; the fourth network element receiving the fourth incremental message and performing the following steps: comparing the destination IP address in the route table of the fourth network element with the destination IP address in the fourth incremental message to determine whether there is a first destination IP address, where the first destination IP address exists in the fourth incremental message but does not exist in the destination IP addresses of the route table of the fourth network element; in response to determining that the first destination IP address exists, calculating the metric value of the route to the first destination IP address according to the received fourth incremental message; adding the route of the first destination IP address to the route table of the fourth network element; generating a fifth incremental message and sending the fifth incremental message to the neighbor network elements of the fourth network element, where the fifth incremental message includes the information of the added route and the incremental type of the fifth incremental message is new route type; and in response to determining that the first destination IP address does not exist, determining whether there is a second destination IP address, where the second destination IP address exists in the fourth incremental message and exists in the destination IP addresses of the route table of the fourth network element; in response to determining that the second destination IP address exists, recalculating the metric value of the route to the second destination IP address according to the received fourth incremental message; determining whether the recalculated metric value of the route to the second destination IP address is less than the metric value of the route to the second destination IP address in the route table of the fourth network element; in response to the recalculated metric value of the route to the second destination IP address being less than the metric value of the route to the second destination IP address in the route table of the fourth network element, replacing the corresponding route in the route table of the fourth network element with the recalculated route, generating a sixth incremental message, and sending the sixth incremental message to the neighbor network elements of the fourth network element, where the sixth incremental message includes the information of the replaced route and the incremental type of the sixth incremental message is new route type.

[0024] In some embodiments, the digital twin simulation unit simulating a change in a link in the digital twin network includes at least one of the following: adding a link connected to the first network element and reducing the metric value of a link connected to the first network element, and generating the first incremental message according to the change in the link, including: recalculating the direct route of the first network element; generating new routing information, where the new routing information includes information on the recalculated direct route and information on routes stored in the routing table of the first network element; and using the new routing information as the first incremental message, the incremental type of the first incremental message being the new routing type. Determining whether to update the routing table of the second network element according to the received first incremental message includes: in response to the incremental type of the first incremental message being the new routing type, determining that the first incremental message includes new routing information; recalculating the routes to each of the other network elements in the digital twin network according to the new routing information; determining whether the metric value of the recalculated routes to each of the other network elements in the digital twin network is less than the metric value of the routes to the corresponding network elements in the routing table of the second network element; in response to the metric value of the recalculated routes to each of the other network elements in the digital twin network being less than the metric value of the routes to the corresponding network elements in the routing table of the second network element, determining that it is necessary to update the routing table of the second network element, and in response to determining that an update is required, updating the routing table of the second network element according to the first incremental message and generating the second incremental message, including: replacing the corresponding routes in the routing table of the second network element with the recalculated routes and generating the second incremental message, where the second incremental message includes information on the replaced routes, and the incremental type of the second incremental message is the new routing type.

[0025] An embodiment of the present application further provides an electronic device, including: one or more processors; a storage device storing one or more computer programs or instructions, and when the one or more processors execute the one or more computer programs or instructions, implementing the link simulation method based on a digital twin network according to the present application.

[0026] An embodiment of the present application further provides a non-volatile computer-readable storage medium, on which computer programs or instructions are stored, and when the computer programs or instructions are executed by a processor, enabling the processor to implement the link simulation method based on a digital twin network according to the present application.

[0027] According to the technical solution of the present application, by constructing a digital twin network with complete network data and simulating the change of the link state of the digital twin network, the network element only needs to forward the changed routing information accordingly to achieve the optimal routing calculation, without having to build a routing table from scratch, greatly reducing the amount of operation data and improving the calculation accuracy and efficiency. Description of the Drawings

[0028] Figure 1 It is a schematic structural diagram of a link simulation system based on a digital twin network provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0029] Figure 2 It is a flowchart of a link simulation method based on a digital twin network provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0030] Figure 3 It is a flowchart of a link simulation method based on a digital twin network provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0031] Figure 4 It is a flowchart of a link simulation method based on a digital twin network provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0032] Figure 5 It is a flowchart of a link simulation method based on a digital twin network provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0033] Figure 6 It is a flowchart of a link simulation method based on a digital twin network provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0034] Figure 7 It is a flowchart of simulating a link failure to generate and delete routing information provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0035] Figure 8 It is a schematic diagram of the process of simulating a link failure to generate and delete routing information provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0036] Figure 9 It is a flowchart of simulating a link failure to trigger routing calculation provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0037] Figure 10 It is a schematic diagram of the process of simulating a failed link to trigger routing calculation provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0038] Figure 11 It is a flowchart of simulating a new link after simulating a failed link to trigger routing calculation provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0039] Figure 12 It is a schematic diagram of the process of simulating a new link after simulating a failed link to trigger routing calculation provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0040] Figure 13 Flowchart of simulating routing calculation triggered by newly added link provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0041] Figure 14 Schematic diagram of the process of simulating routing calculation triggered by newly added link provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0042] Figure 15 Schematic diagram of the structure of an electronic device provided by an embodiment of the present application; and

[0043] Figure 16 Schematic diagram of a non - volatile computer - readable medium provided by an embodiment of the present application. Detailed implementation manners

[0044] To enable those skilled in the art to better understand the technical solutions of the present application, the server provided by the present application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0045] In the following, example embodiments will be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the example embodiments may be embodied in different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. The purpose of providing these embodiments is to make the present application more thorough and complete, and to enable those skilled in the art to fully understand the scope of the present application.

[0046] As used herein, the term "and / or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

[0047] The terms used herein are only for describing specific embodiments and are not intended to limit the present application. As used herein, the singular forms "a" and "the" are also intended to include the plural forms unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will also be understood that when the terms "comprises" and / or "is made of" are used in this specification, it specifies the presence of the stated features, wholes, steps, operations, elements, and / or components, but does not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, wholes, steps, operations, elements, components, and / or their groups.

[0048] The embodiments described herein may be described with reference to the plan views and / or cross - sectional views by means of the ideal schematic diagrams of the present application. Therefore, the example illustrations may be modified according to the manufacturing techniques and / or tolerances. Therefore, the embodiments are not limited to the embodiments shown in the drawings, but include modifications of the configurations formed based on the manufacturing process. Therefore, the regions illustrated in the drawings have schematic properties, and the shapes of the regions shown in the drawings illustrate the specific shapes of the regions of the elements, but are not intended to be restrictive.

[0049] Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein shall have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. It will also be understood that terms such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries shall be interpreted as having a meaning consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and this application, and shall not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.

[0050] An embodiment of this application discloses a link simulation system based on a digital twin network. Refer to the appendix Figure 1 , this application transforms the physical network space into a digital twin space, constructs a set of digital twin networks based on the IP network forwarding plane. The digital twin network abstracts the network elements, interfaces, links, protocol configurations, Virtual Routing Forwarding (VRF), routing tables, and routing establishment of the physical network, and obtains data to instantiate the data model, ensuring that the data in the digital twin network comprehensively reflects the state of the real physical network.

[0051] A Network Management Control System (NMS) is a system used to monitor, manage, and control a computer network. It provides real-time monitoring, configuration, and maintenance functions for network devices, resources, and services to ensure the efficiency, reliability, and security of the network.

[0052] Telemetry technology refers to the process of collecting, monitoring, and transmitting critical data and metrics through sensors, devices, or systems. This data can be used for real-time monitoring, analysis, troubleshooting, performance optimization, and predictive maintenance. Telemetry technology plays a key role in telecommunications network management, device monitoring, performance optimization, etc., helping operators and enterprises maintain network stability and efficiency.

[0053] The BGP (Border Gateway Protocol) Monitoring Protocol (BMP): is a protocol used to monitor and collect BGP. BGP is one of the main protocols for routing in the Internet, used to exchange routing information between different autonomous systems. BMP aims to provide a standardized method that allows network administrators to monitor BGP routing tables and routing changes to better understand network status, troubleshoot, and optimize performance.

[0054] Since the digital twin network synchronizes the topological information of all network elements in the physical network, that is, a virtual network with complete routing data is established. By dynamically simulating the network state of the digital twin network, for example, simulating link failures or adding new links, the network elements in the network only need to forward the changed incremental routing information to achieve routing synchronization, without having to build a routing table from scratch, greatly reducing the amount of computing data and improving the calculation accuracy and efficiency.

[0055] In addition, by optimizing the routing configuration of the digital twin network, the best network optimization model can be obtained, which can predict routing changes caused by the operation of routing protocols in the network before the physical network configuration or network resource changes (whether caused by failures or planning) of the entity under the constraints of limited resources and computing time, and optimize and improve the service support ability of the communication network.

[0056] See Appendix Figure 1 , the link simulation system based on the digital twin network includes a digital twin extraction unit 100, a digital twin data model 130, a digital twin simulation unit 140, and a digital twin control unit 150.

[0057] In some embodiments, the digital twin extraction unit 100 is configured to collect all data information for constructing the digital twin network data model 130 from physical network devices through a data collector 110 and a network status collector 120. The data collector 110 can obtain routing data information by means of the physical network device actively reporting. The data collector 110 can obtain VRF, routing tables, routing information (for example, collect Interior Gateway Protocol (IGP) routing through telemetry and collect BGP routing through BMP) from physical network devices through methods such as telemetry and BMP. The network status collector 120 can obtain resource information in the physical network, such as the status information of network elements, interfaces, links, etc., through NMS. The collection method can be the initial full synchronization and incremental change method, and the incremental change uses active message notification. It can be known that the data collector 110 and the network status collector 120 obtain the complete topological information of all network elements in the physical network in a complementary manner.

[0058] The digital twin data model 130 is constructed based on the data obtained by the digital twin extraction unit 100. The digital twin data model 130 is a data representation model that abstractly models various entities in the physical network and is used to store and represent the state of the network.

[0059] The digital twin simulation unit 140 is configured to simulate changes in the network state in the digital twin data model 130, such as adding or deleting network elements, links, interfaces, setting fault points, changing protocol configurations, etc.

[0060] The digital twin control unit 150 is configured to model the control plane of the digital twin data model 130. When the digital twin simulation unit 140 simulates changes in the network state, it can simulate the changes in routing.

[0061] The digital twin network synchronizes the complete topological information of all network elements in the physical network through centralized computing, constructs a model of the network control plane, and simulates how the routing in the digital twin network changes when network elements, interfaces, links, and protocol configurations change.

[0062] Since the digital twin network synchronizes the topological information of all network elements in the physical network, that is, a virtual network with complete routing data is established. By dynamically simulating the network state of the digital twin network, for example, simulating link failures or adding links, network elements in the network only need to forward the changed incremental routing information to achieve routing synchronization, without having to build a routing table from scratch, greatly reducing the amount of computing data and improving the computing accuracy and efficiency.

[0063] An embodiment of the present application provides a link simulation method based on a digital twin network, which is applied to a first network element and includes: in response to a change in the link connected to the first network element, generating a first incremental message according to the change in the link, and sending the first incremental message to a neighbor network element of the first network element.

[0064] Figure 2 It is a flowchart of the link simulation method based on the digital twin network provided by the embodiment of the present application. Referring to Figure 2 , the link simulation method includes the following steps 210 to 220.

[0065] In step 210, in response to a change in the link connected to the first network element, a first incremental message is generated according to the change in the link.

[0066] The present application provides a link simulation method based on a digital twin network. Therefore, simulating a change in the link here refers to simulating (or emulating) the link of the digital twin network to change the network state of the link. The digital twin network is the digital twin data model 130 generated by the above link simulation system. It can also be understood that simulating a change in the link is that the digital twin simulation unit 140 changes the network state in the digital twin data model 130.

[0067] In step 220, the first incremental message is sent to a neighbor network element of the first network element.

[0068] In some embodiments, the first incremental message is information about the changed routes in the routing table of the network element (i.e., the first network element) at both ends of the link that has changed, generated in response to the change of the link. The neighbor network elements of the first network element may include the network elements directly connected to the first network element.

[0069] In some embodiments, the simulation of the link change includes at least one of the following: changing the metric value of the link connected to the first network element to simulate the failure of the link and adding a new link connected to the first network element, etc.

[0070] Figure 3 This is a flowchart of the link simulation method based on the digital twin network provided by the embodiments of this application. Refer to Figure 3 , if the simulation of the link change includes changing the metric value of the link connected to the first network element to simulate the failure of the link, then generating the first incremental message according to the change of the link (i.e., step 210) includes the following steps 310 to 330.

[0071] In step 310, in response to the failure of the link connected to the first network element, delete the route in the routing table of the first network element whose next-hop IP address is the peer network element of the failed link.

[0072] In some embodiments, due to the link failure, the network elements at both ends of the failed link cannot be connected to each other, and it is necessary to delete the routes in the routing tables of the network elements at both ends of the failed link whose next-hop IP address is the peer network element of the failed link.

[0073] In step 320, generate deletion routing information, where the deletion routing information includes information about the deleted routes.

[0074] In some embodiments, the deleted route is the route in the routing table of the first network element whose next-hop IP address is the peer network element of the failed link.

[0075] In step 330, use the deletion routing information as the first incremental message.

[0076] In some embodiments, generating the first incremental message according to the change of the link further includes: saving the destination IP address of the deleted route to the set of destination IP addresses of the digital twin network.

[0077] The set of destination IP addresses is generated based on the deletion routing information. The purpose of setting the set of destination IP addresses is to solve the problem that the network elements cannot reach the network elements at both ends of the failed link due to the route deletion caused by the link failure. The usage scenario of the set of destination IP addresses will be elaborated in detail in the following method.

[0078] In some embodiments, changing the metric value of the link connected to the first network element to simulate a failure of the link includes at least one of the following: increasing the metric value of the link and deleting the link.

[0079] Continue to refer to Figure 3 , if simulating a change in the link includes at least one of the following: adding a link connected to the first network element, and decreasing the metric value of the link connected to the first network element, then generating the first incremental message according to the change of the link (i.e., step 210) includes the following steps 340 to 360.

[0080] In step 340, in response to adding a link connected to the first network element, recalculate the direct connection route of the first network element.

[0081] In some embodiments, in response to adding a link, the network elements at both ends of the added link (i.e., the first network element) will recalculate the routes of the network elements directly connected to it. The direct connection route of the first network element may include the routes of the network elements directly connected to the first network element. The change includes but is not limited to any one of the following: routing protocol change, link metric value (Metric value) change, etc.

[0082] In step 350, generate new routing information, where the new routing information includes the information of the recalculated direct connection route and the information of the routes stored in the routing table of the first network element.

[0083] In some embodiments, the new routing information includes the information of the recalculated routes of the network elements directly connected to the first network element, and also includes the information of the routes already existing in the routing table of the first network element.

[0084] In step 360, use the new routing information as the first incremental message.

[0085] In some embodiments, in order to ensure that the neighbor network elements of the first network element can identify whether the first incremental message is deletion routing information or new routing information after receiving the first incremental message, the first incremental message also needs to carry information about the incremental type, and the incremental type includes one of the deletion routing type and the new routing type.

[0086] In some embodiments, if the incremental type is the deletion routing type, the neighbor network elements of the first network element can determine that the first incremental message is deletion routing information; if the incremental type is the new routing type, the neighbor network elements of the first network element can determine that the first incremental message is new routing information.

[0087] The embodiment of the present application further provides a link simulation method based on a digital twin network, which is applied to a second network element and includes: receiving an incremental message sent by a neighbor network element of the second network element, where the incremental message includes deleted routing information or newly added routing information; determining whether to update the routing table of the second network element according to the received incremental message; in response to determining that an update is required, updating the routing table of the second network element according to the incremental message and generating a second incremental message, and sending the second incremental message to the neighbor network elements of the second network element.

[0088] It should be recognized that in the embodiment of the present application, the first network element is defined as the network elements at both ends of the link that has changed, the second network element is defined as the network element that receives the incremental message, and the incremental message may include a first incremental message and a second incremental message. After the first network element generates the first incremental message, it sends the first incremental message to the neighbor network elements of the first network element, and the neighbor network element that receives the first incremental message may be the second network element; on the other hand, if the second network element updates the routing table and generates a second incremental message after receiving the incremental message, and sends the second incremental message to the neighbor network elements of the second network element, at this time, the neighbor network elements of the second network element include the network element that sent the first incremental message before, so the network element that has sent the first incremental message is also regarded as the second network element after receiving the second incremental message.

[0089] It should also be recognized that in the embodiment of the present application, the first incremental message is an incremental message generated by the first network element in response to a change in the link; the second incremental message is an incremental message generated by the second network element after updating the routing table in response to receiving the incremental message. The first incremental message to the second incremental message will be described in detail through specific examples later.

[0090] Figure 4 It is a flowchart of the link simulation method provided by the embodiment of the present application. Refer to Figure 4 , the link simulation method includes the following steps 410 to 430.

[0091] In step 410, receive an incremental message sent by a neighbor network element of the second network element, where the incremental message includes deleted routing information or newly added routing information.

[0092] In step 420, determine whether to update the routing table of the second network element according to the received incremental message.

[0093] In step 430, in response to determining that an update is required, update the routing table of the second network element according to the incremental message and generate a second incremental message, and send the second incremental message to the neighbor network elements of the second network element.

[0094] In some embodiments, in response to determining that an update is not required, the routing table of the second network element is not updated, and a second delta message is not generated.

[0095] In some embodiments, in order to ensure that after receiving the delta message, the second network element can identify whether the delta message is for deleting routing information or adding routing information, the delta message also needs to carry information about the delta type, and the delta type includes one of the delete routing type and the add routing type.

[0096] In some embodiments, if the delta type is the delete routing type, the second network element can determine that the delta message is for deleting routing information; if the delta type is the add routing type, the second network element can determine that the delta message is for adding routing information.

[0097] In some embodiments, in response to the delta type being the delete routing type, it is determined that the delta message includes delete routing information.

[0098] In some embodiments, if the delta type is the delete routing type, according to the received delta message, determining whether to update the routing table of the second network element (i.e., step 420) includes the following steps 421 to 422.

[0099] In step 421, it is determined whether there is a first target route in the routing table of the second network element, where the destination IP address of the first target route is the same as the destination IP address of the deleted route included in the delta message, and the next-hop IP address of the first target route is the IP address of the source network element of the delta message.

[0100] In step 422, in response to the existence of the first target route, it is determined that the routing table of the second network element needs to be updated.

[0101] In some embodiments, if the delta type is the delete routing type, in response to determining that an update is required, the routing table of the second network element is updated according to the delta message and a second delta message is generated (i.e., step 430), including the following steps 431 to 432.

[0102] In step 431, the first target route in the routing table of the second network element is deleted, where the number of the first target routes is one or more.

[0103] In step 432, the information of the deleted first target route is used as the second delta message, and the delta type of the second delta message is the delete routing type.

[0104] In some embodiments, if the increment type is the new routing type, determining whether to update the routing table of the second network element according to the received increment message (i.e., step 420) includes the following steps 423 to 425.

[0105] In step 423, recalculate the routes to each of the other network elements in the digital twin network according to the new routing information.

[0106] In step 424, determine whether the metric values of the recalculated routes to each of the other network elements in the digital twin network are less than the metric values of the routes to the corresponding network elements in the routing table of the second network element.

[0107] In step 425, in response to the metric values of the recalculated routes to each of the other network elements in the digital twin network being less than the metric values of the routes to the corresponding network elements in the routing table of the second network element, determine that it is necessary to update the routing table of the second network element.

[0108] In some embodiments, if the increment type is the new routing type, in response to determining that an update is required, update the routing table of the second network element according to the increment message and generate a second increment message (i.e., step 430), including the following step 433.

[0109] In step 433, replace the corresponding routes in the routing table of the second network element with the recalculated routes, and generate the second increment message, where the second increment message includes information about the replaced routes, and the increment type of the second increment message is the new routing type.

[0110] An embodiment of the present application also provides a link simulation method based on a digital twin network. The digital twin network includes a digital twin simulation unit and a digital twin control unit. The method includes: the digital twin simulation unit simulates a change in a link in the digital twin network; and in response to the link change, the digital twin control unit updates the routes of each network element in the digital twin network.

[0111] Figure 5 It is a flowchart of the link simulation method based on the digital twin network provided by the embodiment of the present application. The digital twin network includes a digital twin simulation unit and a digital twin control unit. Refer to Figure 5 , the link simulation method includes the following steps 510 to 520.

[0112] In step 510, the digital twin simulation unit simulates a change in a link in the digital twin network.

[0113] The digital twin simulation unit sets a fault point in the digital twin network. For example, the link between two network elements is disconnected to make it a faulty link. In some embodiments, the disconnection of the link between two network elements can be simulated by increasing the metric value of the link between them.

[0114] In step 520, in response to the change of the link, the digital twin control unit updates the routing of each network element in the digital twin network.

[0115] Based on the change of the link, the digital twin control unit can update the routing tables of each virtual network element in the digital twin network to ensure that the routing paths of the faulty link are deleted throughout the network, the routing paths of the newly added link are added throughout the network, and it can further determine whether the network elements with interrupted connections can reach the network elements at both ends of the faulty link through other paths, or restore the communication between the network elements at both ends of the faulty link through the newly added link.

[0116] Figure 6 The flowchart of the link simulation method based on the digital twin network provided by the embodiments of the present application, and the update method further includes the following steps 610 to 650.

[0117] In step 610, the digital twin control unit notifies the first network element to perform the following steps, where the first network element is the network element at both ends of the changed link in the digital twin network: generate a first incremental message according to the change of the link, where the first incremental message includes delete routing information or add routing information, and the first incremental message further includes information about the incremental type, and the incremental type includes one of the delete routing type and the add routing type.

[0118] In step 620, the first incremental message is sent to the second network element adjacent to the first network element.

[0119] In step 630, the second network element receives the first incremental message and performs the following steps: determine whether the routing table of the second network element needs to be updated according to the received first incremental message.

[0120] In step 640, in response to determining that an update is required, update the routing table of the second network element according to the first incremental message and generate a second incremental message.

[0121] In step 650, the second incremental message is sent to the neighbor network element of the second network element.

[0122] In some embodiments, the digital twin simulation unit simulating the change of the link in the digital twin network (step 510) includes: changing the metric value of the link connected to the first network element to simulate the failure of the link.Figure 7 The flowchart shows the process of simulating a link failure to generate and delete routing information provided by an embodiment of the present application. The method further includes the following steps 710 to 790.

[0123] In step 710, delete the route in the routing table of the first network element whose next-hop IP address is the peer network element of the failed link.

[0124] In some embodiments, due to a link failure, the network elements at both ends of the failed link cannot be connected to each other, and it is necessary to delete the routes in the routing tables of the network elements at both ends of the failed link whose next-hop IP addresses are the peer network elements of the failed link.

[0125] In step 720, generate deletion routing information, where the deletion routing information includes information about the deleted route.

[0126] In some embodiments, the deleted route is the route in the routing table of the first network element whose next-hop IP address is the peer network element of the failed link.

[0127] In step 730, use the deletion routing information as the first incremental message. The incremental type of the first incremental message is the deletion routing type. Save the destination IP address of the deleted route to the destination IP address set of the digital twin network. Send the first incremental message to the second network element adjacent to the first network element.

[0128] In step 740, in response to the incremental type of the received first incremental message being the deletion routing type, determine that the first incremental message includes deletion routing information.

[0129] In step 750, determine whether there is a first target route in the routing table of the second network element, where the destination IP address of the first target route is included in the destination IP address set of the digital twin network, and the next-hop IP address of the first target route is the IP address of the first network element.

[0130] In step 760, in response to the existence of the first target route, determine that the routing table of the second network element needs to be updated.

[0131] In step 770, delete the first target route in the routing table of the second network element, where the number of the first target routes is one or more.

[0132] In step 780, use the information of the deleted first target route as the second incremental message. The incremental type of the second incremental message is the deletion routing type.

[0133] In step 790, the second incremental message is sent to the neighbor network elements of the second network element.

[0134] To enable those skilled in the art to better understand the present invention, the following takes an actual application as an example to further illustrate the embodiments of the present invention.

[0135] Figure 8 It is a schematic diagram of the process of generating and deleting routing information by simulating a link failure provided by an embodiment of the present application. In Figure 8 In the shown example, the digital twin network includes five network elements NE_A to NE_E, and their IP addresses are 10.0.0.1 to 10.0.0.5 respectively. There are links connected between network element NE_A and network elements NE_B, NE_C, and NE_E respectively, and the metric values of the three links are 10, 20, and 20 respectively. There are links connected between network element NE_D and network elements NE_B, NE_C, and NE_E respectively, and the metric values of the three links are 10, 10, and 30 respectively.

[0136] In step 11, it is simulated that the link changes.

[0137] The digital twin simulation unit 140 can set a fault point in the digital twin data model 130. For example, the fault link is set to the link between network elements NE_A and NE_B. In this embodiment, the link between network elements NE_A and NE_B is disconnected to make it a fault link. In some embodiments, the link between network elements NE_A and NE_B can be simulated as being disconnected by increasing the metric value of the link between them.

[0138] The execution process of the digital twin control unit 150 includes the following steps 12 to 16.

[0139] In step 12, according to the change of the link, the first network element is controlled to generate a first incremental message Message_1.

[0140] In this embodiment, the network element (i.e., the first network element, taking network element NE_A as an example) deletes the route in its own routing table whose next-hop IP is the opposite end of the fault link (i.e., network element NE_B); generates deletion routing information, and the deletion routing information includes the information of the routing address whose next-hop address is NE_B; and encapsulates the information of the deleted route into the first incremental message Message_1. Similarly, network element NE_B can also initiate the same process, which will not be elaborated here.

[0141] In step 13, the destination IP addresses (10.0.0.2, 10.0.0.4) of all the deleted routes are put into the destination IP address set Set_IP.

[0142] In step 14, the first incremental message Message_1 is sent to the neighbor network elements of network element NE_A, namely, network elements NE_C and NE_E.

[0143] In step 15, after receiving the first incremental message Message_1 sent by network element NE_A, network elements NE_C and NE_E can determine that the type of the first incremental message Message_1 is the route deletion type according to the information about the incremental type carried in the first incremental message Message_1; then, according to the received first incremental message Message_1, it is judged whether there is a first target route in the routing table, the destination IP address of the first target route is the same as the destination IP address in the first incremental message Message_1 (which are 10.0.0.2 and 10.0.0.4 respectively), and the next-hop IP address of the first target route is the IP address (i.e., 10.0.0.1) of the sending network element of the first incremental message Message_1 (i.e., network element NE_A). In Figure 8 the example of, network element NE_E determines that there is a first target route and deletes the information of this route in the routing table; there is no first target route in the routing table of network element NE_C, and there is no need to update the routing table.

[0144] It should be recognized that although in Figure 8 the example of, there is a first target route in the routing table of network element NE_E, the number of first target routes is not limited to one.

[0145] In step 16, after network element NE_E completes the operation of deleting the route, it continues to encapsulate the information of the deleted route into a new incremental message (i.e., the second incremental message Message_2), the information in the second incremental message Message_2 is different from the information in the first incremental message Message_2, and the incremental type of the second incremental message Message_2 is the route deletion type. Network element NE_E continues to spread the second incremental message Message_2 to its neighbor network elements (i.e., network elements NE_A and NE_D).

[0146] It should be recognized that at this time, network element NE_A that receives the second incremental message Message_2 is regarded as the second network element in the context of this application. If network elements NE_A and NE_D judge that they need to perform a route deletion operation according to the second incremental message Message_2, they execute the above steps 15 and 16 until the incremental message is no longer spread and all associated routes in the whole network have been deleted.

[0147] In some embodiments, changing the metric value of the link connected to the first network element to simulate a failure of the link includes at least one of the following: increasing the metric value of the link and deleting the link.

[0148] In some embodiments, Figure 9 is a flowchart of simulating a link failure to trigger route calculation provided by an embodiment of the present application. The method further includes the following steps 910 to 920.

[0149] In step 910, in response to each network element in the digital twin network no longer transmitting an incremental message of the deletion route type, the digital twin control unit notifies each network element in the digital twin network to check whether there is a second target route in its routing table, where the destination IP address of the second target route is included in the set of destination IP addresses of the digital twin network.

[0150] There are various ways for the digital twin control unit to determine that each network element in the digital twin network no longer transmits an incremental message of the deletion route type. For example, the digital twin control unit can determine in a timely manner that the incremental message of the deletion route type is no longer transmitted in the network by monitoring the routing forwarding situation in the network in real time, or by the method of network element reporting. When the digital twin control unit determines that the incremental message of the deletion route type is no longer transmitted in the entire network, it indicates that the deletion of the entire network route caused by the link failure has been completed. However, at this time, there will be the following problem, that is, the IP addresses of the network elements at both ends of the failed link in the routing tables of some network elements are deleted, and these network elements no longer have any paths to reach the network elements at both ends of the failed link, which will lead to incomplete network routing information. In the embodiment of the present application, after the deletion of the entire network route is completed, the digital twin control unit notifies each network element in the digital twin network to check whether there is still a route included in the set of destination IP addresses of the digital twin network in its respective routing table, and transmits the found routing information across the network, so as to restore the connection to the network elements at both ends of the failed link.

[0151] In step 920, in response to the existence of the second target route in the routing table, the notified network element marks the second target route as a newly added route, generates a third incremental message, and sends the third incremental message to the neighbor network elements of the network element, where the third incremental message includes the information marked as the newly added route, and the incremental type of the third incremental message is the newly added route type.

[0152] When there is the second target route in the routing table of the notified network element, it indicates that the network element has a path to reach the network elements at both ends of the failed link. Marking the second target route as a newly added route and sending it to other network elements in the network can restore the connection of some network elements to the network elements at both ends of the failed link.

[0153] In some embodiments, when a neighbor network element receives the third incremental message, the following steps may be performed: The neighbor network element determines, according to the received third incremental message, whether there is a route in its routing table whose destination IP address is the same as the destination IP address in the third incremental message. In response to determining that there is a route in its routing table whose destination IP address is the same as the destination IP address in the third incremental message, the neighbor network element recalculates the metric value of the route to the destination IP address according to the received third incremental message, compares the recalculated metric value of the route to the destination IP address with the metric value of the route to the IP address stored in its routing table. If the recalculated metric value of the route to the destination IP address is less than the metric value of the route to the destination IP address stored in its routing table, the neighbor network element replaces the corresponding route in its routing table with the recalculated metric value of the route to the destination IP address and generates a new incremental message, where the new incremental message includes information about the replaced route, the incremental type of the new incremental message is the new route type, and the neighbor network element sends the new incremental message to its neighbor network element. In response to determining that there is no route in its routing table whose destination IP address is the same as the destination IP address in the third incremental message, the neighbor network element determines whether there is a third destination IP address that exists in the third incremental message but does not exist in the destination IP addresses of the neighbor network element's routing table. In response to the existence of the third destination IP address, the neighbor network element calculates the metric value of the route to the third destination IP address according to the received third incremental message, adds the route to the third destination IP address to its routing table, and generates a new incremental message, where the new incremental message includes information about the added route, the incremental type of the new incremental message is the new route type, and the neighbor network element continues to send the new incremental message to its neighbor network element.

[0154] It should be noted that the steps performed by the above neighbor network element after receiving the third incremental message can also be implemented by steps 1135 to 1160 performed by the following fourth network element.

[0155] To enable those skilled in the art to better understand the present invention, the following takes a practical application as an example to further illustrate the embodiments of the present invention.

[0156] Figure 10 It is a schematic diagram of the process of simulating a faulty link to trigger routing calculation provided by an embodiment of the present application. Figure 10 The shown network structure is the same as Figure 8 the shown network structure, which will not be elaborated here. It should be recognized that Figure 10 the shown example is Figure 8 the subsequent operation of the shown example.

[0157] The execution process of the digital twin control unit 150 includes the following steps 31 to 34.

[0158] In step 31, after referring to Figure 8 the steps 11 to 16 described, the network element (taking the network element NE_D as an example) determines whether there is a second target route in the routing table, and the destination IP address of the second target route is included in the destination IP address set. In Figure 10 the example, there is a routing entry with the destination IP address of 10.0.0.2 in the routing table of the network element NE_D, and the IP address 10.0.0.2 is included in the destination IP address set Set_IP.

[0159] In step 32, mark the second target route as a new route, and encapsulate the information of the new route into the third incremental message Message_3.

[0160] In step 33, send the third incremental message Message_3 to the neighbor network elements (i.e., network elements NE_B, NE_C, NE_E). The third incremental message Message_3 includes the information marked as the new route, and the incremental type of the third incremental message Message_3 is the new route type.

[0161] In step 34, when the network element NE_E receives the third incremental message Message_3, it finds that there is no route with the destination IP address of 10.0.0.2 in its own routing table, takes out the route with the destination IP address of 10.0.0.2, adds the link cost (i.e., the link metric value 30 between the network element NE_D and the network element NE_E), calculates the new route metric value 10 + 30, and adds this route to its own routing table. Then, it diffuses the information of the new route as a new incremental message to its neighbor network elements.

[0162] In the network element NE_E, since the route with the destination address of 10.0.0.2 deleted due to the failed link in the Figure 8 shown example is re-established. Other network elements repeat the above operations until there are no new routes in the network.

[0163] Figure 11 This is a flowchart of simulating a new link after simulating a failed link provided by the embodiment of the present application, which triggers route calculation. The method further includes the following steps 1110 to 1160.

[0164] In step 1110, in response to each network element in the digital twin network no longer transmitting incremental messages with the incremental type of the delete route type, the digital twin simulation unit performs at least one of the following operations: adding a link connected to the third network element, and reducing the metric value of the link connected to the third network element.

[0165] There are various ways for the digital twin control unit to determine that each network element in the digital twin network no longer transmits incremental messages of the deletion route type. For example, the digital twin control unit can determine in a timely manner that the incremental messages of the deletion route type are no longer transmitted in the network by monitoring the routing forwarding situation in the network in real time, or by the method of network element reporting, etc. Then, the digital twin simulation unit newly adds a link connected to the third network element. It should be noted that the third network element here can be either the network elements at both ends of the faulty link or other network elements. In some embodiments, the network elements at both ends of the newly added link can be saved to the network element set.

[0166] In step 1115, the digital twin control unit saves the third network element to the routing change network element set of the digital twin network, and notifies the network elements in the routing change network element set to perform the following steps: recalculate the direct connection routes of the network elements in the routing change network element set.

[0167] In step 1120, new routing information is generated, where the new routing information includes the information of the recalculated direct connection routes and the information of the routes stored in the routing tables of the network elements in the routing change network element set.

[0168] In step 1125, the new routing information is used as the fourth incremental message, and the incremental type of the fourth incremental message is the new route type.

[0169] In step 1130, the fourth incremental message is sent to the fourth network element adjacent to the network elements in the routing change network element set.

[0170] In step 1135, the fourth network element receives the fourth incremental message and performs the following steps: compare the destination IP address in the routing table of the fourth network element with the destination IP address in the fourth incremental message to determine whether there is a first destination IP address, where the first destination IP address exists in the fourth incremental message but does not exist in the destination IP addresses of the routing table of the fourth network element.

[0171] In step 1140, in response to determining the existence of the first destination IP address, calculate the metric value of the route to the first destination IP address according to the received fourth incremental message.

[0172] In step 1145, add the route of the first destination IP address to the routing table of the fourth network element; generate a fifth incremental message and send the fifth incremental message to the neighbor network elements of the fourth network element, where the fifth incremental message includes information about the added route, and the incremental type of the fifth incremental message is a new route type.

[0173] In step 1150, in response to determining that the first destination IP address does not exist, determine whether a second destination IP address exists, where the second destination IP address exists in the fourth incremental message and in the destination IP addresses of the routing table of the fourth network element.

[0174] In step 1155, in response to determining that the second destination IP address exists, recalculate the metric value of the route to the second destination IP address according to the received fourth incremental message. Determine whether the recalculated metric value of the route to the second destination IP address is less than the metric value of the route to the second destination IP address in the routing table of the fourth network element.

[0175] In step 1160, in response to the recalculated metric value of the route to the second destination IP address being less than the metric value of the route to the second destination IP address in the routing table of the fourth network element, replace the corresponding route in the routing table of the fourth network element with the recalculated route, generate a sixth incremental message, and send the sixth incremental message to the neighbor network elements of the fourth network element, where the sixth incremental message includes information about the replaced route, and the incremental type of the sixth incremental message is a new route type.

[0176] To enable those skilled in the art to better understand the present invention, the following takes an actual application as an example to further illustrate the embodiments of the present invention.

[0177] As another example, Figure 12 is a schematic diagram of the process of simulating a new link after simulating a faulty link provided by the embodiment of the present application, which triggers route calculation. Figure 12 The network structure shown is basically the same as that shown in Figure 8 and will not be elaborated here.

[0178] The digital twin simulation unit 140 sets a fault point in the digital twin data model 130. For example, the faulty link is set as the link between network elements NE_A and NE_B, and a new link between network elements NE_C and NE_B is added.

[0179] The execution process of the digital twin control unit 150 includes the following steps 41 to 43.

[0180] In step 41, first, a process of generating and deleting routing information due to a link failure is performed. The process is the same as steps 11 to 16 described above with reference to Figure 8 Subsequently, since a link between the new network elements NE_C and NE_B is added, the network elements NE_C and NE_B at both ends of the newly added link are put into the network element set Set_NE.

[0181] In step 42, since the network elements NE_C and NE_B are in the network element set Set_NE, the network elements NE_C and NE_B generate a fourth incremental message Message_4 according to the change of the link. In this embodiment, the network element (taking the network element NE_C as an example) recalculates the direct connection routes of the network element NE_C, marks both the recalculated direct connection routes and the routes stored in the routing table of the network element NE_C as newly added routes, and encapsulates the information of the newly added routes into the fourth incremental message Message_4. The fourth incremental message Message_4 is sent to the neighbor network elements of the network element NE_C, that is, the network elements NE_A, NE_B, and NE_D.

[0182] In step 43, taking the network element NE_A as an example, when the network element NE_A finds that there are no routes with destination IP addresses 10.0.0.2 and 10.0.0.4 in its own routing table due to the execution of the route deletion operation, it extracts the routes with destination IP addresses 10.0.0.2 and 10.0.0.4 from the received fourth incremental message, calculates a new route metric value by adding the link cost (that is, the link metric value 20 between the network element NE_C and the network element NE_A), and adds this route to its own routing table. Then, the information of the newly added route is diffused to its neighbor network elements as a new incremental message (that is, the fifth incremental message Message_5).

[0183] Due to the appearance of the newly added link, the network element NE_A finds a route to the network element NE_B. Other network elements repeat the above operations until there are no newly added routes in the network.

[0184] It should be recognized that after performing the above steps 41 to 43, steps 21 to 25 described below with reference to Figure 14 can be continued to re - establish the connections between the network elements not involved in the newly added link, or to obtain the optimized routes between each network element.

[0185] In some embodiments, the digital twin simulation unit simulating a change in the link in the digital twin network (step 510) includes at least one of the following: adding a link connected to the first network element and reducing the metric value of the link connected to the first network element, Figure 13 This is a flowchart of simulating route calculation triggered by adding a new link provided by the embodiment of the present application. The method further includes the following steps 1310 to 1390.

[0186] In step 1310, recalculate the direct route of the first network element.

[0187] In step 1320, generate new routing information, where the new routing information includes the information of the recalculated direct route and the information of the routes stored in the routing table of the first network element.

[0188] In step 1330, use the new routing information as the first incremental message, the incremental type of the first incremental message is the new routing type, and send the first incremental message to a second network element adjacent to the first network element.

[0189] In step 1340, in response to the incremental type of the first incremental message being the new routing type, determine that the first incremental message includes new routing information.

[0190] In step 1350, recalculate the routes to each of the other network elements in the digital twin network according to the new routing information.

[0191] In step 1360, determine whether the metric value of the recalculated routes to each of the other network elements in the digital twin network is less than the metric value of the routes to the corresponding network elements in the routing table of the second network element.

[0192] In step 1370, in response to the metric value of the recalculated routes to each of the other network elements in the digital twin network being less than the metric value of the routes to the corresponding network elements in the routing table of the second network element, determine that the routing table of the second network element needs to be updated.

[0193] In step 1380, replace the corresponding routes in the routing table of the second network element with the recalculated routes, and generate the second incremental message, where the second incremental message includes the information of the replaced routes, and the incremental type of the second incremental message is the new routing type.

[0194] In step 1390, send the second incremental message to the neighbor network elements of the second network element.

[0195] To enable those skilled in the art to better understand the present invention, the following takes an actual application as an example to further illustrate the embodiments of the present invention.

[0196] Figure 14 Figure 14 Figure 14In the example shown, the digital twin network includes five network elements NE_A to NE_E, and their IP addresses are 10.0.0.1 to 10.0.0.5 respectively. There are links connected between network element NE_A and network elements NE_C and NE_E respectively, and the metric values of the two links are 20 and 20 respectively. There are links connected between network element NE_D and network elements NE_B, NE_C and NE_E respectively, and the metric values of the three links are 10, 10 and 30 respectively.

[0197] In step 21, the simulated link changes.

[0198] The digital twin simulation unit 140 can add a link between network elements NE_C and NE_B in the digital twin data model 130. The network elements NE_C and NE_B at both ends of the newly added link are put into the network element set Set_NE.

[0199] The execution process of the digital twin control unit 150 includes the following steps 21 to 25.

[0200] In step 22, since network elements NE_C and NE_B are in the network element set Set_NE, network elements NE_C and NE_B generate an incremental message, the first incremental message Message_1, according to the change of the link. In this embodiment, the network element (i.e., the first network element, taking network element NE_C as an example) recalculates the direct connection route of network element NE_C, marks both the recalculated direct connection route and the route stored in the routing table of network element NE_C as new routes, and encapsulates the information of the new routes into the first incremental message Message_1.

[0201] In step 23, the first incremental message Message_1 is sent to the neighbor network elements of network element NE_C, that is, network elements NE_A, NE_B and NE_D.

[0202] In step 24, taking network element NE_A as an example, when receiving the first incremental message Message_1, it can determine the type of the first incremental message Message_1 as the new route type according to the information about the incremental type carried in the first incremental message Message_1. Network element NE_A recalculates the routes to other network elements in the digital twin network according to the new route information; determines whether the metric values of the recalculated routes to other network elements in the digital twin network are less than the metric values of the routes to the corresponding network elements in the routing table of network element NE_A; in response to the metric values of the recalculated routes to other network elements in the digital twin network being less than the metric values of the routes to the corresponding network elements in the routing table, replaces the corresponding routes in the routing table with the recalculated routes.

[0203] In step 25, the information of the replaced route is encapsulated into a new delta message (i.e., the second delta message Message_2). The information in the second delta message Message_2 is different from the information in the first delta message Message_1. The delta type of the second delta message Message_2 is the new route type. The network element NE_A continues to spread the second delta message Message_2 to its neighboring network elements (i.e., network elements NE_C and NE_E).

[0204] If network elements NE_C and NE_E determine that the routing table needs to be updated based on the second delta message Message_2, then perform the above steps 24 and 25 until the delta message is no longer spread continuously and the routing of the entire network has been optimized and adjusted.

[0205] The embodiments of the present application have introduced in detail the simulation of the change of the link state. However, it should be known that the present application can also simulate simulation operations such as adding network elements, deleting network elements, adding interfaces, deleting interfaces, or changing protocol configurations. This will not be elaborated here in detail.

[0206] Refer to Figure 15 , the embodiments of the present application also provide an electronic device, which includes: one or more processors 501; a storage device 502, on which one or more computer programs or instructions are stored. When the one or more computer programs are executed by the one or more processors, the one or more processors implement the link simulation method of the digital twin network according to the embodiments of the present application.

[0207] In addition, the electronic device may further include one or more I / O interfaces 503, connected between the processor and the storage device, configured to implement the information interaction between the processor and the storage device.

[0208] The processor 501 is a device with data processing capabilities, which includes but is not limited to a central processing unit (CPU), etc.; the storage device 502 is a device with data storage capabilities, which includes but is not limited to a random access memory (RAM, more specifically such as SDRAM, DDR, etc.), a read-only memory (ROM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a flash memory (FLASH); the I / O interface (read / write interface) 503 is connected between the processor 501 and the memory 502 and can implement the information interaction between the processor 501 and the storage device 502, which includes but is not limited to a data bus (Bus), etc.

[0209] In some embodiments, the processor 501, the storage device 502, and the I / O interface 503 are interconnected through a bus and then connected to other components of the computing device.

[0210] In some embodiments, the process of running the link simulation system based on the digital twin network includes the following steps 10 to 80.

[0211] In step 10, the data collector 110 collects routing data information from the physical network, and the network status collector 120 collects resource information from the physical network.

[0212] In step 20, a digital twin data model 130 is constructed through the above routing data information and resource information.

[0213] In step 30, the digital twin simulation unit 140 changes the network status in the digital twin data model 130.

[0214] In step 40, the digital twin simulation unit 140 notifies the digital twin control unit 150 that the network status of the digital twin data model 130 has been changed.

[0215] In step 50, the digital twin control unit 150 obtains the latest network status information.

[0216] In step 60, the digital twin control unit 150 simulates the change of the digital twin network routing and updates it to the digital twin data model 130.

[0217] In step 70, the digital twin control unit 150 replies to the digital twin simulation unit 140 that the routing of the digital twin network has been updated.

[0218] In step 80, the digital twin simulation unit 140 obtains the simulation result from the digital twin data model 130.

[0219] Refer to Figure 16 , an embodiment of the present application also provides a non-volatile computer-readable medium, on which a computer program or instruction is stored, and the computer program or instruction is executed by a processor, so that the processor implements the link simulation method based on the digital twin network according to the embodiments of the present application.

[0220] Those of ordinary skill in the art can understand that all or some of the steps in the method, and the functional modules / units in the system and device described above can be implemented as software, firmware, hardware, and their appropriate combinations. In the hardware implementation, the division between the functional modules / units mentioned above does not necessarily correspond to the division of physical components; for example, one physical component can have multiple functions, or one function or step can be executed by several physical components in cooperation. Some or all physical components can be implemented as software executed by a processor, such as a central processing unit, a digital signal processor, or a microprocessor, or implemented as hardware, or implemented as an integrated circuit, such as an application-specific integrated circuit. Such software can be distributed on a computer-readable medium, which can include a computer storage medium (or non-transitory medium) and a communication medium (or transitory medium). As is well known to those of ordinary skill in the art, the term computer storage medium includes volatile and non-volatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storing information, such as computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data. Computer storage media includes, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technologies, CD-ROM, digital versatile disk (DVD) or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassette, tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to store the desired information and can be accessed by a computer. In addition, as is well known to those of ordinary skill in the art, a communication medium typically contains computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data in a modulated data signal such as a carrier wave or other transmission mechanism, and can include any information delivery medium.

[0221] The digital twin network of the present application synchronizes the complete topological information of all network elements in the physical network through centralized computing, constructs a model of the network control plane, and simulates how the routing in the network changes when network elements, interfaces, links, and protocol configurations change in the digital twin network. Since the digital twin network synchronizes the topological information of all network elements in the physical network, that is, a virtual network with complete routing data is established. By dynamically simulating the network state of the digital twin network, for example, simulating link failures or adding new links, the network elements in the network only need to forward the changed incremental routing information to achieve routing synchronization, without having to build a routing table from scratch, greatly reducing the amount of computing data, and improving the calculation accuracy and efficiency.

[0222] This application has been filed for example embodiments, and although specific terms are employed, they are used only and should be construed only as general illustrative meanings and not for the purpose of limitation. In some instances, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that, unless otherwise expressly stated, features, characteristics, and / or elements described in connection with a particular embodiment may be used singly or in combination with features, characteristics, and / or elements described in connection with other embodiments. Accordingly, those skilled in the art will understand that various forms and details may be changed without departing from the scope of the present application as set forth by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A link simulation method based on a digital twin network, applied to a first network element, including: responding to a change in the link connected to the first network element, generating a first incremental message according to the change in the link; and sending the first incremental message to a neighbor network element of the first network element.

2. The link simulation method based on a digital twin network according to claim 1, wherein, the change in the link includes: changing the metric value of the link connected to the first network element to simulate a failure of the link, and generating the first incremental message according to the change in the link includes: deleting the route in the routing table of the first network element whose next-hop IP address is the peer network element of the failed link; generating deletion route information, where the deletion route information includes information about the deleted route; and using the deletion route information as the first incremental message.

3. The link simulation method based on a digital twin network according to claim 2, generating the first incremental message according to the change in the link further includes: saving the destination IP address of the deleted route to the destination IP address set of the digital twin network.

4. The link simulation method based on a digital twin network according to claim 2, wherein, changing the metric value of the link connected to the first network element to simulate a failure of the link includes at least one of the following: increasing the metric value of the link and deleting the link.

5. The link simulation method based on a digital twin network according to claim 1, wherein, the change in the link includes at least one of the following: adding a link connected to the first network element and decreasing the metric value of the link connected to the first network element, and generating the first incremental message according to the change in the link includes: recalculating the direct connection route of the first network element; generating new route information, where the new route information includes information about the recalculated direct connection route and information about the routes stored in the routing table of the first network element; and using the new route information as the first incremental message.

6. The link simulation method based on a digital twin network according to claim 2 or 5, wherein, the first incremental message further includes information about the incremental type, and the incremental type includes one of the deletion route type and the new route type.

7. A link simulation method based on a digital twin network, applied to a second network element, including: receiving an incremental message sent by a neighbor network element of the second network element, where the incremental message includes deletion route information or new route information; determining whether the routing table of the second network element needs to be updated according to the received incremental message; responding to the determination that an update is required, updating the routing table of the second network element according to the incremental message and generating a second incremental message, and sending the second incremental message to a neighbor network element of the second network element.

8. The link simulation method based on a digital twin network according to claim 7, wherein, the incremental message includes information about the incremental type, and the incremental type includes one of the deletion route type and the new route type, In response to the increment type being the delete route type, it is determined that the increment message includes delete route information.

9. The link simulation method based on a digital twin network according to claim 8, wherein, in response to the increment type being the delete route type, according to the received increment message, determining whether it is necessary to update the routing table of the second network element, includes: judging whether there is a first target route in the routing table of the second network element, wherein the destination IP address of the first target route is the same as the destination IP address of the deleted route included in the increment message, and the next-hop IP address of the first target route is the IP address of the sending network element of the increment message; in response to the existence of the first target route, determining that it is necessary to update the routing table of the second network element.

10. The link simulation method based on a digital twin network according to claim 9, wherein, in response to determining that an update is required, updating the routing table of the second network element according to the increment message and generating a second increment message, includes: deleting the first target route in the routing table of the second network element, wherein the number of the first target routes is one or more; and using the information of the deleted first target route as the second increment message, and the increment type of the second increment message is the delete route type.

11. The link simulation method based on a digital twin network according to claim 7, wherein, the increment message includes information about the increment type, and the increment type includes one of the delete route type and the new route type, in response to the increment type being the new route type, determining that the increment message includes new route information.

12. The link simulation method based on a digital twin network according to claim 11, wherein, in response to the increment type being the new route type, according to the received increment message, determining whether it is necessary to update the routing table of the second network element, includes: recalculating the routes to other respective network elements in the digital twin network according to the new route information; judging whether the metric value of the recalculated routes to other respective network elements in the digital twin network is less than the metric value of the routes to the corresponding network elements in the routing table of the second network element; in response to the metric value of the recalculated routes to other respective network elements in the digital twin network being less than the metric value of the routes to the corresponding network elements in the routing table of the second network element, determining that it is necessary to update the routing table of the second network element.

13. The link simulation method based on a digital twin network according to claim 12, wherein, in response to determining that an update is required, updating the routing table of the second network element according to the increment message and generating a second increment message, includes: replacing the corresponding routes in the routing table of the second network element with the recalculated routes, and generating the second increment message, wherein the second increment message includes the information of the replaced routes, and the increment type of the second increment message is the new route type.

14. A link simulation method based on a digital twin network, the digital twin network including a digital twin simulation unit and a digital twin control unit, the method comprises: The digital twin simulation unit simulates a change in a link in the digital twin network; and In response to the link change, the digital twin control unit updates the routing of each network element in the digital twin network.

15. The link simulation method based on a digital twin network according to claim 14, wherein The digital twin control unit updates the routing of each network element in the digital twin network, including: The digital twin control unit notifies a first network element to perform the following steps, where the first network element is a network element at both ends of the link that has changed in the digital twin network: Generate a first incremental message according to the change of the link, where the first incremental message includes deletion routing information or new routing information, the first incremental message further includes information about the incremental type, and the incremental type includes one of a deletion routing type and a new routing type; Send the first incremental message to a second network element adjacent to the first network element, The second network element receives the first incremental message and performs the following steps: Determine whether it is necessary to update the routing table of the second network element according to the received first incremental message; In response to determining that an update is required, update the routing table of the second network element according to the first incremental message and generate a second incremental message, and send the second incremental message to the neighbor network element of the second network element.

16. The link simulation method based on a digital twin network according to claim 15, wherein The digital twin simulation unit simulating a change in a link in the digital twin network includes: changing the metric value of the link connected to the first network element to simulate a failure of the link, Generating the first incremental message according to the change of the link includes: Delete the route in the routing table of the first network element whose next-hop IP address is the peer network element of the failed link; Generate deletion routing information, where the deletion routing information includes information about the deleted route; Use the deletion routing information as the first incremental message, and the incremental type of the first incremental message is the deletion routing type; and Save the destination IP address of the deleted route to the destination IP address set of the digital twin network, Determining whether it is necessary to update the routing table of the second network element according to the received first incremental message includes: In response to the incremental type of the first incremental message being the deletion routing type, determine that the first incremental message includes deletion routing information; Judge whether there is a first target route in the routing table of the second network element, where the destination IP address of the first target route is included in the destination IP address set of the digital twin network, and the next-hop IP address of the first target route is the IP address of the first network element; In response to the existence of the first target route, determine that it is necessary to update the routing table of the second network element, In response to determining that an update is required, updating the routing table of the second network element according to the first incremental message and generating the second incremental message, including: Deleting the first target route in the routing table of the second network element, where the number of the first target routes is one or more; and Using the information of the deleted first target route as the second incremental message, and the incremental type of the second incremental message is the route deletion type.

17. The link simulation method based on a digital twin network according to claim 16, wherein, Changing the metric value of the link connected to the first network element to simulate a failure of the link includes at least one of the following: increasing the metric value of the link and deleting the link.

18. The link simulation method based on a digital twin network according to claim 16, further including: In response to each network element in the digital twin network no longer transmitting an incremental message of the route deletion type, the digital twin control unit notifies each network element in the digital twin network to check whether there is a second target route in its routing table, where the destination IP address of the second target route is included in the set of destination IP addresses of the digital twin network; In response to the existence of the second target route in the routing table, the notified network element marks the second target route as a newly added route, generates a third incremental message, and sends the third incremental message to the neighboring network elements of the network element, where the third incremental message includes the information of the route marked as newly added, and the incremental type of the third incremental message is the newly added route type.

19. The link simulation method based on a digital twin network according to claim 16, further including: In response to each network element in the digital twin network no longer transmitting an incremental message of the route deletion type, the digital twin simulation unit performs at least one of the following operations: adding a link connected to the third network element and decreasing the metric value of the link connected to the third network element; The digital twin control unit saves the third network element to the set of network elements with routing changes in the digital twin network, and notifies the network elements in the set of network elements with routing changes to perform the following steps: Recalculating the direct-connected routes of the network elements in the set of network elements with routing changes; Generating newly added route information, where the newly added route information includes the information of the recalculated direct-connected routes and the information of the routes stored in the routing tables of the network elements in the set of network elements with routing changes; Using the newly added route information as a fourth incremental message, and the incremental type of the fourth incremental message is the newly added route type; Sending the fourth incremental message to a fourth network element adjacent to the network elements in the set of network elements with routing changes; The fourth network element receives the fourth incremental message and performs the following steps: Comparing the destination IP addresses in the routing table of the fourth network element with the destination IP addresses in the fourth incremental message to determine whether there is a first destination IP address, where the first destination IP address exists in the fourth incremental message but does not exist in the destination IP addresses of the routing table of the fourth network element; In response to determining that the first destination IP address exists, calculate the metric value of the route to the first destination IP address according to the received fourth incremental message; add the route of the first destination IP address to the routing table of the fourth network element; generate a fifth incremental message, and send the fifth incremental message to the neighbor network element of the fourth network element, where the fifth incremental message includes the information of the added route, and the incremental type of the fifth incremental message is a new route type; and In response to determining that the first destination IP address does not exist, determine whether a second destination IP address exists, where the second destination IP address exists in the fourth incremental message and exists in the destination IP addresses of the routing table of the fourth network element; in response to determining that the second destination IP address exists, recalculate the metric value of the route to the second destination IP address according to the received fourth incremental message; Determine whether the recalculated metric value of the route to the second destination IP address is less than the metric value of the route to the second destination IP address in the routing table of the fourth network element; In response to the recalculated metric value of the route to the second destination IP address being less than the metric value of the route to the second destination IP address in the routing table of the fourth network element, replace the corresponding route in the routing table of the fourth network element with the recalculated route, generate a sixth incremental message, and send the sixth incremental message to the neighbor network element of the fourth network element, where the sixth incremental message includes the information of the replaced route, and the incremental type of the sixth incremental message is a new route type.

20. The link simulation method based on a digital twin network according to claim 15, wherein, The digital twin simulation unit simulating a change in a link in the digital twin network includes at least one of the following: adding a link connected to the first network element, and reducing the metric value of a link connected to the first network element, and Generating the first incremental message according to the change in the link includes: Recalculating the direct-connected route of the first network element; Generating new route information, where the new route information includes the information of the recalculated direct-connected route and the information of the routes stored in the routing table of the first network element; and Using the new route information as the first incremental message, where the incremental type of the first incremental message is a new route type, Determining whether the routing table of the second network element needs to be updated according to the received first incremental message includes: In response to the incremental type of the first incremental message being a new route type, determining that the first incremental message includes new route information; Recalculating the routes to each of the other network elements in the digital twin network according to the new route information; Determining whether the metric values of the recalculated routes to each of the other network elements in the digital twin network are less than the metric values of the routes to the corresponding network elements in the routing table of the second network element; Determine that an update to the routing table of the second network element is required in response to the metric value of the recalculated route to each other network element in the digital twin network being less than the metric value of the route to the corresponding network element in the routing table of the second network element. In response to determining that an update is required, update the routing table of the second network element according to the first delta message and generate the second delta message, including: Replace the corresponding route in the routing table of the second network element with the recalculated route and generate the second delta message, where the second delta message includes information about the replaced route, and the delta type of the second delta message is a new route type.

21. An electronic device comprising: one or more processors; a storage device storing one or more computer programs or instructions, and when the one or more processors execute the one or more computer programs or instructions, implement the digital twin network-based link simulation method according to any one of claims 1 to 20.

22. A non-volatile computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program or instruction, and when the computer program or instruction is executed by a processor, cause the processor to implement the digital twin network-based link simulation method according to any one of claims 1 to 20.

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