Data transmission method and device and storage medium

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention provides a data transmission method and device and a storage medium, relates to the technical field of communication, and at least can obtain resource information of server nodes in a network in time. The method is applied to a first node, the first node is a device in a forwarding layer of an SDN, and the method comprises the following steps: sending heartbeat information to a second node; the second node is a device in a control layer of the SDN; the heartbeat information is carried by the LLDP message.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present disclosure relates to the technical field of communication, and particularly relates to a data transmission method, device and storage medium. BACKGROUND

[0002] In order to meet a variety of network services and scenarios, network slicing has been a hot issue in the field of network research, and more and more researches are not limited to core network slicing and access network slicing, but consider resource configuration and performance optimization of network slicing in an end-to-end scenario. At the same time, the complexity of modern networks and the rapid changes of service flows determine the need for dynamic network slicing.

[0003] Unlike static network slicing that requires manual operation each time the resource configuration is changed, dynamic network slicing can adaptively allocate resources to meet network service requirements as the service dynamically changes. Traditional network topology detection methods cannot meet the dynamic requirements, especially in the context of dynamic network slicing, and the traditional network detection method cannot obtain the resource information of the server nodes in the network in time. SUMMARY

[0004] The embodiments of the present disclosure provide a data transmission method, device and storage medium, which can at least obtain the resource information of the server nodes in the network in time.

[0005] In one aspect, a data transmission method is provided, applied to a first node, the first node being a device in a forwarding layer of an SDN, and the method comprising:

[0006] sending heartbeat information to a second node, the second node being a device in a control layer of the SDN, and the heartbeat information being carried by a Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP) packet.

[0007] In another aspect, a data transmission method is provided, applied to a second node, the second node being a device in a control layer of an SDN, and the method comprising:

[0008] receiving heartbeat information sent by at least one first node, the first node being a device in a forwarding layer of the SDN, and the heartbeat information being carried by an LLDP packet;

[0009] storing the heartbeat information of the at least one first node.

[0010] In yet another aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising a sending module, which is configured to send heartbeat information to a second node, the second node being a device in a control layer of an SDN, and the heartbeat information being carried by an LLDP packet.

[0011] In yet another aspect, a communication apparatus is provided, which comprises a receiving module and a storage module. The receiving module is configured to receive heartbeat information sent by at least one first node, wherein the first node is a device in a forwarding layer of an SDN, and the heartbeat information is carried by a link layer discovery protocol (LLDP) packet. The storage module is configured to store the heartbeat information of the at least one first node.

[0012] In yet another aspect, a computer readable storage medium is provided, which stores computer program instructions. The computer program instructions, when executed by a processor, implement the method of any of the above embodiments.

[0013] In yet another aspect, a computer program product is provided, which comprises computer program instructions. The computer program instructions, when executed by a processor, implement the method of any of the above embodiments.

[0014] The data transmission method provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure is that, in an SDN, a first node carries heartbeat information in a link layer discovery protocol (LLDP) packet, and sends the LLDP packet to a second node. After receiving the LLDP packet, the second node can store the heartbeat information of the at least one first node. The LLDP packet is a packet defined by a data link layer protocol, and can be effectively transmitted in the SDN. In addition, the LLDP packet has the advantage of carrying complete information, and can ensure the accuracy of the transmission of the heartbeat information. In the scheme of the embodiments of the present disclosure, the first node in the forwarding layer actively sends the heartbeat information to the second node in the control layer, so compared with the conventional scheme, the second node can timely acquire the resource information / heartbeat information of the server in the network, thereby ensuring the timeliness of the resource information. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0015] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the present disclosure, the drawings needed to be used in some embodiments of the present disclosure will be briefly introduced as follows. Obviously, the drawings described in the following are only some of the drawings of the present disclosure, and other drawings can also be obtained by those skilled in the art according to these drawings.

[0016] Figure 1 A system architecture diagram of a communication system provided by some embodiments of the present disclosure is provided.

[0017] Figure 2 A flowchart of a data transmission method provided by some embodiments of the present disclosure is provided.

[0018] Figure 3 A diagram of an LLDP packet format provided by some embodiments of the present disclosure is provided.

[0019] Figure 4 A schematic diagram of a format of an LLDPDU provided for some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0020] Figure 5 A schematic diagram of a form of TLV encapsulation provided for some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0021] Figure 6 A flowchart of another data transmission method provided for some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0022] Figure 7 A structural schematic diagram of a communication apparatus provided for some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0023] Figure 8 A structural schematic diagram of a communication apparatus provided for some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0024] Figure 9 A structural schematic diagram of another communication apparatus provided for some embodiments of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0025] The technical solutions in the present disclosure will be described clearly and completely below with reference to the drawings in the present disclosure. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some of the embodiments of the present disclosure, but not all the embodiments. Based on the embodiments in the present disclosure, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative work fall within the scope of the present disclosure.

[0026] It should be noted that in the present disclosure, the words “exemplary” or “for example” are used to mean serving as an example, instance, or illustration. Any embodiment or design presented as “exemplary” or “for example” in the present disclosure should not be interpreted as being more advantageous or superior to other embodiments or designs. In fact, the use of the words “exemplary” or “for example” is intended to present concepts in a particular manner.

[0027] Hereinafter, the terms “first” and “second” are used only for the purpose of description, and should not be understood as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of the indicated technical features. Therefore, the features defined with “first” and “second” can explicitly or implicitly include one or more of the features.

[0028] In the description of the present disclosure, unless otherwise specified, “ / ” means “or”, for example, A / B can mean A or B. “And / or” in this document is only a description of the association between the associated objects, which means that there can be three relationships, for example, A and / or B can mean that A exists alone, A and B exist together, and B exists alone. In addition, “at least one” means one or more, and “multiple” means two or more.

[0029] The management and orchestration (MANO) module is an architecture from detecting network topology to collecting server information, which can effectively and quickly collect information of the network and store in its own information base for easy updating and calling. In the context of network slicing, the MANO module needs to obtain real-time server resource information in order to allocate network virtual resources (network function virtualization, NFV) and configure network slicing.

[0030] In the software defined network (SDN), due to the programmable feature of SDN control, the MANO module can be implemented by programming in the SDN application layer. The information of the server in the underlying network is obtained by the SDN controller and fed back to the MANO module to realize network resource scheduling.

[0031] In the traditional network topology detection scheme, the SDN controller cannot obtain the resource information of the server in the highly dynamic network in real time, and cannot provide high-quality network slicing services for terminal-side users.

[0032] In summary, how to obtain the resource information of the server in the network in real time is a problem to be solved.

[0033] Based on this, the embodiment of the disclosure provides a data transmission method. In the SDN, the first node carries heartbeat information through a link layer discovery protocol (LLDP) message and sends the LLDP message to the second node. After receiving the LLDP message, the second node can store the heartbeat information of at least one first node. Wherein, the LLDP message is a message belonging to the data link layer protocol, which can be effectively transmitted in the SDN, and has the advantage of carrying complete information, which can ensure the accuracy of the transmission of the heartbeat information. Since the first node in the forwarding layer in the scheme of the embodiment of the disclosure is the one that actively sends the heartbeat information to the second node in the control layer, compared with the traditional scheme, the second node can obtain the resource information / heartbeat information of the server in the network in time, and ensure the timeliness of the resource information.

[0034] Figure 1 A system architecture diagram of a communication system is provided for the embodiment of the disclosure. As shown in the figure, from top to bottom, it includes an application layer, a control layer and a forwarding layer. Figure 1

[0035] The application layer is the uppermost layer of the SDN, responsible for carrying various network applications and services, such as the network resource monitoring unit, which is used to realize network topology management, server resource management, and storage functions, etc.

[0036] ​The control layer is the core of SDN, containing SDN controllers, responsible for collecting the global network view, translating the requirements from the application layer into specific network configuration instructions, and delivering these instructions to the underlying network devices. The second node in the embodiment of the present disclosure is located in the control layer, which can be an SDN controller in the control layer.

[0037] The forwarding layer is the foundation of the SDN network, containing actual devices in the network, such as switches, routers (not shown in the figure), servers, etc. This layer is responsible for executing instructions from the control layer, translating them into configurations for underlying devices, and implementing actual data transmission and processing. The first node in the embodiment of the present disclosure is located in the forwarding layer, which can be a server.

[0038] Considering that network slices usually run in a highly dynamic network environment, the MANO module needs to continuously optimize the orchestration method of service function chains (SFC) and node resource allocation strategies in this process to provide better service quality for end users. The detection based on the heartbeat packet mechanism in SDN can be used for the perception of the underlying physical network environment and resources by the SDN controller.

[0039] The LLDP packet is used to carry heartbeat information for the transmission of the heartbeat packet at the link layer, so the heartbeat packet mechanism is applied to the SDN scenario for the controller to obtain resource information on the server side. The embodiment of the present disclosure first models the traditional network application layer design and the scenario using the heartbeat packet mechanism, and then encapsulates the application layer packet for transmission in the SDN, realizing functions such as topology detection and perception of the underlying server nodes, virtual resource detection, etc., to assist the MANO in completing the orchestration strategy.

[0040] It should be understood that Figure 1 is an exemplary structural diagram, Figure 1 The communication system shown includes a number of devices, such as a number of servers and a number of switches, without limitation. In addition to Figure 1 the devices shown, Figure 1 The communication system shown can also include other devices, without limitation.

[0041] Figure 2 A flowchart of a data transmission method provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. For example, the data transmission method provided by the present disclosure can be applied in Figure 1 the communication system shown, and specifically can be applied to the devices in the forwarding layer, i.e., the first node.

[0042] As Figure 2 shown, the data transmission method provided by the present disclosure can specifically include the following steps:

[0043] S201, the first node sends heartbeat information to the second node.

[0044] The second node is a device in a control layer of the SDN, and can also be referred to as an SDN controller. The heartbeat information is carried by an LLDP packet.

[0045] In some embodiments, the heartbeat information includes at least one of the following: a latency condition of the first node; a data throughput of the first node; a bandwidth of the first node; a central processing unit (CPU) occupation condition of the first node; and virtual machine resource information of the first node.

[0046] It should be understood that the latency condition is a key factor affecting the quality of service (QoS) of a network slice, and is used to assist the MANO module in making a reasonable decision on service function chain (SFC) orchestration. Therefore, the second node needs to obtain the latency condition of the first node, and when it is determined that a certain first node may be congested to cause abnormal processing latency, the MANO module will redistribute the SFC coding in the next resource adjustment.

[0047] The MANO module needs to master the computing resources and bandwidth of each node to assist in decision making, and therefore the heartbeat information also includes the resource usage of the first node, such as bandwidth, CPU occupation condition, graphics processing unit (GPU) occupation condition, and the like.

[0048] The data throughput and packet queue length of the server in a unit of time are important parameters for the MANO module to perform SFC orchestration, and are one of the reference indicators for the MANO module to determine the pros and cons of SFC orchestration. Therefore, the heartbeat information sent by the first node also includes the data throughput of the first node.

[0049] In some embodiments, the above S201 can be implemented as: the first node periodically sends heartbeat information to the second node, wherein the sending period of the heartbeat information is configurable. That is, the time of any two adjacent heartbeat information sending is the same.

[0050] In some embodiments, the above S201 can be implemented as: in a case where it is detected that the heartbeat information has changed, the heartbeat information is sent to the second node. It should be understood that in this way, the SDN controller can timely learn the resource change condition of the server, so as to timely adjust the resource orchestration strategy.

[0051] In some embodiments, in the process of sending the heartbeat information to the second node by the first node, there is a time interval between any two adjacent heartbeat information sending.

[0052] In some embodiments, the first node sets a first timer, which is started after the first node sends the heartbeat information, and the first node can send the heartbeat information again when the first timer expires, otherwise the first node does not send the heartbeat information. Wherein the maximum time T of the first timer is configurable, and the expiration of the first timer means that the time counted by the first timer exceeds the maximum time T max . max .

[0053] In some embodiments, the heartbeat information is carried in the LLDP data unit (LLDPDU) in the LLDP packet in the format of tag length value (TLV).

[0054] Figure 3 A schematic diagram of the LLDP packet format provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure contains five items, including destination media access control (MAC) address (6 bytes), source MAC address (6 bytes), protocol type (2 bytes or 8 bytes), LLDPDU and frame check sequence (FCS).

[0055] Among them, the LLDP packet has two formats, Ethernet II and subnetwork access protocol (SNAP). When the packet is Ethernet II encapsulation, the value of the protocol type is 0x88CC, and if it is SNAP encapsulation, the value of the protocol type is 0xAAAA-0300-0000-88CC.

[0056] The LLDPDU is the data field in the LLDP packet, and the device can encapsulate the information to be transmitted into the TLV format, and then a plurality of TLVs are combined to form an LLDPDU, which is encapsulated in the data field part of the LLDP packet for transmission.

[0057] Figure 4 A schematic diagram of the LLDPDU format provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in the figure, the LLDPDU contains five items, including TLV type (2 bytes), TLV length (2 bytes), TLV value (variable length), TLV end (1 byte) and TLV end (1 byte). Figure 4As shown, TLV Type 0 to Type 3 are mandatory items, which are end TLV, chassis ID TLV, port ID TLV and time to live (TTL) TLV respectively. The rest are optional TLVs. The first five optional TLVs are basic TLVs, whose types correspond to port description, system name, system description, system capabilities and management address in turn, and the rest are reserved fields.

[0058] In combination Figure 4 , the heartbeat information can be encapsulated in TLV format and carried in the optional TLV of the LLDPDU. The TLV encapsulation form of the heartbeat information is as shown in Figure 5 , which includes at least one of the following:

[0059] In the TLV encapsulation form, the heartbeat information is contained in a TLV information string field, which includes a delay field, a throughput field, a bandwidth field, a CPU occupancy field, a VM resources field and a reserved field.

[0060] It should be understood that Figure 5 Any change and combination of the number, name and order of the fields should be covered within the protection scope of the present disclosure.

[0061] It should be noted that the traditional heartbeat packet mechanism is introduced to ensure that the connection between the client and the server is normal or to detect whether there is a dead chain in the network. The task of "detecting heartbeat" is completed by sending a heartbeat packet to the destination, and the heartbeat packet can be sent bidirectionally between the server and the client. When the server sends, the client is required to reply after receiving the message, and the client can also send a heartbeat packet to the server by actively timing. Generally, the heartbeat packet is implemented in the transport layer or the application layer. The transport layer heartbeat packet relies on the transmission of the ACK packet of the connection established by the transmission control protocol (TCP) to detect whether the connection is normal. Such a heartbeat packet can be used for network topology detection.

[0062] The traditional heartbeat packet is usually used between the server and the client. It is very complex to use the heartbeat packet for cross-subnet communication, but the network slice needs to work across the subnet. Therefore, the present disclosure uses the LLDP packet to carry the heartbeat data, so that the heartbeat packet is transmitted in the link layer, and the heartbeat packet mechanism is applied to the SDN scenario for the SDN controller to obtain the resource information of the server.

[0063] In a highly dynamic network environment, the underlying server node may not be able to normally provide corresponding resources or performance to the virtual layer due to accidental failure factors, and the performance cannot meet the demand. In order to reduce resource waste and network slice arrangement failure, the MANO module needs to quickly start network function migration and resource reconfiguration and the like at this time. Therefore, based on the heartbeat mechanism, the topology detection and resource perception functions can quickly perceive the case that the physical network topology structure changes, and obtain the server information.

[0064] The LLDP protocol is a neighbor discovery protocol. As a topology discovery protocol in the data link layer, it not only has the advantage of carrying complete information, but also has strong operability and can flexibly adjust the packet sending time, meeting the demand of the dynamic characteristics of the slice. The LLDP packet can also be used as a carrier of the heartbeat information. The server in the SDN encapsulates the CPU occupation, memory occupation and the like of the server into a tag-length-value (TLV) format and places it in the LLDP packet, and sends it to the SDN controller in the heartbeat mode.

[0065] Figure 6 A flowchart of a data transmission method provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. For example, the data transmission method provided by the present disclosure can be applied to Figure 1 The communication system shown, and specifically can be applied to the device in the control layer, that is, the second node (or called SDN controller).

[0066] As Figure 6As shown, the data transmission method provided by the present disclosure can specifically include the following steps:

[0067] S601, the second node receives heartbeat information sent by at least one first node.

[0068] The first node is a device in a forwarding layer of an SDN, and the heartbeat information is carried by an LLDP packet.

[0069] In some embodiments, as shown in Figure 1 The second node can manage at least one first node. Each first node can actively send heartbeat information through an LLDP packet, and the second node can receive the heartbeat information sent by at least one first node.

[0070] In some embodiments, the heartbeat information includes at least one of the following: a latency of the first node; a data throughput of the first node; a bandwidth of the first node; a CPU occupancy of the first node; and virtual machine resource information of the first node.

[0071] In some embodiments, the heartbeat information is carried in an LLDPDU in the LLDP packet in a tag-length-value TLV format. The specific encapsulation format can be referred to in the related description of the first node side, which will not be repeated here.

[0072] In some embodiments, for the heartbeat information of each first node, if the time interval from the last time when the heartbeat information is received is greater than a preset threshold, the second node considers that the first node is abnormal. The preset threshold is configurable.

[0073] That is, when the second node receives the heartbeat information, the second node records the time difference from the last time when the heartbeat information of the same node is received, and then saves the heartbeat information.

[0074] In some embodiments, S601 can be implemented as follows: for each first node, a second timer is set; when the heartbeat information sent by the first node is received, the second timer is started, and the second timer starts timing until the next heartbeat information sent by the first node is received; when the next heartbeat information is received, the second timer is cleared and starts timing again; if the second timer times out, it is considered that the heartbeat information is received unsuccessfully; the maximum time length of the second timer is configurable; and the second timer timeout means that the timing time length of the second timer exceeds the maximum time length.

[0075] S602, the second node stores the heartbeat information of at least one first node.

[0076] In some embodiments, S602 can be implemented as follows: for the heartbeat information of each first node, if the identity information of the first node passes the legitimacy check and the heartbeat information passes the legitimacy check, the heartbeat information is stored. The present embodiment does not make a specific limitation on the legitimacy check mode.

[0077] It should be understood that the essence of the network slice is to map a virtual logical link to a physical network, so a change in the physical link will affect such a mapping relationship. In order to discover changes in the network in a timely manner, the SDN controller needs to obtain the topology graph of the network in a timely manner to determine whether the physical link has changed.

[0078] In the traditional scheme, the way in which the SDN controller discovers the switches connected thereto is given by the openflow protocol, but not all parts support the openflow protocol. For those non-openflow domains in the network and parts not directly connected to the openflow controller, the SDN cannot obtain the topology information and resource information. Therefore, the present embodiment also provides a network topology discovery scheme.

[0079] First, the second node probes the switches in the openflow domain through the openflow discovery protocol (OFDP) to obtain the connection information of the switches in the forwarding layer. Then, the first node carries the information of the switches in the process of sending the LLDP packet to the second node. In this way, the second node can determine which first nodes are connected to the switches after receiving and analyzing the LLDP packet, and further construct the network topology graph of the SDN according to the connection information of the switches and the information of which first nodes are connected to the switches.

[0080] OFDP is a protocol for link discovery using LLDP packets in the openflow environment. Based on this bidirectional topology discovery and information acquisition mode, the network resource monitoring unit in the SDN controller can store and update the network topology and resource changes, so that the network slice can be remapped and dynamically deployed according to the changes in user or operator requirements.

[0081] The data transmission method of the present embodiment will be described in detail below.

[0082] LLDP has four working modes, namely TxRx mode for sending and receiving LLDP packets, Tx mode for only sending LLDP packets, Rx mode for only receiving LLDP packets, and Disable mode for not sending or receiving.

[0083] Step one: the SDN controller (the aforementioned second node) receives the LLDP heartbeat packet from the server node (the aforementioned first node), wherein the LLDP heartbeat packet is the heartbeat information of the server node carried by the LLDP packet.

[0084] After the SDN controller detects the server and establishes the connection, the SDN controller enters the Rx mode, and the server enters the Tx mode and sends the LLDP heartbeat packet.

[0085] After the heartbeat packet mechanism is started, each server node in the network periodically sends the heartbeat information of the application layer to the SDN controller, and notifies the SDN controller of the change of the resource information of the server node as soon as possible. In addition, if the local configuration information changes, the heartbeat information is immediately sent to the SDN controller.

[0086] Meanwhile, in order to prevent the frequent change of the state information from causing a large number of LLDP heartbeat packets, the server node needs to delay for a period of time after sending each packet before sending the next packet, and the sending delay TxDelay can be configured according to the requirement. The server node sets a timer, and the timer is started after the server node sends an LLDP heartbeat packet. The time length of the timer is TxDelay, and the server node sends an LLDP heartbeat packet when the timer expires. The time length of the timer TxDelay is configurable. The expiration of the timer refers to that the time length of the timer exceeds the maximum time length TxDelay.

[0087] Step two: the SDN controller saves the heartbeat information in the LLDP heartbeat packet.

[0088] After the SDN controller node receives the heartbeat packet from the server node, the SDN controller node first performs the legality check on the identity information of the packet and the data carried by the packet, and discards the packet if the check fails. Subsequently, the controller records the time of the latest packet reception to calculate the reception time difference, and saves the node data into the network resource monitoring unit as the auxiliary data for the SFC arrangement and waits for the call.

[0089] After the SDN controller node receives the LLDP heartbeat packet from the server node, the SDN controller node performs the legality check on the identity information of the LLDP heartbeat packet and the data carried by the LLDP heartbeat packet, and discards the LLDP heartbeat packet if the check fails; otherwise, the SDN controller node records the time difference from the last time of receiving the LLDP heartbeat packet, and saves the heartbeat information of the server node.

[0090] Network slicing increases network flexibility, improves QoS, and also increases network complexity, which requires reasonable service function chain planning when deploying slices and effective resource arrangement. In the core network, slice resource configuration can be regarded as an SFC mapping problem, that is, mapping a virtual service function chain to a physical link. For network slicing, virtual network functions (VNFs) need to be allocated according to the needs of the network slicing, and on this basis, bandwidth resources are allocated to physical links.

[0091] The embodiment of the present disclosure provides a data transmission method. In the SDN, a first node carries heartbeat information through a link layer discovery protocol (LLDP) message and sends the LLDP message to a second node. After receiving the LLDP message, the second node can store heartbeat information of at least one first node. The LLDP message is a message defined by a data link layer protocol and can be effectively transmitted in the SDN. In addition, the LLDP message has the advantage of carrying complete information, which can ensure the accuracy of the transmission of the heartbeat information. In the scheme of the embodiment of the present disclosure, the first node in the forwarding layer actively sends the heartbeat information to the second node in the control layer, so compared with the traditional scheme, the second node can obtain the resource information / heartbeat information of the server in the network in time, and the timeliness of the resource information is ensured.

[0092] It can be understood that the communication device includes hardware structures and / or software modules corresponding to each function to realize the above functions. Those skilled in the art should easily realize that the algorithm steps of each example described in combination with the embodiments of the present disclosure can be realized in the form of hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a certain function is executed in hardware or computer software driven hardware depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Professional technicians can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered beyond the scope of the present disclosure.

[0093] The embodiments of the present disclosure can divide the functions of the communication device according to the above-mentioned method embodiments, for example, each function module can be divided according to each function, or two or more functions can be integrated into one function module. The integrated module can be realized in the form of hardware or software. It should be noted that the division of modules in the embodiments of the present disclosure is illustrative, and is only a logical function division. When actually implemented, another division method can be used. The following will be described taking the division of each function module according to each function as an example.

[0094] Figure 7This is a schematic diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of this disclosure. The communication device can execute the data transmission method provided in the above-described method embodiments. Figure 7 As shown, the communication device includes a transmitting module 701.

[0095] The sending module 701 is used to send heartbeat information to the second node; the second node is a device in the control layer of SDN; the heartbeat information is carried by the Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP) message.

[0096] In some embodiments, heartbeat information includes at least one of the following:

[0097] The latency of the first node;

[0098] Data throughput of the first node;

[0099] The bandwidth of the first node;

[0100] CPU usage of the central processing unit of the first node;

[0101] Virtual machine resource information for the first node.

[0102] In some embodiments, heartbeat information is carried in the LLDP data unit LLDPDU in the LLDP message in the format of tag-length-value (TLV).

[0103] In some embodiments, the sending module 701 is specifically used to periodically send heartbeat information to the second node, wherein the sending period of the heartbeat information is configurable.

[0104] In some embodiments, the sending module 701 is specifically used to send heartbeat information to the second node when a change in heartbeat information is detected.

[0105] In some embodiments, during the process of sending heartbeat information to the second node, there is a time interval between any two adjacent heartbeat information transmissions.

[0106] In some embodiments, the sending module 701 is specifically used to: set a first timer; start the first timer after the first node sends heartbeat information; send heartbeat information again when the first timer times out; otherwise, the first node does not send heartbeat information; wherein the maximum duration of the first timer is configurable; the first timer timeout means that the time taken by the first timer exceeds the maximum duration.

[0107] Figure 8 This is a schematic diagram of another communication device provided in an embodiment of this disclosure. The communication device can execute the data transmission method provided in the above-described method embodiments. Figure 8 As shown, the communication device includes a receiving module 801 and a storage module 802.

[0108] The receiving module 801 is configured to receive heartbeat information sent by at least one first node, the first node being a device in a forwarding layer of an SDN, and the heartbeat information being carried in an LLDP packet.

[0109] The storage module 802 is configured to store the heartbeat information of the at least one first node.

[0110] In some embodiments, the heartbeat information comprises at least one of the following: a latency condition of the first node; a data throughput of the first node; a bandwidth of the first node; a CPU occupation condition of the first node; and virtual machine resource information of the first node.

[0111] In some embodiments, the storage module 802 is specifically configured to, for the heartbeat information of each first node, store the heartbeat information when both the identity information of the first node passes the legitimacy check and the heartbeat information passes the legitimacy check.

[0112] In some embodiments, the receiving module 801 is further configured to, for the heartbeat information of each first node, consider the first node abnormal when a time length from a last time when the heartbeat information is received is greater than a preset threshold.

[0113] In some embodiments, the receiving module 801 is specifically configured to, for each first node, set a second timer; start the second timer when the heartbeat information sent by the first node is received, and the second timer starts timing; clear and restart the second timer when a next heartbeat packet is received; consider the heartbeat information receiving failed when the second timer times out; wherein a maximum time length of the second timer is configurable; and the second timer times out means that the timing time length of the second timer exceeds the maximum time length.

[0114] In some embodiments, the heartbeat information is carried in an LLDPDU in an LLDP packet in a tag-length-value (TLV) format.

[0115] In the case of implementing the functions of the above integrated modules in the form of hardware, the embodiments of the present disclosure provide another possible structure of the communication apparatus involved in the above embodiments. As shown in FIG. 9, the communication apparatus 900 includes a processor 902 and a bus 904. Optionally, the communication apparatus can further include a memory 901; and optionally, the communication apparatus can further include a communication interface 903. Figure 9

[0116] ​The processor 902 can be a central processing unit, a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor, an application specific integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array, or other programmable logic device, transistor logic, hardware components, or any combination thereof, which can implement or execute the various exemplary logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the embodiments of the present disclosure. The processor 902 can be a combination of a plurality of processing components, such as one or more microprocessors, a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, etc.

[0117] The communication interface 903 is configured to connect with other devices through a communication network. The communication network can be an Ethernet, a radio access network, a wireless local area network (WLAN), etc.

[0118] The memory 901 can be a read-only memory (ROM) or other type of static storage device that can store static information and instructions, a random access memory (RAM) or other type of dynamic storage device that can store information and instructions, an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a magnetic disk storage medium, or other magnetic storage device, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer, but is not limited thereto.

[0119] As a possible implementation, the memory 901 can exist independently of the processor 902, and the memory 901 can be connected with the processor 902 through the bus 904, for storing instructions or program codes. When the processor 902 invokes and executes the instructions or program codes stored in the memory 901, the method provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented.

[0120] In another possible implementation, the memory 901 can also be integrated with the processor 902.

[0121] The bus 904 can be an extended industry standard architecture (EISA) bus, etc. The bus 904 can be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For the convenience of representation, Figure 9 Only one thick line is used to represent the bus in the figure, but it does not mean that there is only one bus or only one type of bus.

[0122] In some embodiments, the memory 901 stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processor 902, cause the communication device to perform the method of any of the above embodiments.

[0123] Some embodiments of the present disclosure provide a computer-readable storage medium (for example, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium) having stored computer program instructions, which, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any of the above embodiments.

[0124] Exemplarily, the above computer-readable storage medium can include, but is not limited to, a magnetic storage device (for example, a hard disk, a floppy disk, or a magnetic tape, etc.), an optical disc (for example, a compact disc (CD), a digital versatile disc (DVD), etc.), a smart card, and a flash memory device (for example, an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), a card, a stick, or a key drive, etc.). The various computer-readable storage media described in the present disclosure can represent one or more devices and / or other machine-readable storage media for storing information. The term "machine-readable storage medium" can include, but is not limited to, a wireless channel and various other media capable of storing, containing, and / or carrying instructions and / or data.

[0125] The embodiments of the present disclosure provide a computer program product containing instructions, which, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any of the above embodiments.

[0126] The above description is merely illustrative of the embodiments of the present disclosure, but the protection scope of the present disclosure is not limited thereto. Any change or substitution within the technical scope disclosed in the present disclosure should be covered within the protection scope of the present disclosure. Therefore, the protection scope of the present disclosure should be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A data transmission method, characterized by, The method is applied to a first node, which is a device in a forwarding layer of a software defined network (SDN), and comprises the following steps: sending heartbeat information to a second node, which is a device in a control layer of the SDN, wherein the heartbeat information is carried by a link layer discovery protocol (LLDP) packet.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein, The heartbeat information comprises at least one of the following: a latency of the first node; a data throughput of the first node; a bandwidth of the first node; a central processing unit (CPU) occupation of the first node; virtual machine resource information of the first node.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein, The heartbeat information is carried in an LLDP data unit (LLDPDU) of the LLDP packet in a tag-length-value (TLV) format.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein, The sending of the heartbeat information to the second node comprises the following steps: periodically sending the heartbeat information to the second node, wherein a sending period of the heartbeat information is configurable.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein, The sending of the heartbeat information to the second node comprises the following steps: sending the heartbeat information to the second node when a change in the heartbeat information is detected.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein, During the sending of the heartbeat information to the second node, there is a time interval between any two adjacent heartbeat information sending.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein, The sending of the heartbeat information to the second node comprises the following steps: setting a first timer, starting the first timer after the first node sends the heartbeat information, sending the heartbeat information again when the first timer expires, and not sending the heartbeat information otherwise, wherein a maximum time length of the first timer is configurable, and the expiration of the first timer means that the time counted by the first timer exceeds the maximum time length.

8. A data transmission method, characterized by, The method is applied to a second node, which is a device in a control layer of an SDN, and comprises the following steps: receiving heartbeat information sent by at least one first node, wherein the first node is a device in a forwarding layer of the SDN, and the heartbeat information is carried by a link layer discovery protocol (LLDP) packet; storing the heartbeat information of the at least one first node.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein, The heartbeat information comprises at least one of the following: a latency of the first node; a data throughput of the first node; a bandwidth of the first node; a central processing unit (CPU) occupation of the first node; virtual machine resource information of the first node.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein, The storing of the heartbeat information of the at least one first node comprises the following steps: for the heartbeat information of each first node, storing the heartbeat information when both the identity information of the first node and the heartbeat information are verified to be legitimate.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein, The method further comprises the following steps: for the heartbeat information of each first node, considering the first node to be abnormal when the time length from the last time when the heartbeat information is received is greater than a preset threshold.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein, The receiving of the heartbeat information sent by the at least one first node comprises the following steps: for each first node, setting a second timer, starting the second timer when the heartbeat information sent by the first node is received, and starting the counting of the second timer; when the next heartbeat information is received, the second timer is cleared and starts counting again; the heartbeat information receiving is considered to fail in case that the second timer expires; wherein a maximum duration of the second timer is configurable; and the second timer expires means that the second timer exceeds the maximum duration.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein, the heartbeat information is carried in a LLDP data unit (LLDPDU) in the LLDP packet in a format of tag-length-value (TLV).

14. A communications device, characterized by comprising: a processor and a memory for storing instructions executable by the processor; wherein the processor is configured to execute the instructions to cause the communication device to perform the data transmission method of any one of claims 1-13.

15. A computer readable storage medium characterized by: the computer readable storage medium has stored thereon computer instructions that, when executed on a communication device, cause the communication device to perform the data transmission method of any one of claims 1-13.

16. A computer program product, characterised in that, the computer program product comprises computer instructions that, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the data transmission method of any one of claims 1-13.

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