Method and system for distributing data traffic in a network

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a system and method for distributing data traffic in a network The disclosure encompasses: receiving, a request for routing data traffic associated with a network function virtualization platform decision and analytics (NPDA) unit; receiving, a health status information of a plurality of NPDA instances connected with the LB unit [300a], wherein the health status information of each of the plurality of NPDA instances is indicative of one of a healthy instance and a malfunctioning instance; identifying, one or more healthy NPDA instances from the plurality of NPDA instances based on the health status information; and distributing, the data traffic from the NPDA unit among the one or more healthy NPDA instances.

Description

METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DISTRIBUTING DATA TRAFFIC IN A NETWORKFIELD OF DISCLOSURE

[0001] Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of wireless communication systems. More particularly, embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a method and a system for distributing data traffic in a network.BACKGROUND

[0002] The following description of related art is intended to provide background information pertaining to the field of the disclosure. This section may include certain aspects of the art that may be related to various features of the present disclosure. However, it should be appreciated that this section be used only to enhance the understanding of the reader with respect to the present disclosure, and not as admissions of prior art.

[0003] Wireless communication technology has rapidly evolved over the past few decades, with each generation bringing significant improvements and advancements. The first generation of wireless communication technology was based on analog technology and offered only voice services. However, with the advent of the second-generation (2G) technology, digital communication and data services became possible, and text messaging was introduced. 3G technology marked the introduction of high-speed internet access, mobile video calling, and location-based services. The fourth generation (4G) technology revolutionized wireless communication with faster data speeds, better network coverage, and improved security. Currently, the fifth generation (5G) technology is being deployed, promising even faster data speeds, low latency, and the ability to connect multiple devices simultaneously. With each generation, wireless communication technology has become more advanced, sophisticated, and capable of delivering more services to its users.

[0004] In communication networks, due to rapid growth of technology, different types of services and microservices have increased for providing support and services as per users and system consumption requirements. The microservices such as network function virtualization (NFV) Platform Decision Analytics (NPDA) perform hysteresis evaluation and healing services. In conventional systems, when one of the NPDA instances goes down, which is performinghysteresis analysis, there may be service hindrance in the network. In another case, when a user needs to access the policy data information, but the NPDA instance is not available, then there is no way to fetch or access the policy data information. The NPDA takes care of CNF / CNFC or VNF / VNFC policy Create, Read, Update and Delete (CRUD) operations, threshold based or restoration-based policy hysteresis evaluation and policy execution engine (PEEGN) microservice invocation to inform the scaling or healing decisions that has to be apply over the CNF / CNFC or VNF / VNFC. For achieving these functionalities, high availability (HA) support should be present at NPDA end i.e., in case any NPDA instance is down, then another NPDA instance should provide the same functionality. However, to make such a decision regarding the availability of other NPDA instances, by the current NPDA instance, is a cumbersome task. Further, due to high data traffic on a particular instance (such as, an abnormal instance), requests may fail, resulting in failure of the system. Therefore, efficiency and performance of the system may reduce from optimal operational requirements.

[0005] Thus, there exists an imperative need in the art to provide an efficient system and method for distributing data traffic in a network, which the present disclosure aims to address.SUMMARY

[0006] This section is provided to introduce certain aspects of the present disclosure in a simplified form that are further described below in the detailed description. This summary is not intended to identify the key features or the scope of the claimed subject matter.

[0007] An aspect of the present disclosure may relate to a method for distributing data traffic in a network. The method includes receiving, by a processing unit at a load balancer (LB) unit, a request for routing data traffic associated with a network function virtualization platform decision and analytics (NPDA) unit. Next, the method includes receiving, by the processing unit at the LB unit, a health status information of a plurality of NPDA instances connected with the LB unit, wherein the health status information of each of the plurality of NPDA instances is indicative of one of a healthy instance and a malfunctioning instance. Next, the method includes identifying, by the processing unit at the LB unit, one or more healthy NPDA instances from the plurality of NPDA instances based on the health status information. Thereafter, the method includes distributing, by the processing unit via the LB unit, the data traffic from the NPDA unit among the one or more healthy NPDA instances.

[0008] In an exemplary aspect of the present disclosure, wherein the LB unit and the NPDA unit are in communication via an interface.

[0009] In an exemplary aspect of the present disclosure, the method further comprises distributing, by processing unit, the data traffic among the one or more healthy NPDA instances in a round robin manner.

[0010] In an exemplary aspect of the present disclosure, the method further comprises storing, by each of the plurality of NPDA instances, the corresponding health status information in at least one of a local cache associated with the each of the plurality of NPDA instances, and an elastic search database.

[0011] In an exemplary aspect of the present disclosure, wherein, in response to a healthy NPDA instance becoming a malfunctioning NPDA instance, the method comprises redirecting, by the processing unit via the LB unit, the data traffic from the malfunctioning NPDA instance to a healthy NPDA instance.

[0012] In an exemplary aspect of the present disclosure, wherein the health status information of the plurality of NPDA instances is received by the processing unit via an orchestration manager.

[0013] In an exemplary aspect of the present disclosure, the method further comprises redistributing a data traffic associated with one or more malfunctioning NPDA instances from the plurality of NPDA instances to the one or more healthy NPDA instances, wherein the one or more malfunctioning NPDA instances are identified based on the corresponding health status information associated with the each of the plurality of NPDA instances.

[0014] Another aspect of the present disclosure may relate to a system for distributing network data traffic in a network environment. The system comprising: a processing unit configured to: receive, at a load balancer (LB) unit, from a network function virtualization platform decision and analytics (NPDA) unit, a request for routing data traffic through the NPDA unit; receive, at the LB unit, health status information of a plurality of NPDA instances connected with the LB unit, wherein the health status information of each of the plurality of NPDA instances is indicative of one of a healthy instance and a malfunctioning instance; transmit, via the LB unit, a request foraccepting at least a part of the data traffic, to one or more healthy NPDA instances; and distribute, via the LB unit, the data traffic from the NPDA unit among the one or more healthy NPDA instances.

[0015] Yet another aspect of the present disclosure may relate to a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions for distributing network data traffic in a network environment, the instructions include executable code which, when executed by one or more units of a system, causes: a processing unit of the system to receive, at a load balancer (LB) unit, from a network function virtualization platform decision and analytics (NPDA) unit, a request for routing data traffic through the NPDA unit; receive, at the LB unit, health status information of a plurality of NPDA instances connected with the LB unit, wherein the health status information of each of the plurality of NPDA instances is indicative of one of a healthy instance and a malfunctioning instance; transmit, via the LB unit, a request for accepting at least a part of the data traffic, to one or more healthy NPDA instances; and distribute, via the LB unit, the data traffic from the NPDA unit among the one or more healthy NPDA instances.OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

[0016] Some of the objects of the present disclosure, which at least one embodiment disclosed herein satisfies are listed herein below.

[0017] It is an object of the present disclosure to provide a system and a method for handling heavy data traffic on servers efficiently.

[0018] It is another object of the present disclosure to provide a system and a method for distributing data traffic using the NPDA LB interface.

[0019] It is another object of the present disclosure to provide a system and a method for asynchronous event-based implementation to utilize the NPDA LB interface efficiently.

[0020] It is another object of the present disclosure to provide a system and a method for performing fault tolerance by load balancer for any failure in a high availability mode, such that, if anyone NPDA instance is down, then a next available NPDA instance will take care of this request.DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0021] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein, and constitute a part of this disclosure, illustrate exemplary embodiments of the disclosed methods and systems in which like reference numerals refer to the same parts throughout the different drawings. Components in the drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the present disclosure. Also, the embodiments shown in the figures are not to be construed as limiting the disclosure, but the possible variants of the method and system according to the disclosure are illustrated herein to highlight the advantages of the disclosure. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that disclosure of such drawings includes disclosure of electrical components or circuitry commonly used to implement such components.

[0022] FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary block diagram of a management and orchestration (MANO) architecture.

[0023] FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary block diagram of a computing device upon which the features of the present disclosure may be implemented, in accordance with exemplary implementations of the present disclosure.

[0024] FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary block diagram of a system for distributing data traffic in a network environment, in accordance with exemplary implementations of the present disclosure.

[0025] FIG. 4 illustrates a method flow diagram for distributing data traffic in a network, in accordance with exemplary implementations of the present disclosure.

[0026] FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary system architecture for distributing data traffic in a network environment, in accordance with exemplary implementations of the present disclosure.

[0027] The foregoing shall be more apparent from the following more detailed description of the disclosure.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0028] In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, various specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the present disclosure. It will be apparent, however, that embodiments of the present disclosure may be practiced without these specific details. Several features described hereafter may each be used independently of one another or with any combination of other features. An individual feature may not address any of the problems discussed above or might address only some of the problems discussed above.

[0029] The ensuing description provides exemplary embodiments only, and is not intended to limit the scope, applicability, or configuration of the disclosure. Rather, the ensuing description of the exemplary embodiments will provide those skilled in the art with an enabling description for implementing an exemplary embodiment. It should be understood that various changes may be made in the function and arrangement of elements without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure as set forth.

[0030] Specific details are given in the following description to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments. However, it will be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that the embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. For example, circuits, systems, processes, and other components may be shown as components in block diagram form in order not to obscure the embodiments in unnecessary detail.

[0031] Also, it is noted that individual embodiments may be described as a process which is depicted as a flowchart, a flow diagram, a data flow diagram, a structure diagram, or a block diagram. Although a flowchart may describe the operations as a sequential process, many of the operations may be performed in parallel or concurrently. In addition, the order of the operations may be re-arranged. A process is terminated when its operations are completed but could have additional steps not included in a figure.

[0032] The word “exemplary” and / or “demonstrative” is used herein to mean serving as an example, instance, or illustration. For the avoidance of doubt, the subject matter disclosed herein is not limited by such examples. In addition, any aspect or design described herein as “exemplary” and / or “demonstrative” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over otheraspects or designs, nor is it meant to preclude equivalent exemplary structures and techniques known to those of ordinary skill in the art. Furthermore, to the extent that the terms “includes,” “has,” “contains,” and other similar words are used in either the detailed description or the claims, such terms are intended to be inclusive — in a manner similar to the term “comprising” as an open transition word — without precluding any additional or other elements.

[0033] As used herein, a “processing unit” or “processor” or “operating processor” includes one or more processors, wherein processor refers to any logic circuitry for processing instructions. A processor may be a general-purpose processor, a special purpose processor, a conventional processor, a digital signal processor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in association with a (Digital Signal Processing) DSP core, a controller, a microcontroller, Application Specific Integrated Circuits, Field Programmable Gate Array circuits, any other type of integrated circuits, etc. The processor may perform signal coding data processing, input / output processing, and / or any other functionality that enables the working of the system according to the present disclosure. More specifically, the processor or processing unit is a hardware processor.

[0034] As used herein, “a user equipment”, “a user device”, “a smart-user-device”, “a smartdevice”, “an electronic device”, “a mobile device”, “a handheld device”, “a wireless communication device”, “a mobile communication device”, “a communication device” may be any electrical, electronic and / or computing device or equipment, capable of implementing the features of the present disclosure. The user equipment / device may include, but is not limited to, a mobile phone, smart phone, laptop, a general-purpose computer, desktop, personal digital assistant, tablet computer, wearable device or any other computing device which is capable of implementing the features of the present disclosure. Also, the user device may contain at least one input means configured to receive an input from at least one of a transceiver unit, a processing unit, a storage unit, a detection unit and any other such unit(s) which are required to implement the features of the present disclosure.

[0035] As used herein, “storage unit” or “memory unit” refers to a machine or computer- readable medium including any mechanism for storing information in a form readable by a computer or similar machine. For example, a computer-readable medium includes read-only memory (“ROM”), random access memory (“RAM”), magnetic disk storage media, optical storage media, flash memory devices or other types of machine-accessible storage media. Thestorage unit stores at least the data that may be required by one or more units of the system to perform their respective functions.

[0036] As used herein “interface” or “user interface” refers to a shared boundary across which two or more separate components of a system exchange information or data. The interface may also refer to a set of rules or protocols that define communication or interaction of one or more modules or one or more units with each other, which also includes the methods, functions, or procedures that may be called.

[0037] All modules, units, components used herein, unless explicitly excluded herein, may be software modules or hardware processors, the processors being a general-purpose processor, a special purpose processor, a conventional processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in association with a DSP core, a controller, a microcontroller, Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASIC), Field Programmable Gate Array circuits (FPGA), any other type of integrated circuits, etc.

[0038] As used herein the transceiver unit includes at least one receiver and at least one transmitter configured respectively for receiving and transmitting data, signals, information or a combination thereof between units / components within the system and / or connected with the system.

[0039] As used herein, network function virtualization (NFV) platform decision analytics (NPDA) facilitates help for deciding the priority of using the network resources and manages network data traffic.

[0040] As discussed in the background section, the current known solutions have several shortcomings. The present disclosure aims to overcome the above-mentioned and other existing problems in this field of technology by providing a method and a system for distributing data traffic in a network environment. The present disclosure provides an efficient system and method for distributing data traffic in a network. The present method and system provide an NPDA LB interface, which ensures that no instance gets overloaded due to bulk data traffic. The present system and method provide the NPDA LB interface, which distributes incoming or outgoing requests easily among all NPDA instances. The present method and system enable proper NPDA threshold-based resource events or restoration events or policy invocation events manageable bythis interface for all the operations that can be performed on a Management and Orchestration (MANO) platform. The present method and system support HTTP / HTTPS configurations in parallel. The present method and system routes client requests across all servers in a manner that maximizes speed and capacity utilization. The present method and system may perform headerbased routing which may save time and database hits.

[0041] The foregoing shall be more apparent from the following more detailed description of the disclosure.

[0042] Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0043] FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary block diagram representation of a management and orchestration (MANO) architecture / platform

[0100] , in accordance with exemplary implementation of the present disclosure. The MANO architecture

[0100] may be developed for managing telecom cloud infrastructure automatically, managing design or deployment design, managing instantiation of network node(s) / service(s) etc. The MANO architecture

[0100] deploys the network node(s) in the form of Virtual Network Function (VNF) and Cloud-native / Container Network Function (CNF). The system as provided by the present disclosure may comprise one or more components of the MANO architecture

[0100] , The MANO architecture

[0100] may be used to auto-instantiate the VNFs into the corresponding environment of the present disclosure so that it could help in onboarding other vendor(s) CNFs and VNFs to the platform.

[0044] As shown in FIG. 1, the MANO architecture

[0100] comprises a user interface layer

[0102] , a network function virtualization (NFV) and software defined network (SDN) design function module

[0104] , a platform foundation services module

[0106] , a Platform Schedulers & Cron Jobs module

[0108] and a platform resource adapters and utilities module

[0112] , All the components are assumed to be connected to each other in a manner as obvious to the person skilled in the art for implementing features of the present disclosure.

[0045] The NFV and SDN design function module

[0104] comprises a VNF lifecycle manager (compute)

[1042] , a VNF catalogue

[1044] , a network services catalogue

[1046] , a network slicing and service chaining manager

[1048] , a physical and virtual resource manager

[1050] and a CNF lifecycle manager

[1052] , The VNF lifecycle manager (compute)

[1042] may be responsible fordeciding on which server of the communication network the microservice will be instantiated. The VNF lifecycle manager (compute)

[1042] may manage the overall flow of incoming / outgoing requests during interaction with the user. The VNF lifecycle manager (compute)

[1042] may be responsible for determining which sequence to be followed for executing the process. For e.g., in an AMF network function of the communication network (such as a 5G network), sequence for execution of processes Pl and P2 etc. The VNF catalogue

[1044] stores the metadata of all the VNFs (also CNFs in some cases). The network services catalogue

[1046] stores the information of the services that need to be run. The network slicing and service chaining manager

[1048] manages the slicing (an ordered and connected sequence of network service / network functions (NFs)) that must be applied to a specific networked data packet. The physical and virtual resource manager

[1050] stores the logical and physical inventory of the VNFs. Just like the VNF lifecycle manager (compute)

[1042] , the CNF lifecycle manager

[1052] may be used for the CNFs lifecycle management.

[0046] The platforms foundation services module

[0106] comprises a microservices elastic load balancer

[1062] , an identity & access manager

[1064] , a command line interface (CLI)

[1066] , a central logging manager

[1068] , and an event routing manager

[1070] , The microservices elastic load balancer

[1062] may be used for maintaining the load balancing of the request for the services. The identity & access manager

[1064] may be used for logging purposes. The command line interface (CLI)

[1066] may be used to provide commands to execute certain processes which require changes during the run time. The central logging manager

[1068] may be responsible for keeping the logs of every service. These logs are generated by the MANO platform

[0100] , These logs are used for debugging purposes. The event routing manager

[1070] may be responsible for routing the events i.e., the application programming interface (API) hits to the corresponding services.

[0047] The platforms core services module

[0108] comprises NFV infrastructure monitoring manager

[1082] , an assure manager

[1084] , a performance manager

[1086] , a policy execution engine

[1088] , a capacity monitoring manager

[1090] , a release management (mgmt.) repository

[1092] , a configuration manager & GCT

[1094] , an NFV platform decision analytics

[1096] , a platform NoSQL DB

[1098] ; a platform schedulers and cron jobs

[1100] , a VNF backup & upgrade manager

[1102] , a microservice auditor

[1104] , and a platform operations, administration and maintenance manager

[1106] , The NFV infrastructure monitoring manager

[1082] monitors the infrastructure part of the NFs. For e.g., any metrics such as CPU utilization by the VNF. The assure manager

[1084] may be responsible for supervising the alarms the vendor may be generating. Theperformance manager

[1086] may be responsible for managing the performance counters. The policy execution engine (PEGN)

[1088] may be responsible for managing all of the policies. The capacity monitoring manager (CMM)

[1090] may be responsible for sending the request to the PEGN

[1090] , The release management (mgmt.) repository (RMR)

[1092] may be responsible for managing the releases and the images of all of the vendor's network nodes. The configuration manager & (GCT)

[1094] manages the configuration and GCT of all the vendors. The NFV platform decision analytics (NPDA)

[1096] helps in deciding the priority of using the network resources. It may be further noted that the policy execution engine (PEGN)

[1088] , the configuration manager & GCT

[1094] and the NPDA

[1096] work together. The platform NoSQL DB

[1098] may be a database for storing all the inventory (both physical and logical) as well as the metadata of the VNFs and CNF. The platform schedulers and cron jobs

[1100] schedules the task such as but not limited to triggering of an event, traverse the network graph etc. The VNF backup & upgrade manager

[1102] takes backup of the images, binaries of the VNFs and the CNFs and produces those backups on demand in case of server failure. The microservice auditor

[1104] audits the microservices. For e.g., in a hypothetical case, instances not being instantiated by the MANO architecture

[0100] may be using the network resources. In such cases, the microservice auditor

[1104] audits and informs the same so that resources can be released for services running in the MANO architecture

[0100] , The audit assures that the services only run on the MANO platform

[0100] , The platform operations, administration and maintenance manager

[1106] may be used for newer instances that are spawning.

[0048] The platform resource adapters and utilities module

[0112] further comprises a platform external API adapter and gateway

[1122] , a generic decoder and indexer (XML, CSV, JSON)

[1124] , a docker service adapter

[1126] , an API adapter

[1128] , and a NFV gateway

[1130] , The platform external API adapter and gateway

[1122] may be responsible for handling the external services (to the MANO platform

[0100] ) that require the network resources. The generic decoder and indexer (XML, CSV, JSON)

[1124] gets directly the data of the vendor system in the XML, CSV, JSON format. The docker service adapter

[1126] may be the interface provided between the telecom cloud and the MANO architecture

[0100] for communication. The API adapter

[1128] may be used to connect with the virtual machines (VMs). The NFV gateway

[1130] may be responsible for providing the path to each service going to / incoming from the MANO architecture

[0100] ,

[0049] The docker service adapter (DSA)

[1126] is a microservices-based system designed to deploy and manage Container Network Functions (CNFs) and their components (CNFCs) across Docker nodes. The DSA

[1126] offers REST endpoints for key operations, including uploadingcontainer images to a Docker registry, terminating CNFC instances, and creating Docker volumes and networks. CNFs, which are network functions packaged as containers, may consist of multiple CNFCs. The DSA

[1126] facilitates the deployment, configuration, and management of these components by interacting with Docker's API, ensuring proper setup and scalability within a containerized environment. This approach provides a modular and flexible framework for handling network functions in a virtualized network setup.

[0050] Referring to FIG. 2, an exemplary block diagram of a computing device

[0200] (also referred herein as a computer system

[0200] ) upon which the features of the present disclosure may be implemented in accordance with exemplary implementation of the present disclosure, is shown. In an implementation, the computing device

[0200] may also implement a method for distributing data traffic in a network environment utilising the system. In another implementation, the computing device

[0200] itself implements the method for distributing data traffic in a network environment using one or more units configured within the computing device

[0200] , wherein said one or more units are capable of implementing the features as disclosed in the present disclosure.

[0051] The computing device

[0200] may include a bus

[0202] or other communication mechanism for communicating information, and a hardware processor

[0204] coupled with bus

[0202] for processing information. The hardware processor

[0204] may be, for example, a general- purpose microprocessor. The computing device

[0200] may also include a main memory

[0206] , such as a random-access memory (RAM), or other dynamic storage device, coupled to the bus

[0202] for storing information and instructions to be executed by the processor

[0204] , The main memory

[0206] also may be used for storing temporary variables or other intermediate information during execution of the instructions to be executed by the processor

[0204] , Such instructions, when stored in non-transitory storage media accessible to the processor

[0204] , render the computing device

[0200] into a special-purpose machine that is customized to perform the operations specified in the instructions. The computing device

[0200] further includes a read only memory (ROM)

[0208] or other static storage device coupled to the bus

[0202] for storing static information and instructions for the processor

[0204] ,

[0052] A storage device

[0210] , such as a magnetic disk, optical disk, or solid-state drive is provided and coupled to the bus

[0202] for storing information and instructions. The computing device

[0200] may be coupled via the bus

[0202] to a display

[0212] , such as a cathode ray tube (CRT), Liquid crystal Display (LCD), Light Emitting Diode (LED) display, Organic LED (OLED)display, etc. for displaying information to a computer user. An input device

[0214] , including alphanumeric and other keys, touch screen input means, etc. may be coupled to the bus

[0202] for communicating information and command selections to the processor

[0204] , Another type of user input device may be a cursor controller

[0216] , such as a mouse, a trackball, or cursor direction keys, for communicating direction information and command selections to the processor

[0204] , and for controlling cursor movement on the display

[0212] , The input device typically has two degrees of freedom in two axes, a first axis (e.g., x) and a second axis (e.g., y), that allow the device to specify positions in a plane.

[0053] The computing device

[0200] may implement the techniques described herein using customized hard-wired logic, one or more ASICs or FPGAs, firmware and / or program logic which in combination with the computing device

[0200] causes or programs the computing device

[0200] to be a special-purpose machine. According to one implementation, the techniques herein are performed by the computing device

[0200] in response to the processor

[0204] executing one or more sequences of one or more instructions contained in the main memory

[0206] , Such instructions may be read into the main memory

[0206] from another storage medium, such as the storage device

[0210] , Execution of the sequences of instructions contained in the main memory

[0206] causes the processor

[0204] to perform the process steps described herein. In alternative implementations of the present disclosure, hard-wired circuitry may be used in place of or in combination with software instructions.

[0054] The computing device

[0200] also may include a communication interface

[0218] coupled to the bus

[0202] , The communication interface

[0218] provides a two-way data communication coupling to a network link

[0220] that is connected to a local network

[0222] , For example, the communication interface

[0218] may be an integrated services digital network (ISDN) card, cable modem, satellite modem, or a modem to provide a data communication connection to a corresponding type of telephone line. As another example, the communication interface

[0218] may be a local area network (LAN) card to provide a data communication connection to a compatible LAN. Wireless links may also be implemented. In any such implementation, the communication interface

[0218] sends and receives electrical, electromagnetic or optical signals that carry digital data streams representing various types of information.

[0055] The computing device

[0200] can send messages and receive data, including program code, through the network(s), the network link

[0220] and the communication interface

[0218] , Inthe Internet example, a server

[0230] might transmit a requested code for an application program through the Internet

[0228] , the ISP

[0226] , the local network

[0222] , the host

[0224] and the communication interface

[0218] , The received code may be executed by the processor

[0204] as it is received, and / or stored in the storage device

[0210] , or other non-volatile storage for later execution.

[0056] Referring to FIG. 3, an exemplary block diagram of a system

[0300] for distributing data traffic in a network environment is shown, in accordance with the exemplary implementations of the present disclosure. The system

[0300] comprises at least one load balancer unit [300a], The load balancer unit [300a] may comprise at least one processing unit

[0302] and at least one storage unit

[0304] , Also, all of the components / units of the system

[0300] are assumed to be connected to each other unless otherwise indicated below. Also, in FIG. 3 only a few units are shown, however, the system

[0300] may comprise multiple such units or the system

[0300] may comprise any such numbers of said units, as required to implement the features of the present disclosure. In an implementation, the system

[0300] may reside in a server or a network entity. In yet another implementation, the system

[0300] may reside partly in the server / network entity.

[0057] The system

[0300] is configured for distributing data traffic in a network environment, with the help of the interconnection between the components / units of the system

[0300] ,

[0058] The system

[0300] comprises a processing unit

[0302] , The processing unit

[0302] is configured to receive, at a load balancer (LB) unit [300a], a request for routing data traffic associated with a network function virtualization platform decision and analytics (NPDA) unit. In a network environment, the NPDA unit may receive a bulk data traffic during the operation. In response to this, the NPDA unit may communicate with the LB unit [300a] over an interface such as an NPDA LB interface. The LB unit [300a] is configured to receive the request for routing data traffic through the NPDA unit. In an implementation, the request may comprise information associated with NPDA identification, and data traffic.

[0059] The NPDA LB interface may connect the NPDA unit and the LB unit [300a], The NPDA LB interface allows for bidirectional communication between the NPDA unit, and the LB unit [300a], In an embodiment, the NPDA LB interface is configured to facilitate exchange of information using hypertext transfer protocol (http) rest application programming interface (API). In an embodiment, the http rest API is used in conjunction with JSON and / or XML communication media. In another embodiment, the NPDA LB interface is configured to facilitate exchange ofinformation by establishing a web-socket connection between the NPDA unit, and the LB unit [300a], A web-socket connection may involve establishing a persistent connectivity between the NPDA unit, and the LB unit [300a], An example of the web-socket based communication includes, without limitation, a transmission control protocol (TCP) connection. In such a connection, information, such as operational status, health, etc. of different components may be exchanged through the interface using a ping-pong-based communication.

[0060] The processing unit

[0302] of the system

[0300] is further configured to receive, at the LB unit [300a], a health status information of a plurality of NPDA instances connected with the LB unit [300a], The health status information of each of the plurality of NPDA instances is indicative of one of a healthy instance and a malfunctioning instance. The health status information may be associated with performance, operational efficiency, low latency and high throughput of the plurality of NPDA instances. In an exemplary implementation, the health status information may be one of in-service, and out of service. In an exemplary implementation, the health status information may be good, moderate and / or poor. In an implementation, the processing unit

[0302] is configured to store, for each of the plurality of NPDA instances, the corresponding health status information in at least one of a local cache associated with each of the plurality of NPDA instances, and an elastic search database. In an exemplary implementation, the processing unit

[0302] is configured to provide, via an orchestration manager, to the LB unit [300a], the health status information of the plurality of NPDA instances. The orchestration manager is configured to store details of health status information of the one or more microservice instances. The microservice instances may include, without limitations, the NPDA instances. In another embodiment, the processing unit

[0302] is configured to store health status information of the plurality of the NPDA instances into a storage unit

[0304] ,

[0061] The processing unit

[0302] of the system

[0300] is further configured to identify, at the LB unit [300a], one or more healthy NPDA instances from the plurality of NPDA instances, based on the health status information. In an implementation, after receiving the health status of the plurality of NPDA instances, the processing unit

[0302] is configured to identify, at the LB unit [300a], one or more healthy NPDA instances based on the health status information.

[0062] The processing unit

[0302] of the system

[0300] is further configured to distribute, via the LB unit [300a], the data traffic from the NPDA unit among the one or more healthy NPDA instances. In an implementation, the distribution is based on receiving, from the one or morehealthy NPDA instances, an indication corresponding to taking an ownership of at least a part of the data traffic. After receiving a response from the one or more healthy NPDA instances, the processing unit

[0302] is configured to distribute, via the LB unit [300a], the requested data traffic from the NPDA unit among the one or more healthy NPDA instances. The processing unit

[0302] is configured to distribute the data traffic among the one or more healthy NPDA instances in a round robin manner.

[0063] In an implementation, during an operation, in response to a healthy NPDA instance becoming a malfunctioning NPDA instance, the processing unit

[0302] is further configured to redirect, via the LB unit [300a], data traffic from the malfunctioning NPDA instance to a healthy NPDA instance. Further, the processing unit

[0302] is configured to update the statuses of the malfunctioning NPDA instance in the storage unit

[0304] , The processing unit

[0302] is configured to store the information of the currently healthy NPDA instances in the storage unit

[0304] ,

[0064] In an implementation, during an operation, the processing unit

[0302] is configured to redistribute a data traffic associated with one or more malfunctioning NPDA instances to the one or more healthy NPDA instances. The one or more malfunctioning NPDA instances are identified based on the corresponding health status information associated with each of the plurality of NPDA instances.

[0065] Further, in accordance with the present disclosure, it is to be acknowledged that the functionality described for the various components / units can be implemented interchangeably. While specific embodiments may disclose a particular functionality of these units for clarity, it is recognized that various configurations and combinations thereof are within the scope of the disclosure. The functionality of specific units as disclosed in the disclosure should not be construed as limiting the scope of the present disclosure. Consequently, alternative arrangements and substitutions of units, provided they achieve the intended functionality described herein, are considered to be encompassed within the scope of the present disclosure.

[0066] Referring to FIG. 4 an exemplary method flow diagram

[0400] , for distributing data traffic in a network, in accordance with exemplary implementations of the present disclosure is shown. In an implementation the method

[0400] is performed by the system

[0300] , As shown in FIG. 4, the method

[0400] starts at step

[0402] ,

[0067] At step

[0404] , the method

[0400] as disclosed by the present disclosure comprises receiving, by a processing unit

[0302] at a load balancer (LB) unit [300a], a request for routing data traffic associated with a network function virtualization platform decision and analytics (NPDA) unit. In a network, the NPDA unit may receive a bulk data traffic during the operation. In response to this, the NPDA unit may communicate with the LB unit [300a] over an interface such as an NPDA LB interface. The LB unit [300a] may receive the request for routing data traffic through the NPDA unit. In an implementation, the request may comprise information associated with NPDA identification, and data traffic.

[0068] Next, at step

[0406] , the method

[0400] as disclosed by the present disclosure comprises receiving, by the processing unit

[0302] at the LB unit [300a], a health status information of a plurality of NPDA instances connected with the LB unit [300a], wherein the health status information of each of the plurality of NPDA instances is indicative of one of a healthy instance and a malfunctioning instance. The health status may be associated with performance, operational efficiency, low latency and high throughput of the plurality of NPDA instances. In an exemplary implementation, the health status information may be one of in-service, and out of service. In an exemplary implementation, the health status information may be good, moderate and / or poor. In an implementation, the processing unit

[0302] is configured to store, for each of the plurality of NPDA instances, the corresponding health status information in at least one of a local cache associated with the each of the plurality of NPDA instances, and an elastic search database. In an exemplary implementation, the processing unit

[0302] is configured to provide, via an orchestration manager, to the LB unit [300a], the health status information of the plurality of NPDA instances. The orchestration manager is configured to store details of health status information of the one or more microservice instances. The microservice instances may include, without limitations, the NPDA instances. In another embodiment, the processing unit

[0302] is configured to store health status information of the plurality of the NPDA instances into a storage unit

[0304] ,

[0069] Next, at step

[0408] , the method

[0400] as disclosed by the present disclosure comprises identifying, by the processing unit

[0302] at the LB unit [300a], one or more healthy NPDA instances from the plurality of NPDA instances based on the health status information. After receiving the health status information, the processing unit

[0302] , at the LB unit [300a], may identify the one or more healthy NPDA instances from the plurality of NPDA instances. In an implementation, the processing unit

[0302] at the LB unit [300a] may identify the one or more healthy NPDA instances using a selection algorithm. In an implementation, the processing unit

[0302] at the LB unit [300a] may determine one or more suitable healthy NPDA instances based on the health status and corresponding data traffic handling capacity in the network.

[0070] Next, at step

[0410] , the method

[0400] as disclosed by the present disclosure comprises distributing, by the processing unit

[0302] via the LB unit [300a], the data traffic from the NPDA unit among the one or more healthy NPDA instances. In an implementation, the distribution is based on receiving, from the one or more healthy NPDA instances, an indication corresponding to taking an ownership of at least a part of the data traffic. After receiving a response from the one or more healthy NPDA instances, the processing unit

[0302] may distribute via the LB unit [300a] the requested data traffic from the NPDA unit among the one or more healthy NPDA instances. The processing unit

[0302] is configured to distribute the data traffic among the one or more healthy NPDA instances in a round robin manner.

[0071] In an implementation, during an operation, in response to a healthy NPDA instance becoming a malfunctioning NPDA instance, the processing unit

[0302] is further may redirect, via the LB unit [300a], data traffic from the malfunctioning NPDA instance to a healthy NPDA instance. In an implementation, the processing unit

[0302] may further redistribute a data traffic associated with one or more malfunctioning NPDA instances from the plurality of NPDA instances to the one or more healthy NPDA instances. The one or more malfunctioning NPDA instances are identified based on the corresponding health status information associated with the each of the plurality of NPDA instances. Further, the processing unit

[0302] is configured to update the status of the malfunctioning NPDA instance in the storage unit

[0304] , The processing unit

[0302] is configured to store the information of the currently healthy NPDA instances in the storage unit

[0304] ,

[0072] Thereafter, the method

[0400] terminates at step

[0412] ,

[0073] Referring to FIG. 5, an exemplary system architecture

[0500] for distributing data traffic in a network environment, in accordance with exemplary implementations of the present disclosure, is shown. As shown in FIG. 5, the system

[0500] may comprises a User Interface (UI / UX)

[0502] , an Identity Access Management (IAM)

[0504] , an Elastic Load Balancer (ELB1) [506a] node, an ELB2 [506b], an Event Routing Management (ERM)

[0508] , ELB [510a, 510b] and Micro Service (MS) instances [516a, 516b...516n] such as NPDA instances, Operations &Management Service (OAM)

[0512] , Central Log management System (CLMS)

[0514] and Elastic Search Cluster

[0518] ,

[0074] As used herein, orchestrator manager

[0512] refers to any one of a unit, a node, a service or a server, which manages service operations of different microservices in the network. The orchestrator manager maintains records details of the operational microservices and shares the details of the microservices with other microservices for operational communication.

[0075] As used herein, Identity Access Management (IAM)

[0504] refers to such as, service, unit, platform for providing a defence against malicious or unauthorised login activity and safeguards credentials by enabling risk-based access controls, ensuring identity protection and authentication processes.

[0076] As used herein, Elastic Load Balancer (ELB)

[0506] refers to a service, a unit, or a platform for managing and distributing incoming data traffic efficiently across a group of supported servers, microservices and units in a manner that may increase speed and performance of the network.

[0077] As used herein, Event Routing Management (ERM)

[0508] refers to any one of a node, a server, a service or a platform for monitoring and triggering various actions or responses within the system based on detected events. For example, for any microservice instance that is down, the ERM may trigger an alert for taking an action to overcome the service breakdown condition in the network.

[0078] As used herein, Central Log management System (CLMS)

[0514] refers to a service or a platform which may collect log data from multiple sources and may consolidate the collected data. This consolidated data is then presented on a central interface which may be accessed by a user such as network administrator or authorised person.

[0079] As used herein, Elastic Search Cluster (ESC)

[0518] refers to a group of servers, or nodes that work together and form a cluster for distributing tasks, searching and indexing across all the nodes in the cluster.

[0080] In an implementation, Microservices (MS) instances [516a-516n] runs in n-way active mode. Each MS instance [516a-516n] is being served with a pair of Elastic Load Balancer (ELB) [510a-510n], The ELB distributes the load on MS instances in a round robin manner. The ELB ensures that the event acknowledgement against any event that is sent by MS instance to the subscribed MS is returned to the same MS instance which has published the event. Further, all microservices do not only maintain the state information in their local cache, but also persist it in Elastic Search cluster or database

[0518] , In case one of the MS instances goes down, Operations and Management Service (0AM)

[0512] detects it and broadcasts the status to other running MS instances and also the ELB serving the MS. The ELB as such distributes the ingress data traffic on the remaining available instances. The n-way active model for deployment of MS instances, ensures the availability of a microservice to serve the data traffic even if any instance goes down. In an implementation, one of the available MS instances takes the ownership of the instance which has gone down. It fetches the state information of the incomplete transaction being served by the instance that has gone down, and re-executes them. In case any transaction has not been persisted, there may be a timeout, and the publisher MS of that event will re-transmit the same event for execution.

[0081] In an implementation, the input request for accessing NPDA services may be received from the UI / UX

[0502] or Command Line Interface (CLI).

[0082] In another implementation, the present system and method facilitate the north bound interface (NBI) to send HTTP request to Load Balancer. Load Balancer monitors the instances health and sends a request to healthy instances on the basis of algorithm selection. Further, using the NPDA LB interface, request leads to the selected NPDA instance. Next, the orchestrator Manager alerts the LB for any addition or removal of any application instances from the cluster.

[0083] The present disclosure may relate to a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions for distributing network data traffic in a network environment, the instructions include executable code which, when executed by one or more units of a system

[0300] , causes: a processing unit

[0302] of the system to receive, at a load balancer (LB) unit [300a], from a network function virtualization platform decision and analytics (NPDA) unit, a request for routing data traffic through the NPDA unit; receive, at the LB unit [300a], health status information of a plurality of NPDA instances connected with the LB unit [300a], wherein the health status information of each of the plurality of NPDA instances is indicative of one of ahealthy instance and a malfunctioning instance; transmit, via the LB unit [300a], a request for accepting at least a part of the data traffic, to one or more healthy NPDA instances; and distribute, via the LB unit [300a], the data traffic from the NPDA unit among the one or more healthy NPDA instances.

[0084] As is evident from the above, the present disclosure provides a technically advanced solution by providing an efficient system and method for handling heavy load data traffic on a particular instance or an abnormal instance and distributing the load among all instances. The present method and system provide a NPDA LB interface, which ensures that no instance gets overloaded due to bulk data traffic. The present system and method provide the NPDA LB interface, which distributes incoming or outgoing requests easily among all NPDA instances. The present method and system enable proper NPDA threshold-based resource events or restoration events or policy invocation events manageable by the NPDA LB interface, for all the operations that can be performed on the MANO platform. The present method and system support HTTP / HTTPS configurations in parallel. The present method and system routes client requests across all servers in a manner that maximizes speed and capacity utilization. The present method and system may perform header-based routing, which may save time and database hits.

[0085] While considerable emphasis has been placed herein on the disclosed embodiments, it will be appreciated that many embodiments can be made and that many changes can be made to the embodiments without departing from the principles of the present disclosure. These and other changes in the embodiments of the present disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art, whereby it is to be understood that the foregoing descriptive matter to be implemented is illustrative and non-limiting.

Claims

We Claim:

1. A method for distributing data traffic in a network, the method comprising:- receiving, by a processing unit [302] at a load balancer (LB) unit [300a], a request for routing data traffic associated with a network function virtualization platform decision and analytics (NPDA) unit;- receiving, by the processing unit [302] at the LB unit [300a], a health status information of a plurality of NPDA instances connected with the LB unit [300a], wherein the health status information of each of the plurality of NPDA instances is indicative of one of a healthy instance and a malfunctioning instance;- identifying, by the processing unit [302] at the LB unit [300a], one or more healthy NPDA instances from the plurality of NPDA instances based on the health status information; and- distributing, by the processing unit [302] via the LB unit [300a], the data traffic from the NPDA unit among the one or more healthy NPDA instances.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the LB unit [300a] and the NPDA unit are in communication via an interface.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the method comprises distributing, by processing unit [302], the data traffic among the one or more healthy NPDA instances in a round robin manner.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the method comprises storing, by each of the plurality of NPDA instances, the corresponding health status information in at least one of a local cache associated with the each of the plurality of NPDA instances, and an elastic search database.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein, in response to a healthy NPDA instance becoming a malfunctioning NPDA instance, the method comprises redirecting, by the processing unit [302] via the LB unit [300a], the data traffic from the malfunctioning NPDA instance to a healthy NPDA instance.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the health status information of the plurality of NPDA instances is received by the processing unit [302] via an orchestration manager.

7. The method as claim in claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises redistributing a data traffic associated with one or more malfunctioning NPDA instances from the plurality of NPDA instances to the one or more healthy NPDA instances, wherein the one or more malfunctioning NPDA instances are identified based on the corresponding health status information associated with the each of the plurality of NPDA instances.

8. A system for distributing network data traffic in a network, the system comprising:- a processing unit [302] configured to:- receive, at a load balancer (LB) unit [300a], a request for routing data traffic associated with a network function virtualization platform decision and analytics (NPDA) unit;- receive, at the LB unit [300a], a health status information of a plurality of NPDA instances connected with the LB unit [300a], wherein the health status information of each of the plurality of NPDA instances is indicative of one of a healthy instance and a malfunctioning instance;- identify, at the LB unit [300a], one or more healthy NPDA instances from the plurality of NPDA instances based on the health status information; and- distribute, via the LB unit [300a], the data traffic from the NPDA unit among the one or more healthy NPDA instances.

9. The system as claimed in claim 8, wherein the LB unit [300a] and the NPDA unit are in communication via an interface.

10. The system as claimed in claim 8, wherein the processing unit [302] is configured to distribute the data traffic among the one or more healthy NPDA instances in a round robin manner.

11. The system as claimed in claim 8, wherein the processing unit [302] is configured to store, by each of the plurality of NPDA instances, the corresponding health status information in at least one of a local cache associated with the each of the plurality of NPDA instances, and an elastic search database.

12. The system as claimed in claim 8, wherein, in response to a healthy NPDA instance becoming a malfunctioning NPDA instance, the processing unit [302] is configured to redirect, via the LB unit [300a], the data traffic from the malfunctioning NPDA instance to a healthy NPDA instance.

13. The system as claimed in claim 8, wherein the processing unit [302] is configured to provide, via an orchestration manager, to the LB unit [300a], the health status information of the plurality of NPDA instances.

14. The system as claim in claim 8, wherein the processing unit [302] is configured to redistribute a data traffic associated with one or more malfunctioning NPDA instances from the plurality of NPDA instances to the one or more healthy NPDA instances, wherein the one or more malfunctioning NPDA instances are identified based on the corresponding health status information associated with the each of the plurality of NPDA instances.

15. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium, storing instructions for distributing network data traffic in a network environment, the instructions include executable code which, when executed by one or more units of a system [300], causes: a processing unit [302] of the system to: o receive, at a load balancer (LB) unit [300a], a request for routing data traffic associated with a network function virtualization platform decision and analytics (NPDA) unit; o receive, at the LB unit [300a], a health status information of a plurality of NPDA instances connected with the LB unit [300a], wherein the health status information of each of the plurality of NPDA instances is indicative of one of a healthy instance and a malfunctioning instance; o identify, at the LB unit [300a], one or more healthy NPDA instances from the plurality of NPDA instances based on the health status information; and o distribute, via the LB unit [300a], the data traffic from the NPDA unit among the one or more healthy NPDA instances.

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