Instantiation method and apparatus for virtualized network functions (VNFs)

Abstract

This application relates to the field of NFV technology and discloses an instantiation method and apparatus for a virtualized network function (VNF). The method includes the steps of: a VNFM receiving a first instantiation request from an NFVO, the first instantiation request including configuration information of a first virtual connection point of the VNF, the configuration information of the first virtual connection point including configuration information of K microservices of the NF corresponding to the VNF; further determining configuration information of a first ingress container object corresponding to the first virtual connection point, the first ingress container object being configured to provide access ingress for the K microservices; and sending the configuration information of the first ingress container object to a CISM, the configuration information of the first ingress container object being for creating the first ingress container object. In this way, an ingress container object can be created for the microservice. The access address of the microservice defined using the ingress container object can be a domain name (e.g., FQDN), so that the access requirements of the microservice can be met.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202211524508.2, entitled "Instantiating Method and Apparatus for Virtualized Network Functions (VNFs)," filed with the State Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China on November 30, 2022, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

[0002] The present application relates to the field of communications technology, and in particular to an instantiation method and apparatus for virtualized network functions (VNFs). [Background technology]

[0003] Network functions virtualization (NFV) technology uses general-purpose hardware devices and virtualization technology to build virtualized network functions (VNFs), which can then be used to transmit the functions of dedicated devices over traditional networks, reducing the costs incurred by deploying dedicated devices.

[0004] A container management platform is a platform based on container technology, such as the Kubernetes (abbreviated as K8S) platform. A container management platform manages a cluster that includes several physical or virtual machines. Container objects can be deployed on the physical or virtual machines.

[0005] With the continuous development of containerization technology, container management platforms are being introduced into NFV architectures, which require further research into how to meet the access requirements of microservices. Summary of the Invention

[0006] The present application provides a VNF instantiation method and apparatus for creating an ingress container object of a microservice to meet the access requirements of the microservice. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] According to a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for instantiating a VNF. The method may be performed by a VNFM. In the method, the VNFM receives a first instantiation request from a network function virtualization orchestrator (NFVO), the first instantiation request being for requesting to instantiate a VNF, the first instantiation request including configuration information of K microservices of a network function (NF) corresponding to the VNF, where K is a positive integer; determines configuration information of a first ingress container object based on the configuration information of the K microservices, the first ingress container object being configured to provide access ingress for the K microservices; and sends the configuration information of the first ingress container object to a container infrastructure service manager (CISM), the configuration information of the first ingress container object being used to create the first ingress container object.

[0008] Specifically, in this method, the VNFM receives a first instantiation request from the NFVO, the first instantiation request being for requesting to instantiate a VNF, the first instantiation request including configuration information of a first virtual connection point of the VNF, the configuration information of the first virtual connection point including configuration information of K microservices of a network function NF corresponding to the VNF, where K is a positive integer; determines configuration information of a first ingress container object corresponding to the first virtual connection point based on the configuration information of the first virtual connection point, the first ingress container object being configured to provide access ingress for the K microservices; and sends the configuration information of the first ingress container object to a container infrastructure service management CISM, the configuration information of the first ingress container object being for creating the first ingress container object.

[0009] According to the above method, the VNFM can determine the configuration information of an ingress container object configured to provide access ingress for the microservice based on the configuration information of the microservice (or the configuration information of a virtual connection point including the configuration information of the microservice) in the instantiation request sent by the NFVO, to create an ingress container object for the microservice. The access address (e.g., FQDN) of the microservice defined using the ingress container object belongs to layer 7, and therefore can meet the access requirements of the microservice.

[0010] In a possible design, the step of determining configuration information of a first ingress container object corresponding to the first virtual connection point based on configuration information of the first virtual connection point includes the steps of obtaining a virtualized network function descriptor VNFD of the VNF, where the VNFD includes mapping information, and the mapping information indicates a mapping relationship between the configuration information of the first virtual connection point and the configuration information of the first ingress container object; and determining the configuration information of the first ingress container object based on the configuration information of the first virtual connection point and the mapping information.

[0011] In a possible design, the mapping information includes first mapping information corresponding to a first microservice among the K microservices, and the first mapping information includes at least one of: domain name mapping information, where the domain name mapping information indicates a parameter mapped to a domain name of the first microservice in the configuration information of the first microservice; or priority mapping information, where the priority mapping information indicates a parameter mapped to a priority of the first microservice in the configuration information of the first microservice.

[0012] In a possible design, the VNFD includes description information of the first microservice, and the first mapping information is included in the description information of the first microservice.

[0013] In a possible design, the description information for the first microservice is as follows: service type information, the service type information including a name of the first microservice; domain name type information, the domain name type information indicating configured domain name types supported by the first microservice, the domain name types including internal access domain names and / or external access domain names; or priority information, the priority information indicating configured priorities supported by the first microservice; The method further includes at least one of:

[0014] In this way, to implement the mapping between the network element microservices and the ingress container objects, the virtual connection point is extended in the VNFD, and parameters such as container object type information, service type information, domain name type information, and priority information are introduced into the VNFD to manage the ingress container objects. Therefore, by using cloud-native technologies, the network element microservices can be better reconstructed, microservice-based network elements can be created, and lifecycle management can be implemented via MANO.

[0015] In a possible design, the VNFD further includes container object type information corresponding to the first virtual connection point, where the container object type information indicates that the container object type corresponding to the first virtual connection point is an ingress container object.

[0016] In a possible design, the VNFD further includes description information of a virtualized deployment unit VDU of the VNF, where the description information of the VDU includes service type information, and the service type information indicates a microservice corresponding to the VDU.

[0017] In a possible design, the method further includes receiving an access address of the first ingress container object from the CISM.

[0018] In a possible design, the method further includes receiving first request information from the NFVO, where the first request information is for requesting an access address of the first virtual connectivity point; and sending the access address of the first ingress container object to the NFVO as the access address of the first virtual connectivity point based on the first request information.

[0019] According to a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for instantiating a VNF. The method may be performed by an NFVO. In the method, the NFVO receives a second instantiation request from an operations support system / business support system (OSS / BSS), the second instantiation request being for requesting to instantiate a VNF, the second instantiation request including configuration information of M microservices of the NF corresponding to the VNF; obtains configuration information of the first virtual connection point based on the configuration information of K microservices corresponding to a first virtual connection point of the VNF, the K microservices belonging to the M microservices, M and K being positive integers and K being less than or equal to M; and sends the first instantiation request to a VNFM, the first instantiation request including the configuration information of the first virtual connection point, the configuration information of the first virtual connection point being for determining configuration information of a first ingress container object corresponding to the first virtual connection point, the first ingress container object being configured to provide access ingress for the K microservices.

[0020] In a possible design, the method further includes obtaining a VNFD for the VNF, wherein the VNFD includes description information of a first virtual connection point, and the description information of the first virtual connection point indicates that the first virtual connection point corresponds to K microservices.

[0021] In a possible design, the description information of the first virtual connection point includes the names of the K microservices.

[0022] In a possible design, the method further includes receiving second request information from the OSS / BSS, where the second request information is for requesting resource utilization information of a first microservice among the K microservices; obtaining resource utilization information of at least one VDU corresponding to the first microservice based on the second request information; determining resource utilization information of the first microservice based on the resource utilization information of the VDU corresponding to the first microservice; and sending the resource utilization information of the first microservice to the OSS / BSS.

[0023] In a possible design, the method further includes obtaining a VNFD for the VNF, the VNFD indicating at least one VDU corresponding to the first microservice.

[0024] In a possible design, the VNFD includes description information for each of at least one VDU, and the description information for the VDU includes service type information, and the service type information indicates that the microservice corresponding to the VDU is a first microservice.

[0025] It should be understood that the method according to the second aspect corresponds to the method according to the first aspect, so the beneficial effects of the relevant technical features in the method according to the second aspect should be referred to those in the first aspect, and the details will not be described again.

[0026] According to a third aspect, the present application provides an instantiation apparatus for a VNF. The apparatus has a function for implementing the first aspect or the second aspect. For example, the apparatus includes corresponding modules, units, or means for performing operations in the first aspect or the second aspect. The functions, units, or means may be implemented using software, by using hardware, or by hardware executing corresponding software.

[0027] In a possible design, the apparatus includes a processing unit and a communication unit. The communication unit may be configured to receive and transmit signals to implement communication between the apparatus and another apparatus. For example, the communication unit may be configured to transmit system information to a terminal device. The processing unit may be configured to perform some internal operations of the apparatus. Functions performed by the processing unit and the communication unit may correspond to operations of the first aspect or the second aspect.

[0028] In a possible design, the apparatus includes a processor. The processor may be configured to be coupled to a memory. The memory may store computer programs or instructions necessary to implement the functionality of the first or second aspect. The processor may execute the computer programs or instructions stored in the memory. Execution of the computer programs or instructions enables the apparatus to perform a method according to any possible design or implementation of the first or second aspect.

[0029] In one possible design, the apparatus includes a processor and a memory. The memory can store computer programs or instructions necessary to implement the functionality of the first or second aspect. The processor can execute the computer programs or instructions stored in the memory. Execution of the computer programs or instructions enables the apparatus to perform a method according to any possible design or implementation of the first or second aspect.

[0030] In a possible design, the apparatus includes a processor and an interface circuit, the processor configured to communicate with another apparatus via the interface circuit and to perform a method according to any possible design or implementation of the first or second aspect.

[0031] In the third aspect, it will be understood that the processor can be implemented by using hardware or software. When the processor is implemented by using hardware, the processor may be a logic circuit or an integrated circuit, etc. When the processor is implemented by using software, the processor may be a general-purpose processor and is implemented by reading software code stored in a memory. In addition, there may be one or more processors and one or more memories. The memory may be integrated with the processor, or the memory and the processor may be located separately. In a specific implementation process, the memory and the processor may be integrated into one chip or located on different chips. The type of memory and the manner in which the memory and the processor are located are not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0032] According to a fourth aspect, the present application provides an instantiation system for a VNF, the system may include a VNFM and an NFVO, the VNFM configured to perform any possible design method of the first aspect, and the NFVO configured to perform any possible design method of the second aspect.

[0033] According to a fifth aspect, the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable instructions stored thereon that, when read and executed by a computer, enable the computer to perform a method according to any one of the possible designs of the first or second aspect.

[0034] According to a sixth aspect, the application provides a computer program product which, when read and executed by a computer, enables the computer to perform a method according to any one of the possible designs of the first or second aspect.

[0035] According to a seventh aspect, the present application provides a chip, the chip including a processor, coupled to a memory, configured to read and execute a software program stored in the memory to implement a method according to any one of the possible designs of the first or second aspect. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0036] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram of an NFV architecture according to an embodiment of the present application. [Figure 2] FIG. 1 is a diagram of a Kubernetes container management and orchestration architecture, according to one embodiment of the present application. [Figure 3] FIG. 1 illustrates an NFV architecture in which a container management platform is introduced, according to an embodiment of the present application. [Figure 4A] FIG. 1 illustrates a relationship between services and pods according to an embodiment of the present application. [Figure 4B] FIG. 1 is a diagram of the relationship between ingress and service according to one embodiment of the present application. [Figure 5] 1 is a schematic implementation flowchart of deploying a VNF in a containerized manner according to an embodiment of the present application. [Figure 6] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a correspondence relationship according to an embodiment of the present application. [Figure 7] 1 is a schematic flowchart corresponding to a method for instantiating a VNF according to an embodiment of the present application. [Figure 8] 1 is a possible exemplary block diagram of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application; [Figure 9] 1 is a diagram of the structure of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application; DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0037] The following describes technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application with reference to the accompanying drawings of the embodiments of the present application. In the present application, all aspects, embodiments, or features are presented by describing systems that may include multiple devices, components, modules, etc. It should be understood that each system may include other devices, components, modules, etc., and / or may not include all devices, components, modules, etc. described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In addition, combinations of these solutions may be used.

[0038] In the embodiments of the present application, terms such as "example" and "for example" are used to represent providing an example, illustration, or explanation. Any embodiment or design manner described in the present application as an "example" should not be described as preferred or having more advantages than another embodiment or design manner. Rather, the term "example" is used to present a concept in a concrete manner. In the embodiments of the present application, "of," "corresponding," and "corresponding" are sometimes interchangeable. It should be noted that the meanings represented by the terms are consistent when differences are not emphasized.

[0039] The network architectures and service scenarios described in the embodiments of the present application are intended to more clearly explain the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application, and do not constitute any limitations on the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application. Those skilled in the art will be aware that with the evolution of network architectures and the emergence of new service scenarios, the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application can also be applied to similar technical problems.

[0040] The following describes the network architecture provided in the embodiments of the present application.

[0041] 1.NFV Architecture Figure 1 is a diagram of an NFV architecture according to one embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 1, the NFV architecture may include an NFV management and orchestration system (NFV-MANO) 110, an NFV infrastructure (NFVI) 150, multiple VNFs 140, multiple element management (EM) 130, and one or more operation support systems / business support systems (OSS / BSS) 120. NFV-MANO 110 may include an NFV orchestrator (NFVO) 111, one or more virtualized network function managers (VNFMs) 112, and one or more virtualized infrastructure managers (VIMs) 113.

[0042] (1) The NFVO 111 is mainly responsible for the lifecycle management of virtualized services, allocation and scheduling of virtualized infrastructure and virtual resources in the NFVI, etc. The NFVO 111 can communicate with one or more VNFMs 112 to execute resource-related requests, send configuration information to the VNFMs 112, and collect status information of the VNFs 140. In addition, the NFVO 111 can also communicate with the VIM 113 to perform resource allocation and / or reservation and exchange virtual hardware resource configuration and status information.

[0043] (2) The VNFM 112 is primarily responsible for lifecycle management of one or more VNFs, for example, instantiating, updating, querying, scaling, or terminating a VNF 140. The VNFM 112 can communicate with the VNFs 140 to complete the VNF lifecycle management and exchange of configuration and status information. In an NFV architecture, there can be multiple VNFMs responsible for performing lifecycle management for different types of VNFs.

[0044] (3) VIM 113 is primarily responsible for controlling and managing interactions between VNFs 140 and compute hardware 1521, storage hardware 1522, network hardware 1523, virtual compute 1511 (e.g., virtual machines (VMs)), virtual storage 1512, and virtual network 1513. For example, VIM 113 performs resource management functions, including managing infrastructure resources, allocating functions (e.g., adding resources to virtual containers), and enforcing functions (e.g., collecting NFVI fault information). VNFM 112 can communicate with VIM 113 to request resource allocation and exchange virtualized hardware resource configuration and status information.

[0045] (4) The NFVI 150 may include a hardware resource layer including computing hardware 1521, storage hardware 1522, and network hardware 1523, and a virtualization layer including virtual computing 1511, virtual storage 1512, and network 1513. The computing hardware 1521 in the hardware resource layer may be a dedicated processor or a general-purpose processor such as a central processing unit (CPU) configured to provide processing and computing capabilities. The storage hardware 1522, such as a magnetic disk or network attached storage (NAS), is configured to provide storage capabilities. The network hardware 1523 may be a switch, router, and / or other network device. The virtualization layer in the NFVI 150 is configured to abstract hardware resources in the hardware resource layer to provide virtual resources to the VNFs, decoupling the VNFs 140 from the physical layer to which the hardware resources belong. The virtual resource layer may include virtual computing 1511, virtual storage 1512, and virtual network 1513. The virtual computing 1511 and virtual storage 1512 may be provided to the VNF 140 in the form of virtual machines or other virtual containers. For example, one or more virtual machines form the VNF 140. The virtualization layer forms the virtual network 1513 by abstracting the network hardware 1523. The virtual network 1513 is configured to implement communication between multiple virtual machines or multiple virtual containers of another type that carry the VNFs.

[0046] (5) EM 130 is a system for configuring and managing devices in traditional telecommunications systems. In an NFV architecture, EM 130 is a system for configuring and managing VNFs and for initiating lifecycle management operations on VNFM 112, such as instantiating new VNFs.

[0047] (6) The OSS / BSS 120 supports various end-to-end telecommunications services. For example, management functions supported by the OSS include network configuration, service provisioning, and fault management, while the BSS handles orders, payments, revenue, and other transactions, supporting product management, order management, revenue management, and customer management.

[0048] (7) The VNF 140 corresponds to a physical network function (PNF) in a traditional non-virtualized network, for example, a virtualized core network node (e.g., an access and mobility management function (AMF) network element or a session management function (SMF) network element). The functional behavior and state of a network function are independent of whether the network function is virtualized. NFV technical requirements expect a VNF to have the same functional behavior and external interface as a PNF.

[0049] 2. Containers as a service architecture Another virtualization technology, container as a service (CaaS), is commonly used in telecommunications networks. CaaS is a specific type of platform as a service (PaaS). Container as a service architecture is introduced into the cloudification process of telecommunications network functions, bringing a flexible transition to the development and operation (DevOps) of the telecommunications industry. The corresponding change is the gradual decomposition of traditional large-scale monolithic network functions into service-based and even microservice-based systems. Each service-based function can be developed, delivered, and maintained independently, and version upgrades become more frequent. However, the rapid increase in the number of containerized network functions does not dramatically increase the workload of interoperability testing. The definition of a stable application programming interface (API) ensures the consistency and reliability of interface function calls. CaaS technology does not require virtual hardware or an operating system, only processes. Therefore, compared with NFV technology, CaaS technology is lighter and easier to manage.

[0050] Currently, a popular application in the container management and orchestration field is Google's Kubernetes container cluster management technology, which is based on an open-source platform. The Kubernetes platform manages clusters that include multiple physical machine resources or virtual machine resources. If physical machine resources are managed, Kubernetes deploys created containers directly onto the physical machines. If virtual machine resources are managed, Kubernetes deploys created containers onto the virtual machines. Helm is a package manager for K8S, and is primarily responsible for managing deployment packages (also called Helm charts) for deploying applications. A YAML file for a K8S-native application may be encapsulated in a Helm chart. Helm may be included in K8S or an independent package management tool. In this embodiment of the present application, an example in which Helm is included in K8S is used.

[0051] Figure 2 illustrates the Kubernetes container management and orchestration architecture. As shown in Figure 2, Kubernetes divides devices in a cluster into a Kubernetes master node and worker nodes. A group of processes related to cluster management, such as the application programming interface server (API server) and replication controller (RC), run on the master node. These processes implement management functions such as cluster-wide resource management, pod scheduling, scaling, security control, system monitoring, and error correction. Three components, namely, the kubelet, the kube-proxy, and the container engine, run on each node to manage the lifecycle of pods on the node and implement service proxy functions. A pod is the basic scheduling unit of Kubernetes.

[0052] The API server provides specific operation ingress to resource objects, and all other components need to operate on the resource data through the API interface provided by the API server to implement related service functions by making "full queries" and "monitoring changes" on the related resource data.

[0053] The controller manager is the management and control center of the cluster. The controller manager is mainly used to implement automatic failure detection and recovery for Kubernetes clusters. For example, pods may be replicated or removed based on the RC definition to ensure that the number of pod instances complies with the RC definition. Based on the management relationship between services and pods, the controller manager completes the creation and update of service endpoint objects, node discovery, management, status monitoring, and deletion of locally cached container image files.

[0054] The kubelet component is responsible for the full lifecycle management of pods on nodes, including creating, modifying, monitoring, and deleting them. The kubelet also periodically reports node status information to the API server.

[0055] The proxy component is configured to implement service proxy and load balancing in software mode.

[0056] The docker component is the operating environment for containers.

[0057] 3. Combining NFV and CaaS technologies With the continuous development of NFV technology, it is proposed to combine CaaS technology with NFV technology to form a scenario where NFV MANO systems and container management and orchestration systems can interoperate. Figure 3 shows an example of an NFV architecture in which a container management platform is introduced.

[0058] In FIG. 3, a container infrastructure service management (CISM) 114 is added to the NFV MANO. The CISM is a container management platform in the NFV architecture and is responsible for managing container objects invoked by the VNFs, including creating, updating, and deleting container objects. When a VNF is deployed in the form of a container, the CISM 114 can create a container object based on the request of the VNFM 112.

[0059] In the embodiment of the present application, an example in which CISM is Kubernetes is used for explanation. In addition, in Figure 3, for network elements other than CISM, please refer to the description of Figure 1. Details will not be described again.

[0060] Note that the network elements (e.g., NFVO, VNFM, and CISM) described in Figures 1 to 3 are examples and are not limited thereto. In a standard evolution process, the names of the network elements described above may be changed, and the functions performed by the network elements may be further divided or combined. This is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0061] It should be noted that in the embodiments of the present application, "multiple" means two or more. Taking this into consideration, in the embodiments of the present application, "multiple" can also be understood as "at least two." "At least one" can be understood as one or more, for example, one, two, or more. For example, "including at least one" means "including one, two, or more," without limiting what is included. For example, "including at least one of A, B, and C" may mean "including A, B, or C," "including A and B, A and C, or B and C," or "including A, B, and C." The term "and / or" describes an association relationship between associated objects and indicates that three relationships may exist. For example, A and / or B can indicate the following three cases: only A exists, both A and B exist, and only B exists. Furthermore, unless otherwise specified, the symbol " / " typically indicates an "or" relationship between associated objects. In the embodiments of the present application, the terms "system" and "network" may be used interchangeably.

[0062] Unless otherwise specified, ordinal numbers such as "first" and "second" in the embodiments of this application are used to distinguish between multiple objects and are not intended to limit the order, chronology, priority, or importance of the multiple objects.

[0063] The following describes and explains the relevant technical features in the embodiments of the present application, and it should be noted that these descriptions are intended to facilitate understanding of the embodiments of the present application, and should not be considered as limitations on the scope of protection claimed in the present application.

[0064] (1) Container Object Kubernetes can create multiple types of container objects, such as pod container objects, service container objects, and ingress container objects. The corresponding concept of a container object in the European telecommunications standards institute (ETSI) NFV standard is a managed container infrastructure object (MCIO).

[0065] Pod Container Object: A pod is the smallest unit for creating a container in a cluster managed by Kubernetes. A pod can contain one or more containers. Therefore, a pod is sometimes called a container compartment. A pod in Kubernetes has a lifecycle and can be created or destroyed. When a pod is destroyed, the pod's lifecycle ends permanently. Kubernetes can dynamically create and destroy pods based on resource associations (e.g., to scale or perform rolling upgrades based on demand).

[0066] Service container object: A service is a core concept in Kubernetes. Multiple pods can be accessed by the same service. A service selects related pods based on tags. Even if the pod changes, accessing the service will access the corresponding application (another pod or a newly created pod). Figure 4A shows the relationship between services and pods.

[0067] Additionally, a service can provide load balancing capabilities, such as routing service access requests to appropriate pods for processing based on the current load of the associated pods. A service is represented in the format of IP:Port. Specifically, a service operates at the TCP / IP layer; in other words, a service can provide layer 4 load balancing capabilities. For example, Table 1 shows the definition of a service.

[0068] [Table 1]

[0069] Ingress container object: Ingress is a higher-level abstraction of service. Services operate at the TCP / IP layer. For hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP)-based services, different uniform resource locator (URL) addresses often correspond to different backend services or virtual servers. These application layer forwarding mechanisms cannot be implemented using only the Kubernetes service mechanism. In Kubernetes version V1.1, ingress was added to forward access requests of different URLs to different backend services, implementing the service routing mechanism at the HTTP layer. Figure 4B illustrates the relationship between ingress and service.

[0070] For example, different rules may be defined in an ingress to associate multiple services. For example, Table 2 shows the rule definitions for one ingress.

[0071] [Table 2]

[0072] In this way, the accessing party can access different services by accessing the access addresses of the different services. The access address (i.e., the host value) of a service defined based on the ingress rules, i.e., the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) address, belongs to layer 7. In the process of implementing an ingress, after the ingress is successfully created, the Internet Protocol (IP) address assigned to the ingress and the FQDN defined in the rules can be configured in a Domain Name System (DNS) server for external access. After obtaining the service's access address (i.e., the service's access address defined in the host), the visitor queries the DNS server for the IP address corresponding to the access address, and the DNS server returns the IP address assigned to the ingress to the visitor. Then, the visitor sends an HTTP request to the IP address and specifies the access address of the service to be accessed in the host header to access the service.

[0073] It should be understood that the three container objects described in the embodiment of the present application are merely examples, and the three container objects may have other possible names. For example, with the evolution of standard protocols, the ingress container object may have a different name. This is not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

[0074] (2) VNF deployment template The virtualized network services in NFV are network services (NS), such as IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) networks, or the 5th generation (5G) networks. thThe 5G core network is called the 5G (5th generation) core network. One NS can contain several VNFs.

[0075] When an NS is deployed in a virtualized manner, a service requester must first submit description information of the NS, called a network service descriptor (NSD) or an NS deployment template, to a service provider. The NSD includes the topology structure of the NS and description information of each VNF included in the NS, called a VNF descriptor (VNFD) or a VNF deployment template. The topology structure information may include virtual link information (e.g., a network service virtual link descriptor (NsVld)), which may be used to describe connections between VNFs, such as connection type and bandwidth.

[0076] The VNFD is for providing description information of the VNF, and the VNFD may include a virtualization deployment unit connection point (VDU), a connection point descriptor (CPD), a virtual link descriptor (VLD), etc. In the case of a container implementation, the VNFD may further include a reference to a managed container infrastructure object package (MCIOP). For example, the MCIOP may be a Helm chart used by Kubernetes.

[0077] VDU: In a virtual machine implementation, one VDU represents one virtual machine, and the description information of the VDU can include the resource requirements of the virtual machine, such as the resource types and the number of resources of each resource type required to create the virtual machine. In a container implementation, one VDU represents one container group. The description information of the VDU can include the resource requirements of the container group, indicating the resource information required to deploy the container group. Containers within a container group have the same resource requirements and share the same network information.

[0078] CPD: The CPD may include description information of the external connection points of the VNF, which may be, for example, virtual connection points (virtual Cp).

[0079] VLD: A VLD may describe the virtual network connection requirements between VDUs, for example, connection type and / or bandwidth, or other information.

[0080] (3) Microservices As an example, a 5G communication system is used. Multiple network elements, such as an AMF network element and an SMF network element, are defined in the core network architecture of the 5G communication system. One network element can be understood as one network function (NF). Furthermore, multiple microservices are further defined in each network element. For example, the microservices defined in the AMF network element are shown in Table 3.

[0081] [Table 3]

[0082] Each microservice may be accessed and invoked by another network element or microservice by defining a corresponding domain name (e.g., FQDN). Domain names in the embodiments of the present application may be classified into two types: internal access domain names and external access domain names. If a microservice supports both internal access and external access, the microservice may include an internal access domain name and an external access domain name. For example, for namf_location, the internal access domain name of namf_location may be myAMF_location.mynetwork.com, and the external access domain name may be myAMF_location_external.mynetwork.com.

[0083] The introduction of microservices to network elements allows microservices to be independent, and different microservices can be deployed, upgraded, and scaled independently without affecting other microservices within the network element, making it easier to use and more agile to upgrade.

[0084] Based on the above description, a container management platform is introduced into the NFV architecture to deploy VNFs (i.e., instantiate VNFs) in a containerized manner. A possible implementation procedure is described below with reference to Figure 5.

[0085] 5 is a schematic implementation flowchart of deploying VNFs in a containerized manner. As shown in FIG. 5, the procedure may include the following steps:

[0086] S501. The OSS / BSS sends an instantiation request 1 to the NFVO, where the instantiation request 1 is to request that a VNF be instantiated.

[0087] For example, instantiation request 1 may include information regarding the VNFD of the VNF that needs to be instantiated, such as an identifier of the VNFD (i.e., VnfdId).

[0088] S502. The NFVO sends an instantiation request 2 to the VNFM based on the instantiation request 1, where the instantiation request 2 is to request that the VNF be instantiated.

[0089] For example, instantiation request 2 may include information regarding the VNFD of the VNF that needs to be instantiated, such as an identifier of the VNFD (i.e., VnfdId).

[0090] S503.VNFM obtains the VNFD file (or VNFD file package) of the VNF based on instantiation request 2, and determines configuration information of at least one container object corresponding to the VNF based on the VNFD file.

[0091] Here, the VNFM can obtain the VNFD file of the VNF in multiple ways. In a possible implementation, after receiving instantiation request 2, the VNFM can send a VNFD request to the NFVO. The VNFD request is for requesting acquisition of the VNFD file. For example, the VNFD request includes an identifier of the VNFD file. In response, the NFVO receives the VNFD request from the VNFM. The NFVO determines a VNFD file corresponding to the identifier of the VNFD file and sends the VNFD file to the VNFM.

[0092] For example, a VNFD file package may include a VNFD file and an MCIOP, and may further include other possible files. This is not specifically limited. The VNFD file in the embodiment of the present application may also be referred to as VNFD for short. Table 4 shows an example of a VNFD file package.

[0093] [Table 4]

[0094] The myVNFD.yaml file may include description information for at least one VDU. VDU_1 is used as an example, and the description information for VDU_1 is shown in Table 5.

[0095] [Table 5]

[0096] VDU_mapping describes the mapping relationship between the configuration information of VDU_1 and the parameters in MCIOP.

[0097] The MCIOP may include the parameters of the pod corresponding to the VDU (values.yaml file). The values.yaml file is shown in Table 6.

[0098] [Table 6]

[0099] Based on the correspondence of VDU_mapping, the VNFM can update the value of the corresponding parameter in the values.yaml file. Specifically, the value of min_number_of_instances is used to update the value of minReplicas in the podDB, and the value of max_number_of_instances is used to update the value of maxReplicas in the podDB. Table 7 shows the updated values.yaml file.

[0100] [Table 7]

[0101] It will be understood that the contents included in the updated values.yaml file in Table 7 can be understood as the configuration information of the pod corresponding to VDU_1. The above is described using an example of determining the configuration information of the pod corresponding to VDU_1. A VNF may include multiple VDUs. Please refer to the above implementation for how the VNFM determines the configuration information of the pod corresponding to another VDU.

[0102] S504. The VNFM sends configuration information of at least one container object to the CISM. In response, the CISM receives configuration information of at least one container object.

[0103] Here, the VNFM can send an updated MCIOP to the CISM. The updated MCIOP includes configuration information for at least one container object. For example, the updated MCIOP includes configuration information for a pod corresponding to VDU_1 and further includes configuration information for pods corresponding to other VDUs.

[0104] S505. The CISM creates at least one container object based on the configuration information of the at least one container object and sends an instantiation success response to the VNFM.

[0105] S506. The VNFM sends an instantiation success response to the NFVO.

[0106] S507. The NFVO sends an instantiation success response to the OSS / BSS.

[0107] From the above, we can see that MCIOP is introduced into the VNFD of a VNF, so that the VNF can be deployed in a containerized manner. After microservices are defined in network elements, they can be deployed in a containerized manner using Kubernetes services. Specifically, in the ETSI NFV standard, the concept of service is introduced into the VNFD, and the virtualCp of the VNFD is used to describe a service, and the VDU represents a pod. For example, the parameters currently defined in the virtualCp are shown in Table 8.

[0108] [Table 8]

[0109] ServicePortData contains parameters to describe the service, e.g., port. For more information, see the ETSI NFV standard. The details will not be repeated here.

[0110] However, a service only provides layer 4 (TCP / IP) load balancing capabilities and does not provide layer 7 capabilities (for example, forwarding based on an application layer protocol, such as HTTP-based forwarding, may be based on a domain name, URL, etc.). Therefore, a service cannot be accessed by defining an FQDN. However, a microservice can be accessed by another network element or microservice by defining an FQDN. Therefore, if a microservice is deployed to Kubernetes in a containerized manner by using a service, the access requirements of the microservice may not be met.

[0111] In consideration of this, one embodiment of the present application provides a method for instantiating a VNF. A network element microservice is deployed using an ingress container object (i.e., ingress). The access address of a service defined using ingress belongs to layer 7 (see the above description regarding ingress), so that the access requirements of the microservice can be met.

[0112] The technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0113] For example, in the method provided in the embodiment of the present application, the VNFD may be improved. For example, a new parameter may be defined in the virtualCP of the VNFD to implement mapping between the microservice and the ingress, so that the network element microservice is deployed using the ingress.

[0114] Below, specific implementations of improving VNFD will be described with reference to specific examples.

[0115] For example, a VNF includes two virtual connection points. The two virtual connection points are classified as a first virtual connection point (represented as virtualCp1) and a second virtual connection point (represented as virtualCp2). The VNFD may include description information of the first virtual connection point and description information of the second virtual connection point. The first virtual connection point is used as an example. The description information of the first virtual connection point may include container object type (mcio_type) information, where the container object type information indicates a container object type corresponding to the first virtual connection point. The container object type may be an ingress type, a service type, or another possible container type. In this embodiment of the present application, an example in which the container object type corresponding to the first virtual connection point is an ingress type is used for explanation.

[0116] Furthermore, the description information of the first virtual connection point further includes description information of K microservices. In other words, the first virtual connection point corresponds to the K microservices. For example, the K microservices include the first microservice. The first microservice is used as an example. The description information of the first microservice includes the following: 1. Service type (service_type) information, where the service type information may include a name of the first microservice; 2. domain name type (host_type) information, where the domain name type information indicates a configured domain name type supported by the first microservice, and the domain name type includes an internal access domain name and / or an external access domain name; 3. Domain name mapping information, where the domain name mapping information indicates a parameter mapped to a domain name of the first microservice; 4. priority information, the priority information indicating configured priorities supported by the first microservice; or 5. Priority mapping information, the priority mapping information indicating parameters mapped to priorities of the first microservice; It includes at least one of the following:

[0117] Based on the above description, the description information of the first virtual connection point and the second virtual connection point will be described below with reference to Table 9.

[0118] [Table 9]

[0119] Furthermore, for a VDU in a VNFD, as described above, one virtual connection point can correspond to multiple microservices and multiple VDUs. To establish an association between a microservice and a VDU, in this embodiment of the present application, service type information may be added to the VDU, and the service type information indicates the microservice corresponding to the VDU. VDU_1 to VDU_5 in Table 9 will be described below with reference to Table 10.

[0120] [Table 10]

[0121] The correspondences shown in Tables 9 and 10 are shown in FIG.

[0122] It should be understood that the above mainly describes the virtualCp and VDU in the VNFD, and Tables 9 and 10 are only possible examples. In addition, the VNFD may further include other possible information. For details, please refer to the prior art. The details will not be repeated here.

[0123] The following describes a VNF instantiation procedure provided in one embodiment of the present application, where the VNFD in the procedure may be the improved VNFD described above.

[0124] In the following description process, an example is used in which the present method is applied to the NFV architecture shown in Figure 3. In other words, the subsequent OSS / BSS may be the OSS / BSS 120 shown in Figure 3, the subsequent NFVO may be the NFVO 111 shown in Figure 3, the subsequent VNFM may be the VIM 112 shown in Figure 3, and the subsequent CISM may be the CISM 114 shown in Figure 3.

[0125] 7 is a schematic flowchart corresponding to a method for instantiating a VNF according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 7, the method includes the following steps:

[0126] S701. The OSS / BSS sends a second instantiation request to the NFVO, where the second instantiation request is for requesting to instantiate a VNF, and the second instantiation request includes configuration information of M microservices of the NF corresponding to the VNF. In response, the NFVO receives the second instantiation request.

[0127] For example, the M microservices include a first microservice, and the configuration information of the first microservice may include at least one of the name (serviceName) of the first microservice, the domain name of the first microservice, or the priority of the first microservice, where M is a positive integer. The domain name of the first microservice may include an internal access domain name (represented as fqdn) and an external access domain name (represented as interPlmnFqdn). For example, the M microservices include namf-location, namf-mt, and namf-communication (i.e., M=3). See Table 11 for the M microservices.

[0128] [Table 11]

[0129] Optionally, the second instantiation request may further include other possible information, for example, an identifier of the VNFD of the VNF.

[0130] It will be understood that the second instantiation request is for requesting to instantiate a VNF. In a particular implementation, multiple possible requests may be used. For example, the second instantiation request may be an NS instantiation request or an NS update request. This is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

[0131] S702. The NFVO obtains configuration information of the first virtual connection point based on the configuration information of the K microservices corresponding to the first virtual connection point of the VNF.

[0132] Here, the K microservices belong to the M microservices. Specifically, the K microservices are part or all of the M microservices, where K is a positive integer and is less than or equal to M.

[0133] For example, the NFVO may first determine a microservice among the M microservices that corresponds to the first virtual connection point, and then, after determining that the first virtual connection point corresponds to the K microservices, obtain the configuration information of the first virtual connection point based on the configuration information of the K microservices. There may be multiple specific implementations in which the NFVO determines the microservice that corresponds to the first virtual connection point. For example, the NFVO may obtain a VNFD of the VNF. The VNFD includes description information of the first virtual connection point (as shown in Table 9 above), where the description information of the first virtual connection point indicates that the first virtual connection point corresponds to the K microservices. For example, the description information of the first virtual connection point includes names (i.e., service_type) of the K microservices.

[0134] It will be appreciated that the NFVO may further determine configuration information for another virtual connection point (e.g., a second virtual connection point) of the VNF. In the VNF, the first virtual connection point corresponds to namf-location and namf-mt, and the second virtual connection point corresponds to namf-communication. The configuration information of the first virtual connection point and the second virtual connection point is shown in Table 12.

[0135] [Table 12]

[0136] S703. The NFVO sends a first instantiation request to the VNFM, where the first instantiation request includes configuration information of a first virtual connection point of the VNF. In response, the VNFM receives the first instantiation request.

[0137] Here, the first instantiation request includes configuration information for a first virtual connection point of the VNF, and the first instantiation request may further include configuration information for another virtual connection point (e.g., a second virtual connection point) of the VNF.

[0138] For example, the first instantiation request may include an extVirtualLink parameter (i.e., information element), and the NFVO may add configuration information of the first virtual connection point and the second virtual connection point to the extVirtualLink parameter. The extVirtualLink parameter is for describing information about the network to which the VNF is externally connected, and the extVirtualLink includes configuration information of the VNF's external connection point(s) (i.e., extCp). In this embodiment of the present application, virtualCp1 and virtualCp2 are used as extCp to provide connection information to the outside. Therefore, the configuration information of the first virtual connection point and the second virtual connection point may be added to the extCp as shown in Table 12.

[0139] Optionally, the first instantiation request may further include other possible information, for example, an identifier of the VNFD of the VNF.

[0140] S704. The VNFM determines configuration information of a first ingress container object corresponding to the first virtual connection point based on the configuration information of the first virtual connection point, and the first ingress container object is configured to provide access ingress for the K microservices.

[0141] For example, the VNFM may obtain a VNFD of the VNF, where the VNFD includes mapping information, and the mapping information indicates a mapping relationship between the configuration information of the first virtual connection point and the configuration information of the first ingress container object. Furthermore, the VNFM determines the configuration information of the first ingress container object based on the configuration information of the first virtual connection point and the mapping information. There may be multiple specific implementations in which the VNFM obtains a VNFD of the VNF. For example, see the description of S503. The details will not be described again.

[0142] It will be understood that the mapping information is for mapping information about virtual connection points in the VNFD to information that can be parsed by the CISM (i.e., configuration information of an ingress container object). In a possible implementation, the mapping information may include first to Kth mapping information corresponding to K microservices, respectively. As an example, a first mapping information corresponding to a first microservice is used. The first mapping information may include at least one of domain name mapping information or priority mapping information.

[0143] 1. The domain name mapping information indicates a parameter mapped to the domain name of the first microservice included in the configuration information of the first microservice.

[0144] For example, see Table 9. The domain name mapping information may be mciop:ingress1.host1 and mciop:ingress1.host2. Specifically, the parameter mapped to the internal access domain name of the first microservice is mciop:ingress1.host1, and the parameter mapped to the external access domain name of the first microservice is mciop:ingress1.host2.

[0145] 2. The priority mapping information indicates a parameter that is mapped to the priority of the first microservice included in the configuration information of the first microservice.

[0146] For example, see Table 9. The priority mapping information may be mciop:ingress1.path1. In other words, the parameter that is mapped to the priority of the first microservice is mciop:ingress1.path1.

[0147] In one example, the VNFD may include description information of a first virtual connection point, the description information of the first virtual connection point may include description information of a first microservice, and the first mapping information may be included in the description information of the first microservice.

[0148] Optionally, the description information of the first virtual connection point further includes container object type information, where the container object type information indicates that the container object type corresponding to the first virtual connection point is an ingress type.

[0149] Optionally, the description information of the first microservice further includes at least one of the following: service type information (including a name of the first microservice), domain name type information (indicating that the first microservice supports configuration of domain name types), or priority information (indicating configured priorities supported by the first microservice).

[0150] It will be understood that if the domain name type information indicates that the domain name types that can be configured by the first microservice include an internal access domain name and an external access domain name, the VNFM can map the internal access domain name and the external access domain name to corresponding parameters based on the domain name mapping information. If the domain name type information indicates that the domain name types that can be configured by the first microservice include only an internal access domain name (when the configuration information of the first microservice includes an internal access domain name and an external access domain name), the VNFM can select an internal access domain name from the configuration information of the first microservice based on the domain name type information, and then map the internal access domain name to corresponding parameters based on the domain name mapping information.

[0151] For example, the VNFD contains a reference to the MCIOP, such as the original values.yaml file in the MCIOP shown in Table 13.

[0152] [Table 13]

[0153] The VNFM updates the original values.yaml file based on the configuration information of the first virtual connection point and the second virtual connection point and the mapping information in the VNFD. The updated values.yaml file is shown in Table 14. The updated values.yaml file includes the configuration information of the first ingress container object and the configuration information of the second ingress container object.

[0154] [Table 14]

[0155] Note that Table 13 and Table 14 are simplified example values.yaml files to illustrate the differences between the original and updated values.yaml files. For the specific format of the values.yaml file, please refer to the prior art.

[0156] S705.VNFM sends configuration information of a first ingress container object to the CISM, where the configuration information of the first ingress container object is for creating the first ingress container object.

[0157] For example, the VNFM can send an updated MCIOP to the CISM, which can then create a container object based on the MCIOP to complete the instantiation of the VNF. The updated MCIOP includes configuration information for at least one container object, where the first ingress container object is used as an example.

[0158] S706.CISM creates a first ingress container object based on the configuration information of the first ingress container object.

[0159] Here, the CISM may further create another container object corresponding to the VNF to complete the instantiation of the VNF.

[0160] For example, for a first ingress container object, the CISM (e.g., an ingress controller within the CISM) may assign an access address (i.e., an IP address) to the first ingress container object and send the IP address of the first ingress container object to the VNFM.

[0161] According to the above method, to create an ingress container object for a microservice, the VNFM can determine the configuration information of the ingress container object corresponding to the virtual connection point based on the configuration information of the virtual connection point (in this case, one virtual connection point corresponds to one or more microservices) in the instantiation request sent by the NFVO. Because the access address (e.g., FQDN) of the service defined using the ingress container object belongs to layer 7, the access requirements of the microservice can be met.

[0162] Additionally, in this implementation of the present application, virtualCP is extended in the VNFD to implement mapping between network element microservices and ingress container objects, and parameters such as container object type information, service type information, domain name type information, and priority information are introduced into the VNFD to manage ingress container objects. Therefore, by using cloud-native technologies, network element microservices can be better reconstructed, microservice-based network elements can be created, and lifecycle management can be implemented through MANO.

[0163] Optionally, after the instantiation of the VNF is completed, the method may further include S707 to S708 and / or S709 to S710.

[0164] S707. The NFVO sends first request information to the VNFM, where the first request information is for requesting an access address of the first virtual connectivity point.

[0165] Here, there may be multiple cases where the NFVO is triggered to send the first request information to the VNFM, for example, the NFVO needs to view the access information of the first virtual connection point of the successfully deployed VNF.

[0166] S708. The VNFM sends the access address of the first ingress container object to the NFVO as the access address of the first virtual connectivity point based on the first request information.

[0167] Furthermore, the NFVO can send the access address of the first virtual connection point to the OSS / BSS, and the OSS / BSS can set a binding relationship between the fqdn of the microservice and the IP address in the DNS server based on the fed back IP address of the first virtual connection point (i.e., virtualCp1), for example, as follows:

[0168] ip1: myAMF_location.mynetwork.com myAMF_location_external.mynetwork.com myAMF_mt.mynetwork.com

[0169] In this way, after obtaining the access address (i.e., FQDN) of the microservice, the visitor can query the DNS server for the IP address corresponding to the access address, and the DNS server will return the IP address assigned to the ingress to the visitor. After that, the visitor can send an HTTP request to the IP address and specify the access address of the accessed microservice in the host header to access the microservice.

[0170] S709. The OSS / BSS may send second request information to the NFVO, where the second request information is for requesting resource utilization information of a first microservice among the K microservices.

[0171] S710. The NFVO obtains resource usage information of at least one VDU corresponding to the first microservice based on the second request information, determines resource usage information of the first microservice based on the resource usage information of the VDU corresponding to the first microservice, and sends the resource usage information of the first microservice to the OSS / BSS.

[0172] For example, the NFVO can obtain a VNFD for the VNF based on the second request information, where the VNFD indicates at least one VDU corresponding to the first microservice, and can further determine that the first microservice corresponds to the at least one VDU based on the VNFD. For example, the VNFD includes description information for each of the at least one VDU, where the description information for the VDU includes service type information, and the service type information indicates the microservice corresponding to the VDU. For details, see Table 10 above.

[0173] Furthermore, the NFVO can send an acquisition request to the VNFM, where the acquisition request is for requesting resource usage information of at least one VDU corresponding to the first microservice. After receiving the acquisition request, the VNFM can acquire resource usage information of a pod corresponding to the at least one VDU from the CISM and send the resource usage information of the pod as resource usage information of the VDU to the NFVO. In this way, the NFVO can determine resource usage information of the first microservice based on the resource usage information of the at least one VDU.

[0174] Subsequently, after receiving the resource utilization information of the first microservice, the OSS / BSS can determine whether an operation such as scaling out or updating needs to be performed on the first microservice based on the resource utilization information of the first microservice.

[0175] (1) It should be understood that the above embodiment has been described using an example in which the first instantiation request sent by the NFVO to the VNFM carries configuration information of a virtual connection point. In another possible embodiment, the NFVO can instead send configuration information of multiple microservices to the VNFM. For example, an information element can be added to the first instantiation request to carry the configuration information of multiple microservices. Correspondingly, after receiving the configuration information of the multiple microservices, the VNFM can obtain a correspondence between the virtual connection point and the microservice based on the virtualCp in the VNFD and further determine the configuration information of the virtual connection point.

[0176] (2) The step numbers in each flowchart described in the above embodiment are merely examples of how the steps are executed and do not limit the order in which the steps are executed. In the embodiment of the present application, there is no strict order in which steps that do not have a chronological dependency on each other are executed. Furthermore, not all steps shown in each flowchart are necessarily executed, and some steps may be added or deleted from each flowchart based on actual requirements.

[0177] The above describes the solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application mainly from the perspective of the interaction between the NFVO and the VNFM. It should be understood that, to implement the aforementioned functions, the NFVO and the VNFM may include corresponding hardware structures and / or software modules that implement each function. Those skilled in the art will easily recognize that the embodiments of the present application can be implemented by hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software, in combination with the example units and algorithm steps described in the embodiments disclosed herein. Whether the functions are performed by hardware or by hardware driven by computer software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Those skilled in the art may use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementations should not be considered beyond the scope of the present application.

[0178] In the embodiment of the present application, the NFVO and the VNFM may be divided into functional units based on the above-mentioned method example. For example, each functional unit may be obtained by division based on the corresponding function, or two or more functions may be integrated into one unit. The integrated unit may be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of a software functional unit.

[0179] 8 is a possible exemplary block diagram of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 8, the apparatus 800 may include a processing unit 802 and a communication unit 803. The processing unit 802 is configured to control and manage the operation of the apparatus 800. The communication unit 803 is configured to support communication between the apparatus 800 and another device. Optionally, the communication unit 803, also referred to as a transceiver unit, may include a receiving unit and / or a transmitting unit configured to perform receiving and transmitting operations, respectively. The apparatus 800 may further include a storage unit 801 configured to store program codes and / or data of the apparatus 800.

[0180] (1) Case 1 The apparatus 800 may be the VNFM in the above-described embodiments, or may be a component (e.g., a circuit or a chip) disposed within the VNFM. The processing unit 802 may support the apparatus 800 in performing the operations of the VNFM in the above-described example method. Alternatively, the processing unit 802 may mainly perform the internal operations of the VNFM in the example method, and the communication unit 803 may support communication between the apparatus 800 and another device.

[0181] For example, in one embodiment, the communication unit 803 is configured to receive a first instantiation request from the NFVO, the first instantiation request being for requesting to instantiate a VNF, the first instantiation request including configuration information of a first virtual connection point of the VNF, the configuration information of the first virtual connection point including configuration information of K microservices of a network function NF corresponding to the VNF, where K is a positive integer; the processing unit 802 is configured to determine, based on the configuration information of the first virtual connection point, configuration information of a first ingress container object corresponding to the first virtual connection point, the first ingress container object being configured to provide access ingress for the K microservices; and the communication unit 803 is further configured to send the configuration information of the first ingress container object to the CISM, the configuration information of the first ingress container object being for creating the first ingress container object.

[0182] In a possible design, the processing unit 802 is particularly configured to: obtain a VNFD of the VNF, the VNFD including mapping information, the mapping information indicating a mapping relationship between the configuration information of the first virtual connection point and the configuration information of the first ingress container object; and determine the configuration information of the first ingress container object based on the configuration information of the first virtual connection point and the mapping information.

[0183] In a possible design, the mapping information includes first mapping information corresponding to a first microservice among the K microservices, and the first mapping information includes at least one of: domain name mapping information, where the domain name mapping information indicates a parameter mapped to a domain name of the first microservice in the configuration information of the first microservice; or priority mapping information, where the priority mapping information indicates a parameter mapped to a priority of the first microservice in the configuration information of the first microservice.

[0184] In a possible design, the VNFD includes description information of the first microservice, and the first mapping information is included in the description information of the first microservice.

[0185] In a possible design, the description information of the first microservice further includes at least one of: service type information, where the service type information includes a name of the first microservice; domain name type information, where the domain name type information indicates a configured domain name type supported by the first microservice, where the domain name type includes an internal access domain name and / or an external access domain name; or priority information, where the priority information indicates a configured priority supported by the first microservice.

[0186] In a possible design, the VNFD further includes container object type information corresponding to the first virtual connection point, where the container object type information indicates that the container object type corresponding to the first virtual connection point is an ingress container object.

[0187] In a possible design, the VNFD further includes description information of the VDU of the VNF, and the description information of the VDU includes service type information, which indicates the microservice corresponding to the VDU.

[0188] In a possible design, the communication unit 803 is further configured to receive an access address of the first ingress container object from the CISM.

[0189] In a possible design, the communication unit 803 is further configured to receive first request information from the NFVO, the first request information being for requesting an access address of the first virtual connectivity point, and, based on the first request information, send the access address of the first ingress container object to the NFVO as the access address of the first virtual connectivity point.

[0190] (2) Case 2 The apparatus 800 may be the NFVO in the above-described embodiments, or may be a component (e.g., a circuit or a chip) located within the NFVO. The processing unit 802 may support the apparatus 800 in performing the operations of the NFVO in the above-described exemplary method. Alternatively, the processing unit 802 may mainly perform the internal operations of the NFVO in the exemplary method, and the communication unit 803 may support communication between the apparatus 800 and another device.

[0191] For example, in one embodiment, the communication unit 803 is configured to receive a second instantiation request from the OSS / BSS, the second instantiation request being for requesting to instantiate a VNF, the second instantiation request including configuration information of M microservices of the NF corresponding to the VNF; the processing unit 802 is configured to obtain configuration information of the first virtual connection point based on the configuration information of K microservices corresponding to a first virtual connection point of the VNF, the K microservices belonging to the M microservices, M and K are positive integers and K is less than or equal to M; the communication unit 803 is further configured to send the first instantiation request to the VNFM, the first instantiation request including the configuration information of the first virtual connection point, the configuration information of the first virtual connection point being for determining configuration information of a first ingress container object corresponding to the first virtual connection point, the first ingress container object being configured to provide access ingress for the K microservices.

[0192] In a possible design, the processing unit 802 is further configured to obtain a VNFD of the VNF, the VNFD including description information of a first virtual connection point, and the description information of the first virtual connection point indicating that the first virtual connection point corresponds to K microservices.

[0193] In a possible design, the description information of the first virtual connection point includes the names of the K microservices.

[0194] In a possible design, the communication unit 803 is further configured to receive second request information from the OSS / BSS, where the second request information is for requesting resource utilization information of a first microservice among the K microservices; the processing unit 802 is further configured to obtain resource utilization information of at least one VDU corresponding to the first microservice based on the second request information and determine resource utilization information of the first microservice based on the resource utilization information of the VDU corresponding to the first microservice; and the communication unit 803 is further configured to send the resource utilization information of the first microservice to the OSS / BSS.

[0195] It should be understood that the division of units in the above-described device is merely a logical division of functions. In actual implementation, all or some of the units may be integrated into one physical entity or physically separated. In addition, all units in the device may be implemented in the form of software called by a processing element, or in the form of hardware, or some units may be implemented in the form of software called by a processing element and some units may be implemented in the form of hardware. For example, each unit may be a separately disposed processing element or may be integrated into a chip of the device for implementation. In addition, each unit may instead be stored in memory in the form of a program called by a processing element of the device to perform the function of the unit. In addition, all or some of the units may be integrated or implemented independently. The processing element in this specification may also be referred to as a processor and may be an integrated circuit having signal processing capabilities. In the implementation process, the operations in the above-described methods or units may be implemented by using a hardware integrated logic circuit in the processor element, or may be implemented in the form of software called by the processing element.

[0196] In one example, a unit in any one of the aforementioned devices may be one or more integrated circuits configured to implement the aforementioned method, such as one or more application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), one or more microprocessors (digital signal processors (DSPs)), one or more field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), or a combination of at least two of these forms of integrated circuits. As another example, if a unit in an apparatus may be implemented in a form in which a processing element schedules a program, the processing element may be a processor, such as a general-purpose central processing unit (CPU) or another processor that can invoke a program. In another example, a unit may be integrated and implemented in the form of a system-on-a-chip (SoC).

[0197] The unit configured to receive is an interface circuit of the device and is configured to receive a signal from another device. For example, if the device is implemented in a chip format, the receiving unit is an interface circuit of the chip and is configured to receive a signal from another chip or device. The unit configured to transmit is an interface circuit of the device and is configured to transmit a signal to another device. For example, if the device is implemented in a chip format, the transmitting unit is an interface circuit of the chip and is configured to transmit a signal to another chip or device.

[0198] 9 is a diagram of the structure of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application. The apparatus is configured to implement the operation of the VNFM or NFVO in the above embodiment.

[0199] As shown in FIG. 9, the device 900 may include a processor 901, a memory 902, and an interface circuit 903. The processor 901 may be configured to process communication protocols and communication data and control the communication device 900. The memory 902 may be configured to store programs and data, and the processor 901 may execute the methods performed by the AP in the embodiments of the present application based on the programs. The interface circuit 903 may be used by the communication device 900 to communicate with other devices. The communication may be wired or wireless. The interface circuit may also be replaced with a transceiver.

[0200] Alternatively, the memory 902 may be externally connected to the device 900. In this case, the device 900 may include the interface circuit 903 and the processor 901. Alternatively, the interface circuit 903 may be externally connected to the device 900. In this case, the device 900 may include the memory 902 and the processor 901. If both the interface circuit 903 and the memory 902 are externally connected to the device 900, the device 900 may include the processor 901.

[0201] The device shown in Figure 9 can implement the processes related to the VNFM or NFVO in the above-mentioned method embodiments. The operations and / or functions of the modules in the device shown in Figure 9 are separately used to implement the corresponding procedures in the above-mentioned method embodiments. For details, please refer to the descriptions in the above-mentioned method embodiments. To avoid repetition, detailed descriptions will be omitted here.

[0202] Those skilled in the art should understand that the embodiments of the present application may be provided as a method, a system, or a computer program product. Thus, the present application may use the form of a hardware-only embodiment, a software-only embodiment, or an embodiment having a combination of software and hardware. Moreover, the present application may use the form of a computer program product embodied in one or more computer-usable storage media (including, but not limited to, magnetic disk memory, optical memory, etc.) containing computer-usable program code.

[0203] The present application has been described with reference to flowcharts and / or block diagrams of methods, devices (systems), and computer program products according to the present application. It will be understood that computer program instructions can implement each procedure and / or block in the flowcharts and / or block diagrams, and combinations of procedures and / or blocks in the flowcharts and / or block diagrams. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, an embedded processor, or some other programmable data processing device to create a machine, such that the instructions, executed by the processor of the computer or some other programmable data processing device, create an apparatus that implements the specified functions in one or more processes in the flowcharts and / or one or more blocks in the block diagrams.

[0204] These computer program instructions may be stored in a computer-readable memory that can instruct a computer or any other programmable data processing device to act in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory create an artifact that includes an instruction apparatus that implements the specific functions of one or more processes in the flowcharts and / or one or more blocks in the block diagrams.

[0205] Alternatively, the computer program instructions may be loaded into a computer or other programmable data processing device, such that a sequence of operations and steps are executed on the computer or other programmable device, resulting in a computer-implemented process. Thus, the instructions executed on the computer or other programmable device provide steps for implementing a particular function in one or more procedures of the flowcharts and / or one or more blocks of the block diagrams.

[0206] It is apparent that those skilled in the art can make various modifications and variations to the present application without departing from the spirit and scope of the present application. In this case, if the modifications and variations made to the present application are within the scope of the claims of the present application and their equivalent technologies, the present application intends to include these modifications and variations. [Explanation of symbols]

[0207] 110 NFV Management and Orchestration System (NFV-MANO) 111 NFV Orchestrator (NFVO) 112 Virtualized Network Function Manager (VNFM) 113 Virtualization Infrastructure Manager (VIM) 114 Container Infrastructure Services Management (CISM) 120 Operational Support Systems / Business Support Systems (OSS / BSS) 130 Device Management (EM) 140 Virtualized Network Functions (VNFs) 150 NFV Infrastructure (NFVI) 800 equipment 801 Storage Unit 802 Processing Unit 803 Communication Unit 900 Communication Equipment 901 processor 902 memory 903 Interface Circuit 1511 Virtual Computing 1512 Virtual Storage 1513 Virtual Networks 1521 Computing Hardware 1522 Storage Hardware 1523 Network Hardware

Claims

1. 1. A method for instantiating a virtualized network function (VNF), the method comprising: receiving a first instantiation request from a network function virtualization orchestrator (NFVO), the first instantiation request being for requesting that the VNF be instantiated, the first instantiation request including configuration information of a first virtual connection point of the VNF, the configuration information of the first virtual connection point including configuration information of K microservices of a network function (NF) corresponding to the VNF, where K is a positive integer; determining configuration information of a first ingress container object corresponding to the first virtual connection point based on the configuration information of the first virtual connection point, the first ingress container object being configured to provide access ingress for the K microservices; sending the configuration information of the first ingress container object to a container infrastructure service management (CISM), wherein the configuration information of the first ingress container object is for creating the first ingress container object; The instantiation method, including:

2. The step of determining configuration information of a first ingress container object corresponding to the first virtual connection point based on the configuration information of the first virtual connection point includes: obtaining a virtualized network function descriptor (VNFD) of the VNF, the VNFD including mapping information, the mapping information indicating a mapping relationship between the configuration information of the first virtual connectivity point and the configuration information of the first ingress container object; determining the configuration information of the first ingress container object based on the configuration information and the mapping information of the first virtual connection point; 2. The method of claim 1, comprising:

3. the mapping information includes first mapping information corresponding to a first microservice among the K microservices; The first mapping information includes: domain name mapping information, the domain name mapping information indicating a parameter mapped to a domain name of the first microservice in configuration information of the first microservice; or priority mapping information, the priority mapping information indicating parameters mapped to priorities of the first microservice in configuration information of the first microservice; The method of claim 2, comprising at least one of:

4. 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the VNFD includes description information of the first microservice, and the first mapping information is included in the description information of the first microservice.

5. The description information of the first microservice may be: service type information, the service type information including a name of the first microservice; domain name type information, the domain name type information indicating configured domain name types supported by the first microservice, the domain name types including internal access domain names and / or external access domain names; or priority information, the priority information indicating configured priorities supported by the first microservice; The method of claim 4, further comprising at least one of:

6. 6. The method of claim 2, wherein the VNFD further includes container object type information corresponding to the first virtual connection point, and the container object type information indicates that the container object type corresponding to the first virtual connection point is an ingress container object.

7. 7. The method of claim 2, wherein the VNFD further includes description information of a virtualized deployment unit (VDU) of the VNF, the description information of the VDU including the service type information, and the service type information indicates a microservice corresponding to the VDU.

8. The method comprises: receiving an access address of a first ingress container object from the CISM; 8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

9. The method comprises: receiving first request information from the NFVO, the first request information being for requesting an access address of the first virtual connectivity point; sending the access address of the first ingress container object to the NFVO as the access address of the first virtual connectivity point based on the first request information; 9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

10. 1. A method for instantiating a VNF, the method comprising: receiving a second instantiation request from an operations support system / business support system OSS / BSS, the second instantiation request being for requesting that the VNF be instantiated, the second instantiation request including configuration information of M microservices of an NF corresponding to the VNF; Obtaining configuration information of a first virtual connection point of the VNF based on configuration information of K microservices corresponding to the first virtual connection point, where the K microservices belong to the M microservices, M and K are positive integers, and K is less than or equal to M; sending a first instantiation request to a VNFM, the first instantiation request including the configuration information of the first virtual connection point, the configuration information of the first virtual connection point for determining configuration information of a first ingress container object corresponding to the first virtual connection point, the first ingress container object configured to provide access ingress for the K microservices; The instantiation method, including:

11. The method comprises: obtaining a VNFD for the VNF, the VNFD including description information of the first virtual connection point, the description information of the first virtual connection point indicating that the first virtual connection point corresponds to the K microservices; 11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the description information of the first virtual connection point includes names of the K microservices.

13. The method comprises: receiving second request information from the OSS / BSS, the second request information being for requesting resource utilization information of a first microservice among the K microservices; Obtaining resource usage information of at least one VDU corresponding to the first microservice based on the second request information; determining the resource utilization information of the first microservice based on the resource utilization information of the VDU corresponding to the first microservice; Sending the resource usage information of the first microservice to the OSS / BSS; 13. The method of any one of claims 10 to 12, further comprising:

14. The method comprises: obtaining the VNFD of the VNF, the VNFD including description information of each of the at least one VDU, the description information of the VDU including service type information, the service type information indicating that a microservice corresponding to the VDU is the first microservice; 14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

15. 1. An instantiation apparatus for a VNF, the apparatus comprising: a communication unit and a processing unit; the communication unit is configured to receive a first instantiation request from an NFVO, the first instantiation request being for requesting to instantiate the VNF, the first instantiation request including configuration information of a first virtual connection point of the VNF, the configuration information of the first virtual connection point including configuration information of K microservices of a network function NF corresponding to the VNF, where K is a positive integer; The processing unit is configured to determine, based on the configuration information of the first virtual connection point, configuration information of a first ingress container object corresponding to the first virtual connection point, wherein the first ingress container object is configured to provide access ingress for the K microservices; the communication unit is further configured to send the configuration information of the first ingress container object to a CISM, and the configuration information of the first ingress container object is for creating the first ingress container object. Instantiation device.

16. The processing unit obtaining a VNFD of the VNF, the VNFD including mapping information, the mapping information indicating a mapping relationship between the configuration information of the first virtual connectivity point and the configuration information of the first ingress container object; determining the configuration information of the first ingress container object based on the configuration information and the mapping information of the first virtual connection point; 16. The device according to claim 15, specifically adapted to:

17. The mapping information includes first mapping information corresponding to a first microservice among the K microservices; The first mapping information includes: domain name mapping information, wherein the domain name mapping information indicates a parameter mapped to a domain name of the first microservice in configuration information of the first microservice; or priority mapping information, the priority mapping information indicating parameters mapped to priorities of the first microservice in configuration information of the first microservice; 17. The apparatus of claim 16, comprising at least one of:

18. 18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the VNFD includes description information of the first microservice, and the first mapping information is included in the description information of the first microservice.

19. The description information of the first microservice may be: service type information, the service type information including a name of the first microservice; domain name type information, the domain name type information indicating configured domain name types supported by the first microservice, the domain name types including internal access domain names and / or external access domain names; or priority information, the priority information indicating configured priorities supported by the first microservice; 20. The apparatus of claim 18, further comprising at least one of:

20. 20. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the VNFD further includes container object type information corresponding to the first virtual connection point, and wherein the container object type information indicates that the container object type corresponding to the first virtual connection point is an ingress container object.

21. 21. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the VNFD further includes description information of a VDU of the VNF, the description information of the VDU including the service type information, and the service type information indicates a microservice corresponding to the VDU.

22. The communication unit: receiving an access address of the first ingress container object from the CISM; 22. The apparatus of claim 15, further configured to:

23. The communication unit: receiving first request information from the NFVO, the first request information being for requesting an access address of the first virtual connectivity point; Based on the first request information, send the access address of the first ingress container object to the NFVO as the access address of the first virtual connection point.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, further configured to:

24. 1. An instantiation apparatus for a VNF, the apparatus comprising: a communication unit and a processing unit; The communication unit is configured to receive a second instantiation request from an OSS / BSS, the second instantiation request being for requesting to instantiate the VNF, and the second instantiation request including configuration information of M microservices of an NF corresponding to the VNF; The processing unit is configured to obtain configuration information of a first virtual connection point of the VNF based on configuration information of K microservices corresponding to the first virtual connection point, the K microservices belonging to the M microservices, M and K are positive integers, and K is less than or equal to M; the communication unit is further configured to send a first instantiation request to a VNFM, the first instantiation request including the configuration information of the first virtual connection point, the configuration information of the first virtual connection point for determining configuration information of a first ingress container object corresponding to the first virtual connection point, and the first ingress container object is configured to provide access ingress for the K microservices. Instantiation device.

25. The processing unit Obtain a VNFD of the VNF, the VNFD including description information of the first virtual connection point, the description information of the first virtual connection point indicating that the first virtual connection point corresponds to the K microservices.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, further configured to:

26. 26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the description information of the first virtual connection point includes names of the K microservices.

27. The communication unit is further configured to receive second request information from the OSS / BSS, the second request information being for requesting resource utilization information of a first microservice among the K microservices; The processing unit is further configured to obtain resource utilization information of at least one VDU corresponding to the first microservice based on the second request information, and determine the resource utilization information of the first microservice based on the resource utilization information of the VDU corresponding to the first microservice; The communication unit is further configured to send the resource utilization information of the first microservice to the OSS / BSS.

27. Apparatus according to any one of claims 24 to 26.

28. The processing unit Obtain the VNFD of the VNF, the VNFD including description information of each of the at least one VDU, the description information of the VDU including service type information, and the service type information indicating that a microservice corresponding to the VDU is the first microservice.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, further configured to:

29. 1. A method for instantiating a VNF, the method comprising: receiving, by an NFVO, a second instantiation request from an OSS / BSS, the second instantiation request to request that the VNF be instantiated, the second instantiation request including configuration information of M microservices of an NF corresponding to the VNF; obtaining, by the NFVO, configuration information of the first virtual connection point based on configuration information of K microservices corresponding to a first virtual connection point of the VNF; and sending the first instantiation request to a VNFM, the first instantiation request including the configuration information of the first virtual connection point, the K microservices belonging to the M microservices, M and K being positive integers, and K being less than or equal to M; receiving, by the VNFM, the first instantiation request from the NFVO; determining, based on the configuration information of the first virtual connectivity point, configuration information of a first ingress container object corresponding to the first virtual connectivity point, the first ingress container object being configured to provide access ingress for the K microservices; and sending, to a container infrastructure service management (CISM), the configuration information of the first ingress container object for creating the first ingress container object.

30. A VNFM configured to implement the method of any one of claims 1 to 9; an NFVO configured to implement the method of any one of claims 10 to 14; and 1. An instantiation system for a VNF, comprising:

31. 15. A computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program that, when executed on a computer, enables the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 14.

32. A chip coupled to a memory, the chip reading a computer program stored in the memory to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 14.

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